Jacqui Murray has done it again. With “Balance of Nature,” the third book in her latest trilogy, “Savage Land,” she will thrill her readers. They will come away satisfied with the ending, yet hoping she is already working on her next trilogy because we can never get enough of these exciting, well-researched novels.

 

 

 

In the trilogy called Savage Land, Jacqui Murray takes us through the  travels and challenges facing two groups of Early Man, the Neanderthals and the homo sapiens who were called The Tall Ones. All of them were simply trying to survive.

It was a time when major changes were still taking place on the earth. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions that darkened the sky for years, tsunamis crossing the ocean in crushing waves, and widespread wildfires all threatened to annihilate the tribes. Their shelters became unsafe, and sources of food and water were destroyed, so the tribes fled in search of land that could support them. 

*****

 

In Balance of Nature, Book Three of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe hopes to settle at Gibraltar, and nearby  hospitable lands.  However, the interactions between her group, Fierce’s Tall Ones, and a third nefarious group are a source of tension as they try to sort out who can be trusted.

Yu’ung’s mother, Aynoh, the healer of the Neanderthal group (The People), has gone over to the homo sapiens group (The Tall Ones), to pairmate with their leader, Fierce, just like love and marriage in our modern world.

Yu’ung is also a skilled healer, but she stays with The People (the Neanderthals) when the time comes for the tribes to move on, driven by violent volcanic activity that is rapidly altering their usual territories. Many groups, human and other life forms, had to flee the catastrophic turmoil of the earth’s upheaval.

Fierce’s group, along with Aynoh, having taken an inland detour on a salt-finding mission, meet up with Yu’ung’s group on the Mediterranean coast. Yu’ung had been on a side-trip to try to bring a revered elder of their group to a nearby tribe since it was unlikely that he could make the long journey to the Mediterranean (The Shoreless Sea) with his tribe.

Fierce’s group, originally from Africa, had left their boat hidden along the coast, but a rival group wrecked it while trying to steal it. Now the challenge was to build a new boat without the saboteurs’ interference.

Deception and lies from this devious rival group make it almost impossible to tell which of them were innocent of the former sabotage and which of them were sworn enemies.

Sorting the good from the bad results in many tense situations.

Finding refuge in caves is often a good thing, but in unfamiliar territory, new challenges appear in these caves. Lack of light, narrowing tunnels, and sudden crevasses present life-threatening situations. No problem if you can call on members of other groups for help, but if you don’t know whom to trust, this can be a matter of life or death. Do you take the hand that reaches out to you? Can you trust them? Are they friend or foe?

The tension mounts as the new boat gets built, supposedly away from prying eyes, but as the completion date nears, the danger increases.

This book immerses us in many aspects of the lives of Early Man, and we learn so much of our history without even realizing it. What a wonderful way to get an education, while reading a book that makes the experience like watching an exciting movie.

Jacqui Murray winds up her latest trilogy of The Savage Land with chapters full of tension that will have you biting your nails in anticipation of the next dilemma and its resolution.

Don’t miss this exciting conclusion to The Savage Land trilogy.

*****

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you can find Balance of Nature and all of Ms. Murray’s books by clicking the link:

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Author bio

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 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. Her non-fiction includes 100+ books on integrating tech into education, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics.