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berenikeasteria's review
1.0
After finishing the doorstop "Plains of Passage" I was not looking forwards to reading this latest book in the saga (apparently there is one more to come but not yet published). Part of me was sort of hoping that it would be better than "Plains of Passage" and "The Mammoth Hunters", because finally Ayla and Jondalar have reached the place that was their goal since three books ago, and finally we might get a somewhat meatier plot. Unfortunately, it was trouble from the moment I read the Acknowledgements. If Auel has an understanding of human nature and motivation, I will eat my hat - all the character dialogue in this book is banal and inane, and so are the characters, little more than flat stereotypes with no depth or complexity to their personalities whatsoever. Auel has no idea of human motivations, and the Ayla-Jondalar relationship is just a prime example of this, since their relationship is essentially a forcibly extended fling with no reasons given for their association beyond their ridiculous sexual compatibility.
The tone of this book felt instantly very different to the previous books after just the first 100 pages. Even early on there are problems. The repetition, oh dear god the repetition. Every time Ayla meets a new person, there is a five minute long introduction which fills up about a page and includes the recitation of every single obscure connection a person has. Auel could just write "and then formal introductions were exchanged", but the reason why she doesn't is quite simple - because then she wouldn't be able to use these endless and pointless introductions as page filler. Ayla's full recital of connections is particularly pompous. Every character has the same reaction to her, verbatim. Multiple explanations of how Ayla came to tame the horses, tame the wolf and introducing people to the wolf by hand-sniffing, multiple demonstrations of how firestones work, of how Ayla's memory skills came to be so good due to her living with Neanderthals, of how Ayla thinks she is ugly and Neanderthals are good looking (which begs the question why she doesn't ditch Jondalar for Brukeval or Echozar but hey, this is Jean Auel we're talking about, this doesn't have to make sense), multiple mentions of how Creb's favourite dish is stuffed ptarmigan and how Ayla would stuff the dish with eggs if it were the season for eggs which it unfortunately isn't. Multiple repetition of a silly poem called the Earth Mother's Song. This thing is seven pages long and is repeated about five times throughout the book (another handy page filler), sometimes broken up by the thoughts of Ayla about a particular verse, just to spell out to the readers in case we're too thick to get the blindingly obvious parallels Auel is trying to draw between Ayla and the earth mother goddess. Without all this ridiculous repetition, this book would be at least a third shorter in my estimation, 550 pages of dull drudgery instead of 800 pages of appalling agony.
Speaking of boring repetition, we come back to the issue of the terrible pulp-like, purple prose filled sex scenes that are the obligatory staple of every Auel book. It's as laughable and ridiculous as ever, and repetition seems to be the theme here. After every single encounter it is explained to us in great detail how Ayla was taught to wash herself after sex by her adoptive Neanderthal mother, Iza. Okay, WE GET IT! Enough already! Why is this repeated so often? Are we supposed to assume that all the other women don't wash and therefore are dirty in comparison to gleaming clean Ayla? Unfortunately no one else ever gets a look in at their own sex scenes, so we're just subjected to Ayla and Jondalar's BORING sessions.
This book had the great potential to have a lot of strife, confrontation and conflict, which would create an actual plot. You have the fact that Ayla has to win the approval of Jondalar's mother, who as a former leader we would expect to be a very strong and experienced woman, as well as Jondalar's elder half-brother Joharran who as leader of the tribe would have the final say about Ayla being adopted into the Zelandonii. Then you have the fact that inevitably at some point, Ayla's past, being raised by Neanderthals and giving birth to a half-Neanderthal, half-Cro Magnon son, would have to come out. This had the potential to become a big sticking point, as Jondalar has been telling Ayla ever since they met about how strongly his people feel about the Neanderthals as sub-human. Then you have the potential for confrontation between Ayla and the two other notable ladies in Jondalar's past, Marona, his jilted fiancée, and Zolena, now the shaman of the tribe, the only woman he has ever loved apart from Ayla. And how are all these potential conflicts handled? Jondalar's family including his mother and brother accept Ayla instantly with no fuss, and whilst the revelation of her origins is surprising, after Ayla demonstrates Clan language once and Willamar suggests maybe the Neanderthals are intelligent after all, that quickly becomes a non-issue. Zelandoni very quickly accepts Ayla too, and far from being wiser than Ayla, wants to learn all of Ayla's technologies. Marona does not accept Ayla, but after one very pathetic attempt to humiliate Ayla, which backfires, she is banished from the next several hundred pages of the book.
The appalling treatment of Ayla completely dispells any possible tension, and indeed any of her likability. The most annoying feature of Ayla's favouritist treatment is that every other character loves her, and any character that does not quickly gets their come uppance, consigned by Auel's writing to death, a miserable fate, or at least total humiliation and the rest of the tribe turning on them. This is also why Ayla's confrontations with Zolena and Marona are also resolved in such an unsatisfactory way. No one must be allowed to rival perfect Ayla, so, guess what, Jondalar finds when he arrives that in his absence Zolena has become extremely fat, so she cannot possibly be any kind of challenger to Ayla for Jondalar's affection. Marona on the other hand is given an extremely ugly personality, and just as Zolena is made fat and Joplaya locked into a miserable union, Auel condemns Marona to infertility. Yep, whilst Ayla proves her glorious fertility by giving birth to Jondalar's child, every other possible rival for his affections is made either miserable, fat, or barren.
And what exactly forms the climax of this wreck of a book? The short answer is that there is no climax. The birth of Ayla and Jondalar's long-awaited baby is supposed to be the big climax of the book, but it only takes up a handful of pages, and Ayla drops the baby easily and promptly names it the most dull and uninventive name possible, without ceremony. Pretty much nothing happens in terms of plot whatsoever. There are no unexpected events or twists in the plot, and nothing much happens at all for the entire book. I don't know what else to say, but please don't spend your money on this book. Get it from the library if you simply must. 0 stars out of 5.
ida_astrom's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mrcesq's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
This was certainly better than book 4. Much more interesting read and didn’t feel as long. Enjoyed the story and the inspiring descriptions of the cave people.
crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
1.0
A Prehistoric Clip Show
Okay, guys, that was really funny. Switching the novel with this fan fiction? Brilliant joke! You got me. Now, where's the real novel?
...
Uh...THIS is the novel?
Summary: Ayla and Jondalar return to his home. Everyone loves Ayla; Ayla and Jondalar tie the knot; Ayla gives birth to the hellspawn and somehow her name sounds better than Twilight's Renesmee--but only just barely.
Oh, yeah, and EVERY SINGLE STORY FROM THE LAST BOOK IS REPRINTED. So don't bother even READING the previous four books; at some point in this book, Ayla or Jondalar will tell you it.
I don't know whether I should be p!ssed that I spent all this time listening to the book equivalent of a 90's clip show or I should laugh my @ss off at the ridiculous joke of this being published. Or cry thinking about how many trees this piece of sh!t destroyed on its route to the bookstore. Or rage about the number of books that were rejected to make room on the bookseller list for THIS.
I've done my raging about this series; it's been a ridiculous, over the top, barely concealed Mary Sue fanfiction-y ride. But I almost want to go back to all the previous books and bump up the ratings by a star or two (YES, a star or TWO). With ALL the complaints I've had for the last three books (and if you've read my reviews, you know THAT is a laundry list), those books look like literary GOLD next to this piece of Mammoth defecation.
Gone are any attempts at making Ayla a realistic character. Gone are any attempts to take this story to the next level, to have ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING that was foreshadowed in the previous books. Gone are any attempts to treat the reader with intelligence.
I am SHOCKED that this book took 12 years to write. I would have given 12 days: that would be PLENTY to pick through the last four books, copy all the stories from there and paste them into this waste of paper, sprinkling a bunch of senseless research, bad sex, and Ayla Sue prancing around, telling someone off for their "bad behavior".
Ayla is the biggest Mary Sue I've ever read. She is such a flagrant Mary Sue, I had to check to make sure that this wasn't fanfiction; I wouldn't be surprised to see this characterization from a thirteen year old girl on the internet, but from a 60+ woman? You coulda fooled me! Ayla is the sexiest, most attractive, most intelligent, most competent woman that the world has ever seen. She could heal cancer with willow bark tea; she can wear boy's underwear (a big Zelandani no-no) and a top with her boobs hanging out, and no one will mutter a peep about her indiscretion--in fact, women will imitate her and every man will get a huge boner for her (and yes, this does happen). Everyone gasps in admiration about her ability to tame animals, produce fire, use a sewing needle, use stitches to heal wounds; everything she says is as if from the Mother's lips. She rushes into the town drunk's home to rescue his starving family, and the crowds cheer. She heals a stupid boy that was hunting rhino, and the Zelandani roar. Ayla could blaspheme the Mother, destroy their religion, and burn the entire shelter to the ground, and STILL the ENTIRE Zelandani race would cheer her on.
Oh, but POOR AYLA is humiliated when Marona dresses her in boy's underwear!
Oh, but Ayla can't sing!
Uh, last I checked, those two things don't make a character any less of a Mary Sue. In fact, I took the Mary Sue test for Ayla (http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm). Wanna know what she got? 161. Know what that corresponds to? ""50+ Kill it dead."
Jondalar is still a whining baby. All he wants is for Ayla to remain flat on her back so he could pound into her all day with his massive dong. The only reason he turns down performing First Rites is because his massive dong would scare off the young virgins and NO ONE could take him all. WOW HOW F@#$ING ROMANTIC!! I wished so many times that he would fall off a cliff or chop off his hand or break his dong on Ayla's "petals of perfection".
It is an insult to call the other characters "characters". The only ones who act even REMOTELY human are Marona, who is p!ssed because her f@#$ing fiance ran off and she was left with NO COMPENSATION (and Jondalar is back, thrusting his new, boobalicious fiancee, the Woman Who Can Do No Wrong, Ayla, in her face), Brukaval, who wants Ayla to f@#$ing mind her own business for once, and the dude that Jondalar punched in the face, thus ruining the dude's livelihood. Marthona, Jondalar's mother, accepts Ayla with barely a second thought. Same with Joharran, the leader of the 9th clan. Zelandani aka Zolena, the Dani woman that Jondalar loved SO MUCH and couldn't be with, is morbidly obese, conveniently "unattractive" to the vapid Jondalar. Everyone else that would have made a shred of conflict for this piece of sh!t is painted so painfully villainous, it would have been more subtle to have them dress in black, twirl their mustaches, and cackle about their evil plans to rule the world.
And all the stupid poor widdle kids that Ayla has to rescue! GAH! For once, I would like this woman to do something selfish, for her own personal gain, instead of rushing over to the town drunk (who hates her) to rescue his POOR FAMILY, to shame all the rest of the clan women into giving the baby their birth milk because, "THAT'S WHAT THE CLAN WOULD DO AND YOU THINK THEY ARE ANIMALS!" In fact, I think Auel "wrote" half the book by just tossing in a new character that Ayla has to fix whenever she ran out of stories from previous books to tell.
There is so much repetition in this book, it's borderline plagiarism. We are reminded TWENTY-TWO TIMES that Ayla has an unusual, exotic accent. I THINK I GOT IT AFTER THE FIRST TEN TIMES!! (I was going to post each one of the 22 quotes where it is mentioned, but I didn't want to get repetitive.) Other conversations that Auel has tortured us with in the past--every f@#$ing story from the last four books, where babies come from, how Iza told Ayla to wash up after having sex, how many times Ayla goes to take a p!ss or crap and how much more often it is now that she is preggers--is repeated over and over and over and over again. And then the introductions! GAH! Here is just ONE introduction:
"I am Folara of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, blessed of Dani, daughter of Marthona, former leader of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, daughter of the hearth of Willamar, master trader of the Zelandani, sister of Joharran, leader of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, sister of Jondalar of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, master flintknapper and returned traveler who is soon to be mated to Ayla of the 9th cave of the Zelandani. She has a bunch of names and ties of her own, but the one I like best is “friend of horses and Wolf”."
Imagine this for nearly EVERY "character" and multiply that by infinity. That is how many times I had to read this. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that twenty different writers wrote this book, threw together their portions in one big pot and sent it to publish.
And if you thought the previous books were in any way misogynist, you haven't even SEEN this book. Here are some WONDERFUL quotes from this supposedly equal-rights culture:
"She had become Ayla of the Zelandani and Jondalar's mate, and that came first."
Though a stigma of shame was placed on those who did not wait until they had their First Rites, some girls inevitably did succumb to the persistent blandishments. But no matter how relentless the pressure, by yielding to it, the girls became ultimately less desirable as mates because it indicated a lack of sufficient self-control."
"It is true that your mate will not be as tempted to look with pleasure upon other women if you satisfy his desires."
"Maybe [Jondalar] should have asked [Ayla] before he started all this [so Ayla could become Zelandani]"
Wow, HOW FAIR! Girls who have sex before First Rites are looked down upon because they can't wait. But boys? NOTHING. If your man leaves, it is YOUR FAULT because you didn't have sex enough with him. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Oddly enough, there are only 3 sex scenes in this book. Not surprisingly, they are pretty much the EXACT SAME sex scene we've read since "Valley of the Horses":
Jondalar goes for Ayla's boobs. (He even asks, at one point, if a baby nursing feels like when he does it. I AM SERIOUS, HE ASKS THIS.)
Jondalar moves to Ayla's "petals".
Ayla moans and can't believe how "ready she is".
Jondalar wants to take her "right now" and can barely hold back.
Insert Tab J into Slot A. Fireworks, explosions, flowers fall from the sky, angels sing, deer dance in the field.
And then we have the Mother's Song. I have a great aunt that used to write poetry about what happened to the family in the past year (and force rhyme to death out of it) and put it into her Christmas cards. The poetry would be something like this:
And Johnny did run to the store one day
To say hello to his Aunt May
And what do you think should happen there?
He found a cute, adorable, cuddly bear!
THAT is better poetry that this horrible mess. And the absolute LAST THING I wanted was Ayla commenting on how moving and wonderful this piece of sh!t poem was.
Sandra Burr has been doing an amazing job narrating these books (and somehow managing to not burst into giggles during the sex scenes). HOWEVER, the Transylvania accent that she suddenly gives Ayla in this book is TOO MUCH. Somehow, it made her even MORE annoying, MORE Mary Sue-ish, AND MORE vampy.
I just have one question: HOW THE F@#$ DID THIS GET PUBLISHED?!?!!!?!? This is, without a doubt, the WORST book of the series so far. It is pointless, it totally negates all the tension of the last four books, wondering and worrying if Ayla would be accepted into the Zelandani. I've read fan fiction better written than this.
So my advice? AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!
P.S. Only one book to go! Can I make it?
Okay, guys, that was really funny. Switching the novel with this fan fiction? Brilliant joke! You got me. Now, where's the real novel?
...
Uh...THIS is the novel?
Summary: Ayla and Jondalar return to his home. Everyone loves Ayla; Ayla and Jondalar tie the knot; Ayla gives birth to the hellspawn and somehow her name sounds better than Twilight's Renesmee--but only just barely.
Oh, yeah, and EVERY SINGLE STORY FROM THE LAST BOOK IS REPRINTED. So don't bother even READING the previous four books; at some point in this book, Ayla or Jondalar will tell you it.
I don't know whether I should be p!ssed that I spent all this time listening to the book equivalent of a 90's clip show or I should laugh my @ss off at the ridiculous joke of this being published. Or cry thinking about how many trees this piece of sh!t destroyed on its route to the bookstore. Or rage about the number of books that were rejected to make room on the bookseller list for THIS.
I've done my raging about this series; it's been a ridiculous, over the top, barely concealed Mary Sue fanfiction-y ride. But I almost want to go back to all the previous books and bump up the ratings by a star or two (YES, a star or TWO). With ALL the complaints I've had for the last three books (and if you've read my reviews, you know THAT is a laundry list), those books look like literary GOLD next to this piece of Mammoth defecation.
Gone are any attempts at making Ayla a realistic character. Gone are any attempts to take this story to the next level, to have ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING that was foreshadowed in the previous books. Gone are any attempts to treat the reader with intelligence.
I am SHOCKED that this book took 12 years to write. I would have given 12 days: that would be PLENTY to pick through the last four books, copy all the stories from there and paste them into this waste of paper, sprinkling a bunch of senseless research, bad sex, and Ayla Sue prancing around, telling someone off for their "bad behavior".
Ayla is the biggest Mary Sue I've ever read. She is such a flagrant Mary Sue, I had to check to make sure that this wasn't fanfiction; I wouldn't be surprised to see this characterization from a thirteen year old girl on the internet, but from a 60+ woman? You coulda fooled me! Ayla is the sexiest, most attractive, most intelligent, most competent woman that the world has ever seen. She could heal cancer with willow bark tea; she can wear boy's underwear (a big Zelandani no-no) and a top with her boobs hanging out, and no one will mutter a peep about her indiscretion--in fact, women will imitate her and every man will get a huge boner for her (and yes, this does happen). Everyone gasps in admiration about her ability to tame animals, produce fire, use a sewing needle, use stitches to heal wounds; everything she says is as if from the Mother's lips. She rushes into the town drunk's home to rescue his starving family, and the crowds cheer. She heals a stupid boy that was hunting rhino, and the Zelandani roar. Ayla could blaspheme the Mother, destroy their religion, and burn the entire shelter to the ground, and STILL the ENTIRE Zelandani race would cheer her on.
Oh, but POOR AYLA is humiliated when Marona dresses her in boy's underwear!
Oh, but Ayla can't sing!
Uh, last I checked, those two things don't make a character any less of a Mary Sue. In fact, I took the Mary Sue test for Ayla (http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm). Wanna know what she got? 161. Know what that corresponds to? ""50+ Kill it dead."
Jondalar is still a whining baby. All he wants is for Ayla to remain flat on her back so he could pound into her all day with his massive dong. The only reason he turns down performing First Rites is because his massive dong would scare off the young virgins and NO ONE could take him all. WOW HOW F@#$ING ROMANTIC!! I wished so many times that he would fall off a cliff or chop off his hand or break his dong on Ayla's "petals of perfection".
It is an insult to call the other characters "characters". The only ones who act even REMOTELY human are Marona, who is p!ssed because her f@#$ing fiance ran off and she was left with NO COMPENSATION (and Jondalar is back, thrusting his new, boobalicious fiancee, the Woman Who Can Do No Wrong, Ayla, in her face), Brukaval, who wants Ayla to f@#$ing mind her own business for once, and the dude that Jondalar punched in the face, thus ruining the dude's livelihood. Marthona, Jondalar's mother, accepts Ayla with barely a second thought. Same with Joharran, the leader of the 9th clan. Zelandani aka Zolena, the Dani woman that Jondalar loved SO MUCH and couldn't be with, is morbidly obese, conveniently "unattractive" to the vapid Jondalar. Everyone else that would have made a shred of conflict for this piece of sh!t is painted so painfully villainous, it would have been more subtle to have them dress in black, twirl their mustaches, and cackle about their evil plans to rule the world.
And all the stupid poor widdle kids that Ayla has to rescue! GAH! For once, I would like this woman to do something selfish, for her own personal gain, instead of rushing over to the town drunk (who hates her) to rescue his POOR FAMILY, to shame all the rest of the clan women into giving the baby their birth milk because, "THAT'S WHAT THE CLAN WOULD DO AND YOU THINK THEY ARE ANIMALS!" In fact, I think Auel "wrote" half the book by just tossing in a new character that Ayla has to fix whenever she ran out of stories from previous books to tell.
There is so much repetition in this book, it's borderline plagiarism. We are reminded TWENTY-TWO TIMES that Ayla has an unusual, exotic accent. I THINK I GOT IT AFTER THE FIRST TEN TIMES!! (I was going to post each one of the 22 quotes where it is mentioned, but I didn't want to get repetitive.) Other conversations that Auel has tortured us with in the past--every f@#$ing story from the last four books, where babies come from, how Iza told Ayla to wash up after having sex, how many times Ayla goes to take a p!ss or crap and how much more often it is now that she is preggers--is repeated over and over and over and over again. And then the introductions! GAH! Here is just ONE introduction:
"I am Folara of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, blessed of Dani, daughter of Marthona, former leader of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, daughter of the hearth of Willamar, master trader of the Zelandani, sister of Joharran, leader of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, sister of Jondalar of the 9th cave of the Zelandani, master flintknapper and returned traveler who is soon to be mated to Ayla of the 9th cave of the Zelandani. She has a bunch of names and ties of her own, but the one I like best is “friend of horses and Wolf”."
Imagine this for nearly EVERY "character" and multiply that by infinity. That is how many times I had to read this. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that twenty different writers wrote this book, threw together their portions in one big pot and sent it to publish.
And if you thought the previous books were in any way misogynist, you haven't even SEEN this book. Here are some WONDERFUL quotes from this supposedly equal-rights culture:
"She had become Ayla of the Zelandani and Jondalar's mate, and that came first."
Though a stigma of shame was placed on those who did not wait until they had their First Rites, some girls inevitably did succumb to the persistent blandishments. But no matter how relentless the pressure, by yielding to it, the girls became ultimately less desirable as mates because it indicated a lack of sufficient self-control."
"It is true that your mate will not be as tempted to look with pleasure upon other women if you satisfy his desires."
"Maybe [Jondalar] should have asked [Ayla] before he started all this [so Ayla could become Zelandani]"
Wow, HOW FAIR! Girls who have sex before First Rites are looked down upon because they can't wait. But boys? NOTHING. If your man leaves, it is YOUR FAULT because you didn't have sex enough with him. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Oddly enough, there are only 3 sex scenes in this book. Not surprisingly, they are pretty much the EXACT SAME sex scene we've read since "Valley of the Horses":
Jondalar goes for Ayla's boobs. (He even asks, at one point, if a baby nursing feels like when he does it. I AM SERIOUS, HE ASKS THIS.)
Jondalar moves to Ayla's "petals".
Ayla moans and can't believe how "ready she is".
Jondalar wants to take her "right now" and can barely hold back.
Insert Tab J into Slot A. Fireworks, explosions, flowers fall from the sky, angels sing, deer dance in the field.
And then we have the Mother's Song. I have a great aunt that used to write poetry about what happened to the family in the past year (and force rhyme to death out of it) and put it into her Christmas cards. The poetry would be something like this:
And Johnny did run to the store one day
To say hello to his Aunt May
And what do you think should happen there?
He found a cute, adorable, cuddly bear!
THAT is better poetry that this horrible mess. And the absolute LAST THING I wanted was Ayla commenting on how moving and wonderful this piece of sh!t poem was.
Sandra Burr has been doing an amazing job narrating these books (and somehow managing to not burst into giggles during the sex scenes). HOWEVER, the Transylvania accent that she suddenly gives Ayla in this book is TOO MUCH. Somehow, it made her even MORE annoying, MORE Mary Sue-ish, AND MORE vampy.
I just have one question: HOW THE F@#$ DID THIS GET PUBLISHED?!?!!!?!? This is, without a doubt, the WORST book of the series so far. It is pointless, it totally negates all the tension of the last four books, wondering and worrying if Ayla would be accepted into the Zelandani. I've read fan fiction better written than this.
So my advice? AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!
P.S. Only one book to go! Can I make it?
grandmashenanigans's review against another edition
4.0
FINALLY, the characters get to their destination. Although I love this series, I'm starting to wane on my 'hold' factor. Took me a while to finish this one, but I haven't stopped loving Ayla's story. Just getting a little tired of the same issues wherever she goes.
daniobsessivelyreads's review against another edition
5.0
I very much enjoyed this part of Ayla and Jondalar's story. At the beginning of this book, they had just arrived at Jondalar's home. Ayla was not immediately accepted by all, but she was accepted by most. The drama that ensues from her integrating herself into cave life is quite entertaining.
albaesfeliz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
book_concierge's review against another edition
2.0
Book on CD performed by Sandra Burr
NOTE – if you have NOT read at least the first three books in the Earth’s Children series, this review might be considered a spoiler.
Book number five in the Earth’s Children series continues the adventures of Ayla and Jondalar. They have finally arrived back at Jondalar’s home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. The people of the Ninth Cave readily welcome Jondalar back from his five-year journey, and they even welcome his foreign companion. Ayla controls animals (two horses and a wolf), was raised by “flatheads,” and is a healer. She has also invented a new, faster way to start a fire, and pioneered the use of a thread puller (needle), including using it to stitch serious wounds together. All these elements were explained in detail in previous books.
Not much really happens in this novel. Ayla gets to know Jondalar’s family and the others in the Ninth Cave. A few people are suspicious and angry about her meteoric rise to a prominent position in the group. And while she makes a few enemies, there aren’t any obvious repercussions. By the end of the novel, when she has to make a serious decision about her future within the Ninth Cave, I was just eager for something to finally happen. But I guess I’d have to read the sixth book to find out.
The novel is incredibly repetitious. From the long, detailed introductions (which are repeated numerous times throughout the novel), to the multiple references to how she trained the horses, found the firestones, was raised by the Clan, gained her knowledge of healing herbs, etc the book is just a long litany of what has occurred in the previous books. Additionally, Auel doesn’t trust her readers to figure out the undercurrents of emotion from context. After showing us a confrontation between Ayla and a member of the Ninth cave, she proceeds to tell us that Ayla has made an enemy. Duh. The author does this repeatedly, telling us that a character is conflicted, disturbed, angry, loving, gentle, etc. She should trust her readers to be at least half as smart at Ayla.
The novel is mostly padding, however there is some interesting information about the painted caves in this region of current-day France and about basic survival tools that these ancient humans used. Auel has clearly done a lot of research in writing the series and I appreciate that. Those sections where she is describing the landscape or the process for tanning hides, or the many uses of various parts of an animal were vivid and interesting to me. I just wish there was more plot and substance to this book.
I started out listening to the audio version, capably performed by Sandra Burr. The unique voice she gave Ayla truly differentiated her from other characters. However, I was growing bored with the writing and so I started reading, because I could finish must faster, skimming or skipping the long introductions for example, or the second (or third) recitations of the Mother’s Song.
NOTE – if you have NOT read at least the first three books in the Earth’s Children series, this review might be considered a spoiler.
Book number five in the Earth’s Children series continues the adventures of Ayla and Jondalar. They have finally arrived back at Jondalar’s home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. The people of the Ninth Cave readily welcome Jondalar back from his five-year journey, and they even welcome his foreign companion. Ayla controls animals (two horses and a wolf), was raised by “flatheads,” and is a healer. She has also invented a new, faster way to start a fire, and pioneered the use of a thread puller (needle), including using it to stitch serious wounds together. All these elements were explained in detail in previous books.
Not much really happens in this novel. Ayla gets to know Jondalar’s family and the others in the Ninth Cave. A few people are suspicious and angry about her meteoric rise to a prominent position in the group. And while she makes a few enemies, there aren’t any obvious repercussions. By the end of the novel, when she has to make a serious decision about her future within the Ninth Cave, I was just eager for something to finally happen. But I guess I’d have to read the sixth book to find out.
The novel is incredibly repetitious. From the long, detailed introductions (which are repeated numerous times throughout the novel), to the multiple references to how she trained the horses, found the firestones, was raised by the Clan, gained her knowledge of healing herbs, etc the book is just a long litany of what has occurred in the previous books. Additionally, Auel doesn’t trust her readers to figure out the undercurrents of emotion from context. After showing us a confrontation between Ayla and a member of the Ninth cave, she proceeds to tell us that Ayla has made an enemy. Duh. The author does this repeatedly, telling us that a character is conflicted, disturbed, angry, loving, gentle, etc. She should trust her readers to be at least half as smart at Ayla.
The novel is mostly padding, however there is some interesting information about the painted caves in this region of current-day France and about basic survival tools that these ancient humans used. Auel has clearly done a lot of research in writing the series and I appreciate that. Those sections where she is describing the landscape or the process for tanning hides, or the many uses of various parts of an animal were vivid and interesting to me. I just wish there was more plot and substance to this book.
I started out listening to the audio version, capably performed by Sandra Burr. The unique voice she gave Ayla truly differentiated her from other characters. However, I was growing bored with the writing and so I started reading, because I could finish must faster, skimming or skipping the long introductions for example, or the second (or third) recitations of the Mother’s Song.
souljaleonn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.75