Tag: Xhosa

Review of Endangered Species

This is a Leonberger blog, but I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but other types of books I love and want to promote. With this post I would like to promote a truly great novel featuring Neanderthals. The book is called Endangered Species by Jacqui Murray. I recently participated in a so-called virtual book blast for this book. It is a special promotion. This post is just about my review for this book. The virtual book blast is the important post and if you did not see it yet please click here. Below is a list of some additional book blast posts for this book. If you know of additional ones, please tell me in the comments.

  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – Darlene Foster – Click here
  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – Liz Gauffreau – Click here
  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – Carol Cooks – Click here
  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – John Howell – Click here
  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – Booomcha, Kymber Hawke – Click here
  • Virtual Book Blast for Endangered Species – Miriam Hurdle – click here.

To see the Neanderthal super fact post (given to me by Jacqui Murray) – Click here

Below is an overview of the three formats of Endangered Species

  • Paperback –  Structured Learning LLC (January 2, 2025), ISBN-10 : 1942101643, ISBN-13 : 978-1942101642, 301 pages, Item Weight : 1.15 pounds, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.68 x 9 inches, it cost $15.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – Structured Learning LLC (January 2, 2025), ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJ9Y7PQ8, 323 pages. It is currently $4.99 on Amazon.com and free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audiobook – Structured Learning LLC (January 4, 2025), ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CY6YQL83, It is currently $1.99 on Amazon.com.  Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover features the title and author, a neanderthal woman and her canine/wolf and there is an erupting volcano in the background.
Front cover of Endangered Species. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon Description of Endangered Species

Savage Land is the third trilogy about prehistoric man in the series, Man. Vs. Nature.Written in the spirit of Jean Auel, Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth’s history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Each of the tribes considered themselves apex predators. Neither was. That crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the blight of man from her face.

Endangered Species is Book One of the trilogy. Yu’ung and her Neanderthal tribe must align with Fierce and his Tall Ones—an advanced tribe of humans. Even then, survival is not ensured. The story starts in the Altai Mountains of Siberia as they prepare for a cross-continent journey to a new home away from the volcano’s devastation.

Join me in this three-book fictional exploration of Neanderthals. Be ready for a world nothing like what you thought it would be, filled with clever minds, brilliant acts, and innovative solutions to life-ending problems, all based on real events. At the end of this trilogy, you’ll be proud to call Neanderthals family.

My Amazon Review of Endangered Species

Something Big Happened 75,000 Years Ago. We The People Are Still Here.

When I was a teenager, I read a few of Jean M. Auels novels about pre-historic humans. I loved them and I saw the movie. Now I am reading Jacqui Murray’s novels about pre-historic humans. Jacqui Murray’s books are even more fascinating and very realistic and well researched. Her books also cover a larger time interval starting 1.8 million years ago. The story in this fairly new book takes place 75,000 years ago when our planet was home to several human species including Homo neanderthalensis or Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. The focus of the story is on a tribe of Neanderthals calling themselves “the people”. Homo Sapiens (people like us) are referred to as “tall ones”. There were also other humanoid species alive at the time such as Homo erectus and Denisovans and they are referred to as “uprights” in this book. Well, all homo species are referred to as uprights in this book.

Something very bad is about to happen. Something that threatens the survival of all homo species. You can guess what from the front cover. There is a vision, or a spirit, of a Homo erectus woman called Xhosa who provide help and wisdom from the spiritual realm. Some central characters are Yu’ung, a female Neanderthal who is a healer and the leader of her tribe, Fierce the leader of a Homo sapiens tribe, Jun or Shanadar a young Neanderthal man and his canines Ump, White Streak (and a few more), who are sent by Xhosa on a special mission. I loved the canines (related to wolves). As a side note I can add that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens could interbreed despite being considered different species because the concept of species is complex.

The many adventures recounted in this book are fascinating, intense and captivating and there is something interesting and fun happening on every page. The character development is detailed and well done. Despite being so ancient and so different from us modern people, the humanoids in the book come alive in your imagination and you are transported into a different world from long ago. I found myself cheering for and caring for a Neanderthal woman and loving a wild dog. One passage that I found to be so intense that I was breathless was when Jun/Shanadar saved the life of a drowning canine pup called Blaze. What a job he had, saving a pup and saving the world. Did all this happen for real? I don’t know, but it could have. I loved this book. It is a page turner, and I highly recommend this book as well as her previous books.

Photo of the author, an overview of the author, and a description of the book
Back cover of Endangered Species. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle version of the book.

About the Author of Endangered Species

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also the author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy.

When not writing, she is grad school teacher, author of over a hundred tech ed resources including K-12 technology curricula, and an Amazon Vine Voice. You can find her resources at her publisher, Structured Learning LLC. She lives in So. California with her husband of forty years, Labrador Casey, and lots of contact with her adult children, one a Cdr in the Navy, the other a SFC in the Army. Feel free to reach out to Jacqui at her blog, WordDreams, or her social media platforms.

Prehistoric Refugees

The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I read Survival of the Fittest (Book 1 of Crossroads trilogy) the Paperback version – March 2, 2019, by Jacqui Murray. It is another of Jacqui Murray’s wonderful prehistoric novels and I loved it. It exists in three formats on Amazon.

  • Paperback –  Publisher : Structured Learning LLC (March 2, 2019), ISBN-10: 194210135X, ISBN-13: 978-1942101352, 311 pages, Item Weight : 1.01 pounds, Dimensions : 6 x 0.78 x 9 inches, it cost $14.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Hardback –  Publisher : Structured Learning LLC (February 28, 2021), ISBN-10: 1942101708, ISBN-13: 978-1942101703, 328 pages, Item Weight : 1.24 pounds, dimensions : 6 x 0.93 x 9 inches, it cost $24.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher : Structured Learning LLC (March 6, 2019), ASIN: B07NKM58GB, it costs $3.99 on US Amazon, it is free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover feature title and author name and a picture of a wolf and a tall prehistoric girl holding a spear.
Front cover of  Survival of the Fittest. Click here or on the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the book. Picture is scanned from the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

Five tribes. One leader. A treacherous journey across three continents in search of a new home. Written in the spirit of Jean Auel, Survival of the Fittest is an unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict and passion. Chased by a ruthless enemy, Xhosa leads her People on a grueling journey through unknown and dangerous lands following a path laid out decades before by her father, to be followed only as a last resort. She is joined by other fleeing tribes from Indonesia, China, South Africa, East Africa, and the Levant, all similarly forced by timeless events to find new lives. As they struggle to overcome treachery, lies, tragedy, secrets, and Nature itself, Xhosa is forced to face the reality that her enemy doesn’t want to ruin her People. It wants to ruin her. The story is set 850,000 years ago, a time in prehistory when man populated most of Eurasia, where ‘survival of the fittest’ was not a slogan. It was a destiny. Xhosa’s People were from a violent species, one fully capable of addressing the many hardships that threatened their lives except for one: future man, a smarter version of themselves, one destined to obliterate all those who came before.

This is my Amazon review of Survival of the Fittest by Jacqui Murray

The Survival Story of Prehistoric Refugees

What does survival of the fittest mean? The most fit are not necessarily the strongest or the fastest but the ones who are the most adaptable to change. The survival of prehistoric man was helped by so many aspects of skills, health, intelligence, making tools, the ability to cooperate and the willingness to change, as well as empathy. In this book we follow a few tribes of Homo Erectus who are forced to relocate due to the encroachment and attacks of the so called “Big Heads”.

Xhosa is a Homo Erectus woman who becomes the leader of her people as well as other tribes who join them on their trip through north Africa and into the Middle East. She is a powerful, resourceful, and ruthless warrior and hunter but at the same time she is kindhearted, intelligent, and open minded. Other important characters are Nightshade, Rainbow, Zvi, Seeker, Pan-Do, Lyta and the Hawk People. These tribes are pre-historic refugees if you will. This is the first book in a series of three about her and her tribe(s).

When I was young, I read the novels written by Jean M. Auel, and I was fascinated by the suspenseful stories and the topic of prehistoric man. I’ve read so many science fiction novels set in the future as well as novels set in the past but during historic times. However, there is not much out there that takes place during pre-historic times, perhaps because we don’t know much about it. Jean M. Auel changed literature history with her novels taking place during prehistoric times.

More recently Jacqui Murray changed literature history once again by continuing this path and by writing suspenseful epic sagas taking place at different time periods. This book and the next two in the series take place 850,000 years ago. Now we know a lot more about prehistoric man and Jacqui Murray has certainly done her research. I can add that the three first books I read by Jacqui Murray was about a homo habilis woman who lived 1.8 million years ago. Her name was Lucy and there are some references to Lucy in this book through Xhosa’s dreams.

It seems like Jacqui loves to incorporate dogs or friendly wolves in her books. There was Lucy with her big dog Ump in the Dawn of Humanity series (Homo Habilis) and in this book we have a tame blue-eyed wolf, Pup later called Spirit and his rescuer and handler Zvi. I love this aspect of these books. The front cover of the paperback (what I read) shows a prehistoric woman and a wolf. The wolf is obviously Spirit, but I am not sure if the woman is Zvi or Xhosa.

The adventures recounted in this book are intense and gritty and feature a lot of violence, suffering, and cruelty but that was the reality back then. There are cannibals, crocodiles eating people, various beasts attacking people, and attacks by other tribes. Prehistoric times were cruel and violent. You had to learn how to survive. This book is filled with action-packed adventures and interesting subplots. You never know what is going to happen next and you just must find out. It is a real page turner. Without giving anything else away I can say that the book ends on a happy note after a long arduous and dangerous journey. In summary, I loved this book. It is enjoyable, fun, and action packed. The stories are creative and fascinating, and the book is very well written. I highly recommend this book.

The back cover feature a photo of Jacqui Murray, an author description and the description of the book. The text is white and the background is black.
Back cover of  Survival of the Fittest (scanned from book).

About the Author

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, and a contributor to NEA Today.

You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Read Jacqui’s tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days here on Amazon Kindle. Also, read her new series, Man vs. Nature, starting with Born in a Treacherous Time–also on Kindle.

Finally, links to the Dawn of Humanity series. Book on Amazon on the left, and my review on the right.