Product Description

From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors is a startling recreation of the lost world of the Neanderthals, and a frightening vision of the beginnings of a new age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50398 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors is a startling recreation of the lost world of the Neanderthals, and a frightening vision of the beginnings of a new age.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, if at times bewildering
When Spring comes back, the people return to their cave. Incredibly, things have changed. A log that bridged a marsh has disappeared. Food, that was once plentiful, has become scarce. And then one by one, the people themselves begin to disappear.

The people are Neanderthal, about to have their first contact with Homo Sapiens who will destroy them. The story is told through Lok, who by his own admission, "has few pictures in his head"; Golding imagines the Neanderthals as both verbally very limited and extremely conservative in their mental abilities. Though it is testament to his skill as a writer that this does not render them unsympathetic to a modern reader, it does mean that it can be hard work to figure out exactly what is going on, particularly when we observe the 'new people' through the eyes of the Neanderthals, and see just how incomprehensible drinking from a wineskin, hunting ceremonies or just arguing can become.

This is probably a book that one will either love or hate. As I read it just after the insipid novels of Jean Auel, I loved it. The thrill of discovering a totally new world (mine of the Neanderthals, as well as theirs of the new people) at the same time as knowing that these beautiful people were doomed, was quite incredibly moving.

Not for those requiring a fast plot and lots of sex, but for anyone who has ever paused to think whilst reading a book, deeply recommended.

Another excellent Golding novel
This is my third Golding novel as I make my way through his complete works. The Inheritors was Golding's first novel and apparently his personal favourite. In a narrative form similar to The Spire (which is not only my favourite Golding book but my favourite book ever), The Inheritors tells the story of the arrival of human beings as we know them today over the shoulder of the semi-evolved Lok, an excellently constructed and loveable character.

Golding's overly-metaphoric, ambiguous writing lends itself perfectly to telling the story from the, dare I say 'intellectually inferior' Lok's point of view resulting in charmingly blunt description. If you're a fan of Golding's style of writing (which is as strong here as any novel I've read by the man) I do recommend it. A startlingly appropriate story which is so relevant today and a thoroughly interesting read.

Not as good as The Spire, but in my opinion much better than the overrated Lord of the Flies. Fantastic!

Not the easiest read but well worth the effort.
I have never been a huge fan of William Golding, to be honest, and I never managed to finish Lord of the Flies.
Being older and wiser I decided to try again, as so much has been written and broadcast about Golding, I thought it was worth another reading.
The inheritors is, from one point of view, a very simple story. It tells of a small Neanderthal family group, who make their way back to their normal Summer hunting and living area after the winter has passed. At first all seems as it should, but then people start to disappear, movements and fires are seen where there should be none, and finally - well I'll leave that for you to enjoy for yourself.
Basically, it tells of the destruction of the Neanderthal people by us, that is to say Homo Sapiens. The language is difficult, but for me that enhances rather than detracts from the experience, as I feel I am actually having to work through the story inside the head of a different thinking human being.
We'll never know, of course, how accurate this is, but it is a very captivating book, and one which has made me thing seriously about having another crack at Lord of the Flies.
One of the most telling sentences in the book is spoken by Lok, a Neanderthal, who looks at the way these new people ravage and consume the earth for their own ends, without a thought to the consequences, and says, simply "they are like a winter".
Brilliant stuff and highly recommended.