West of Eden - Harry Harrison Book Review

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"West of Eden"
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Review Summaries

"In this book, the dinosaurs never became extinct. The reptiles are the dominant species on the planet. The humans, or Tanu as they are called, live as hunter-gatherers. The winters become longer and longer and the Tanu go further south than usual to hunt for food. This is how they discover the existance of reptiles that walk like humans and the find them disgusting. The reptiles, the Yilané, are also fleeing from the longer and colder winters. They in their turn are disgusted by the idea of mammals with a culture and language. They kill a village and take a young boy, Kerrick, prisoner. Kerrick learns their language and finds out about their culture. they grow cities and adapt the genes of animals to use them as tools. Their society is female dominated and very complex. Years later Kerrick escapes and meets other Tanu whose villages have also been killed by the Yilané, and together they set out to fight against them."
Esther Punselie, Resident Harry Harrison Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - alternate history
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Cultural problems, alien culture Yes
Culture clash- - feelings of a human growing up among aliens

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - a kid
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - dictator
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Forests
Earth setting: - dinosaur times
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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