Longtusk - Hardcover

Baxter, Stephen

3.75

309 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380818981 ISBN 13: 9780380818983

Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2001

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Even as a young calf, Longtusk understood the hardships the few remaining of his ancient kind had encountered when the glaciers retreated and grassy forests stole over the vast tundra the herds called home. Worst of all was when the Fireheads came -- cruel, two-legged beasts who kill for pleasure. At a tender age, Longtusk became their prisoner, hobbled, abused, and stripped of his freedom. But through toil and terror, Longtusk never forgot his Clan -- and he carried crucial, intimate knowledge of the Fireheads' ways, though at a terrible price. Now the time is rapidly approaching when he will have to clash with those who seek to destroy every living trace of his proud breed. The dark land before him will be mined with fierce obstacles and awesome challenges. And though it may require the ultimate sacrifice -- and a grim confrontation with the Lost, the most feared enemy of his gargantuan race -- Longtusk must not shun the twisted path in front of him...or what he is destined to become: the greatest hero of them all.

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About the Author:

Stephen Baxter is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee Sequence series, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and The Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's classic The Time Machine. He lives in England.

From Publishers Weekly:

Meticulously researched, simply told and appropriate for readers of all ages, this second volume (after 1999's Silverhair) in Baxter's Mammoth trilogy brings to compelling life the complex culture of these giant creatures. It's sixteen thousand years B.C., and woolly mammoths roam the earth, inhabiting the steppes of Beringia, the land bridge linking Asia and North America. Climactic changes have caused the steppes to recede, but humans, whom the mammoths call Fireheads, pose the greatest threat to their survival. Longtusk, whose coming-of-age story this is, must save the mammoths by spearheading an epic journey. Separated from his family, Longtusk is enslaved by the Fireheads, who make him a beast of burden. But a Dreamer (Neanderthal) woman foretells his future: Longtusk will die, along with the Dreamer who once saved his life and that of the Firehead matriarch, Crocus. Although Longtusk escapes his captors and finds a steppe that will support a small mammoth herd, years later Crocus and her people return, seeking to drive the mammoths away from their habitat. Longtusk embarks on a final heroic mission to save the mammoths and meet his fate. The book's themes of ecological disaster, warfare and change resonate deeply with today's concerns. When a mastodont tells Longtusk, "You and I must take the world as it is. [The Fireheads] imagined how it might be different. Whether it's better is beside the point; to the Fireheads, change is all that matters," it's clear that humans have not changed at all. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. (June 12)John W. Campbell Award, and has been a Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards nominee.

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