Rating: 
Summary: Shelters, Shmelters: Call this Stone Soup
Review: This book is MADE of stone--and prehistoric conversation. Endless and infuriating recapitulations, a lethargic pace, non-plot, characters with not a whit of life to them, useless, tedious, drawn-out descriptions of rocks and topography, and worst of all, dialogue that would disgrace one of those softcover books that fifth-graders buy in school. Have I left anything out? I wonder if Jean Auel ever did have anything to offer besides earnestness and a certain tempo. "Clan of the Cave Bear" has been blown up with helium four times, each time with less and less content and more and more pages. I have read every page she's written up to now and I feel foolish for having done so.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I looked forward to another "Clan of the Cave Bear," or "The Mammoth Hunters." Boy, was I disappointed. Not much story or action here. This book is mostly a lesson in archeology and anthropology. Not entertaining. Boring. Boring. Boring. I think the author has lost her muse and gone over to teaching.Bored Reader
Rating:
Summary: Shelters of Stone
Review: This book is boring - the previous were exciting.
This one reminds me of Stephen King and his repetitive writing
(all in the same book).
Could have been only half as many pages and more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: don't waste your money or your time
Review: Only once before in my life have I failed to finish a book because it was too bad to continue; The Shelters of Stone makes that twice. Not since Clan of the Cave Bear, and perhaps Valley of Horses (which was good, if not as engrossing) has Auel turned out a really good story. Quite frankly, all I remember of the third and fourth books is that every time you turned the page, they were having sex again. The story line in The Shelters of Stone is not only boring, but the language is stilted and bland, and not at all helped by the fact that Ayla (a character I used to admire) seems to feel she must explain every little detail of life, over and over...and over, pointing out repeatedly how she knows and understands what nobody else does. Why did I buy the book? Once again, I had hoped that Auel had returned to the style of her original Clan of the Cave Bear, only to find she had not only continued her bland style from the last two books, but it's actually gotten worse! (Makes you wonder, quite frankly, who's been writing what.) Well, on the bright side, the book is thick enough to make a good doorstop.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or your money
Review: Unfortunately, The Shelters of Stone is a major disappointment. Only once before have I failed to finish a book because it was just too bad to continue - this now makes twice. None of the books beyond Clan of the Cave Bear ever entirely lived up to Auel's first, though at least Valley of Horses was decent if not as engrossing. This book, however, is not only boring, but the language is stilted and bordering on silly as Ayla (whom I used to like as a character) ponders every single detail of life she notices and seems to feel a need to explain it as well. Why did I get it? I was hoping that Auel had returned to her earlier style after taking so many years to complete this book. On the bright side, at least it's thick enough to make a good door stopper.
Rating:
Summary: ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................knogh, oh, where were we?
Review: I can't even get through this book. It IS and ISN'T like the first 4 - it IS because it's the same thing over and over, it isn't because I can enjoy "Clan of the Cave Bear" in 24 hours and I can't make it more than 1/2 way through this book after a month. The familiar characters don't GROW at all. After 12 years, despite her illness, Auel dropped the spear thrower on this one. I can't get a sense for the setting despite the nauseating detail. I skipped ahead to read the ending. Nothing new there, either. This book covers about 7 months of time - all the rest covered a year or more and in a lot less pages. The writing is not what I expect from Auel - at one time the POV shifted no less than 3 times in ONE SENTENCE. Omniscient, yes, but with what must be 50 new characters, most of which are forgetable and whose names are alike (and an INDEX in the back to keep them straight, no less!) we could at least keep POV shifts to a single paragraph for confusion's sake. This story is TOLD, not SHOWN. Sorry, but if you like the series, you will want to read the book for loyalty's sake, but if you are new to her stuff, read "Clan" and stop there. Maybe read Vally of Horses and Mammoth Hunters. Those 3 and you can skip Plains of Passage and Shelters of Stone. If I wan't collecting the series, my new hardback would be on eBay by now (unfinished) where a bunch of others already are going unsold.
Rating:
Summary: Book 6 had better be *fantastic*!
Review: Do the bad guys have Jean Auel tied up in the laundry room? That's my theory after reading... what's it called? The Mountain of Mediocrity? The Ravine of Redundancy? The Boulders of Boredom? Oh, right -- "The Shelters of Stone". This reputedly took twelve years to write, and seemed to take at least that long to read. I usually enjoy kvetching as much as the next person -- OK, probably more than the next person -- but it truly pains me to pan "Shelters of Stone". I've been a fan since "Clan of the Cave Bear", and have read all Jean Auel's previous books many times. Like other fans, I looked forward to this book, and I *wanted* to like it -- but SOS (note initials; they're appropriate) is the literary equivalent of a clip show, and not even one which put any thought into selecting clips. As far back as "Valley of the Horses", Auel included expository flashbacks so new readers could keep up. While *some* explanation might be necessary, the flashback problem has increased exponentially with each successive book in the series, and at this point, it's truly unwieldy and distracting. It seemed as though *everything* that happened in SOS recalled some similar incident in the past that then, of course, had to be dredged up. Entire chunks of all four previous books appear to have been recollected verbatim. At one point, Ayla encounters opposition from Labrador, the dirtball town drunk, and wonders whether she'll have to demonstrate her firestones to win him over, as she did with Freebird, the dirtball town drunk of the Mamutoi, who opposed her two books ago in "Mammoth Hunters". When even the *character* is rolling her eyes and thinking, "Oh, no! THIS again?", you know the well is running dry. In addition to over-reliance on flashbacks, the book is *internally* repetitious. The same scenes, conversations, explanations, and introductions -- zillions of introductions, with all of everybody's names, titles, and affiliations -- and (Goddess help us all!) that long-winded poem/song (which wasn't riveting the first time around, let alone the third) are repeated, not just once or twice, but what seems to be every few pages. Then they're repeated again. And again. It's not only repetitious, it's redundant. Very redundant. The same thing over and over. She goes on and on. She doesn't seem to know when to quit. Sorta like this paragraph. Boring? Annoying? You betcha. Worse, for all the book's cumbersome length and wordiness, it doesn't seem to actually *go* anywhere or *do* anything. Pages and pages are spent on obviously painstakingly researched factual information about various flora and fauna, which I enjoy -- *up to a point* -- and which probably would have enhanced the story if it had been applied with a more sparing hand... And, oh yeah -- if the book had *had* a story. There was potential here, which never got fully realized. Auel ended the previous book with Ayla and Jondalar arriving at the caves of the Zelandonii, and at the end of this book, 700-some pages later, that's pretty much where they still are. The many confusingly named characters (there's a glossary in back, but I was already doing enough page-skipping as it was), basically just milled around. The good guys and bad guys are equally bland, and no character is developed to the extent of, say, Creb in "Clan" or Talut in "Mammoth Hunters". If Auel felt she had to write a book this long, some of the space might have been better utilized by creating characters with depth and complexity, and giving them something interesting to do, instead of yet another description of the medicinal properties of such-and-such plant. We're repeatedly set up for *something* to happen: Will there be a confrontation with the Clan? Will Madonna make trouble? But nothing happens, or something starts to happen and then is immediately, effortlessly resolved. Other plot threads simply fizzle out, as with Bologna: Why was he found unconscious? Did he fall down in a drunken stupor? Did someone assault him? If so, who -- and why? After a flurry of speculation, the matter is abandoned, and we never find out. Ayla and Jondalar have become -- dare I say it? -- boring. With nothing to do, they've deteriorated into one of those eighth-grade Going Steady couples that the rest of us found so sickening, holding hands and saying, "I wuv you, Pookie". I was wondering how they'd make the transition from adventure to domesticity; how they'd interact with the rest of the Zelandonii (whom I'd presupposed to be a lively and varied bunch like the Mamutoi); how Ayla would adjust to motherhood (especially because she never really got much chance to experience motherhood the first time around, since she was separated from Durc so abruptly); how she would feel when a baby wasn't an idealized memory, but a day-to-day living creature who demanded her time and energy, even when she'd rather be doing something else; how Ayla and Jondalar's relationship would change once Ayla got a few stretchmarks on that perfect body of hers and was too busy to make Jondalar the center of her attention (he's obviously high-maintenance)... It's debatable whether that would have been a better book, but at least it would have been a *story*, not just a lot of strung-together flashbacks and rambling descriptions. Aside from the fact that I think Auel can do much better, the actual writing style doesn't seem like hers. The hundred-odd pages that don't consist of repetition are curiously flat, with none of Auel's usual sparkle, richness, and gusto. At no time was I pulled into the story, as I was with previous books. Even the most die-hard fans should beware. I don't think Jean Auel is capable of writing a truly bad book, but she's obviously capable of writing a disappointing one. Sigh. I guess they can't all be gems.
Rating:
Summary: I waited 13 years for this?
Review: I have been an avid fan of the Earth's Children series since the beginning. After waiting 13 long years for the sequel to Plains of Passage, (which, in my opinion, started Auel's lack of wonderful story telling that the three previous books had had)you can imagine my disappointment when yet again we have an incredibly long boring stale story. Most people who would read Shelters of Stone are familiar with the Earth's Children series; therefore, we do not need an entire book of rehashing the past 4 books. There were barely any new story lines and each page was racked with long drawn out personal histories of people that didn't really matter to the story as a whole. Auel could have gone soooo many places with this new book, when instead it's just another narrative on how to skin a deer. Believe me, it pains me to not like this book because I really wanted to...but Auel made it so hard to really get into and enjoy. I can only hope that the next installment of the series goes back to the beauty of the first 3 books. Although I probably won't be able to read it as well because I'll be about 80 when it finally comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Too repetitive! Too repetitive! Too repetitive!
Review: Oh, did I mention this book is repetitive? Note to Ms. Auel: I read the first four books already. You didn't need to repeat every single piece of information from each of them every five or six pages. I lost track of how many times Ayla explained (in detail!)how she came to befriend those animals. The "Mother Song" is repeated so many times I can practically recite it myself now. Just in case you happened to miss it the hundred or so times it appears in the text of the book, Ms. Auel helpfully repeated it at the very END, too. And the sex scenes - ick. I began skipping over them because I knew how they'd unfold - they are practically identical word for word. I could easily write a "Jondalar and Ayla Sex Scene" myself at this point. The other thing I soon began skipping over was the introductions. They were repeated over and over and over again, and they're paragraphs long. Evidently time flowed strangely back in the mists of prehistory. Events of a couple weeks crawl by at a snail's pace, and then all of a sudden several months fly by and the book is over. Why, Ayla didn't even have time to invent the microchip or pilot the space shuttle! Several issues were brought up and then dropped, never to be mentioned again. Perhaps they'll be resolved in the next book, which I will NOT be rushing out to buy in hardback. I'll wait until it's remaindered and pick it up for a couple of bucks. What a waste of my time and money!
Rating:
Summary: Dead End?
Review: Like many others, I had impatiently awaited Ms Auel to publish No. 5 in the series. It was a long wait, almost 10 years, and for a time it seemed she disappeared off the face of the earth
Before Shelters of The Stone came out, I re-read the first 4 books, and was among the first to receive Shelters of the Stone on April 30th. However, as of today I am stuck on page 399 which contrasts with the Clan of the Cave Bear which I devoured over 1 weekend. Needless to say, this book was a let down. If one were to rate the 5 books in the series, starting with Clan of the Cave Bear most would agree with me that this one was a 5 on a scale of 5. Valley of the Horses was also a great book and I rate this as 4. However Mammoth Hunters was the start down a slippery slope for the series and I could only give this a 3. It was appearent that ideas on where this series should go were in short supply at this point, but it was still an enjoyable read. Plains of Passage continued the downward slope and I must confess, even the first reading I had to skip a number of pages, the re-reading was impossible for me, so I rated it as a 2 which may be generous. I believe Jean had simply run out of ideas, hence the long wait for number 5 in the series (but 10 years?). Unfortunately, time did not do anything to rejuvenate the Series. To be fair, since I have not completed Shelters of the Stone I can not rate it below a 2, but if it doesnt get any better............ So the big question is should Jean Auel even bother anymore? I would say no, not unless she has some great ideas for the continuation or conclusion of the series that would do justice to Clan of the Cave Bear. Perhaps this one was just slapped together to reintroduce us (and her) with the story and characters before giving us the finale, but at this point I do not see where this series goes. So I will not be eagerly awaiting the next book as I was this one. When it does come out, if it does, I may wait awhile before buying it to see what people think first. But who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and she comes out with a blockbuster to match Clan of the Cave Bear.
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