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The saga of two cultures fated to struggle for control of the earth: the Yilane--cold-blooded intelligent reptiles and the Tanu--warm-blooded humans.Tags
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Playing "what if" with the fate of the "dinosaurs" is certainly not new, Harry Harrison is in good company with the likes of Verne, Burroughs, Doyle, and many others. Each have done their own spin on "What if the fate of the dinosaurs was different?"
Harry Harrison's variant on this is excellent. He presents us with the Yilanè a race of sentient beings that evolved from a reptilian ancestor. All too often, fiction paints a reptilian species as ruthless villains, an over-abused archetype which Harrison carefully avoids.
Instead he gives us a species (descended from some reptilian ancestor) that has a complex culture, with its own customs, technological successes, and internal conflicts. The Yilanè are already struggling to (re)define show more itself when they make their first contact with the Tanu.
The Tanu, if they're not homo sapiens, they're something very close to it--sentient bipedal mammals. They too, have their own culture and customs--centered around an early hunter-gatherer culture.
Harrison succeeds in making both cultures plausible and believable and successfully avoids painting a picture of either culture as the villain. There are characters who do, but the author carefully does not--and there are individuals on both sides who are villains--and heroes. And sometimes, who is which is a matter of perspective.
The book is a good read, but it was slow to hook me. I think because the first four chapters are more of a prologue, and the real story begins in chapter five. We need those chapters--but I didn't enjoy them as much as the rest of the book. The book is a longer read, overall, around 470 pages in the paperback edition, which in a couple of spots had me feeling impatient for the climax of the story.
If you love first contact fiction, you should read this one--it may not be aliens, as both cultures developed on the same planet, but they're definitely alien to each other, and the issues remain the same. Likewise, if you love the "what if the dinosaurs..." question, you should read Harry Harrison's answer to the question. show less
Harry Harrison's variant on this is excellent. He presents us with the Yilanè a race of sentient beings that evolved from a reptilian ancestor. All too often, fiction paints a reptilian species as ruthless villains, an over-abused archetype which Harrison carefully avoids.
Instead he gives us a species (descended from some reptilian ancestor) that has a complex culture, with its own customs, technological successes, and internal conflicts. The Yilanè are already struggling to (re)define show more itself when they make their first contact with the Tanu.
The Tanu, if they're not homo sapiens, they're something very close to it--sentient bipedal mammals. They too, have their own culture and customs--centered around an early hunter-gatherer culture.
Harrison succeeds in making both cultures plausible and believable and successfully avoids painting a picture of either culture as the villain. There are characters who do, but the author carefully does not--and there are individuals on both sides who are villains--and heroes. And sometimes, who is which is a matter of perspective.
The book is a good read, but it was slow to hook me. I think because the first four chapters are more of a prologue, and the real story begins in chapter five. We need those chapters--but I didn't enjoy them as much as the rest of the book. The book is a longer read, overall, around 470 pages in the paperback edition, which in a couple of spots had me feeling impatient for the climax of the story.
If you love first contact fiction, you should read this one--it may not be aliens, as both cultures developed on the same planet, but they're definitely alien to each other, and the issues remain the same. Likewise, if you love the "what if the dinosaurs..." question, you should read Harry Harrison's answer to the question. show less
Harrison, science fiction’s most prolific practioneer of the alternate history sub-genre before Harry Turtledove came along, uses not a pivot point involving human social history but an alternate version of the Earth’s geologic past – a comet does not wipe out the dinosaurs – as the grounding premise of this novel.
This is Harrison’s most ambitious work and was marketed originally to appeal to readers of Jean Auel who was new on the scene at the time. Biologist Jack Cohen, who also helped develop the aliens of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes’ The Legacy of Heorot, helped Harrison develop the Yilane, the intelligent descendents of reptiles. They are masters of this world and biological engineering. Their boats, show more cities, and even microscopes are all modified organisms. (Given what seems to be their limited idea of DNA, I find this somewhat implausible but still interesting.)
Their language, developed by Thomas Shippey, professor of literature and an academic critic of science fiction, is so complex many Yilane never learn to speak it, and body gestures are an integral part. Physiology is so tied up with it that Yilane ca not lie. At best, they can only keep their body very still while talking. The very act of being exiled is, for most, a psychosomatic sentence of death.
Most of the these biological and linguistic details are explained in an appendix amusingly written in sort of a prudish Victorian scientist tone.
While a proud race with cities throughout the world, things are not going well with the Yilane. An encroaching ice age is causing some abandonment of their cities in the northern zones of earth, and an effort is being undertaken to migrate from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere. The building of the western colony is directed by Vainte, a Yilante with political ambitions. However, the nesting grounds where the species’ docile, somewhat silly, and definitely disposable males hang out, is found by a group of hunting Tanu – Stone Age but anatomically modern humans. The old enmity between lizard and human awakens; the nesting grounds are destroyed; the Yilante retaliate by hunting down the hunting party, killing all except a young boy named Kerrick.
Kerrick’s story is at the heart of this novel. He becomes useful in Vainte’s schemes – his innate human ability to lie aids in an assassination. He even becomes a sexual plaything to her (all Yilante leaders are female) though this is not handled in a prurient manner but in a way that seems a bit inspired by the 1980s’ obsession with the effects of childhood sexual abuse. By the time he escapes the Yilane as a man and returns to his people, he has a unique ability to aid the humans in their war against the reptiles. But he also sees some worth and value in Yilane ways, has friends there he left.
It’s a relatively thick book but Harrison keeps the story moving and develops his background well (you really don’t have to read that appendix to understand things). Kerrick is the classic caught-between-two-worlds figure.
Though Harrison wrote two more novels in this series, this feels like a self-contained work which is not true of the others. show less
This is Harrison’s most ambitious work and was marketed originally to appeal to readers of Jean Auel who was new on the scene at the time. Biologist Jack Cohen, who also helped develop the aliens of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes’ The Legacy of Heorot, helped Harrison develop the Yilane, the intelligent descendents of reptiles. They are masters of this world and biological engineering. Their boats, show more cities, and even microscopes are all modified organisms. (Given what seems to be their limited idea of DNA, I find this somewhat implausible but still interesting.)
Their language, developed by Thomas Shippey, professor of literature and an academic critic of science fiction, is so complex many Yilane never learn to speak it, and body gestures are an integral part. Physiology is so tied up with it that Yilane ca not lie. At best, they can only keep their body very still while talking. The very act of being exiled is, for most, a psychosomatic sentence of death.
Most of the these biological and linguistic details are explained in an appendix amusingly written in sort of a prudish Victorian scientist tone.
While a proud race with cities throughout the world, things are not going well with the Yilane. An encroaching ice age is causing some abandonment of their cities in the northern zones of earth, and an effort is being undertaken to migrate from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere. The building of the western colony is directed by Vainte, a Yilante with political ambitions. However, the nesting grounds where the species’ docile, somewhat silly, and definitely disposable males hang out, is found by a group of hunting Tanu – Stone Age but anatomically modern humans. The old enmity between lizard and human awakens; the nesting grounds are destroyed; the Yilante retaliate by hunting down the hunting party, killing all except a young boy named Kerrick.
Kerrick’s story is at the heart of this novel. He becomes useful in Vainte’s schemes – his innate human ability to lie aids in an assassination. He even becomes a sexual plaything to her (all Yilante leaders are female) though this is not handled in a prurient manner but in a way that seems a bit inspired by the 1980s’ obsession with the effects of childhood sexual abuse. By the time he escapes the Yilane as a man and returns to his people, he has a unique ability to aid the humans in their war against the reptiles. But he also sees some worth and value in Yilane ways, has friends there he left.
It’s a relatively thick book but Harrison keeps the story moving and develops his background well (you really don’t have to read that appendix to understand things). Kerrick is the classic caught-between-two-worlds figure.
Though Harrison wrote two more novels in this series, this feels like a self-contained work which is not true of the others. show less
This is an alternate history where dinosaurs didn't go extinct, but evolved to be smaller and developed genetic engineering technology. The book describes a war between humans and cave men as they each seek out new territory as the climate is getting colder.
I found it hard to stay focused - the characters weren't very compelling, and keeping track of how the dinosaur culture worked could be confusing. I appreciated that the dinosaurs had a type of technology that is totally different from anything that has ever actually been developed by humans, but I was rather frustrated by how that technology was deployed. Instead of asking the question, "How would a culture that uses genetic engineering to solve all of its problems create a method show more for secretly spying on their enemies who are far away?" Harrison asks, "How would a culture that uses genetic engineering create a remote-controlled spy plane that takes photos on film and views them on a screen?" which is a far less interesting question, and the rather tortured answer is a bird that takes pictures with its eyes and then... poops film?
The ending was also a ridiculously implausible anti-climax. show less
I found it hard to stay focused - the characters weren't very compelling, and keeping track of how the dinosaur culture worked could be confusing. I appreciated that the dinosaurs had a type of technology that is totally different from anything that has ever actually been developed by humans, but I was rather frustrated by how that technology was deployed. Instead of asking the question, "How would a culture that uses genetic engineering to solve all of its problems create a method show more for secretly spying on their enemies who are far away?" Harrison asks, "How would a culture that uses genetic engineering create a remote-controlled spy plane that takes photos on film and views them on a screen?" which is a far less interesting question, and the rather tortured answer is a bird that takes pictures with its eyes and then... poops film?
The ending was also a ridiculously implausible anti-climax. show less
The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event never occurred, allowing intelligent reptilian creatures called Yilanè to dominate Earth. They clash with Tanu, human tribes, over territory during an ice age.
Kerrick is a human captured as a boy and raised by the Yilanè, who eventually escapes and acts as a bridge between human factions. Yilanè characters include the ambitious Vaintè, who seeks to destroy the humans, and the pacifist Enge.
Kerrick is a human captured as a boy and raised by the Yilanè, who eventually escapes and acts as a bridge between human factions. Yilanè characters include the ambitious Vaintè, who seeks to destroy the humans, and the pacifist Enge.
What if dinosaurs survived and they coexisted with humans on Earth! This was a great premise and a very good series. I really enjoyed the biological creativity, rather than mechanical.
I love parallel world stories, the idea of a version of our world that is a bit off in some interesting details. West of Eden posits a world similar to ours but very off! This is an Earth where dinosaurs did not die off but evolved into the dominant intelligent species with their own weird bio-technology. In this world mankind is an up and coming species but still at a very primitive state of development. Clearly the reptiles are going to give our upstart species us a hard time because nobody likes a competitor. This is a fascinating, entertaining and memorable book. You can even pick up some biology factoids from reading it. Well worth anybody's time.
This was a great satisfying read overall. The ONLY quibble I have is the first 100 pages. You are dropped into a reptilian culture immediately with no preparation for the reader. The culture and its language is unknown and you are left to puzzle out what is going on.... it is confusing and if I did not give it 100 pages I might have given up on the book.
Unknown to me at the time was there was a detailed description of this culture at-the-end of the book. I am not the type of reader that looks to the end of the book first. By the time I got there I was familiar with everything and it was superfluous as far as I was concerned. I think that section should have been placed as an introduction...not an epilogue. Then the first 100 pages would show more have made more sense.
Therefore I strongly recommend That the new reader look at the descriptions of this alternate world, where dinosaurs are not wiped out by a meteor strike, and its cultures before reading the novel
An excellent novel and the first of the series. I shall actively search out the rest of the series as well as look for more books by Harry Harrison. show less
Unknown to me at the time was there was a detailed description of this culture at-the-end of the book. I am not the type of reader that looks to the end of the book first. By the time I got there I was familiar with everything and it was superfluous as far as I was concerned. I think that section should have been placed as an introduction...not an epilogue. Then the first 100 pages would show more have made more sense.
Therefore I strongly recommend That the new reader look at the descriptions of this alternate world, where dinosaurs are not wiped out by a meteor strike, and its cultures before reading the novel
An excellent novel and the first of the series. I shall actively search out the rest of the series as well as look for more books by Harry Harrison. show less
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Author Information
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Harry Harrison was born Henry Maxwell Dempsey on March 12, 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut. He was drafted into the U. S. Air Corps in 1943 and became a sharpshooter, a military policeman, a gunnery instructor, and a specialist in the prototypes of computer-guided bomb-sights and gun turrets. After being discharged, he graduated from Hunter College show more with a degree in art. By the end of the 1940s, he was running a small studio that specialized in selling illustrations to comics and science-fiction magazines. He then moved on to editing some of the magazines. As the market for comics began to shrink, he started writing for science-fiction magazines. He wrote short science fiction stories and novels including Deathworld, Captive Universe, Montezuma's Revenge, Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, Stonehenge, West of Eden, Stars and Stripes Forever. He also wrote the Stainless Steel Rat series and the Bill, the Galactic Hero series. His novel Make Room! Make Room! Was the inspiration for the movie Soylent Green. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Hank Dempsey, Felix Boyd, Wade Kaempfert, Cameron Hall, Philip St. John, and Leslie Charteris. He died on August 15, 2012 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- West of Eden
- Original title
- West of Eden
- Original publication date
- 1984-08
- People/Characters
- Stallan; Kerrick; Enge; Vainte
- Epigraph
- 8 And the LORD God planted a garden
eastward in Eden;
and there he put the man
whom he had formed.
16 &nbs... (show all)p; And Cain went out from the presence
of the LORD, and dwelt
in the land of Nod,
on the east of Eden.
GENESIS
Izzo fa klabra massick, den sa
rinyur meth alpi
Spit in the teeth of winter, for he
always dies in the spring. - Dedication
- for
T.A. Shippey and
Jack Cohen
without whose aid this book
would never have been written
particular thanks as well to
John R. Pierce and Loen E. Stover - First words
- PROLOGUE: KERRICK
I have read the pages that follow here and I honestly believe them to be a true history of our world.
CHAPTER ONE:
Amahast was already awake when the first light of approaching down began to spread across the ocean. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Let us go home."
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.08768
Classifications
- Genres
- Science Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 823.08768 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Alternate history
- LCC
- PS3558 .A667 .W4 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
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- Reviews
- 26
- Rating
- (3.67)
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- 12 — Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 26
- ASINs
- 12