Peter Dickinson's the Kin: Suth's Story [Library Binding]

Peter Dickinson (Author)

Book Description

When cut off from their kin and lost in the desert 200,000 years ago, Suth and five other orphans struggle to survive and to find their way to safety.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this thought-provoking prehistoric adventure tale, part of a new series, Dickinson considers evolution, revisiting themes he explored in A Bone from a Dry Sea. Separated from the elders of the Moonhawk clan after an attack by a horde of "ferocious strangers," Noli and five other children roam the land in search of new "Good Places" in which to hunt and gather. After a volcano eruption drives them even further afield, the youngsters rescue and befriend a wounded man they dub Tor. Skilled with tools yet unable to speak beyond simple hoots and grunts, enigmatic Tor forces the children?and the reader?to examine what it means to be human. Likewise, Noli's various shaman-like encounters with her own clan's totem animal and the hitherto voiceless spirit guide of Tor's people provide an opportunity for Dickinson to ponder the nature of the sacred. The Moonhawks' encounter with the rest of Tor's people and their joint battle against a marauding lion make for an exciting read. But the real adventure here is the exhilarating mix of ideas the novel so nimbly sets forth. Ages 10-up. (June) FYI: Also due in June is The Kin: Suth's Story ($14.99 ISBN 0-399-23327-X; paper $3.99 -448-41709-X). Two more installments are scheduled for October publication.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-The author of A Bone from a Dry Sea (Dell, 1995) opens a quartet of novels also set in our distant past. After a devastating raid, the dazed survivors of the Moonhawk Kin flee to safety. They split up when two orphans, Suth and Noli, defy their headman's orders and return to the place where four young children were abandoned. Following Noli's visions, which she claims are sent by their totemic hawk, Suth leads the tiny band to a verdant haven in the crater of a volcano where they fall in with a group of cave dwellers who claim to be Monkey Kin. As Dickinson develops distinct personalities and inner conflicts in each of his characters, he inserts between chapters a creation myth in which Monkey, a trickster, brings sorrow, hunger, and ultimately murder into the world. In light of this, and seeing how closely the dwindling, inbred Monkey people are watching him, Suth is understandably uneasy. Though the author sometimes lets the plot coast while he's establishing believable, well-articulated cultural backgrounds for his protohuman cast, the pace does pick up near the end as Suth earns adult status by killing a leopard, and later engineers an escape for the Moonhawks when the volcano erupts. Less a self-contained story than an intriguing lead-in, this novel will prepare middle readers for the subsequent adventures of a young but resourceful band in a world 200 millennia agone.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Bt Bound (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613088565
• ISBN-13: 978-0613088565
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,791,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was full of intrest! From the cover to the book itself!, June 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Suth's Story (Kin) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have always wandered about the lives of people from long ago--those even as early as the Stone-Age time and how their lives were probably lived. This book gives me a slight idea--(since it is "mostly made-up") of one of the numerous ways that some of the first early humans did live out their lives. In the book's prologue, it mentions that there is not just one book, but a series of them. I have read the first and I am in the middle of the second. I hope that the future continuous books are as "good" . ;)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real cliffhanger--it kept me on the edge of my seat!!!, May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Suth's Story (Kin) (Paperback)

Suth's Story, by Peter Dickinson is a great book-- I couldn't put it down! On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd rate it a 10. Six kids of the Moonhawk Kin--Suth, Noli, Mana, Tinu, Otan, and Po--have been separated from the rest of their Kin. They survive only on the measly rations they find in the desert, not even getting food or water some days. One day when they are foraging, though, they come upon six people of the Monkey Kin. The Monkey Kin takes them in, feeds them, and gives them a place to sleep. The Monkey Kin is nice, helpful, and give them as much food as they want--but are intent on keeping them. The Moonhawks are thankful for that, but want to get back to their own kin...but they're not sure they can get away...

This book is a real cliffhanger, in great detail. It kept me on the edge of my seat! This is one of my most favorite books!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Little Story, March 10, 2011

By 

C. White "buttinsky" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Suth's Story (Kin) (Paperback)

This is a story about a very early clan in humanity's history.
As I read it, I gained some insights into what early man must
have faced in his efforts to survive. One insight was the problem
of inbreeding when there were so few individuals from which to
choose. Another was the constant search for food and the variety
of things we were willing to eat. Also, the constant danger of
predators that was faced by the clan. They countered this with
sticks and thrown rocks, primarily. The only thing I didn't like
was the prelude to each part of the story. This had to do with
wierd beliefs in supernatural events that played themselves out
in the peoples' minds. Maybe that's the way it was but it didn't
interest me.