Rating: 
Summary: Ayla, what happened to you?
Review: Oh, Ayla, Ayla! Wherefore art thou Ayla...?
In the first book we rooted for her. The young girl, without a family, who thinks differently, rebels, but most of all survives. We believed in her world...it was harsh and demanding. It was easy to suspend your disbelief. We believed in her. In the second book, still surviving, she found love and the ugly duckling turned into a swan. We were pleased to see that. After all she's been through, the girl deserved some happiness. In the third book, we wanted her accepted by her own (at least in between all the sex sessions). By the fourth book, Ayla was starting to get predictable and annoying. And then we waited.
Time passed, some of us finished high school, college, got a job, got married...from time to time hoping that we'll get to visit Ayla's world again. And finally there she was,perfect to the point of nusea, singing the longest and most annoying song. Every time Ayla looked at something, she turned into a heroine like no other. Her society, more politically correct than ours, never suffers. None of the caves fight with each other, in fact I don't think these people knew what war was. The herbal remedies that are more efficient than anything you can find in 21st century. And boy, does the traveler get treated better among the Zelandoni than today. (No one will ever steal from you in Ayla's world that's for sure.)
Honestly, sometimes I felt like I was watching a child's play made up with Barbie dolls: "Let's play house...this will be the home...people will eat here...oh, I know, let's have a little cup there so if someone wants a drink, they can use it!" The dialogue certainly didn't help.
Having said all that...and more, which was mentioned by other readers already (unlike the book, I will not be repetitious) I am waiting for the sixth part. Like a fool, I hope Ayla will become human again. And now, I think I will have a cup of tea, look to the right and notice cure for cancer sitting right in front of me.
Rating: 
Summary: Shelters of Stone
Review: I have to say that I did enjoy the book. As usual Jean Auel gives us things to think about. If it is true that we knew so much about healing at that time, then the dark ages really took a lot of that away didn't it? I like reading what she thinks happened during that time and deciding if If I see a different scenario.
As for the storyline. Yes, the sex was a long and I skipped a lot of that. And I was disappointed that the storyline didn't go any further along than it did. My first reaction was, "I have to wait ten or more years to get the rest of the story?" "I don't know if I will care by that time".
I think you have to enjoy science to enjoy Jean Auel and she can even get a little long winded in that area. But I can feel her exitement at what she learns during the research for her books.
Rating: 
Summary: I agree with Christine Campbell - THIS BOOK IS TERRIBLE
Review: I am so bored and I feel like it is a complete WASTE OF TIME. It is like a really bad soap opera - you waste your time on it because you became addicted to the series. This book is lacking everything that a devoted reader waiting 10+ years was expecting. Can Ayla do anything wrong? Can she be any more wonderful? What happened to the tension of her being accepted by the Ninth Cave? Where is the fear of a foreigner with such unusual ideas? Zelandoni, the One Who Serves, wants to reserve judgement on the "mating" of her and Jondular and absolutely NOTHING ever comes of it. Ayla is accepted and welcomed because she is so wonderful and since Jondular's family does run the tribe then I guess she's got the "in". Lucky her, huh? She becomes a Zelandonii before they even leave for Summer Meeting (around page 300 of the 750 pages)and even Joharran (Jondular's brother and leader of the Ninth Cave) questions why she should become a Zelandonii so quickly. Does it matter? NO! Ridiculous. Way too much repitition of everyone having to reach down and let Wolf sniff their hand, showing everyone how to use the amazing firestarters, which tea concoction should she try today?, isn't she just beautiful and would you expect Jondular to bring home a woman to be his mate that was any different? By page 350 I found myself skipping all the descriptions of the surrounding rocks, caves, and rivers and it was very easy to put the book down for any trivial interruption! This book is simply filled with nothing. I am very grateful that I borrowed it from the library and didn't spend a dime on it. Not worth a penny so don't waste your time which is worth a lot more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Weakest of a fine series.
Review: The first book in this series, "Clan of the Cave Bear", was a classic, one of my favorite books of all time. Each book in the series has failed to live up to the preceding book, but up until this one, they were all still excellent. This one is a pleasant read for a fan of the series; it's like a visit with family. It's good to see more of Ayla and Jondalar, but not overly exciting. And it doesn't help that there was an ELEVEN YEAR hiatus between the previous book and this one, producing the reaction, "We waited eleven years for THIS?" It's tempting to say that nothing happens in this book, but that wouldn't be accurate. Not even that nothing important happens. After all, Ayla and Jondalar get married, and have a child, and Ayla is accepted by Jondalar's people, and decides to become a shaman. All of these things are important events, not only to the people involved, but to the plotline of the series. But it WOULD be very close to accurate to say that nothing EXCITING happens in this book. In the first book of the series, Ayla survives an earthquake as a five-year old, survives wandering alone for days, survives being attacked by a cave lion, learns to live with a completely alien group of people, teaches herself to hunt, to survive on her own, and to swim, and is taught how to be a healer. She saves lives, challenges tradition, and faces down her enemy in a gripping scene at the end of the book. In the second book in the series, she survives for years on her own, learns to make fire with flint, tames a horse and a cave lion, saves the life of her soul mate, falls in love, relearns how to speak verbally, and invents a new hunting tool (with a little help from Jondalar.) (And learns that sex can be fun.) Meanwhile, Jondalar is surviving a cross-continent journey with his brother, experiencing many narrow escapes and new things, loses his brother and almost dies. The third book sees her tame a wolf, and sees the relationship between her and Jondalar tested; she meets new people for the first time, and learns to deal with difficult ones. The fourth book sees the two of them survive an encounter with a madwoman with political power, and set to rights the culture that that woman had warped to her own liking, and help a neanderthal couple defend themselves from a gang of young toughs. So what's the most exciting thing that happens in THIS book? The incident in which Ayla FAILS to heal someone too badly mauled to save? The healing of someone with a badly broken leg? Or the meeting of people who don't like her, and whom she's presumably eventually going to have to win over? None of these are gripping dramas, but they're the closest that this book has to offer. There just isn't enough plot here to justify the length of the book, or the length of time it took to write it. Which is a shame, because I love the series. I hope the sixth book (allegedly the final one) will see the action pick back up again.
Rating:
Summary: The Shelters of Stone
Review: What a disappointment! I have always like the anthropology angle of the previous books in the series, but so much is repeated and unecessary I found myself skipping 5-10 pages at a time. This books is a mix between a boring high school text book and a cheap romance novel.
Rating:
Summary: Big Waste(land)
Review: For as long as I have waited for this book,(and I went and reread all 4 previous books) it was truly disappointing. I just finished reading it this morning and I couldn't believe how it ended. Absolutely nothing was resolved! I was getting to the end and I couldn't figure out how so much was going to be finished in so short a time. I have to agree with some of the other reviews that said many things were duplicated in the book. It almost seemed as if she forgot what she wrote in a previous chapter and rewrote it 2 chapters later. I also didn't like how she kept repeating "The Mother's Song", once was enough. Especially since the entire song is listed at the back of the book. I certainly hope there is another book because it will drive me nuts not to know what happens to certain characters. In her other books there were always sections that I enjoy rereading but offhand I can't think of anything in this book. If there is going to be another book this one is worth reading. If not, then be prepared for a disappointing ending to the series.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: What a disapppointment! This book is tedious, over long and depressingly repetitive as Auel tries to recreate her dream world where everyone is nice to each other almost all the time. As someone who enjoyed the first three books, and sort of enjoyed the fourth (although that could have done with some cutting too), you can give this one a miss.
Rating:
Summary: Sorely Disappointed too.
Review: I felt quite let down by this book that we waited so long for. I found it confusing, repetitous, wordy, and lacking in follow-through. .
The numbering of all of the Zelandoni caves, as well as each having a descriptive name , often confused me. Especially when Jean Auel would use the different names/numbers interchangably throughout. As with her previous books, we again find out how spear throwers came about, how to use firestones, the lay of the land, (which is good if you are an archeologist studying the Danube river region and parts of France), and what it was like for man and beast to live in that era. I admit I skimmed and skipped many paragraphs when it became nothing but textbook material. Ayla did seem to have "grown up" in this book, having gained a backbone and level of maturity. But the hype of the Zelandoni's negative attitude of the Clan was a washout. If you are wanting to read it, rent it at your local library first, before purchasing it. I'm now glad I didn't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: WOULD THE REAL JEAN AUEL STAND UP
Review: Would the real Jean Auel stand up. This book,THE SHELTERS OF STONE, seems like the author had three people read the other books in this series and then had them each pen the chapters. It is a great drop below her other books. No real finality to the problems that were introduced in the last book. And with the new problems introduced in this book, the reader is left with a sense of loss. No closure to Ayla's pain about Durc. No meeting among the Clan and the Zelandonii. Ayla has to be able to strut her stuff for the good of her new people.
Rating: 
Summary: Love it!
Review: I loved this book the most and CAN NOT wait for the 6th. Mrs. Auel if you read these reviews, Please Hurry!!!!
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