By Tooth and Claw

Clan of the Claw #2

by S.M. Stirling, Bill Fawcett (Editor), Mercedes Lackey

ORIGINAL TRADE PAPERBACK. New York Times best-selling authors S.M. Stirling, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Jody Lynn Nye return with four novellas. The cat-like Mrem, our heroes, battle the deep reptilian intelligence of humanoid dinosaurs in a Bronze Age world.

First entry in a new series with four big all new linked novellas from multiple best-sellers S.M. Stirling, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Jody Lynn Nye! After the extinction asteroid does not strike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving–but so do the mammals. We mammals have achieved humanlike shapes, but now it’s cold-blooded, magic-using reptiles against the hot-blooded, hot-tempered descendants of cats.  

In a heroic, Bronze Age world similar to 300, the Mrem Clans expand their rough-and-tumble territory, but now they face the Lishkash, reptilian masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic. It’s mammalian courage and adaptation against reptile cunning in a clash of steel and will that determine who shall inherit the Earth.

Genres: Fantasy, Alternate History, Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Magic

ebook

First published March 15, 2015

About the author

Stephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.

MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)

I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book; I had not read the first book [not realizing this was the second book in an anthology-like series]. It moved at a fairly decent pace for me. I do not quite know what to say about the character development; it was like any other story or group of stories - hit-and-miss. Each story definitely had its strengths and weaknesses. It was an entertaining anthology based upon the premise that Earth was never struck by a dino-killing asteroid and the predominant species of mammals that evolved were felines and not simians/sapiens.

Bury My Heart: This tale strongly reminded me of the story of the three hundred Spartans who held off a much larger force back in the day. It was kind of hard to get into, at first, as the reader is learning about this strange new world and a little about the cataclysm that occurred as the story progresses. It tells the tale of a small group of survivors who learn of a larger clan "somewhere else" offering to take in all survivors to ensure the race's future . . . survival. You have the wise-but-stern leader wanting what is best for the clan and having to make hard choices (Sartas Rewl); you have his beloved wife who saved much of the young kits from the cataclysm and helps her mate/husband in making decisions and encouraging others to agree with her husband (Reshia Rewl[?]). You have the young bully who thinks he would be a better leader and is humbled in front of the clan (Shar Enthiss); he is an "outsider" who is later given a chance to regain whatever honor he might have had as well as attain even greater glory in the coming battle. You have the spunky young post-adolescent (Mreiss Lrew) who is trapped between being considered a child and an adult; he has been well-trained and unknowingly groomed to be the next leader for the clan if the current talonmaster [leader of the tribe] is killed in the "final battle" for this story.

The "best part" of this story for me was when Shar Enthiss humbly asks if he can join the forces planning to hold back the coming lizard "army" to save the ragtag group. The talonmaster (Sartas Rewl) not only allows the humbled braggart to join the small group in their holding action, but Sartas does an incredible job of speaking value into the young feline's life, telling Shar of the honor the Shar will win in the coming battle. Sartas Rewl ends up killing the "nobleman" leading the dinosaur-mob, allowing the rest of the clan to escape.

The "second best" part of the book involves Sartas telling Mreiss Lrew that Mreiss has the most important task of all - the post-adolescent is expected to not take part in the battle; Mreiss is expected to survive. Mreiss is to watch what happens and then escape to both tell the clan how their clansmates died as well as to lead the clan to safety.

And then the story ends. The reader can only assume they must have made it to safety [okay, fine, whatever, but I've never been a fan of open-ended endings hahahah].

On a side note, the title brought to mind Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

I did like the "concept" [or idea] that as long as one member of the clan survived,

A Clan's Foundation: This story is exactly what the title says - it is about how a mob of escaping felines becomes a clan. I thought it was well-written, although it also started "slow" and took a bit for me to get into it. It has some interesting characters in it, including one who "gets more than he deserves" (as it were). None of the character really stood out to me, though, and it also ended on an "ambivalent" note (leaving it up to the reader to decide if they made it to safety or not).

It is about a group of slaves who encounter an injured "wild" (free) Mrem (the name of the feline race of intelligent mammals) and the "wild" Mrem inspires a revolt. The entire group of slaves escapes, taking all of the wealth of the Liskash with them as they flee [food, supplies, herds of animals, and numerous wagons and creatures to pull the wagons]. So, in some respect(s) it strongly reminded me of the Exodus story in the Hebrew Bible [involving the Israelites being slaves to the Egyptians and eventually leaving after the Ten Plagues with all of the wealth of Egypt to find the Promised Land]; I could see some very strong parallels between the two stories hahahah.

A group of Liskash come across them and attempt to destroy the camp while stealing back the two herds of animals. Most of the Liskash are killed after the attack, and two groups of herdsmen go after the rest of their herds to being them back to the group. The herdsmen for the hamsticorns are able to recover all of lost members of their herd and return to the larger group of refugees. The herdsmen for the bundor recover most of their herd and return to the larger group of refugees sans their "leader" (who had been retaken captive by the Liskash). The story ends with the group declaring a leader and a name for their newly-founded clan [so that they will be accepted by the Clan of the Claw when they finally do meet up] just before the Clan of Ranowr encounters the Clan of the Claw and safety/freedom.

The "wild" (free) Mrem is named Canar Trowr, and it was his tales of Mrem running free and not being enslaved that caused the slaves to revolt. That, and the "leader" of the slaves [whose name was Ranowr] helped ensure the success of the revolt and subsequent escape of the slaves. Ranowr was the favorite of the Princess [moved to Queenhood too early] and he managed to convince Hissah to break every bone [including the spine] in the back of the captain of the Liskash's royal guard; from there, he convinced her to drink some poison by first ingesting it to ensure she would follow suit. Her death throws the citadel into chaos and the slaves were able to escape.

This story was an interesting story on how a group joined together to become more than just a wandering mob. It was a mixed bundle, as some in the mob felt that being free meant being able to do whatever they wanted without consequences and others were forced "take charge" and force everybody to stay in line in order to prevent the mob from descending into anarchy and everybody dying. It was funny, but some of the conversations about the importance of being chosen by the group to function as the "leader" reminded me of some of the conversations about leadership from Tunnel in the Sky. Canar tells the "leaders" [before one "final" leader is selected] how important it is they have a talonmaster and a clan name before meeting the Clan of the Claw; otherwise, the Clan of the Claw might not accept them into the Clan of the Claw's ranks/land/domain. The group is somewhat forced to make a decision; those who cannot abide by the "new laws" of the "new clan" will be forced to leave the protection of Clan of Ranowr and try to survive on their own. Clearly, nobody wants to experience that kind of "rejection" or disapproval. The decision about who would be talonmaster was fairly simple and nearly unanimous; there were no other real contenders for the position, anyway. It was probably the shortest tale in the anthology, but it was well-written and moved at a decent pace.

Sanctuary: This was the longest story in the anthology. It was extremely slow in getting started, and moved at a decent pace as it progressed. I was wondering if such a story would occur out of the four in this anthology, so it was not a huge surprised when it worked at that a group of outcast Liskash would work in tandem with a group of Mrem survivors in order for everybody to survive. It was an interesting novella in which two disparate groups AND members from a third group were forced to come to terms and work together in order to survive. There was an interesting blending of different belief systems into order "to make something stronger" that would survive. In the end, the escapees/refugees do find an island upon which to build their "new utopian-society" in which both groups of species recognized how much they needed each other to survive.

Despite it being the longest/biggest story in this anthology, I will probably say the least about it. It is essentially a "chase story" in which two different refugee groups join together for mutual survival against a larger enemy force that would either enslave them [the Mrem] or kill them [the Liskash]. Some members of the Mrem portion of the group are able to "build" numerous traps and pitfalls to try and bleed the "dino-army" but their acts are not enough to bleed the oncoming army dry or to discourage the Dino-leader/commander from ceasing and desisting. In the end, it takes a team of "spiritual" Liskash and Mrem to save the day from the attacking Liskash horde. The leader of the Liskash horde is killed [taken out], and the surviving commanders try to gather up as much men as they can to create armies large enough to defeat their counterparts as well as defend their "new" territory from invasions/incursions AND (eventually) allow them to attack those around them. However, the "religious leaders" of the attacking group managed to take mental control [of sorts] of the majority of the soldiers and thereby find themselves in command of the largest contingent of Liskash soldiers. The story ends with the survivors working out a plan of action in which mutual survival is required for all parties to thrive and not become weak and defenseless.

The story is told from multiple perspectives, which adds to and detracts from the overall narrative. I did like how the different societies [Mrem, Liskash outcasts, and Liskash] had to work together in order to ensure their ultimate survival [at the end of the story]. There were some interesting conversations throughout the story, and the character development was decent [although it was hard to keep track of all of the various names, at times]. It starts off very, very, very slow (I assume because of the number or characters?) before it starts to have any kind of momentum. It reached a certain point in the narrative where I figured out part of the ending [I figured out they'd have to cooperate in order to survive "the big finale"; I just did not know what would force them to cooperate]. As long as it was, it was a good story, and I did enjoy their encounter with "The Sure Ones"; I almost felt "The Sure Ones" were the best part of the story, in some respects. It was worth the read.

Feeding a Fever: This was an interesting story. It is about a small group of survivors trying to make their way through Liskash lands in order to find the Talon of the Claw Clan and the subsequent much-hoped for freedom and survival. I liked how the story was resolved at the end; I did not see that twist coming! It was well done, and helped make it a "better" story, in my opinion, as well as "worth the wait" in terms of reading. It is funny, but all of the stories seem to start off slow before they pick up steam and get moving. I think part of that is because they are "stand alone" stories and do not really build on each other. Because of this, each author has to do a lot of "world building" for their respective stories, which takes time and energy away from the overall story. The only "real" continuity was that there was some kind of cataclysm involving salt water that caused the displacement of both races [Mrem and Liskash] as well as untold damage to the land and environment.

In this story, somehow a group of Mrem survivors becomes infected and sick; the readers find out that, generally, sicknesses do not pass between species. Some of the infected Mrem are Dancers [a very important part of Mrem society who are able to create a type of "psychic shield" over the Mrem and are also potent in battle]. The valet [Petru, no last name] who takes care of the Dancers convinces his talonmaster to send him and six or seven of the other healthiest Mrem ahead to find the necessary ingredients for a "potion"/remedy that will "heal" [restore to health] those of the clan who are sick. After the group sets out and finds the necessary ingredients, they are captured by a group of Liskash. Prior to being captured, one of the Mrem [Drillmaster Scaro] had become sick with the infection infesting the rest of the tribe. The captured Mrem are then forced to forage for this group of Liskash; the leader of the dinosaurs begins to trust Petru more and more until Petru is able to turn the tables on their captures. The disease infecting Scaro manages to jump species, infecting some of their guards. Scaro then takes the opportunity to either sneeze upon or touch every guard. From there, Petru plots to poison a portion of one of the evening meals so that the Dino commander/leader is killed. His plan works, the healing potion works, and the book ends on a happy note [the salvation of the clan from the infection AND starvation], yet they have not yet met up with the Clan of the Claw for their "ultimate salvation".

The story starts out with the group being sick. In a "backstory info-dump" kind-of-way, we learn that the Mrem had been living in a Liskash citadel until the cataclysm occurred and their Liskash overlords were killed [at least, that is how I interpreted it]. They stayed there for a bit longer, living in peace with the surviving Liskash, until the rising waters forced them to flee [and the potential threat of adjoining Liskash lords invading the now-leaderless province and taking them captive]. They take as much as they can carry and leave the citadel. They are forced to head deep into a desert and to undergo strict food rationing in order to attempt to survive the journey. They do managed to find various oases across the desert, but then they come across one with clearly scummy water. Some of the clan drinks without boiling the water first to purify it, and they become sick. The sickness quickly spreads, and the group is forced to come to a halt as they can no longer proceed. This is when the group of six or seven is sent out; one of the members of the group was a former resident who lived in the area and was able to lead them to marshes that would have the necessary herbs and plants that Petru needed to make his potion. I am unsure of this girl was a former slave who had been traded/captured to (by) another group of Liskash, but she was from the area in which the clan had entered and recognized the area; I got the impression she also knew which roots, fruits, vegetation, and herbs, and whatnot were required by Petru for his potion/remedy. Petru then uses his knowledge of herbs, spices, and "poisonous plants" to be able to turn the tables on their Liskash captors and free themselves. Another group of six or seven warriors had been sent to find Petru and his party; they found them as the only survivors in a Liskash citadel and the clan was saved.

I did think it was odd that some of the group/clan in this story had two names and some had only one name. I had the impression that only the Mrem "slaves" had singular names where as the free Mrem had two names. I also could not decide if ALL the Mrem in this tale were former slaves or not; some of them clearly were [such as Bireena, who was identified as a former slave] and others were free Mrem [as they had two names and identified themselves as a part of a clan].

I did like the "twist" at the end of the story in which the dinosaur lord thought the food had been poisoned, so he forced them to eat some of the meal that they had prepared. What he did not know was that they had poisoned the beer/alcoholic drink(s); when he saw they ate the food with no ill effects, the dino-lord threw caution to the wind and enjoyed the feast, drinking copious amounts of alcohol until he died; it was well done and I did not see it coming. I am not sure why, in retrospect; it should have been an "either . . . or . . . " situation that I felt I ought to have recognized (after the fact! hahahah). I did recognize part of it; just now how it was going to be pulled off.

It was a good anthology; I enjoyed reading it. I think if the stories had tied in together [as advertised] I would have enjoyed it more than I did [as each story would have built upon the one before and made it a bit "easier to follow" instead of starting a new story with new characters each time]. It was an entertaining concept and I thought well-executed, for the most part although there were a few inconsistencies throughout the stories. In at least one story, the Liskash make the comment that female Liskash are good only for sex or cooking and nothing else; yet, in one of the stories, a Liskash princess had become "queen" for an extremely short period of time. If the female Liskash were "good for nothing" it seems hard to believe one could have become a queen. But, then again, it could just be indicative of the attitudes men have towards female leaders. Each story does start off slow, but each story does have some gems in them that make them worth the reading. I do think the lack of resolution in three of the stories does hurt them since they do not "build upon each other" as the advertising indicates. I am glad that I took a chance to read this book.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mrem (cat-like mammals) and Liskash (humanoid dinosaurs) share the same world in uneasy balance, their conflicting civilizations warring against each other until a huge flood forces change upon both.

As groups from both sides are forced into movement, some enslaved Mrem rebel while other Likash take the opportunity to embrace change.

Each novella moves the story onward from a slightly different angle, changing from tribe to tribe and building complexity within the overall arc.

The authors are all great SF/F writers, and both the plots and characters are imaginative and unique, but this didn't connect with me. I'll go back to Harry Harrison's West of Eden books for alternate-history intelligent dinosaurs.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red star bad, white star good, oops wrong mnemonic! Bugs bad, troopers good, nope wrong book. Lizards bad, kitty-cats good, there we go. Three of the four stories in this collection fail to rise above this Baenal cliche and could rated at best OK (**). Eric Flint's story rise above this with a much more nuanced version that makes use of the unusual world background and supplies some fun surprises. Luckily it's also the longest story so you suffer less from the hackneyed military SF that can swap skins and weapons without being rewritten.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried reading this collection of stories and I guess the previous reader who borrowed it from the library was as annoyed by the grammatical errors as I was. They corrected some on about every other page. Not a great look for a group of "New York Times best-selling authors" (or at least their editors).

[Gail Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

and now I need to find more of this series to read.

[William Bentrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories. I like novels as opposed to short stories. If the short story is good you're disappointed that it isn't a novel. This collection is by four authors I really enjoy. They produced four stories using the same universe setting and theme. The authors were S.M. Stirling, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Jody Lynn Nye. I liked Mz. Nye's story the best of the group.

The trouble with a collection of short stories in which the authors have decided on an environment is the disjointed nature of the stories. Each story is adequate but hardly outstanding as the stories don't really mesh well. Considering the four authors and how good they are, I found that surprising and disappointing.

The main plot of the story is the conflict between two divers species, a lizard based species and a feline based species. Simplistically cold blooded versus mammal with characteristics ascribed through stereotype. The lizards are the bad guys and the mammals are the good guys. The two groups interaction and their problems are centered around an enormous natural catastrophe.

The stories were ok, probably my general dislike of short stories vs novels contributes to my lack of enthusiasm for the book.

[Maurynne Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this entry into the Clan of the Claw universe. Exiled: Clan of the Claw set up the worldview with the “dinosaur” vs. “mammal” competition—dinosaur lords enslaved the cat peoples, and a cataclysm on this part of the planet has allowed for a more overt than covert rebellion. It’s standard fare for exploring a lot of issues. What I particularly enjoyed about this book and hope is expanded in the next entry is the intriguing concept of dance magic. There’s a mix of magic and mental and manual technology. The cats follow core shamanic practices, and are the dancers. There are a lot of bard stories with magical music of instrument and voice, and there are stories with dancers as assassins, but there haven’t been a lot of dancer magicians—dancers, period—in the SFF pantheon. Dancers are usually thrown in with actors and prostitutes—entertainers and seducers. There’s the Robinson’s Stardance series, and I remember a story in which first contact on Earth was facilitated by dance as communication, but this promises a lot more depth if continued. Anyway I love how the concept’s being carried out. Yes, buy!

I received an EARC for review from the publisher and Netgalley.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in a relatively new series from Baen Books, this set of four novellas follows the exploits Earth denizens in an alternate universe where no asteroids impacted the planet and the dinosaurs were not wiped out. Two warring tribes have emerged: the Mren rising up from cat ancestry and the dinosaurs themselves, who have increased in intelligence. The short novels are from S.M Stirling, Eric Flint, Jody Lynn Nye, and a collaboration with Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin, and are what we've come to expect from Baen, with plenty of conflict, suspense and action. This series started in 2011 with Exiled: The Clan of the Claw, which was very enjoyable and continues splendidly here. I think the short novel or novella is one of the best forms for Science Fiction and Fantasy and these stories go a long way to prove that point.

[Kevin Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first two stories but the other two were merely ok.