Rating: 
Summary: After the long wait...a disappointment
Review: "Shelters of Stone" has a great legacy to live up to, and unfortunately, it falls short of the first four books in the series. After the previous novels--each of which told a story that was an epic in and of itself--this sequel (the penultimate in the series) feels claustrophobic, small, and insignificant. The first 3/4 of the novel literally covers a span of no more than a few weeks, with far too much repetition of previous plot points and tiresome revisiting of similar scenes, replayed under slightly different circumstances. Ayla demonstrates her new firestones at least three times before different audiences; the method of presentation and impact on the audience never varies. Even love scenes between Ayla and Jondalar are deja vu all over again, feeling "prescribed" rather than natural. Oops, it's been 125 pages...time for a paint-by-numbers interlude in the meadow! After a sweeping Journey across hundreds of miles and multiple cultures in the first four novels, this book opens as Ayla and Jondalar return home. The conflicts of the previous novels were on a grand scale; life and death, love and loss, old ways vs. change, Clan vs. Others. But in "Shelters of Stone," the biggest problems are frustratingly mundane. Will Ayla's new in-laws like her?...Will she be able to overcome the petty pranks of Jondalar's ex, the pretty but [grouchy] Marona?... Will Jondalar's father Dalanar show up in time for the wedding?... Will Jondalar's first love, Zolena, be a problem?... This book is, despite its 750-page heft, an exceedingly small story. New material comprises perhaps only a fourth of the entire book; the rest is rehashing, revisiting, and even reprinting entire passages from the earlier books. It's as though, having gotten Ayla and Jondalar safely home, Auel is at a complete loss about what to do with them. Auel has created characters that are far too compelling, complex, and dynamic to saddle them with the inconsequential, mundane, domestic details they are forced to walk through, in excruciating detail, in this novel. I have great hopes that the sixth novel will return to the scale and grandiosity of the previous books in the series. (And frankly, I also hope that if the love scenes between Ayla and Jondalar continue to be as perfunctory and predictable as they were in this novel, they'll be left out entirely in the final book of the series.) With precious little "new" in the way of plot or character development, and very little to recommend it to readers who are not already fans of the series, I sincerely hope Auel will regain the fullness of her voice and vision in the next and final book.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: As soon as I heard this book was coming out, I placed the date on my calendar so that I could buy it immediately upon release. I had read the other four books, and was hooked after reading Clan of the Cave Bears. By far, the first book was the best, and I really was rooting for the character, Ayla. I read the other three books, and my interest waned a bit with each, but in general I was still enamored with the series. However, Shelters of Stone was not the book I was expecting. I must agree with many of the other reviewers who were tired of the repetition that Auel used, and I found myself skipping over large repetitive sections of the book. In addition, as usual from books 2-4, I continued skipping over the romance novel love scenes of Ayla and Jondalar. Enough about his large "manhood." I feel that these romance novel interludes were added to books 2-5 to attract a larger reading audience, which is a real shame because the first book, Clan of the Cave Bear, did not have these scenes and is by far the best. However, I digress. The main thing I did not like about Shelters of Stone was that throughout the series we have followed almost every single day of Ayla's life, starting at age 5, or so it seems. However, when it comes to her pregnancy, which was built up to the be the climax of the storyline about her use of contraception/Jondalar's desire to have a child of his hearth, Ms. Auel almost skips it entirely. Instead, it was like a fast forwarded version of a pregnancy. I must say though, that although I was disappointed by the book, it was readable and I have read it once again since my initial read. Also, I will tune in for the sixth installment, just to see how it ends. I guess after you invest that much time into something, reading 5 books, you just need to know the ending, even if it appears it may be anticlimatic. My suggestion is to read this book if you have read the other four, and really need to know what happens to the characters. However, if you are not emotionally invested in the characters it will probably not be worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadful...
Review: Clan of the Cave Bear was required reading my sophomore year in high school. I read it 20+ times, it was so wonderful. I read 2-4 a fair number of times, and anxiously awaited #5. When it was finally released, after 10 years of waiting, I bought an autographed hardcover copy. 2 days later I was kicking myself for wasting the money. What an awful follow up to what was such a promising story. This book was dreadful, trite, boring, and it took a supreme effort for me to even finish it the first time. Needless to say, that expensive hardback copy wound up in the Goodwill pile. I'm never going to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Terribly boring
Review: Even though I enjoyed most of the previous books in the series and looked forward to reading this one, I found it was not only a terrible book, but a boring one.
Repetitive, uneventful, heavy, unpleansant to read, etc. etc. Nothing justifies reading hundreds of pages to sumerize it in only a few words. Ayla and Jondalar ger married, Ayla has a baby, Ayla proves (yet again) that she has wisdom and 'powers', end of story.
I feel cheated and fear the publication of the next one in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Joining the crowd...
Review: I found book 4 to be more tedious than the previous ones, so I did not buy this book. I did come across it a few weeks ago at the library, and so I brought it home. Glad I didn't buy it! I have to agree with the other reviewers. The 700+ pages read rather quickly, but I kept eyeing the other books on my shelf and wishing I could get to them (not a good sign). As it went on, I felt absolutely certain that she was going to reunite Ayla with Durc, as much as she kept bringing him up. But as the pages dwindled I gave up that hope. Another bad sign, in addition to looking with longing at my other unread books, is the fact that I was so disinterested in the plot that I had time to notice that all the characters from the present locale had names with 3 syllables. Names from the previous area where the travelers stayed had two syllables, and most names from the Clan had one syllable (except Ayla and a few others--now that I think about it, maybe it was broken down into male names having one and female names two? Do we care?). What does it say that I could notice something so trivial, except that I needed something to keep my mind occupied while I read?! Unless this was purposeful for a reason that I'm not seeing.
To echo another reviewer, do not bother with this unless you have read all the others and really care about these two characters and plan to get #6.
Rating:
Summary: Having not read the first four books...
Review: I found this book fairly interesting; for the first half, anyway. After reading a few reviews, my thoughts that this book simply rehashed the previous four were comfirmed. There was too much emphasis on how brilliant and beautiful Ayla was, and how spectacular her control of animals was; I got the idea after the first ten times. My hopes for this book were dashed by the time I finished it. All of the foreshadowing was for naught; tensions were built, and then forgotten about. Discoveries or decisions were hinted at, but never reached. The end of the book seemed rushed; events that were built up to be important were completely left out of the book, as opposed to excessive detail in the beginning (which I am a sucker for). In short: if you read the first four books, or plan to, do not read this one. If you've read this one, you've practically read the first four.
Rating:
Summary: Prelude to Book 6
Review: I got interested in this series by accident. I rented 'The Mammoth Hunters' from an audio book rental place a few years ago. I listened to the book and I was hooked. I have purchased the entire series that Jean Auel has written so far. It is a 6 book series, but only 5 books have been written so far. This is the 5th. This book does not come up to the level of story telling that the previous books did.
* It is important to read the previous 4 books to understand some of the things mentioned in this book.
* The author has included more of the recent discoveries about cave society in her book at the expense of the story itself.
* Unlike previous books in this series, the author raises many questions in this book which she leaves unanswered.
* I feel that this book is not complete. It is only a prelude to the final book in this series. I fell that this book is worth buying. But only if you are a fan who has read the previous 4 books and are intending on buying the final book when it comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Cave people soap opera
Review: I have never seen so much padding in a book, ever. It is worse than General Hospital that my mother watched for so many years. My feeling is that chapters were given to hired writers while Jean Auel was on vacation and the writers weren't very good. I think Jean's readers deserve something much better. Carol
Rating:
Summary: SHELTERS OF STONE
Review: I HAVE READ ALL THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES AND THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THEM SO I EAGERLY BOUGHT THE LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE SERIES. I TRIED READING IT SEVERAL TIMES AND GOT BOGGED DOWN SO I ENDED UP GETTING THE UNABRIDGED AUDIO VERSION FROM THE LIBRARY! IN MY OPINION THE BOOK COULD HAVE BEEN CUT IN HALF. THE AUTHOR REPEATS HERSELF CONSTANTLY, EXPLAINING OVER AND OVER AGAIN DETAILS OF JONDALAR AND AYLA'S JOURNEY. I FOUND THAT UNNEEDED AND VERY ANNOYING. I LIKED THE FACT THAT AYLA WAS A VERY STRONG CHARACTER AND THAT WOMEN WERE CONSIDERED AS EQUALS TO MEN IN THE BOOK AND IF YOU CUT OUT ALL THE REPETETIVE DIALOGUE AND INFORMATION IT IS A FAIRLY GOOD READ. HOWEVER, I AM NOT SURE IF I WILL BOTHER WITH THE NEXT EPISODE.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, just like the rest!
Review: I just finished reading the book, and I wanted to say that I thought it was excellent, and I really enjoyed it. The entire series has been wonderful, and I am really looking forward to the next book. For the reviewers who said they were disappointed, bored, skipped pages/sections, etc., I am wondering if you read the same book I did? Yes, there was some repetition in the book, but I did not find it unnecessary or distracting. I have read the entire series over the last 1 1/2 years, so it was all fresh in my mind, and I did not find it to be a problem at all. With the amount of time between the 4th and 5th books, I would think it would have been helpful for someone who had not read the other books as recently. My first thoughts when reading a lot of the other reviews were that many of the reviewers were looking for things to find wrong with the book. (Short attention spans came to mind as well, but that's a whole different story by itself!) Could any of them honestly have written the book better? NO! I think it was very well done, and just as enjoyable as the previous 4. Of course the lives of the main characters have settled down a bit- their journey is over, they have a family now- isn't that to be expected? If I had been travelling as long and far as they had I would think my life would be more settled too! And I think if I had just arrived in a new place living with new people as Ayla had, I would probably be telling the same things over and over again just like she did in the book. I for one think the book was excellent, and I would highly recommend it.
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