An incendiary novel about the fierce rise of civilization, Nikita's haunting debut brings forth the bloody darkness of prehistory and presents a raw, captivating vision of our humble origins.
After witnessing his parents' violent deaths, a young boy is roaming through a barren, parched land with nothing but his newborn brother strapped to his chest. Unwilling to accept his loss, the boy sets out on a dangerous path to reach the home of the gods—a mountain looming in the distance—in search of a way to reunite with his parents. But the grief-stricken journey to the mountain is also a violent exile into adulthood, and the mountain holds secrets the gods are unwilling to share. Not without sacrifice.
Nikita's style gradually shifts from fragmented, raw prose to a more structured narrative, reflecting the evolution of human expression and thought, as the two young brothers claim authority over their environment—a ruthless, prehistoric setting, rarely depicted in either literary or genre fiction.