The Hill of the Three Gods

The Hill of the Three Gods takes place in 9600 B.C.E., which I found deeply fascinating. I haven’t run into many books featuring this period of time. The book follows the lives of prehistoric people. 

The book starts with the story of three hunters. One of them is injured in the hunt. The other hunters are able to take him to a nearby village, where he remains for a season, as he isn’t well enough to travel home. Boya, is the hunter's name, and he is the character of focus for a time. Later, Sihiru, the witch doctor who treats Boya, becomes the character of focus.

Like the setting of the book, the plot is unlike any I have seen before. I’m unable to plot the book on Freytag's pyramid, well, not the whole book.  The story started by following Boya and his friends, but the narrative then changes as Sihiru is given the skull of Boya’s uncle. We are told the skull is “the place that shelters the soul.”  Sihiru takes it upon himself to bring the skull to the sanctuary to help guide Boya’s uncle’s soul to the afterlife. The uncle died alone while hunting and burial rites were not performed timely. I think I would call this the main quest of the story.  

The journey to fulfill the quest point isn’t direct. From the start of the quest, we then flash back to a more youthful Sihiru. In this flashback, we learn about Pakusane, who will be a leader in the sanctuary Sihiru is going to. Also interspersed throughout this story are a number of legends and other tales of yore. The stories speak of Etana, who was not a musician, but was called upon by “The Lonely Mother”, a goddess, to play 24 notes on a flute. The music is to appear within Etana’s mind. The dialogue with the Lonely Mother is quite enjoyable, as Etana is quite open about the fact that he isn’t a musician. 

Around 85% of the way through the book, the skull quest is completed. The epilogue shifts gears, starting another story. It seems there is a part two that will pick up from the end of the book. 

The vocabulary of the book and the way things are phrased are often a bit different for me.  For example, I had to Google the word “bovid”. I think this helps with the feeling that the book is in another era, a world away from our own, but also, time is our world. Sometimes the author phrases things in an odd way.  I don’t think it’s bad; in fact, it adds character to the book. To give a few examples:

“A company of pelicans landed on the water with a noiseness.” 

“Anger is suffocating him.”

I wouldn’t phrase something like either of these sentences. That isn’t to say I don’t like it, in fact, it is interesting to read something written in a way I wouldn’t have thought of.

The book provides great detail on the lives of people long ago, sharing some of the foods they ate. For example, mersu, which I actually learned about not too long ago in a YouTube video. This is the oldest recipe for a dessert, which is made with pistachios and dates.  It was fun to see something I had learned about in a book. It tickled me to read that this very old dessert (or is it just a pastry?) was sometimes made with garlic in it!

The book also talks about some of the rituals they practiced. As I started the book, I wondered how did people function in a world, not only without money, but without metal? How does one get by without a system of writing? I think these questions and the answers to them were a driving force propelling me through the narrative.

As I read, I did note a few potential historical inaccuracies. The book mentions writing at one point, symbols on clay tablets, which absolutely did happen in the region, just 6,000 years later in 3,400 B.C.E. I think this is mostly a non-issue. When it comes to archaeology, you can’t really prove a negative. So, could writing or symbols have been used before the first example of writing found in modern times? Most definitely. Besides, the book is a fantasy book.

Perspective: 3rd person

Tense: present

Length: 299 pages 

Kindle Unlimited: Yes

https://www.amazon.com/HILL-THREE-GODS-Fantasy-inspired-ebook/dp/B0DXMVK6P5