Shaman (Paperback)
$19.55
Email or call for price.
Email or call for price.
Staff Reviews
Kids had to grow up fast during the Pleistocene! This magnificent speculative adventure novel from sci-fi master, Kim Stanley Robinson will stay with the reader long after flipping to the final page. I was sucked in from the first line, "We had a bad shaman." Loon is an orphaned youngster reluctantly apprenticed to his pack's shaman. Not really sure that he's cut out for the role, Loon nonetheless loves one aspect of the job: painting on cave walls. This well-told tale will appeal to a wide variety of readers, but those who are drawn to subjects such as creativity, survival, rites-of-passage, memory, anthropology and vocation shouldn't miss it. - Chris (Robin loved this one too)
— From Chris WilcoxDescription
Kim Stanley Robinson, the New York Times bestselling author of science fiction masterworks such as the Mars trilogy and 2312, has, on many occasions, imagined our future. Now, in Shaman, he brings our past to life as never before.
There is Thorn, a shaman himself. He lives to pass down his wisdom and his stories -- to teach those who would follow in his footsteps.
There is Heather, the healer who, in many ways, holds the clan together.
There is Elga, an outsider and the bringer of change.
And then there is Loon, the next shaman, who is determined to find his own path. But in a world so treacherous, that journey is never simple -- and where it may lead is never certain.
Shaman is a powerful, thrilling and heartbreaking story of one young man's journey into adulthood -- and an awe-inspiring vision of how we lived thirty thousand years ago.
About the Author
Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and 2312. In 2008, he was named a "Hero of the Environment" by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He lives in Davis, California.
Praise For…
"Robinson's expert world building and lyrical prose offer Jack London-esque pleasures as they depict the stark beauties of the icy landscape - it's desolation, dangers and the desperate choices it forces people to make when pushed to the edge of existence. Richly detailed."—Kirkus
"This novel bears the markings of Robinson's consummate skill with a sort of anthropological fiction...Spectacular world building."—Booklist
"A seriously composed and compelling novel about prehistoric life...some of the most intelligent entertainment you can find."—NPR Books
"A thrilling journey through an age of ice and stone - one of Kim Stanley Robinson's best!"—Greg Bear
"This book proves once again that Robinson's fascination with the human condition and mankind's journey transcends easy genre labels...Despite all his previous accolades, this may be Robinson's best work to date, focused so sharply as it is on the simplest way of being human."—Library Journal
"The novel is an amazing piece of recreation, vividly evoking the deprivations, animalistic beliefs and day-to-day struggles of a primitive tribe."—Financial Times (UK)
"Intellectually engaged and intensely humane in a way SF rarely is, exuberantly speculative in a way only the best SF can be, this is the work of a writer at or approaching the top of his game."—Iain M. Banks on 2312
"Robinson's extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments."—Publishers Weekly on 2312
"2312 is a monumental tour-de-force that re-imagines the solar system in ways no one has envisioned before. Whether comparing the compositions of Beethoven to those of skylarks and warblers, or describing a life-threatening sunrise on Mercury, Robinson fills 2312 with joy and exuberance, danger and fear, and the steadily mounting suspense of a mystery that spans the planets. This is the finest novel yet from the author who gave us the Mars Trilogy and GALILEO'S DREAM. An amazing accomplishment."—Robert Crais
" In his vibrant, often moving new novel, "2312," Robinson's extrapolation is hard-wired to a truly affecting personal love story. [...] Perhaps Robinson's finest novel, "2312" is a treasured gift to fans of passionate storytelling; readers will be with Swan and Wahram in the tunnel long after reaching the last page."—LA Times
Download Audiobooks
We've partnered with Libro.fm to bring you a top-notch option for digital audiobooks. Take a look at our large catalog of recorded books at https://libro.fm/citylightsnc
