Pell, patent pending

Whenever a new Laurence Dahners book comes out, I react like Scooby Doo, I tilt my head and go "Rrrruh?" Of Dahners' series characters, I prefer Pell the most. It's probably because he's the most "ordinary" out of them all. Ell Donsaii, Roni and Hax Buchry, Vaz, and the Hyllis family all exhibit some sort of superhuman talent. Only Myr Sevii from the Proton Field series can be said to be "ordinary," even if she flaunts a superior intellect.

Dahners' stories about Pell remind some of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear books (or Earth's Children, if you want the official moniker). Oh, not as rich in storytelling or as dense in period detail, and the Bonesetter series isn't as sexually explicit, although this one, Bonesetter 3, has some disturbing moments. Ayla and Pell both inhabit harsh prehistoric eras. Both are instrumental in introducing revolutionary innovations and ideas and philosophies.

I'm only surprised Pell hadn't invented the wheel yet, he's such a creative, restless mind. Bonesetter 3 is another terrific read. It's propulsive in that I can't help but eagerly turn pages, never mind that there are heaps of passages in which nothing goes on but the everyday minutiae of life being lived. But I'm that invested in Pell and Gia and Donte and Ginja and the rest. Bonesetter 3 catches us up with our 15-year-old genius caveman and his gradually expanding Cold Springs tribe. The plot revolves around the search for other survivors of the flood that whittled down Aganstribe. It's a trek that will pit Pell and his tribe members against a tribe of slavers by the sea. And then there's Indo. Oboy, I really hated that guy. If there were ever a chapter that set me in panic mode, it's the one where he proves how despicable he is.

One of the new characters from the falls tribe - his name is Nolo - becomes astounded at all that Pell had wrought and thinks: "I guess someone, somewhere, has to have been the first one to have thought of whatever new methods there are?" LOL. It's as if Dahners were trying to 'splain away the why of the cornucopia of gamechanging ideas springing out of Pell's mind.

The story is paced with Pell's wrestling with new concepts, with unheard of and improved ways of doing things. I enjoyed his process of theory and experimentation. I won't say what cutting-edge methods and devices he comes up with because I don't want to spoil stuff. But there is a conversation that Pell has regarding his dread that he may have just exposed to the other tribes these new and terrible ways to kill each other. Also, Pell invents agriculture.

Laurence Dahners doesn't really ever switch up his style of storytelling. It's pretty straightforward, and it works. He puts his lead characters on a pedestal and has everyone in the book admire them. In the Bonesetter stories, he has his characters express themselves in colloquial terminology - they use "Okay" a lot - but it doesn't bother me one bit because I'm so immersed in the characters and in the narrative. No, Pell doesn't have super powers, except the super power of excellent health, courtesy of his radical ideas of trapping animals and fish, and preserving foods, and erecting a wall to keep out inclement weather, etc. And, of course, his unnerving bonesetting skills. The epitome of youthful health, Pell's good nutrition had triggered a growth spurt and impressively filled out his frame. In comparison, his elders stand shorter and scrawnier and aren't nearly as strong and aren't as coordinated. So, to them, Pell must seem superhuman. Anyway, Dahners doles out moments of deep gratification, moments of wish fulfillment to his readers. I can't get enough of those grown-ups, those mighty hunters, being constantly amazed by the young innovator. I really hope there's a fourth Bonesetter novel. As soon as I got done reading Bonesetter 3, I turned around and started reading it again. I don't do that often.
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