Longtusk (original 1999; edition 2002)

I was not aware this was in the middle of a series, and picked it up. Despite having no knowledge of the previous book, I found this one to be enjoyable by itself. We follow the story of a young mammoth who is enslaved by prehistoric humans, and the many trials he has to face throughout his life. Well written and very interesting point of view. ( )

I was not aware this was in the middle of a series, and picked it up. Despite having no knowledge of the previous book, I found this one to be enjoyable by itself. We follow the story of a young mammoth who is enslaved by prehistoric humans, and the many trials he has to face throughout his life. Well written and very interesting point of view. ( )

Second part of the Mammoth trilogy isn't a huge improvement from the first. This time it's a look at prehistoric times, when mammoths roamed the Earth in larger numbers. Longtusk, the legendary mammoth mentioned in the first part of the trilogy, is still young and adventurous.

He is captured by Fireheads, humans, and put to work along almost domesticated mastodonts. He learns the ways of the Fireheads and what danger they pose to the mammoths. Is he able to escape and save his family from this new danger?

The best thing about this book is definitely its length - if it wasn't such a small book, I probably wouldn't have bothered to read it. If you really loved the first part and want to read more about mammoths and don't mind more violence and not-that-interesting mammoth characters, go ahead, but others might just as well skip this one. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

(Original review at my review blog.) ( )