Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful continuation of a comparison between then & now
Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of Auel's books, and this one was no exception. I love how she describes the characteristics of the land before it was polluted by so much modern technology. I also love how she portrays human relationships that are so similar to what we encounter today - to show that basic human nature hasn't changed much. Also, I enjoy the discoveries made by Ayla and the other humans, of opportunities that we today so take for granted (such as fire, thread puller, spear thrower, etc.) Auel's books rekindle my genuine appreciation for the earth and all it has provided for us. I love getting lost in the era in which the story takes place. This book in particular has also made me revisit the joys of being pregnant and having a baby (my 'baby' is now almost 4). The story surrounding Lorala, and Ayla's experience with having her own baby, really moved me. Jean Auel, you are such a wonderful inspiration to me! I am anxiously anticipating book #6!
Rating: 
Summary: The uses of perpetual cut and paste
Review: I looked forward to the next installment of the Earth's Children series, but found SoS a disappointment. It seems Auel is more concerned with length than content, because there is more repetition and recycling in this book than all her other books combined.Just how many times does the Mother's Song have to be printed? One time through was far more than enough...it's too long as it is. Yet we see it in full 2-3 times, plus a printing yet again after the end of the book. Endless introductions and listings of familial lineages. Endless recycling of portions of the previous books. While yes, some would be necessary, when the same story is retold (when others ask Ayla the same question that has been answered previously) we have to hear the WHOLE THING again. This book was more than twice as long as it needed to be. Instead of letting of really focus on some of the interesting new characters, we're bogged down in endless scenery descriptions. It gets to the point of being difficult to follow the relatively unsubstantial story and character arcs. Auel sets up some conflicts that could have become interesting if brought to fruition. Instead she all but comes out and says *Buy the next book* This volume was a cop-out...filler material...not really respectful of her fan base.
Rating: 
Summary: JUST OK
Review: I found this fifth book in the Earth Children series much too long and repetitious. I was getting pretty sick of hearing how Ayla found and trained her horses and her wolf......I found the previous four books of this series much more interesting. However, I plan to read Miss Auel's next book, but I sure hope it does not take her twelve years to write it like it did this one. I'm a senior citizen and cannot afford to wait too long......Miss Auel did much research about the people who lived 30,000 years ago in the limestone caves of this story..... Ayla and Jondalar complete their long journey to arrive at the home of Jondalar's people who are called Zalondonii.......The tame horses and wolf are a wonder to the Zalondonii as their limestone caves, artifacts, and customs are to Ayla. Most of Jondalar's people accept Ayla, but some do not......This book ends with the main characters starting a family of their own.....Hope the next book follows soon.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't pick it up.
Review: What a let down!! After waiting over a decade, THIS is all that Jean Auel could think up?? The book should have been called "How to stretch a 300 page book to 700 pages." This book is terrible. After leaving us hanging in the last book with Ayla's first glimpse of Jondalar's home and her sense of deja vu, Ms. Auel does nothing more than go through the day to day drivel of life with the Zelandonii. It seemed like every other page contained either 1) a description of the entire world, 2) yet another comparison of Jondalar's eyes and a glacier, 3) another long explaination of permafrost or 4) an even longer explaination of working hides into leather. This book had no real plot and certainly no action. When I was in school, we were taught that a story should have an introduction, then a build-up to a climax between the protagonist and antagonist, then a conclusion. This book has only the first part. If Ms. Auel was wanting only to write a prelude to another book, she succeeded. Whether or not anyone who has read this book will sit through the next one, who knows. I know that these reviews are supposed to be about the content of the book, but, I don't think the guidelines are capable of handling a book with no content. The book is basically a year in the life of Ayla and Jondalar while living with Jondalar's people. The characters are not developed, Ayla is a wimp and Jondalar is so 2 dimensional he would be unable to stand in the real world. I've said it once already, but I have to say it again. This book was terrible! It took me almost 2 weeks to struggle through it and I kept thinking that it would get better. It never did. I usually read 2-3 books a week while working full time. I have read and liked books that most of my friends and my husband hated. I read books like other people watch TV, for pure entertainment value. If I cannot find a redeeming quality in a book, it doesn't have one (kindling and paper weights excluded). If you haven't read this book, DON'T. Wait for the next one. You will not have missed a thing. In fact, if you read this book instead of doing other things you like to do, you will be doing yourself a great disservice. Did I mention the fact that this book was TERRIBLE?
Rating:
Summary: Lots of words but they are all the same
Review: I am a big Auel fan having each of her previous books in hard cover and having read them multiple times. There are about 700 pages in The Shelters of Stone, compared to Clan of the Cave Bear at around 450. Auel's books seem to becoming longer and more descriptive but at the same time the time line in the story becomes shorter. I was disappointed when after being three-quarters through Shelters of Stone only a few months have been covered (versus multiple years in her first two books). It also seems that Auel must repeat herself describing characters multiple times in the same book. One character's description, Echozar is described three times in Shelters of Stone - this is a character we knew in the previous book. I found myself having to skip sections of description because it was the same thing that was said a few pages before. I am hoping that Auel isn't repeating herself because she believes her readers are too stupid to remember one character, or one event, from time to time. Or is she just trying to stretch out a storyline so that she has enough for her expected and final 7th book? I had high expectations for this book and am very disappointed at the result.
Rating:
Summary: Shelters of Stone
Review: I am only 3/4 of the way through this book and had to check out other readers' opinion. Yes, most everyone else like me think this book is a BIG disappointment. I've kept going hoping a plot, a climax (not Ayla's) would develop but it looks hopeless. Thanks to other reviewers comments I now know it ain't gonna happen. I'm not a writer but I think even I could have come up with a decent plot, like...the Zelandonii, Ayla, and Jondalar all in a conflict with the Clan -- Ayla meeting Durc -- Wolf biting Zelandoni's hand and she hauls off and wacks him -- something please happen to end this boredom!!
Rating:
Summary: Bummed out
Review: I didn't hate this book, but I was bummed out --I've been waiting for it for 12 years --EAGERLY! Aside from the lack of anything really happening, I was mostly disappointed that Ayla is different now, and not in a way that can be explained by character growth. Suddenly she seems timid when it comes to things that she used to not be timid about. I loved the character of Zelandoni though, and like others, get the sense that alot of stuff will "come to a head" so to speak in book 6, but I'm still bummed about this one. I will buy book 6 for closure but I doubt that I will read any other books by this author in the future if she writes another series as I've heard suggested. All I can say, "WHAT A BUMMER!!"!! Wait for your library to get it or buy it in paperback if you need to know what happens, but save the big bucks of hardcover editions for something else!
Rating: 
Summary: And I was so excited......
Review: This book was such a let down, I almost want my money back. I had been griping for years about the Earth's Children series and where in the world was that new book. I was so excited to finally to see the book alive and in print that I bought the first copy that I saw and settled myself in for an absorbing session. Imagine my surprise when I encountered all the other books mushed together in 750 pages of dry, tasteless reading. The repetition of the background of Ayla and Jondolar was really..... bad. I am trying to not sound harsh but I would only recommend this book if you go buy it used in paperback. We will see if the 6th book can recoup my faith in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Why did she bother?
Review: I was a great fan of the Authors previous books. I found all of them imaginative and the detail very interesting. I have to admit that The Plains of Passage became a little tedious at times, but the story line made it worth the while.
In this installment however, the detail was tediously boring. I found myself skipping pages to try and get back to the story. But the story was merely a recounting of the previously explained history of Ayla and her skills. The characters are even so similar to previous books characters that the encounters are repetetive. The story that this book tells is almost non- existent. The characters are one dimensional. It could have been told better in two hundred pages.
In other words, it was a big disappointment, a well written yawn.
Rating:
Summary: Shelters of Stone
Review: I waited over a year to get the audio cassette version of this book. I read the first four books when they came out orignally and loved them so much that I wanted my husband to hear them on audio cassette, as we have a long commute to work. He enjoyed them and understood when I was excited about the fifth in the series. Finally the long awaited day came when I had the audio book in my tape player and we settled in to listen to what very soon became a disappointing letdown. Not only do I agree with the rest of the reviews but I must add that the audio version has added another faux pau. Someone decided that the reader should give Ayla's voice an accent. Yes, they are always going on and on about her foreign accent but in the other audio books she had regular speech and sounded no different from the rest of the Cromagnons. You could use your imagination to figure out how Clan people sounded. Now she sounds like Natasha (Boris and Natasha) and it is annoying and laughable. Sometimes the reader seems to forget the accent and speaks normally. Later the accent returns. Please!!! I am so sad that I cannot love this book. I keep hoping Lorimar or Brakovar will kidnap her or do something to bring a little suspense...what happened to Merona, Jondalar's old lover who played the "evil" trick on her? She might turn up later in the book but somehow I doubt it. I am grateful that halfway through the book we have only been subjected to one sex scene. This book is so boring, everyone is so nice and modern-thinking! We are plodding through, out of loyalty on my part. I pray the next book in the series redeems itself.
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