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| The Tribe of Tsulib
| | Helen Quinn
| Helen Quinn interprets Incan history and folklore to add realism to her novel; an epic adventure, “The Tribe of Tsulib” (ISBN 0646549960). Quinn uses her knowledge of Andean and Amazon plant medicine, ceremony, and the geography of Peru to tell a very fast paced story full of action and suspense.
Tumultuous seas caused by a nuclear holocaust, throw a group of survivors into a large tunnel system under the Andean mountains of Peru. They settle into a large cavern which is the first of many strange ‘coincidences’ that enable them to survive many years in the cavern safe from outside contamination.
Knowing that ignorance and intolerance led to the virtual demise of humanity, the group decide to teach the future generation differently. Their plan: to raise their children in an environment of peace and love, devoid of the hate and aggression that plagued humans for so long.
They emerge from the cavern many generations later with Tsulib, a tribe elder as their guide who continues the group’s goal of changing the way future generations think by keeping the destructive history of humans secret from the younger tribe members. This decision will be challenged with a very cruel lesson that will put the whole tribe in jeopardy. They must choose to be forever on the run or revert to past aggressive ways to survive.
One of the main characters in Quinn’s story is a young woman named Kettiajya who is an outsider; a sole nomad who sacrifices her idyllic life for love and pays with unbelievable sorrows. The Misha is a tribe of mystical women whose DNA was altered by nuclear contamination which gave them power to use the energies of nature. Dilahn is a child with a very challenging destiny.
Quinn’s work may appear as aiming for the jugular as she hypothesizes about the future of the planet and its inhabitants. Regardless of how ugly human nature can be, and unlike Neville Shute’s novel “On the Beach”, Quinn looks to show readers that there can be hope for the future if enough people re-evaluate their way of thinking.
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