Adin: A novel of prehistory

ISBN-13: 9781467979610 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 514 str.

David Uerkvitz

Opis

Adin'Ur is a member of a prehistoric tribe that inhabited the Central Asian Steppe during the Fourth Millennium, B.C. Because the actual name of this tribe is unknown, archaeologists call these people "Kurgans," the name for their burial mounds. The tribe was significant in humankind's evolution toward civilization in being the first people to ride horses and in contributing to the languages of Europe. The book describes the rigorous life of a semi-nomadic people and how their creativity and stamina helped them cope with their animistic belief system and their battle for survival. Two shamans decide that Adin must marry Fi'Me, a woman he has never met. He is resentful of being forced to marry her, but on his wedding day is captivated by her beauty. To his dismay, he later discovers that she is determined to become a sorceress. In spite of warnings by a frightening genie, he tries to escape Fi'Me's occult influence by absconding with his son, Vlo. They are accompanied by Adin's childhood girlfriend, Mib'Im. During his trek across the steppe, he suffers powerful supernatural attacks by Fi'Me. Adin is a devoted father and a leader of men, but is a driven, conflicted primitive going through a crisis of spirit. He is also under the constant lurking threat of Dahig, son of a Scythian warrior chieftain, who had been lashed by Adin's father, Rinuk'Ur, leader of the clan. Dahig was a member of a group of Scythians that had been apprehended while descecrating the kurgan gravesite of Rinuk'Ur's father. Adin, in lighting out onto the steppe, becomes an easy target for Dahig's vengeance. Adin is a talented singer. He makes contact with other Kurgan clans, and through his singing of odes and ballads, perpetuates the rich legends, histories and myths of their ancestors. He also spreads the knowledge of horseback riding to these clans. Adin's younger sister, Komil'Ur, Adin's childhood friend, Lu'Ak, and his new bride set out to find Adin, and join him in following his outlandish dreams, in the course of which Dahig makes two brutal attacks on Adin, leaving scars of body and soul. Adin, through determination and a charismatic personality, continues toward accomplishments far beyond his aspirations. The author, David Uerkvitz, in his search for the origins of his unusual surname, found, through DNA testing, that he is a descendent of a person buried in a kurgan mound more than 5,200 years ago. While doing research on this tribe, he began to fantasize about how living under their circumstances must have been, and wished to breathe life into his ancestor's bones, thus creating Adin'Ur, protagonist of this unusual novel.