A novel that shows the story from a male perspective. Very interesting and different, though I wasn´t convinced in the end. Somehow the thought, that people living in the Stone Age were actually talking and thinking like we are doing it today, was giving me the creeps. I simply couldn´t bring it together, among many other things.
Ivory And Bone*
by Julie EshbaughIvory And Bone Series #1
Publisher Harper Teen on June 7, 2016
Genre Young Adult
Pages 384
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher
✶✶½
Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe – that´s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to trust him, but hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless – and nearly grave – mistake. What Kol doesn´t know is that underneath Mya´s cool disdain is a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya´s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives. As Kol grows closer to Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he´s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo – Kol doesn’t know which – had been planning all along.
Story
When Kol meets Mya for the first time he is lost. His feelings for her are deep, despite the fact that she is showing him her cold shoulder. The more he gets to know her, the more he wants her. But Mya is acting strangely. Every gift she returns in a different way and her behavior towards others is not understandable for Kol. But when he starts to talk to other girls, Mya seems to be very upset about it. For Kol an everlasting mystery.
Style
The thing I liked about this novel was, that Kol, a male figure, was telling the story. And yes, the language, writing style, and tone the author uses do sound very melodic and nice to read. And yet I wasn´t convinced by this book. Don´t get me wrong. The author understood it very well to create a plot with a wonderful landscape, the danger that comes along with the hunting, and the way how she describes things. But there was always a distance between me and the figures. I just couldn´t connect. And that is for me essential. The world where buffalos, mammoths, and saber-toothed live and give humans food and clothes were created in a beautiful way, no doubt here. But the story itself contains some weak passages, is sometimes very confusing and the plot isn´t always very well sorted out.
Characters
Kol would love nothing more, then to become a couple with Mya. But Mya shows a very proud and stuck up behavior. I couldn´t get really warm with her. In fact, sometimes while reading I had the thought that he might be better with Lo. And then there is the fact that I couldn´t see much romance going on between Kol and Mya. Yup, this is a young adult book, I know, but a bit more of the romantic stuff would have been nice.
Conclusion
Sad to say, but this book wasn´t really for me. Maybe my expectations were way too high. And my difficulties with this review are another thing. My mind is still refusing to bring talking humans together with the Stone Age. All I see are humans who were only able to make some noises, but couldn´t build actual words. Or am I totally wrong here? Sad, but I might not continue with this series.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition new release by Fischer Sauerländer on September 21, 2017
Julie Eshbaugh
Julie Eshbaugh lives in Philadelphia after having called Utah, France, and New York City home. Early on, Julie focused her artistic energies of filmmaking and online video. She made two short films and then spent several years producing an online video series for teens, which received several honors from the Webby Awards. Creating videos for teens led to writing novels for teens, and Julie has never looked back.