Shiva's Challenge: An Adventure of the Ice Age

Shiva #3

by J.H. Brennan

Fourteen-year-old Shiva submits to an ordeal in the frozen wasteland north of her tribe's camp, to test her potential for becoming shaman for the Shingu people

Genres: Prehistoric

209 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

James Herbert "Herbie" Brennan is a lecturer and the author of over one hundred fiction and non-fiction books for adults, teens, and children.

His works have been translated into approximately fifty languages, he has also written books on the Occult and New Age. He initially trained in esoteric teachings and Qabalah with the Fraternity of the Inner Light, and later became associated with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and the Servants of the Light.

In 1995 he contributed two novels to the Horrorscopes series under the house pen name Maria Palmer.

In 2003, Brennan published the children's book The Book of Wizardry: The Apprentice's Guide to the Secrets of the Wizards' Guild under the pseudonym Cornelius Rumstuckle.

Reviews

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shiva, an orphan child, is brought before the Crone. She is subjected to the Ordeal by Poison usually reserved for murderers. Shiva must choose the one bowl out of six that is safe. Her mother's spirit appears to her and tells her to pick the bowl on the end. Shiva drinks and falls into a deep sleep. When she awakes she finds herself in an ice cave deep in Mamar's Kingdom. The Shingu Crone appears before her and tells her that she will be the next crone if she can endure the dangers of Mamar's Kingdom and return to her people. Shiva's mother appears again and tells her where to find food and firewood. In the cave, Shiva also finds the bodies of seven young women. Each have a strap of bear skin tied to their upper arm, the sign of a crone. Shiva's knows that the space between two of the women is for her if she fails her test. Exchanging her furs for the warmer furs of the women and taking a small bundle of food and wood, Shiva heads south towards her tribe. She is walking across a frozen lake when the lake's ice breaks up and Shiva narrowly escapes death. She loses her bundle and wanders aimlessly until she finds the ogre's forest. There she learns that the ogre chief, Thag, has been ousted by a usurper named Shil. He exiles Thag and sends three men to kill him. Thag manages to kill two. Shiva finds her friend in a much weakened condition and takes him home. Then, she returns to her own tribe to claim her position as the new crone.
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