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Clan by Sigmund Brouwer. Okay, before I even get to the plot, how did this man write ("write"?) over 100 books? Is he one of those with a team of ghostwriters working under his name?

Anyway, on to Clan. Like so many books before it, the story follows the same pattern: Set in prehistoric times, a boy has a bad (leg|foot), so he's an outcast in his clan. But he's more intelligent than anyone else, so he goes on to (save the day|change humanity's future). In Clan's case, it was the latter: The boy's name was Atlatl and he went on to invent... the atlatl (spear thrower). But I swear, I've read five books now with that same setup. Always a boy, always with a bad leg or foot, never something more creative.

While I finished the book (it was a pretty fast read), if it had been longer I would have DNFed it. Characters made 180 changes for no reason and in the blink of an eye (Atlatl's father hated him his entire life, then in a day it changed and he loved him and valued him more than anything).

Atlatl found a saber tooth tiger cub and raised it, but I don't think the author even owned a pet cat before. Atlatl carried the half-grown cub into a river, and while in the story saber tooth tigers hate water, it never even scratched the boy. Try taking a pet cat into a pool! Most of them would claw you while trying to climb you as if you were a tree.

DNF #53: Mega Cataclysm: The Last Survivors Chronicles by Scott Todd. Would you ENJOY reading a book like THIS? With ALL CAP WORDS in every SENTENCE? And a MANLY MAN who has to HIT a WOMAN because, LIKE ALL WOMEN, she panics easily and so she needs a MANLY MAN who KNOWS WHERE HIS CAP LOCK KEY IS to slap her and CALM HER DOWN? Then THIS might be the BOOK for YOU.

DNF #54: Cry Havoc (War in the stars Book 1) by Jolie Mason. If I can't even keep track of who all the characters are through the first chapter, I'm probably going to DNF it.

DNF #55: D-39: A Robodog's Journey by Irene Latham. Set in the future, all dogs in the world had to be killed because of a virus. The main character, a young girl who lived in a place called Worselands (really...) was just completely uninteresting. The story had endless made up words (in every sentence), it just didn't work for me. Things like "poopflush" (toilet), "bombblast" (bomb), "dripface" (cry), "chug-chug" (tractor), "droopbottom face" (sad face), and "leafgiants" (trees).

DNF #56: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Preteen boys would probably like this one. The young boy main character flew and landed a plane... his first time being in one, completely alone (pilot died of a heart attack), with no radio contact with anyone.

DNF #57: Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R. Fletcher. I dropped this one pretty quickly. Assassin robots armed with katanas. Not to my tastes.

Date: 2023-04-09 08:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] manue7a.livejournal.com

So many really bad books out there, I'm sorry you stumble across most of them it seems!

Date: 2023-04-09 08:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com

It's crazy how many there are...

Date: 2023-04-09 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)

Your DNF posts always make me laugh and cringe at the same time! Man, that Clan one- I thought at first it was going to be: kid with injured foot is the first one to raise/tame a wolf! leading to domestic dogs, of course. I think you gave up too soon on Hatchet though, honestly. The story isn't about him flying/crash-landing the plane- it's all about the survival afterwards alone on the lakeshore and man it is tough. Miserable and starving half the time. I loved it as a kid, thought it fairly realistic. I guess my brain skipped over the plausibility of him handling the plane, back then.

Date: 2023-04-09 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com

Oh drat! That's always a risk, DNFing things too quickly. Especially after a string of bad ones. I'm going to put it back on my Kindle to try it again. I dropped it right when the plane crashed (and he walked away just fine), so I must have just missed it picking up.


And yeah, "domesticated the first dog" is SUCH a common theme with those books...

Edited Date: 2023-04-09 08:32 pm (UTC)

Date: 2023-04-10 12:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)

I do like the idea of exploring how early humans first started interacting closely with animals- I read so many books like that- it never gets old for me, unless it's poorly written or researched of course!

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