Rating: 
Summary: I think...
Review: Although I was greatly anticipating this book, I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. It seemed to be very choppy, laboured, and extremely lengthy. Though the story didn't go very far, I was glad to get reaquainted with our old friend Ayla.
Rating: 
Summary: The Shelters of Stone
Review: A total disappointment. I bought the book hoping that the author
had returned to the wonderful storytelling skill she demonstrated in The Clan of the Cave Bear and the Valley of the Horses. By the time of her fourth book, The Plains of Passage she had almost abandoned the story and was so dedicated to flora and fauna that it was hard to read the book. The Shelters of Stone is even less interesting than the previous book. If you took out the part that was devoted to the characters that I wanted to read about the book would be only a few pages. Jean Auel either needs to get back on track or she should start writing educational textbooks. I absolutely will check out her next book before I waste any money on buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Who wrote this: An anthropologist or a travel guide?
Review: Pointless conversation, facts laid out in laundry list form, inconsistent characterization, interminable passages of description...this is the most self-indulgent book I've read in a while. Maybe that's a pitfall of success.
I couldn't finish it and I didn't care what happened. If Jean Auel's fans (and I am one) aren't disappointed, they darn well should be.
Rating:
Summary: Rock formation, rock formation, new character...
Review: Rock formation, rock formation, new character... etc.The sad part is, the rock formations are more interesting than the new characters. Just reread the first three and skip the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Is Jean Auel still alive?
Review: I just read about 80 negative reviews of SoS and agree with most of them .... but not many people seem to wonder who actually wrote the book. A diligent secretary who cut and pasted, a diligent fact-finder, plus someone to spead the stuff out for 700 pages? I can hardly believe Auel herself wrote this incredibly dreary tale. It took me 4 months to wade through, using it to cure insomnia...has Jean Auel had a stroke or something and noone told us?
Rating: 
Summary: Gets a little bogged down in spots.....
Review: Basically, I really enjoyed the book. It's a great addition to the series, BUT it did get a little bogged down in places and over-described. I thought it was too long and Ms Auel was just filling in stuff to impress us with her research.It also got a little tiring reading about the Wonder Woman of the Cro-magnon. The reader is made to think that Ayla singlehandedly transformed the evolution of Homo Sapiens. And got to marry Superman too. Wow. Do you think Marvel knows about this?
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Disapointment to Auel Fans
Review: Auel fans will not be disapointed. Ayla is again brought to life in vivid detail, as well as the beloved characters of Jondalar, Whinney, Racer and Wolf. In this book we meet Zelandoni, Jondalar's former lover, who delves into the mystery of Ayla and what her ultimate destiny will be. The spiritual journey of Ayla is foreshadowed eloquently in this book.
There are many moving moments and you'll have to keep reminding yourself that this is a work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: SOS Indeed
Review: First off, I'm very glad that I got this from the library and didn't waste my money. This book hardly justifies a 12 year wait for some fans. 3 years, in my case. It's boring, repetitive, and doesn't even offer anything significant to justify its incredible length. What about all the buildup, the incredible conflict we expected? What about Zolena, Jondalar's former lover, being a possible factor between Ayla and Jondalar? Nope, she has to be incredibly fat and thus sexually undesirable, an effectively neutered woman. Jondalar's former fiancee is portrayed as completely rabid and malicious, when she's more than entitled to a little resentment of Ayla and Jondalar. The man *jilted* her, after all. But no, if you dislike Ayla, that makes you rotten to the core. The Zelandoni prejudice against the people of the Clan that we were all so afraid of? Dealt with in one tiny scene wherein all Zelandoni are ooing and ahhing over Ayla's sign language. Give me a break. That's disgustingly unreal, and a disgrace after all the hype about it for the past three books. The "villains" are cardboard stereotypes. Those who aren't immediately enthralled by Ayla we *surprisingly* find are bad, evil people. I'm in mind of Frebec from "MH" here...he was a fully developed quasi-villain whose transformation was within the realms of belief. No such luck here. They're totally bad and have the utter gall to try and humiliate or hurt dear Ayla. Ayla makes no faux pas, saves every situation with perfect panache, enchants everybody despite her having been raised by (and having had sex with) "animal flatheads". (Which everybody conveniently accepts despite long-standing prejudice that's been harped on for the past three books.) In fan fiction there is a word for a beautiful, incredibly talented, and universally liked perfect young woman. It's a "Mary Sue", and it is not a complimentary term. Ayla's lost all depth she had in "Cave Bear" to become the original Cro-Magnon Mary Sue, perfect in every way. Every Paleolithic (and some Neolithic!) innovation can apparently be traced to her somehow: the atlatl (spear thrower), iron pyrite as a fire striker, animal domestication, the needle, the concept of conception via sexual intercourse being just a few. I'm just waiting for her to invent the wheel. Though she probably will as First Among Those Who Serve the Mother (come on, you know she'll have the spot soon enough.) I much prefer the uncertain, definitely flawed and definitely human Ayla of "CotCB" instead of this prissy, power-hungry, perfect and boring woman. Give us a normal woman with fears, flaws, and all, instead of this laughable, inane Super-Ayla. Jondalar is also disgustingly perfect, though he's basically just Ayla's stud and bodyguard. I'm also amused by the fact that the copious, purple-prosed love scenes seem to portray him as merely a one-trick pony. (So much for his prowess in the furs). This increasing trend towards nauseating perfection has annoyed me slightly since it began in "VoH" and has increased steadily with every book. Perhaps Thonolan should have survived that cave lion attack in Jondalar's place... The characters have become cardboard, mere shadows of what they could have been, should have been. What they were promised to be when we first met them and they enchanted us. Many good books have been ruined with multiple steadily more awful sequels. Laurie R. King's "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" is one. "The Clan of the Cave Bear" is another. Ms. Auel should have left it at the end of "CotCB" and been remembered for that splendid masterpiece instead of cranking out ever worsening tripe *ad nauseum*, justifying it by, "It continues the storyline." How about Ayla being an outcast from Zelandoni society because of her past? How about that causing strife with Jondalar, torn between love and his people? That was the book we should have received, the book that previous volumes promised us. Instead we find the couple happily married and accepted, with unquestioned incredibly high status, showering benevolence and help upon all who are needy. Is this supposed to be a parody, a farce? This book has no conflict. This book has no action. This book has positively no character development. This book practically deconstructs any good done in "CotCB" and "VoH". In fact, this book has absolutely *nothing* to justify spending 28 dollars and 12 years of anticipation. Any first-time writer sending this in would be firmly rejected and laughed at. "SoS" indeed--very apt. Send out the distress call and load the lifeboats, because this one plummets to the bottom fast under the weight of its own bloated self-importance. A solid F.
Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as all that
Review: I have read alot of reviews that trashed the book, but I read it anyways because I was a big fan of the the previous four books. Auel wrote this book, for people who didn't read the other 4 and that is unfortunate. I don't need constant recaps of what happened before and I skimmed over those sections. I also got tired of the very detailed descriptions of the landscape and skim over those too. I was more interested in the story of Ayla and Jondalar than the landscape. It was a good read, (with skimming of the dull parts) and I read it in one weekend. I will buy the 6th book to finish the story, but I do wish Auel will write book six knowing that the reader has made it through the other 5. STOP RETELLING THINGS WE ALREADY KNOW! Having said that, I still enjoyed the book... but it could have been better.
Rating:
Summary: A New Home
Review: If you are looking for excitement, then this is not your kind of book. But if you have read the four previous Earth's Children books, then you will find great comfort in Ayla and Jondolar settling into a home and family after the travels and travails of their earlier episodes. This book took a long time (1 month) for me to read and I took to it slowly and comfortably. There is repetition in this that could have been omitted which would have reduced the page count of the book, but I do not find the repetition painful at all. This is a slow, quiet read and I certainly have enjoyed Jondolar's "return home" with Ayla opening the world of the Zelandonii to others. Be patient with this book and it will reward you.
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