Rating: 
Summary: Are You Sure This is Fiction?
Review: This book has a lot of positives. Most of the book is quite interesting with a lot of scientific detail. It focuses on a virtually unexplored area of Kenya that has remained untouched since before the Stone Age. This area has primitive man in different stages of genetic development. The main character is forced to live with the "gracile" version of these primitive humans. There is also a group far more primitive called "robusts."The book also has a battle between paleontologists and their varying ideas as to what should happen to these "protohumans." The main character, Ken Lauder, wants to study them and learn. His rival, Cyril Anderson, wants to exploit them to make a name for himself. Then we have I.V. Haskar, who knew of the existence of the protohumans for many years and feared what they mean to civilization so he kept their existence a secret. What detracted from the book for me was the civil unrest and virtual revolution happening in Kenya at the time. This would have made for an interesting book on its own but in this novel, I felt a lot of it to be boring and detracting to the story as a whole. The story also focuses on Ken's relationship with a Kenyan woman named Yinka. For some reason Ken is a source of fascination for Yinka but I never really understood why. It seemed like their relationship may have been the author's fantasy. The biggest relationship in the book is the father/son relationship that develops between Ken and a young protohuman he names Long Toes. Through gestures and sounds, they are able to communicate in a way that is truly fascinating. They develop a strong bond battling a lion, that is one of the best pieces of writing that I have ever read. All in all I truly liked this book and found it superior to another novel about protohumans that I also enjoyed called "Neanderthal."
Rating: 
Summary: Great Adventure - Propescu has it all!
Review: This book is a page turner! It has everything: a love story, a father/son story, friendship, murder, African history, and of course it's also a story on the development of humans. It keeps you wondering what is going to happen and the character development is broad and believable. I can't put it down! Highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is great adventure book about a scientist discovering a hominid boy who leads him to the others of his kind. The most interesting parts of the book are the days Ken Lauder, an anthropologist, spend with the boy as well as a time they spent with the boy's band. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in adventure fiction as well as the mystery of human origins. This book would be better if the author would remove the unrest and revolution scenes from the text. They have nothing to do with the story.
| 
