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I'm trying to find a fantasy/sci-fi book in which the main (human) character is kidnapped by intelligent dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are human sized and their behavior varies strongly based on sex. The females are dominant and generally aggressive, while the males are docile, more artistic and sensitive and used mainly for breeding. Males are kept separate from females.

The lizard/dinosaur type creatures have their own language which uses their tales to communicate. The human main character learns their language to survive, while the female captured with him fails to do so and is killed by the Dinosaurs.

One of the female Dinosaurs decides to keep the main character as a slave, she also rapes him at least once.

When he escapes and rejoins a human village, the main character ends up living with a woman with a harelip.

Later in the story another group of creatures show up who are very sexual and cannot handle their alcohol. The creatures they end up with have beautiful tails they use to hide their genitalia.

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    Welcome Chuck! As iandotkelly pointed out, can you go ahead and click accept on his answer? This will help other people looking for the same story. Thanks. Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 16:49
  • See OP confirmation comment for answer below.
    – Otis
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 17:39

1 Answer 1

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This reminds me of West of Eden by Harry Harrison (of Stainless Steel Rat fame).

It is an alternative history, where dinosaurs are not wiped out and one species evolve to be intelligent (the Yilanè). The protagonist is from a human like species - who are very primitive and kept as slaves by the Yilanè.

The Yilanè are a strongly matriarchal society, which fits with your description of aggressive females and docile males.

There is a scene where a female lizard rapes the main character.

In the sequel Winter in Eden they meet up with what I have found described as playful, promiscuous Paramutan people who may be the sexual people you describe.

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    West of Eden is the title thanks so much for the help!!
    – Chuck G
    Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 16:20
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    I'm going to have to re-read the books. I'm pretty sure this is the right answer, but I don't recall any additional "creatures" apart from Humans and the Yilane (plus their bio-tech). I'm pretty sure the Male Yilane were able to hid their genitalia in a pouch of some sort though.
    – Jontia
    Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 16:47
  • @Jontia ... I'm pretty sure too. The "woman with a harelip" also rings a bell for me. Like you I don't remember the "another group of creatures", but perhaps that is from one of the sequels. I'm not sure I read them. I read these back in the 80's. Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 16:53
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    @Jontia ... I found a reference to the additional creatures, which are in the Winter in Eden sequel. Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 17:08

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