Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson

This is your typical Paleolithic coming-of-age story.

Boy is thrown naked off a cliff in the middle of the night to fend for himself in the winter woods for a couple of weeks, boy is apprenticed to his clan’s Shaman and has to memorize endless lore and stories, boy meets girl during the summer solstice gathering of the tribes, boy and girl are captured by a tribe which is making initial forays into in domesticating dogs, boy and girl are rescued by the Shaman and his faithful Neanderthal companion, boy, girl, Shaman and Neanderthal flee across Ice Age landscape and one of this band is eaten by the other three (Spoiler), Shaman dies (he’s pushing forty) and boy becomes the new Shaman and paints on some cave walls.

This is not your grandpappy’s nasty, brutal and short caveman story. Despite some stressful times when the food is running low, our characters are happy, healthy and so so Minnesota nice to one another.

PS. Raw bear penis is mentioned (twice)

You can find this book in the Cal Maritime Library!

–Review by Mark Stackpole