Ivory and Bone

"Ivory and Bone" is advertised as Pride and Prejudice in the prehistoric era, and I feel that this fits the book incredibly well. The novel is written as Kol is talking to Mya and telling her the story of how they met and all the events that occurred afterwards (so it's "I" and "you"). At some points, this style was a bit difficult (I'm a fan of third person in general), but it did flow like a story being told. I found that Kol is akin to Elizabeth Bennet while Mya is like Mr. Darcy.

Overall, it's well-written and flows well, a pretty enjoyable book. If you know the plot of Pride and Prejudice, you'll be able to predict with some accuracy the characters and storyline. Fans of P&P will love this book!

Ivory and Bone was my first prehistoric read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is unique and the author paints vivid and fascinating picture of life of early humans and their struggle for survival in the harsh but beautiful landscape full of roaming mammoths and saber-tooth cats. The story is told by Kol from Manu clan and centers around him and two girls he meets one summer, Mya from clan of Olen and Lo from clan of Bosha. Their meeting puts in motion series of events that will change their lives and lives of their clans forever. The main conflict of the book is between Mya and Lo and it's to do with something that happen in their past. Kol finds himself in the middle of it and does not know who to trust. Kol was likeable character for the most part but he was clueless at times which annoyed me a bit. It was quite obvious which girl was honest and which girl was cunning and plotting but Kol could not distinguish between lies or truth even when it was in front of him like a big woolly mammoth. I hope he wises up a bit in the next book.

But the story was so much more than that. I loved the description of day to day life of clans. Their way of life is simple but fraught with dangers, worries about finding food, survival and continuation of the clans. It seems that even among prehistoric people there were those who tried to adapt to change and those who stubbornly clung to old ways of living and hunting even when landscape and hunting grounds around them were changing to the point where old way of life became unsustainable.

It's hard to believe that Julie Eshbaugh is a debut author, her writing is exquisite, captivating and transporting. I could almost see majestic mammoths and predatory cats, feel the biting wind coming from Great Ice, and experience clan's daily life. After reading Ivory and Bone I am craving more prehistoric stories and definitely want to read second book in the series to discover what is next for Kol, Mya and their people.