Customer Reviews

The Seeking Sword

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I read this book many years ago, shortly after its publication. It caught my imagination immediately. The figure of the old tribal shaman, acting through what was probably his people's first iron sword, stubbornly trying to teach the descendants of his people something of their hunter-gatherer heritage and maintain his generational war against the "cow-dung knees" from the South, just resonated with me. I found myself liking the old coot.

I was reminded of the book again indirectly today when I read a piece in Science Daily, "DNA Reveals Origins of First European Farmers." There is now hard evidence for the invasion model of European agriculture, just as Kaangilaski saw through his chronoscope.

The book does meander a bit in the middle, as the modern protagonist agonizes over his apparent destiny as sword-bearer, but don't let that bother you, Kinsman. Sit by the fire and share meat and drink, as the People have done for a thousand generations; for the tale is apt to be long in the telling ...