I’ve been unsystematically picking up books in the author’s Birthright series/universe, so couldn’t resist this one which appears to be a recent reissue.

We experience the overall story via the viewpoint of Rojas, the researcher who’s trying to locate the ancient tusks. Like many of Resnick’s main characters, he becomes obsessed with the job, almost as much as the man who hired him. With the aid of a broad-spanning IT system, he pieces together episodes in the tusks’ history.

Each episode is a story of its own, with no overlap of characters or places. The episodes showcase how people behave towards each other: a mixture of negotiating, threatening, backstabbing and deception which one might deem cynically accurate. I laughed at an academic rivalry depicted quite early on.

The episodes build up towards an effective finale that pulls the whole history together. As with many of his books, I found the end satisfying and thought-provoking.

Set 7000 years in the future, Duncan Rojas is hired to recover two elephant tusks that have been missing for 3000 years. I was drawn into this world immediately and thoroughly enjoyed the journey. For a book I picked up because of the elephant on the cover, I'm glad this is my last read of the yea ( )

Ivory is a Science Fiction tale spanning millennia with some fantasy trappings. The science fiction parts include extraterrestrial aliens and human colonies spanning the galaxy. The fantasy aspect includes a long dead prophetic shaman, vague mystical abilities, and the ghost of an immense elephant.
Duncan Rojas, an almost totally emotionless and asocial researcher whose day job is to authenticate hunting trophies, is hired by Bukoba Mandaka, the last member of the Maasai tribe to locate a pair of 7,000 year old elephant tusks. Through flashbacks to events uncovered by Rojas using an extremely sophisticated computer, the history of the tusks is revealed although the reason Mandaka wants them is not until near the end of the story.
I found this to be an imaginative and engaging story. The premise is certainly different although the mix of science fiction and fantasy seemed a bit awkward to me. I especially had a hard time with the elephant spirit, which is never really explained, other than it is the ghost of an immense and very intelligent elephant who wants its tusks back. What it really is, how it came to be, or what it means is only vaguely alluded to. The characters are interestingly quirky but do not provoke much in the way of empathy. The two main characters are about as emotionless as the computer Rojas used for his research. They are both compulsively driven to accomplish their mission, Rojas by choice and Mandaka because of his belief that he has no choice but neither is engagingly human.
The book is well written and compelling. Once the mystery of the tusks is presented, you want to find out what happened to them and some of the flashbacks, almost short stories in themselves, are quite enjoyable.
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In the far future, the last Maasai hires the best researcher, the cold Rojas, to find the tusks of the Kilimanjaro Elephant. Rojas’s search takes him from the nineteenth century on Earth to the rest of the galaxy. As he searches, he uncovers past tragedies, treachery, and always, another clue to the tusks. At last, Rojas and Mandaka reach the end of their quest. It’s well written, but I never felt a pull to read it. It is not an engrossing work. ( )

What I love about Mike Resnick, among other things, is his non-pretentious prose style. He doesn't write like he has a dictionary out to look up the fanciest words for saying everything in an attempt to impress you. Instead, he just finds the right words to tell the story. So you don't need to read his books with a dictionary next to you either, and his books work for readers of all ages.This book, one of several inspired by his love of and travels through Africa, is the story of Duncan Rojas and Bukoba Mandanka and the tusks of the Kilimanjaro Elephant, the largest to ever exist. Rojas, a researcher for Braxton's Records of Big Game, is hired by Mandaka, the last living Masaai, to find the tusks which he believes are the secret to his people's lost power. While he won't explain why he needs them, he is paying handsomely, and Rojas cannot resist a good mystery.As he researches the tusks with the help of his trusty computer, Rojas learns the stories of various people and aliens who have possessed them over time. The tusks have quite a colorful history, as does the elephant himself, and the stories are fascinating and rich with characters, world building, history and solid plotting.The chapters run long, something I myself am guilty of, but that's because each chapter contains a historical story and a section about Rojas' research in the present as he learns the history.In the end, the story raises powerful questions about tradition, faith, and mythology. As is typical of Resnick, the conclusion leaves us to provide our own answers, and there is certainly a lot to think about which resonates with you long after the book has been closed.A not to be missed, rich story. Thoroughly enjoyable and compelling. For what it's worth... ( )