Stone Spring
Encyclopedia
Stone Spring is a 2010 novel by Stephen Baxter
. It is set in prehistoric Doggerland
(renamed "Northland" in the novel) and focuses on the attempts of Northland's inhabitants to adapt to the rising sea levels slowly eroding Northland's coastline. It is intended to be the first of a trilogy detailing an alternate history in which human efforts were able to prevent Doggerland from being flooded.
, which is prized throughout most of Northland. It is nominally ruled by a figure known as the "Giver", but as the Kirike, the current Giver, is missing, leadership falls to Zesi, his eldest daughter. Every year, Extelur and its neighbours, the brutish "Pretani
" (located in modern-day England), hold a ceremony known as the Giving on Extelur soil. Representing the Pretani leader are brothers Gall and Shade, who share the house with Zesi and her 14-year-old sister Ana. Gall, the eldest brother, has been promised Zesi as a bride by his father, but Zesi instead sleeps with the younger brother Shade, enraging Gall. To make matters worse, Gall inadvertently kills a member of the neighbouring "Snailhead" tribe during a communal hunt.
Tensions come to a head during the giving, whereupon the Pretani leader (or "Root") arrives and demands that Shade and Gall resolve their dispute by a fight to the death, in which Gall is killed. Kirike also returns to Extelur, along with outsiders Ice Dreamer (rescued by Kirike during his travels) and Novu (a slave who killed his master and escaped, with a particular skill for making bricks). Kirike resumes leadership of Extelur, much to Zesi's resentment. Zesi ultimately decides to leave with the Pretani to challenge them in a hunting contest on their own territory.
Meanwhile, back in Extelur, rising sea levels result in a tsunami
, known to the locals as the "Great Sea". Most of Extelur is destroyed, and many of its inhabitants are wiped out, including Kirike. With Zesi absent, Ana becomes the de facto leader of Extelur. During the Tsunami, Ana witnessed seabed formations resembling Extelur's religious symbols, and, believing them to hold spiritual significance, ultimately resolves to build a dyke to hold back the sea and enable the formations to be reached once again. Novu, who has the most experience, obsessively oversees the construction of the dyke, and Ana adopts increasingly Draconian measures to ensure construction continues.
When Zesi returns to Extelur, she violently opposes Ana's work. She breaks one of the giant pools which holds water that is meant to flow back into the sea and kills a Snailhead child. This ultimately results in her being exiled and her child taken from her. Vowing revenge on Ana, Zesi ultimately returns to Pretani territory, where she convinces Shade (now the Root of the Pretani) to help her destroy Extelur. Together, they plan to offer slave labour to Extelur, with the intention of organising a slave uprising and then attacking Extelur in the chaos. Before this can be done, however, Ana uncovers the plan and frees the slaves herself. The Pretani attack is beaten back, and Zesi is killed during the fight.
The novel ends some years later, where construction of the dykes is finally complete, and the undersea formations Ana sought to uncover have finally been reached.
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
. It is set in prehistoric Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...
(renamed "Northland" in the novel) and focuses on the attempts of Northland's inhabitants to adapt to the rising sea levels slowly eroding Northland's coastline. It is intended to be the first of a trilogy detailing an alternate history in which human efforts were able to prevent Doggerland from being flooded.
Plot summary
The focus of much of the novel is the community of Extelur. Extelur begins as a typical stone-age civilisation, remarkable only for its flintFlint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
, which is prized throughout most of Northland. It is nominally ruled by a figure known as the "Giver", but as the Kirike, the current Giver, is missing, leadership falls to Zesi, his eldest daughter. Every year, Extelur and its neighbours, the brutish "Pretani
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
" (located in modern-day England), hold a ceremony known as the Giving on Extelur soil. Representing the Pretani leader are brothers Gall and Shade, who share the house with Zesi and her 14-year-old sister Ana. Gall, the eldest brother, has been promised Zesi as a bride by his father, but Zesi instead sleeps with the younger brother Shade, enraging Gall. To make matters worse, Gall inadvertently kills a member of the neighbouring "Snailhead" tribe during a communal hunt.
Tensions come to a head during the giving, whereupon the Pretani leader (or "Root") arrives and demands that Shade and Gall resolve their dispute by a fight to the death, in which Gall is killed. Kirike also returns to Extelur, along with outsiders Ice Dreamer (rescued by Kirike during his travels) and Novu (a slave who killed his master and escaped, with a particular skill for making bricks). Kirike resumes leadership of Extelur, much to Zesi's resentment. Zesi ultimately decides to leave with the Pretani to challenge them in a hunting contest on their own territory.
Meanwhile, back in Extelur, rising sea levels result in a tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
, known to the locals as the "Great Sea". Most of Extelur is destroyed, and many of its inhabitants are wiped out, including Kirike. With Zesi absent, Ana becomes the de facto leader of Extelur. During the Tsunami, Ana witnessed seabed formations resembling Extelur's religious symbols, and, believing them to hold spiritual significance, ultimately resolves to build a dyke to hold back the sea and enable the formations to be reached once again. Novu, who has the most experience, obsessively oversees the construction of the dyke, and Ana adopts increasingly Draconian measures to ensure construction continues.
When Zesi returns to Extelur, she violently opposes Ana's work. She breaks one of the giant pools which holds water that is meant to flow back into the sea and kills a Snailhead child. This ultimately results in her being exiled and her child taken from her. Vowing revenge on Ana, Zesi ultimately returns to Pretani territory, where she convinces Shade (now the Root of the Pretani) to help her destroy Extelur. Together, they plan to offer slave labour to Extelur, with the intention of organising a slave uprising and then attacking Extelur in the chaos. Before this can be done, however, Ana uncovers the plan and frees the slaves herself. The Pretani attack is beaten back, and Zesi is killed during the fight.
The novel ends some years later, where construction of the dykes is finally complete, and the undersea formations Ana sought to uncover have finally been reached.