
Shaman
★★★★★Read Feb 4, 2014
Curious book, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I love Robinson's Mars Trilogy but every time I've dipped into anything else he's written it hasn't worked for me. Shaman seems the furthest from the hard sci-fi I'd prefer, it's a straight up Clan of the Cave Bear kind of pre-civilization story. (Or possibly post-apocalyptic, although there's no tokens of that). But something about the personification of the main character worked well for me. It's also a fun coming of age / heroic journey narrative, particularly the twist where our hero pretty much only ever survives because of the help of the people around him. All in all a pretty solid book. I'd be glad to read a sequel.
Goodreads readers give it 3.78★, from 5,014 ratings. I gave it 3★, −0.8, where I'm usually −0.9: I rated it like most.
Readers call it Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Speculative Fiction, Prehistory, Prehistoric.
Nominated for Locus Award 2014, John W. Campbell Memorial Award 2014.