Playing “what if” with the fate of the “dinosaurs” is certainly not new, Harry Harrison is in good company with the likes of Verne, Burroughs, Doyle, and many others. Each have done their own spin on “What if the fate of the dinosaurs was different?” Harry Harrison’s answer to the question, West of Eden, is excellent.
He presents us with the Yilanè, a race of sentient beings that evolved from a reptilian ancestor. All too often, fiction paints a reptilian species as ruthless villains, an over-abused archetype1 which Harrison carefully avoids.
Instead he gives us a species (descended from some reptilian ancestor) that has a complex culture with its own customs, technological successes, and internal conflicts. The Yilanè are already struggling to (re)define itself when they make their first contact with the Tanu.
The Tanu, if they’re not homo sapiens, they’re something very close to it–sentient bipedal mammals. They too, have their own culture and customs–centered around an early hunter-gatherer culture.
Harrison succeeds in making both cultures plausible and believable and successfully avoids painting a picture of either culture as the villain. There are characters who do, but the author carefully does not–and there are individuals on both sides who are villains–and heroes. And sometimes, who is which is a matter of perspective.
The book is a good read, but it was slow to hook me. I think because the first four chapters are more of a prologue, and the real story begins in chapter five. We need those chapters–but I didn’t enjoy them as much as the rest of the book. The book is a longer read, overall, around 470 pages in the paperback edition, which in a couple of spots had me feeling impatient for the climax of the story.
If you love first contact fiction, you should read this one–it may not be aliens, as both cultures developed on the same planet, but they’re definitely alien to each other, and the issues remain the same. Likewise, if you love the “what if the dinosaurs…” question, you should read Harry Harrison’s West of Eden.
- Or even more annoying, “cutesy” archetype, which has me clawing the walls when I read or watch. Fortunately, there’s not even a hint of that sort of thing in West of Eden. ↩
I read West of Eden years ago and enjoyed it, but like you, I found it slow to get going. Uncharacteristic of Harrision, IMHO.
All three of the Eden books were relatively slow-paced. I’m not sure I could say what should be removed to improve the pacing. It may be it simply needed tightened throughout.
The other Harry Harrison novels I’ve read is his “Stainless Steel Rat” series, which were fun (this was quite some time ago, however).