History Literature / WestOfEden

* StockDinosaurs: Quite a few ([[CallARabbitASmeerp complete with Yilanè names]]), but the Yilanè themselves are mosasaurs, not dinosaurs.

Set in an AlternateHistory where dinosaurs never went extinct (outside of North America, where modern mammals and eventually humans evolved), the story centers around the conflict between humans and the Yilanè, a race of intelligent amphibious reptiles. The main character, Kerrick, is a human who was raised by Yilanè from childhood after his tribe was wiped out by them, but eventually flees and returns to his people, where he must reacquaint himself with a life he no longer remembers and deal with the suspicions and fears his strange ways cause, while the fallout from his escape reverberates throughout the Yilanè city and influences the fate of its leader.

* [[InterspeciesRomance Interspecies Sex]]: "Romance" isn't the right word for it, but we don't have a simple trope for interspecies rape.

* BittersweetEnding: To ''Return to Eden'', and to the triolgy as a whole. [[spoiler:Vaintè is finally killed, and thus the Yilanè's active efforts to wipe out Kerrick's people are at an end. However, she took the male Nadaske with her in death; Enge and Kerrick part as friends but know that they will likely never see each other again; and Kerrick's epilogue, when he is a middle-aged if not elderly man, has him worrying that the ever-increasing Tanu population will inevitably lead to conflict between the two species again and wondering if it's too late to warn the Yilanè]].

* BittersweetEnding: To ''Return to Eden'', and to the triolgy as a whole. [[spoiler:Vaintè is finally killed, and thus the Yilanè's active efforts to wipe out Kerrick's people are at an end. However, she took the male Nadaske with her in death; Enge and Kerrick part as friends but know that they will likely never see each other again; and Kerrick's epilogue, when he is a middle-aged man, has him worrying that the ever-increasing Tanu population will inevitably lead to conflict between the two species again and wondering if it's too late to warn the Yilanè]].

* HandSignals: The Yilanè communicate through a combination of voice and changes in skin color. Because Kerrick can't do the latter, he's taught a sign language used by the Yilanè for communication in low visibility conditions.

* StarfishLanguage: The Yilanè speak in concepts rather than actual words, and the language itself is a '''complicated''' combination of spoken sounds, postures, gestures with the hands, jaw, and tail, and color signals, described in ''West of Eden'' as having thousands of separate pieces and 125 billion combinations. Many Yilané never even get the hang of it and are basically ignored by the rest of the community. Ysel, the girl that was captured with Kerrick, doesn't pay attention to the language lessons they're given and is killed when she completely botches her attempt to talk and unwittingly insults Vaintè. Kerrick, lacking a tail, can't accurately make certain movements, but he can fake it well enough to get by, and Enge teaches him a version of the language used for low-light communication which helps even more.

* StartingANewLife: After their escape, Ambalasei, Enge, and the Daughters of Life from Ikhalmanets eventually do this [[spoiler:somewhere on the South American coast, where they discover a primitive tribe of Yilanè and begin studying them]].

* ThunderboltIron: The knives Kerrick and his father wear are made of "skymetal."

* ImGladIThoughtOfIt: Ambalasei pulls this on Enge after [[spoiler:learning about the primitive Yilanè and deciding to advance efforts to talk with them]], to Enge’s barely-concealed irritation.

* TheExile: [[spoiler:Vaintè]] becomes one at the end of ''Winter in Eden'', cast out [[spoiler:by Lanefenuu for challenging her orders to stop the war on the ustuzou and for not dying when ordered to do so]] and marooned somewhere on the coast of Entoban*[[note]]Africa[[/note]], far south of Ikhalmanets or any other nearby Yilanè city.

* DeathByChildbirth: Male Yilanè have a hard time coming out of the torpid state they enter when carrying eggs, and it's rare that a male will survive a third trip to the birthing beaches.
* DistinguishingMark: Armun has a harelip and cleft palate, and people have made fun of her and essentially shunned her all of her life because of this and how it affects her speech. When Kerrick first meets her (not long after escaping from Alpèasak) he finds it interesting because it makes her sort of look and sound like a Yilanè, and later comes to find it just a part of her that he loves as much as everything else.

* TheExile: [[spoiler:'Vaintè]] becomes one at the end of ''Winter in Eden'', cast out [[spoiler:by Lanefenuu for challenging her orders to stop the war on the ustuzou and for not dying when ordered to do so]] and marooned somewhere on the coast of Entoban*[[note]]Africa[[/note]], far south of Ikhalmanets or any other nearby Yilanè city.

* LadyLand: Yilanè culture is ruled by the females; they control politics, science, and the military, and have free access to the entire city. Males are artisans, poets and ultimately brood mares, kept isolated in a particular part of the city and only interacting with females when breeding or on the birthing beaches.

* LivingWeapon: Alpèasak is guarded by all kinds of living traps, but the one that gets the most mention is the hesotsan, a genetically modified monitor lizard that shoots poisoned darts and is the Yilanè's main personal weapon. The concept is taken further in ''Winter in Eden'', as rather than marching an army against the ustuzou, ever-encroaching and fireproof poisonous plants are used to slowly push them into a trap.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Herilak goes from respecting Kerrick and his knowledge of the hated murgu in ‘’West of Eden’’ to treating him like a traitor and angrily leaving with the other Tanu in ''Winter of Eden'' after Kerrick refuses to [[spoiler:abandon the ruins of Alpèasak or kill the two males who survived the fire]].

* TranslationConvention: A given, as the English language doesn't actually exist in the setting. The Yilanè have no written language, and any such translation of their speech is a particular challenge, which is acknowledged in the appendices in ''West of Eden''. "Fish of great size abound. Desire to catch/eat. Will small/soft go with us?", for example.

* WouldHurtAChild: This goes both ways. Humans killing a Yilanè male and newborns is what incenses the Yilanè into their extermination efforts. When Kerrick's tribe is slaughtered, Vaintè's examination of a still-living infant human ends with her throwing it against a boulder in revulsion after it screams and pisses down her arm.

-->'''Vaintè''': Joined together, forever inseperable. I am told our ustuzou runs very fast. Tell me, ustuzou, how fast can you run pulling this little fargi?

* TheExile: [[spoiler:'Vaintè]] becomes one at the end of ‘’Winter in Eden’’, cast out [[spoiler:by Lanefenuu for challenging her orders to stop the war on the ustuzou and for not dying when ordered to do so]] and marooned somewhere on the coast of Entoban*[[note]]Africa[[/note]], far south of Ikhalmanets or any other nearby Yilanè city.

* KillItWithFire: This is an important plot point in the climaxes of the first two books. In ''West of Eden'', [[spoiler: Kerrick and some of the other hunters burn Alpèasak, killing the vast majority of the Yilanè on their continent]]. In ''Winter In Eden'', [[spoiler:Kerrick uses the threat of torching Ikhalmanets as leverage to force Lanefenuu to call off Vaintè and her war on the ustuzou]].

* LanguageOfTruth: The nature of Yilanè language and thought processes makes them incapable of lying... [[spoiler:until Vaintè discovers the concept after seeing Kerrick do it]].

* LivingWeapon: Alpèasak is guarded by all kinds of living traps, but the one that gets the most mention is the hesotsan, a genetically modified monitor lizard that shoots poisoned darts and is the Yilanè's main personal weapon. The concept is taken further in ’’Winter in Eden’’, as rather than marching an army against the ustuzou, ever-encroaching and fireproof poisonous plants are used to slowly push them into a trap.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Hardwired into Yilanè biology. If a Yilanè is exiled from its city, the mental shock triggers an out-of-control variant of a hibernative state that quickly kills the exile. [[spoiler:Some Yilanè, however, are loyal to something other than their city, and their shutdown reflex will occur in response to different stimuli. This is how the first Daughter of Life was able to survive and spread her teachings. The Yilanè are not quite sure how to cope with this.]]

* OrganicTechnology: ''Everything'' used in Yilanè society is a product of genetic engineering. Even the ancient Yilanè began by hunting using ''living crabs'' instead of stone tools, though one scientist suggests that early on, the Yilanè did indeed use "artefacts."