Shaman

Another mind-boggling novel by Kim Stanley Robinson! Very highly recommended.

None of the available sub-genre tags actually fit this book - it's really historical science fiction - but since there is no such tag, I had to settle for "historical fantasy". In fact, the novel is prehistoric science fiction, but there is no sub-genre tag for that either. Where are we to put No Enemy But Time, Earth's Children, the many stories re neanderthals, etc.?

Robinson does seem to have an affinity for cold landscapes - see Antarctica, Fifty Degrees Below and a number of his stories set in frigid environments - for example, Muir on Shasta, etc.