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Survival of the Fittest (the Crossroads Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition
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Chased by a ruthless enemy, Xhosa leads her People on a grueling journey through unknown and dangerous lands following a path laid out decades before by her father, to be followed only as a last resort. She is joined by other fleeing tribes from Indonesia, China, South Africa, East Africa, and the Levant, all similarly forced by timeless events to find new lives. As they struggle to overcome treachery, lies, tragedy, secrets, and Nature itself, Xhosa is forced to face the reality that her enemy doesn't want to ruin her People. It wants to ruin her.
The story is set 850,000 years ago, a time in prehistory when man populated most of Eurasia, where ‘survival of the fittest’ was not a slogan. It was a destiny. Xhosa's People were from a violent species, one fully capable of addressing the many hardships that threatened their lives except for one: future man, a smarter version of themselves, one destined to obliterate all those who came before.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 6, 2019
- File size3682 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B07NKM58GB
- Publisher : Structured Learning LLC (March 6, 2019)
- Publication date : March 6, 2019
- Language : English
- File size : 3682 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 313 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #68,317 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #330 in Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction
- #1,057 in Action Thriller Fiction
- #1,572 in Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, and a contributor to NEA Today. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Read Jacqui’s tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days here on Amazon Kindle. Also, read her new series, Man vs. Nature, starting with Born in a Treacherous Time--also on Kindle.
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Survival of the Fittest is set at a slightly later date and features Xhosa, the unusually adaptable and innovative daughter of the leader of a large group called "the People". Xhosa has been allowed to learn to use weapons and hunt with the warriors of the group and has a strong relationship with Nightshade, a giant of young warrior, who is her father's Lead Warrior at the commencement of the story. Early in the story, a hunting group including Xhosa's father, Xhosa herself and Nightshade are attacked by a savage group of a different people called "the Others" and Xhosa's father is killed during the resulting skirmish. These leads to a battle for leadership between Xhosa and Nightshade which results in a lot of unresolved issues and conflicts between the pair.
The Others are more advanced that the People and have sharp stone tipped spears which fly much further than the People's heavier and less innovative weapons. It soon becomes apparent that the People are in grave danger from the threat posed by the Others who covet their land, which is rich and desirable. Xhosa wants to leave and search for a new home for the People, following the cairns left by her father when he made a journey years before. Nightshare wants to stay and fight. Before a decision is made, the dynamics of the People change due to the arrival of another group, led by Pan-do and his young and unusual daughter, Lyta.
This book is well researched and every sentence demonstrates the author's excellent knowledge of her subject and this time period. The story is similar in some respects to the Earth Children series but I find it more realistic and I don't have to suspend my belief nearly as much while reading this book.
The characters in this new story are engaging and interesting. Xhosa is an unusual woman of high intellect and great physical strength. Her father has encouraged her to follow a different path from the other women of the tribe and learn to fight and lead like a man. Xhosa is driven by her need to do the best she can for her people and ensure the survival of the tribe. She realises that this goal means she has to be prepared to uproot the group from their current home and strike out in search of a new home. She also knows that the journey will not be easy and that many will be sacrificed along the way. Xhosa is a good leader and is prepared to take the necessary steps to do this.
Nightshade is a conflicted personality. He comes across as loyal, in many ways, to Xhosa but also jealous of her position within the tribe and irritated by her leadership methods and decisions. I never felt comfortable that Nightshade was truly behind Xhosa and felt she should be wary of him which, of course, she isn't.
Pan-do was my favourite character in the book. He is the perfect leader, binding the group together and providing for distraction and light relief when needed to prevent the group from becoming overwhelmed and despairing. He is also cunning and clever and saves Xhosa, Nightshade and the People from certain death on more than one occasion. Pan-do is open minded and is devoted to his daughter who is a bit of a psychic and has visions. This quality of Pan-do's extends to other people within the tribe who have unusual insight.
This book will appeal to readers who enjoy a well-researched and believable historical novel with a solid plot and well developed and interesting characters.
As a result, the stories are what you might call "too modern" in their plots and storylines. They fail to capture, in other words, the brutal truths of life at a time when humans were both predator and prey... and more often prey.
"Survival of the Fittest" does not make that mistake. It is well researched and author Jacqui Murray does an excellent job of capturing the harsh realities of life at a time when homo sapiens were emerging as the dominant human species, much to the detriment of those "other" humans they shared the planet with.
Xhosa, the leader of a tribe of those "other" humans is something of a rarity among her species. Generally, women were relegated to gathering food and caring for children. She, however, is taller than most men in her tribe, fast on her feet, fearless, and strong. She is also smart. When her tribe of homo erectus people are threatened by homo sapiens she realizes early on that it is all but suicidal to stand and fight for their traditional homeland. The newcomers are too numerous and have superior weapons. As a result, she leads her people in search of a new land.
She is joined on her journey by other tribes of homo erectus people who have been forced out by the newcomers, which she refers to as "Big Heads," and together they keep searching for a safe place to live.
Murray has a dramatic writing style. By that I mean she does not shy away from the brutality of that time in human history. She also makes good use of description, putting the reader in the time and place where Xhosa and her tribe live. The narrative remains consistent throughout the novel, by which I mean one event follows another in a logical order. Although there are many characters, Murray does not shortchange any of them. If they are included in this novel, they are all well developed.
This is the first novel in a trilogy and, although I am not normally a fan of this kind of literature, I have become a fan of Xhosa and her companions. As a result, I will read the next two novels in the series.
I can't give a stronger recommendation than that.
Her writing is very descriptive and the action keeps flowing. The group dynamics between Xhosa being a strong female vs the male patriarchal tribe I think is done very well. I think anyone who is interesting in prehistory or just plain old classic action-adventure quest type novels will love this! I only have 1 gripe, which is the cover. I understand the need to have a great cover to sell, but I just don't see the model on the cover as looking tough and rugged enough. Also, if the story begins in Africa, well... Not a major issue, I have my own visual image of Xhosa in my mind : ) -S.A. Adams -author of "Paleolithic"
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4 stars
It was a good read yet I felt the need to speed read to get passed some of it. I’m not really sure why but it didn’t totally engross me for a reason I can’t quite identify.
The characters were clearly defined and easy to identify with.
Apart from the very long journey they were going on and suffering hunger, food shortages and cold, I found that I my mind was drifting off the story except when excitingly nasty events happened to some of them. The premonitions of a particular daughter added interest, as was the relationship with the wolf.
The worst part was the unsatisfactory ending of the story being left up in the air! It isn’t necessary to do that to tempt readers to get the umpteen sequels!

On the long journey they are joined by tribes from different parts of the continent making them stronger, but still being heavily outnumbered they have to keep moving
Not Bad


