Rating: 
Summary: It's all about "The Mother's Song"
Review: "The Shelters of Stone" is Jean Auel's fifth book in the Earth's Children series, the last book being published in 1990 . Because the time lapse between books is considerable, Auel had to spend time not only reminding previous readers of past events but also enlightening the first-time reader of the series in regard to the characters' history. As a previous reader of the other four books, I welcomed the history. Through the characters' telling of stories, explaining something, and teaching each other, the reader is effectively refreshed and brought up-to-date.Some of the many issues mentioned or addressed in the book are related to territory, mixed mating, survival of the fittest, birth control, abortion, homosexuality, the spirit world and jealousy. While some of these topics are more a part of the story than others, some are presented in a format of 'that's just the way things are'. In other cases, information might be shared between people in an educational manner or passed on in the form of an example. For instance, Ayla knew of a birth control herb and others are interested in learning about it. In regard to detail, Auel's explanations of making various tools are right on target. She takes the time to teach the reader about making the multiple wicked lamp, the thread-puller, the spear-thrower and other implements, such as the wooden box. On the other hand, her detailed descriptions of sexual encounters between Ayla and Jondalar appear, in my opinion, to be anachronistic and don't seem to fit into the story very well. The Zelandonii way of including one's past ties and connections when making introductions is very informative. Some of these are very long and reading them over and over every time an introduction is made is quite taxing. Jean Auel has stepped into the world of poetry in "The Shelters of Stone". The most powerful part of the book is the song/poem, "The Mother's Song", where the idea of creation takes on a new and dynamic position. Following the books format of long and detailed explanations, "The Mother's Song" is also long, but it gnaws at you to come back and read it over and over. **There is a helpful list of characters at the end of the book. **The Mother's Song" is also printed at the end of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: Loved her earlier books and eagerly bought this one. By the time I plodded half way through I had a mental picture of someone learning to cut and paste. The endless repetition of the introductions, and the word Zelandoni, became most annoying. After 700 and some pages you realize the story could have been told in a couple of chapters. Wish I'd just borrowed it from the library. I respect her extensive research but it might have been better appreciated in a non fiction form, as we were hoping for more of a story. More editing next time might help.
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitious and Dull
Review: The "Earth's Children" (tm) series has been a guilty pleasure with me since its inception, so I was glad to see that Jean M. Auel was going to continue it after so long a hiatus. Unfortunately the latest volume is a disappointment -- hardly worth waiting 12 years for. The one good thing I can say about it is that Ms. Auel had done her research, but as far as story goes, there isn't one. The first 500 pages read like a travelogue, with extended descriptions of the geography and other aspects of the setting. The only action is umpteen scenes of Ayla demonstrating her firestones, or Jondalar demonstrating his spear thrower, or one or the other of them relating the adventures from previous books. I was thankful for a little of this as I had not read the former volumes for a couple of years, but it went on far too long. Most of the new characters were charming and bland; the antagonists were mean and bland and incredibly under-used. There is little sense of conflict and none whatever of a cohesive plot. Things get a little more interesting in the last third of the novel -- at least I didn't find myself blipping over large portions of it in a vain search for something interesting, as I did for the first two thirds -- but events still seemed random and pointless. _Shelters of Stone_ may be accurate in its depiction of a year in the life of Cro Magnon woman, but it doesn't offer anything that makes an absorbing story. It rather seemed like a chunk of material that had to be gotten out of the way before the next installment. Why that chunk had to go on and on for over 700 pages is unclear to me. If you haven't read this one yet, don't waste your time; there's nothing necessary here to the next book. If you feel you must read it, get it out of the library.
Rating:
Summary: What went wrong here?
Review: Where was the plot? Where was the drama? Where are the fantastic love scenes? I loved Jean Auel's first four novels and I highly recommend them to anyone but "The Shelters of Stone" was a huge disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: She lost her touch...
Review: I read the other books of this series all in a day each... this "The Shelters of Stone" has been at my night-stand for weeks and I am only half-way through it... Mrs. Auel this time takes to long describing things, people and places, and the story itself never takes off... a great disappointment after a 12-year wait.
Rating:
Summary: Is it a prologue? Or just a draft?
Review: I was sadly disappointed, I have been waiting for years for this book and I feel cheated. It looks more like a first scenario which lacks substance (except for the excessive geographic details). I'm not questioning Ms.Auel Research, obviously it's extensive and thorough but this time it doesnt come through as it should and the plot (what there is of it) is sugarly and sketchy. It feels more like a prologue (which it probably is) to a new book, at the end you are left with a lot of loose ends, nothing is settled or properly developed. All in all a terrible let down.
Rating:
Summary: Half a book?
Review: This book (despite its brick-like size) read like it was supposed to be the first half, instead of the whole thing. Auel introduces rich characters, sets up interesting conflicts, both intra- and inter-character.... and leaves it there. There is very little resolution of conflicts, and that makes it seem incomplete and unsatisfying. Nothing is resolved in this book. No one makes any decisions. People don't like each other, and people have problems to solve -- but no one ever solves any of them. I thought it was a good book, up until about the last 100 pages, when it became clear that there was going to be no resolution, no conflict-solving, nothing. There was a brief attempt during the last few pages, but it only created more conflict that still wasn't resolved. The other problem I noticed was Auel's obvious monologues on the history, development, etc of the society. I appreciate that she's done a lot of research for her books. I appreciate hearing a bit of that straight from the author. But she has some theories that seem awfully far-fetched to me (and no, I'm not an expert, but I -do- read a lot about archaeology) and expounds at length about them, usually when she doesn't have any interesting action going on. I wish she'd put more action (and conflict resolution!) into her stories, and less of her author monologues. That said, Ayla is strong, as always, and Auel does set up some awfully interesting conflicts for her to live with in her new life with the Zelandonii. I enjoyed the portrayal of the early society, and I definitely enjoyed seeing Ayla finally settle down and start a life with Jondalar. The characters, while slightly over-populated and not quite as full as they were in other books, are still relatively rich and interesting. The names are confusing, but it could be much, much worse, and they aren't too bad. The plot moves at a decent speed, and Jondalar's mother is worth the effort of reading the thing. It's a decent book. Not worth buying in hardback, but maybe in softcover, and certainly worth borrowing from your friend or your library.
Rating:
Summary: Brainless dribble!
Review: Perhaps I was expecting too much, given the long wait since book four, and considering that I thoroughly enjoyed the other four books in the series. However, this book for me was nothing but a brain dulling barrage of introductions and recaps of the other books in the series. In fact, I must admit that I did not finish reading this book. After 200 pages of pure "nothing," I finally decided to discard it. I had help with this decision, though. A good friend of mine began listening to the book on tapes at the same time I began reading. She finished--only because she has a long commute and nothing better to do--and quickly informed me that absolutely "nothing" happens, that there is no drama, action, or any form of brain teasing within the pages of this new book from Jean Auel.
Rating:
Summary: I'm sorry Ms. Jean
Review: I am a voracious fan of this series and have read the first 3 books several times. I was especially entranced by "The Mammoth Hunters" - Auel's ability to show Jondalar's struggle with his own demons, Ayla's misinterpretation of his response to her, and the wonderfully 3 dimensional characters of the Lion Camp. Then, in her journey across the "Plains of Passage", Auel got lost. The characters grew less and less interesting, but the overall anticipation of Ayla's introduction to the Zelandonii kept you anxiously flipping through to the end. I was so excited to spot this book that I pre-ordered it several months in advance, much to my disappointment. Jondalar's father and other brother (hugely important characters in his life with a lot of potential for character development) are never really addressed. Marthona flits in and out, as does Zolena/Zelandoni who is a little more fleshed out (pardon the pun). But, again, you would expect such strong women with such attachment to this man to hold off on their acceptance of the foreigner for a while longer. There was absolutely no lingering discomfort for Zolena and Jondalar. I I believe Auel "quick-fixed" that hurdle by throwing a few hundred pounds on the poor woman. No threat now! I was so intrigued by the potential for all these characters and very let down by the lack of conflict, drama, and character of the book. Please, please redeem yourself in the next one, Ms. Jean. Hint, by the 5th book, we know all about Ayla's historical demons. Touch on them if you must, but 100's of pages wasted on recap was overkill. We remember, write on!!
Rating:
Summary: Where was the story?????
Review: Really a reminder and a rehash of her books. Did not have a story line. Really disappointed.
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