Customer Reviews

Longtusk (Mammoth Trilogy 2)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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This book was equally, if not better than it`s prequel.After reading the first, I wasn`t to sure about reading the second after the first left me feeling pretty depressed, though I did it anyway and was greatly rewarded with a more upbeat book, compared to the first. Longtusk is better probably because of the less violence and a more descriptive plotline. The info on how the Mammoths live was riveting as was how they desribed the Neanderthals and early Homo-Sapiens.It was a great read.I eagerly await the third arriving.

As good as Watership Down, Shardik or The Plague Dogs in detailed and accurate research on the part of the author, coupled with believable, fascinating, and often glorious storytelling.

This is the sequel to Silverhair, and in my opinion, excells it, though the first book it wonderful enough.

Baxter has written a magnificent and majestic tale of myth, legend, adventure, danger, and the fight for survival with memorable characters, accurate setting and detail, intrigue and wonder. A 'Watership Down' of the Ice Age... Gary S. Potter Author/Poet

Second part of the Mammoth trilogy isn't a huge improvement from the first. This time it's a look at prehistoric times, when mammoths roamed the Earth in larger numbers. Longtusk, the legendary mammoth mentioned in the first part of the trilogy, is still young and adventurous.

He is captured by Fireheads, humans, and put to work along almost domesticated mastodonts. He learns the ways of the Fireheads and what danger they pose to the mammoths. Is he able to escape and save his family from this new danger?

The best thing about this book is definitely its length - if it wasn't such a small book, I probably wouldn't have bothered to read it. If you really loved the first part and want to read more about mammoths and don't mind more violence and not-that-interesting mammoth characters, go ahead, but others might just as well skip this one. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

In 16,000 BC, the world is in flux as species struggle for supremacy while the ice retreats. Woolly mammoths remain gentle giants working together in clans. The mammoths share a language that enables them to communicate with one another. They understand who is friend and who is the enemy and work for a common cause as their environment changes making survival the ultimate goal.

Like most males his age, Longtusk believes he will do great things. He ignores his clan's leadership, both the matriarchal and male elders. He begins his quest for greatness, but barely survives a deadly fire. Separated from his mates, Longtusk, joins a tribe of Neanderthals, but they fall prey to the dangerously clever human Fireheads. Now a prisoner, Longtusk becomes a slave working next to other domesticated animals. As Longtusk laments his fate, his "people" are in deep trouble from a changing ecosystem and the cunning Fireheads.

LONGTUSK, the second tale in the "Mammoth" trilogy, is an exciting prehistoric science fiction novel in which Stephen Baxter provides human traits to the mammoths. The story line never slows down as a different world comes to life even as the realization creeps into the minds of the mammoths and Neanderthals that the Fireheads are gaining control. Though some major subplots seem identical to the first novel (see SILVERHAIR), fans of the sub-genre will enjoy the novel and its Wooley hero.

Harriet Klausner