Savage Eden

by K.M. Ashman

Golau, a Cro-Magnon hunter gatherer, is pulled from a freezing lake and nursed back to health by a group of wandering Neanderthal. Miles away, his clan's peaceful existence is torn apart by an attack from an unknown predatory species and many are taken beyond the ice wall as prey. A rescue mission is launched, with inter-species alliances being forged and as the struggle for survival intensifies, the clan left behind are forced to change their ways in order to survive the oncoming winter without their men. The horrifying truth about the third species is slowly revealed and a savage and bloody confrontation ensues, the outcome of which has the potential to affect the very future of humanity.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2011

About the author

Kevin Ashman is the author of twenty-six novels including the best-selling Roman Chronicles and highly ranked Medieval Sagas.

Always pushing the boundaries he found further success with the India Sommers Mysteries as well as three other stand-alone projects, Vampire, Savage Eden and the dystopian horror story, The Last Citadel. These cross-genre books have now been added to by the two Sci-fi novels, The Legacy Protocol and The Seventh God.

Kevin was born and raised in Wales in the United Kingdom and now writes full time having been signed by a major publishing company. He is married with four grown children and enjoys cycling, swimming and watching rugby as his hobbies.

Recent works include the Blood of Kings trilogy and the follow-up books, Warrior Princess and The Blade Bearer.

The most recent project is a five-book series about the Templars during the 12th century. Templar Steel, Templar Stone, Templar Blood and Templar Fury are already on sale and Templar Glory is due for release in Oct 2021.

An exciting project is also underway, a three-book series chronicling the years leading up to and beyond the Battle of Hastings.

Reviews

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking for a good stone age novel ever since finishing the Earth’s Children series by Jean Auel. The first book in that series, Clan of the Cave Bear, got a little bogged down in the detail and minutiae, but it was driven by a compelling character drama that made the book. Unfortunately the series steadily declined until its conclusion, with hairline fissures of the Love Triangle and the Big Misunderstanding appearing in books two and three, descending into padded filler, bland and overpowered protagonists, and little to no plot in books four, five, and six. As disappointing and awful as the later books were, the first book was genuinely a solid read, and from time to time I find myself wishing for another decent, stone age set bit of historical fiction. Thus, I found myself picking up Savage Eden by Kevin Ashman.

It’s worth noting briefly again that what made Clan of the Cave Bear so successful was its emphasis on strong, distinct characters thrown into the drama of serious struggles. The stone age setting was almost incidental – the most important part it played was to provide some of the obstacles that the characters had to overcome – but without a doubt the most important core of the story, of any story, is compelling characters embroiled in a deep and genuinely threatening plot (this is something Auel seemed to forget as her series progressed, sacrificing plot and characters in favour of spending pages and pages poring over how stone age peoples prepared a meal). This is something that Ashman seems to understand, although I would say he pulls it off with mixed success.

Early on in the book we meet with several stock characters; the iron-willed handsome hunter, the plucky handmaiden, the aging benevolent chief, etc. This, combined with unfortunate use of “okay” in dialogue (which to my ear just sounds far too modern), is probably what held me back from reading this book in the past. But I’m glad I gave it a chance, because these initial presentations don’t last. In fact the author specifically goes out of his way to avert these stock characterisations, and subvert several stereotypical plot points that are telegraphed early on through prophecies and in the hands of a less skilled author would’ve been allowed to play out. The plucky handmaiden proves herself a worthy and serious shaman, and then consciously makes a choice that leads her down a different path with a Neanderthal man, and it’s obvious that she knows her own mind and knows what she wants out of life. The pretty young slip of a girl promised to the hero develops feelings for another and breaks it off in order to be with the one she’s come to love. The hero refuses the place he’s won at the head of his clan. These, and several more, were all pleasant and welcome surprises. Several times the author isn’t afraid to give us brutal plot twists, or at least very seriously threaten at them to the point where I genuinely didn’t know if the outcome would come good. This felt realistic, and ramped up both the tension and the level of investment one has in these characters. Bad things do happen, and not everyone can have a happy ending. Credit to the author for that.

The author also recognises how to properly use the setting as a tool to drive the plot. A little time is spent in the beginning admiring and appreciating the beauty of the setting, but later the environment itself drives the plot by presenting the characters with the obstacles they must overcome. Instead of time being spent on describing in painstaking detail how a character might forage for food or treat a hide, these details are only presented when they are relevant and have purpose; when there is something to aim at or achieve that these details form the solution for. This is the way such historical settings should appear in a book, instead of being plonked down in great big info dumps with no relevance to the plot whatsoever. Weaving plot and information together is a necessary skill for any author, otherwise the information loses relevance and you can bet your reader’s interest will wane too.

However, all that said, I felt that Savage Eden wasn’t as good as it could be. I got a vague déjà vu of the film 10,000 BC; in the film the characters go on what is clearly supposed to be an epic quest and undertake an oh-so-noble fight, but the whole thing falls flat because the characters are indistinct and thinly sketched, the dialogue is pretty bad, and we really haven’t been given a reason to like them or root for them. Don’t get me wrong, Savage Eden is a vastly superior story, and as I said, the author deliberately works to subvert plot and character expectations. But I was still getting a tinge of 10,000 BC here. A touch of the stock character still clung to them, and we really didn’t get to know the characters in enough depth for me to feel that these were nuanced, living, breathing human beings. They didn’t quite make the leap off the page into fully realised complex identity. A fairly good example of this is the pretty girl affianced to the hero. Singlehandedly she comes up with four revolutionary ideas that change the course of human history – tide pool trapping fish; hunting with dogs; herding and domesticating animals; and planting crops. As well as stretching believability, this makes her rather overpowered and sets the big red Mary Sue alarm off. To be fair, she has to argue her case, and she can’t accomplish these things without the contribution of others, and of course the author is careful to make sure she doesn’t end up with the hero after all. This does subvert the Mary Sueism a lot, but the vague suspicion of it still lingers on the air. It’s also clear that several of the characters are intended to cut particularly noble figures, and their foe is, if not evil, certainly presented as mercilessly savage without explanation ever being given. This tripped my Hollywood Simplistic Movie Plot sensor a bit, reminiscent of The Good Guys Versus The Bad Guys; though, again, the variety of eventual endings go a fair way to averting this. The final point was that, for my opinion, the dialogue just felt a little lacking and formulaic. Together, this slight deficiency in characters, plot, and dialogue left me with a visceral sense that the story could’ve been better – but, I stress, the author tries his damnedest to avert these issues, and overall the story was a fun and enjoyable read.

7 out of 10

[Eyelove · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is wow!

I finally realize why I love KM Ashman novels. This book, as all of Ashman’s, bring the perfect recipe of history, battles, and romance. He would probably cringe at that thought but it’s true! I have not read an Ashman book yet that didn’t bring a tear when it came to relationships whether it be male, female or family.
Savage Eden took me back in time to show interactions and survival between Neanderthal & Cro Magnon. Who knows if it might have been this way, but I choose to believe Ashman must have come close to a tale of what could have been. If you love a great story, unable to put the book down, you will not go wrong reading Savage Eden. I’ll never forget this novel...never.

[Cameron Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think I was quite ready for how graphically violent this book is, surprisingly not from the environment but a nice feature at least is that the violence is perpetrated by the “humans” as a nice way to ephasise that their violence is conscious which was an interesting point (wow that’s a long sentence)
I liked a bit that many of the stock characters subverted some of the expectations we put on them but unfortunately everyone still did feel slightly “stock”-ish. The dialogue was also a bit too modern and I found the modern descriptions of certain events by the narrator took me out of the story a bit, almost fourth-wall breaking.

However if you like graphic descriptions of violence, a good story with some twists and a setting not as often depicted I would recommend this

[Malgorzata Hanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story set in prehistoric times, fast paced and engaging. I was curious about the way it was handled, as I have read all Jean Auel's books and loved them. Savage Eden is a bit different in the description of the Neanderthals but very well written, and the addition a a different race of humans works really well. It is really a savage world that our ancestors lived in and this book makes it real .

[Glint Trooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shocking, unforgettable read, not for the faint of heart.
I’m giving Savage Eden 5 stars, though not for typical reasons. On plot, pacing, and structure alone, it would likely be closer to 3.5 stars. The higher rating reflects the sheer intensity and impact of the reading experience, this is one of the few novels that genuinely shocked me.

[wendy reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant

another masterpiece from K M Ashman. he is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. this is the fourth book I have read and this is even better than the Roman series which was incredibly well written.

[Ray Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story telling, well worth a read.

Excellent tale told in a similar form of Jean Auel, (Clan of the Cave Bear) taking you back to the Mesolithic period, well written with a great story line.
A very enjoyable tale.

[John Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Nothing more needs saying, other than cannot wait to read his next , just have to decide which one is next

[Thomas L. White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Two…?

There has to be more volumes in this story line, please bring us more Ashman. Such an interesting primise. Thank for the good read.

[Dani Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing Read

I really enjoyed this epic tale from prehistory. Although the concepts were far reaching for my modern mind, I soon became swept away by the tale. Ashman always does a wonderful job of telling stories steeped in drama and conflict; although there is romance, it never takes from the masculine action that I've come to expect. Definitely not your typical historical fiction, covering a topic that I've not read previously but it was worth the peak behind the cover.