Rating: 
Summary: Bored
Review: I eagerly awaited this book and- flop. It's so old! It's really the plotline from "Plains of Passage" and "Mammoth Hunters" redone with new characters. Ayla meets lots of people, people are afraid of her inventions and animals, people begin to understand, one person refuses to be friendly with Ayla. Yeah, we know. And the whole thing with her hallucinations being "special". If Ayla was a modern woman she would be in constant therapy because of those. EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN!And Jondalar. The sex scenes are so...graphic. And he's such a sexaholic! Thonolan seemed so much more in-depth as a character. Jondalar is a pretty boy, the end. It would have worked out as more interesting if Ayla were only average looking like a mortal, for god's sake. I hate Jondalar now. He's horrible. And, I'm sorry, do we need to know of his "eager member" or whatever she calls it? Ugh. I'm utterly disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: It wasn't bad, but I expected more
Review: I found this book to be mediocre. I loved the introduction of the new characters, but was disappointed to find that the action, romance, and excitement I was used to from previous Earth's Children books was definitely lacking. Upon completion of the book, I just sat there thinking, "is this it?" There were parts of the book where I skipped a few paragraphs to avoid reading the same stories that have been told countless times. The same goes for descriptions of the landscape, which I found to be verbose. Some retelling is necessary in a sequel to remind readers of past novels, but it was overdone here. Even though I was disappointed with this book, I do look forward to Jean Auel's next novel. If it is one thing this novel accomplished, it was to introduce new characters and set the stage for another book. I hope the next one lives up to my expectations.
Rating:
Summary: After a wait of how many years???
Review: This was a definate disappointment from such a talented author. What it basically came down to was a review of the first 4 books. I agree with the others when they say it could have been a 100 page book. I was absolutely delighted when this latest book was finally published. But it soon wore off. After such a wait...maybe my expectations were too high. While Mrs. Auel lives up to the descriptive history she is known for, and I love, there really is not much of a new plot, new character development, nor any great conflict. Instead most of the book was taken up with lengthy introductions between Ayla and the Zelandonii, and the many times she showed them how to make fire - each time with a drawn out description. All that said, if you are planning on reading the 6th book, you should still give it a read. I truly hope that Auel revives her tremendous gift for story-telling, that made the first 4 books utterly captivating, in the 6th book. And that we do not have to wait as long as we did for Shelters of Stone.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Bad!
Review: I really tried to enjoy this book. I am such a fan of her previous works and have re-read them several times. This book was TERRIBLE. I was so disappointed. I skipped half the book because I chose not to read all the re-hashing, and there are WAY too many sex scenes. Not sure I'll even bother with the next one. Hope she gets it together, and gets back in touch.
Rating:
Summary: Sadly, a disappointment
Review: Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series would have been limited to a single novel had "Clan of the Cave Bear" been written in the same tedious fashion. Ms. Auel's eagerly awaited fifth novel of the series, "The Shelters of Stone" is a study in excrutiating, minutiae. The reader makes progress across this vast and wonderous landscape with a magnifying glass, never seeing anything beyond the short focus of the lens. I confess to quitting the book after 260 odd pages. Ms. Auel is, in my opioion, an incredibly talented author, otherwise, I would have quit 100 pages sooner. Perhaps this was a 100 page novel that was filled with an additional 600 pages of very finely crafted descriptive verbage. I guess I'll never know.
Rating:
Summary: Glad Ayla found the People but...
Review: The Auel series has its up and downs. I do like this book because I think Ms.Auel has talent and after reading it, I went back to the begining to re-read the whole series. I think this book is great if you want to know what happens when Ayla meets Jondalar's family and tribe. I also agree that Ayla is a superwoman (no one in fiction or non-fiction could be this wonderful). I would like to see Ayla have a strong female rival in the last book. I also think Ms.Auel needs to learn that basic rule of writing "show don't tell..." I am sick of hearing about "vivid blue eyes." Also the sex scenes, I just skip them now. I don't think they need to be there in "vivid detail."
Rating: 
Summary: 4 stars for the 5th book in series
Review: This book did not captivate me. I took my time reading it because it was rather non-eventful. This book contains battles for Ayla on a social level rather than on a survival level. I appreciated the 'survival' theme of the eariler novels. I still look forward to the next novel in the series. It was rewarding for me to research the geographical area myself, through books. It is just as described in the novel. It was fun to look at pictures of the area while reading the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Shelters of Stone
Review: There is but one word to describe this 5th volume of Auel's Earth's Children series: boooring! What a disappointment! Potential readers should buy instead a decent cultural anthropology text. It would be no less tedious to read and might even yield some valid information.
Rating:
Summary: Is Ayla Scottish???
Review: I am not sure why, but Sandra Burr has changed the voices of the characters, especially Ayla. Ayla now has a Scottish accent, which sounds really hokey. Otherwise, the book is very good.
Rating:
Summary: A Jean Auel Fan
Review: I'm sorry. This book was a real disappointment. I read and then reread ALL of Auel's books as I would await the next book(s). When I saw the size of the latest I was just SURE it would be full of new adventures and stories of Ayla & Jondolar. But that was not the case. I found the book to be uninteresting and dull in comparison to her previous 4 books. Actually, I was left with a feeling that Jean Auel did not write this book. The first 4 books left me always waiting for the next book. Not so with this book. Jean Auel could have summed up what happened in this entire book inside of two chapters. Don't know what happened to her style or her story. Like I said earlier . . . I just don't believe she wrote this book. What a shame.
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