Another book review! Again, I both wrote out a review and made a voice-over video.
Rating: 5/5
This is an excellent book, and an Own Voices novel, so I highly recommend you check it out.
This book takes place thirty thousand years ago in prehistoric Africa, exploring a tribe that lives near Mount Kilimanjaro: the Ibandi. There are two main characters, T’Cori and Frog Hopping, and when invaders threaten their homeland, they must climb Mount Kilimanjaro to seek advice from a god.
I loved this story’s depiction of an ancient African culture, especially the coming-of-age rituals. This is also a welcome addition to the “ancient history” genre. Most books I’ve come across focus on either Europe or North America. It’s nice to find a book that centers on prehistoric Africa, considering that is when and where humanity dawned.
I have to say that this book is a very reasonable length. One criticism of Jean M. Auel’s books has been that the later entries in her Earth’s Children series are very long with very little plot. This novel is of average length and is very well plotted.
As I said before, this is an Own Voices book, written by African-American writer Steven Barnes. If you’re looking for a read next Black History Month, I recommend this novel: it’s essentially about the birth of black history.
