The Mammoth Stone

Mammoth Trilogy #1

by Margaret Allan

Born to the People of the Mammoth, Maya, believed to be an evil spirit by her people because of her mismatched eyes, journeys with the mate she has chosen across the plains on an adventure of beauty and danger

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Prehistoric, Prehistory, Historical

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Morgiana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good grief, what a terrible book. At first I had hopes that it would be like The Clan of the Cave Bear: plucky heroine, outcast by her society, makes her own way in life. Well, the heroine here is outcast by her society, except for the two old people who raise her, but that's the only similarity. I had a hard time relating to Maya, partially because I didn't like the character, but mostly because of the way the book is structured.

The first section takes place about 2500 years before Maya is born, and deals with the creation of the Mammoth Stone, which is actually carved from ivory but is alternately referred to as a "stone" or a "bone." Ms. Allan, ivory is actually made of dentin, which is one of the components of teeth and tusks. It is neither a stone nor a bone. Then we jump ahead to Maya's birth; her people, being uniformly dark-eyed, think she is a demon because she has heterochromic eyes, except for the old shaman who recognizes her as the Goddess or something. Oh, and her mother dies in childbirth.

After that, the story jumps ahead seven years. Maya is now a child. More bad stuff happens to her. Then we jump ahead another few years until she's a teenager. Even more bad stuff happens to her. The events that should be the main part of the plot are crammed into the last 50 or so pages and are resolved with a literal deus ex machina.

In addition to not being very well written, I have three other major complaints with this book: One, there are numerous typographical errors. Two, Allan frequently interjects comments about "Modern Shamans" regarding things like Venus figurines (in North America?) or epilepsy. That's very lazy on her part. One of the things I like about Auel's work is her ability to describe an artifact, site, or concept in terms appropriate for the characters but which are still recognizable to 21st century people--the character Creb, for example, was based on an actual Neanderthal skeleton, but Auel didn't beat us over the head by saying, "Thousands of years later, Modern Shamans would find his remains."

But the moment when I finally gave up on finding any redeeming trait in this book was the point when one character rapes another "as a matter of course" (p. 319). This character is supposed to be one of the good guys, which I guess is why the person who gets raped eventually learns to like it. No. Just no.

Apparently the book even did well enough to merit two sequels. Well, I'm certainly not going to bother with them, nor with any of Allan's other work. My condolences to the library that actually paid full price for this thing.

[Brenda Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the mammoth stone as well as the keeper of the stone and the last mammoth by Margaret Allen. Many times and owned them. However time has taken its toll I want to purchase them on my kindle.
D

[Pascalle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het is zeker een verhaal wat indruk maakt. Je leeft echt met Maya mee. Het is alleen te zwaarmoedig. Tot drie kwart van het boek is alles wat Maya meemaakt erg triest en zielig. Laatste 5 hoofdstukken slaat het eigenlijk pas om en is het op het einde toch eind goed al goed.

[Storm Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent read -- a little slow on the startup, but generally a good story. I will read the rest of the series.

[Barbara]

enjoyed the setting being in pennsylvania