Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the time to read
Review: I have every book in the Earth's Children series & looked forward to reading book 5. Unfortunately, I'm not even half way thru the book and feel like putting it aside. It's repetitious in ways that are beyond boring such as the greetings done with Ayla. We get the idea after the first greeting. It seems as though the author wasn't quite sure what to put in this book but felt it was necessary to put a book 5 out there because her readers were eager for it. Next time, wait until there is something to write. The readers will wait eagerly! But this makes me wonder if the next book is also going to be boring.
Rating:
Summary: Good Material for Starting a Fire with a Firestone
Review: Got this book as a Christmas gift at my request because I, like a great many other people, waited a long, long, long time for the fifth book to appear. How do I tell my son what a horrendous waste of his money this book was! I have read the other reviews so I won't go into great detail. The one-star reviews said it all for me. Don't want to risk being as REPETITIVE as the author. However, quoting P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute". How true...I'm one of them. Terrible book. If you feel you must read it, get it at the library.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: ... that's the most appropriate word to describe how I feel about this long awaited book.
Rating: 
Summary: Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel
Review: Shelters of Stone is an enlightened tract that is a bit short on narrative. But note that the range of emotions is far better than the stuff put forth by professional archaelogists, who emotively mainly carp and backbite. Most archaeology is 1/10 fact and 9/10 inference. Auel's artistic inferences are much more honest and revelatory than the spitting and hissing by the conventional managers of ancient intellectual property. Auel is not a graceful stylist, but she is efficient, orderly, and sometimes appropriately bold. Her characterizations are decently diverse, except for Jondalar. Onomastics are not Auel's strong point. Her thematics about tolerance are obviously guesswork, but why not in a work of fiction? They beat the contrary. And carping at Ayla's ability to invent everything from horse-whispering to soap to birth control stems from the same sort of self-important Thwackerisms as those that claim Shakespeare was too undereducated to write his own stuff. One last point for the sniffies: her use of contemporary idiom is a nice medievalish anachronistic touch. Who said our early ancestors grunted all the time?
Rating: 
Summary: Waited too long, and not worth while
Review: I hurried through the 4th book, to recall the story, since the last time I had read it was a couple of years ago. It wasn't necessary. Auel goes over what happened in the previous books SO MANY TIMES, it barely is necessary to have read them. And for those who want to know what comes next, this book seems to add nothing to the story. We know that Ayla will have to retell what happened to her many times, but it bored me to read it all over again and so many times. There is too much detail to things that happened in the other books, and no detail to what is happening now. And a lot goes unexplained, like why Laramar's son was injured, why was he in a fight. There is no depth to the the present story, too much "remembering" what happened to Ayla and Jondalar before. I really want to read the next book, since this one went knowwhere, but I hope there is more story to it.
Rating:
Summary: Edit, please!
Review: I can summarize this book in 3 words --- "Here, meet Wolf".
Over 700 pages of repetition. No plot development. No climax (much less an anti-climax). It basically details all the relationships at the "shelters of stone". Ms. Auel had already begun to repeat herself (in full detail) quite a lot in the 4th book of the series. In this 5th and disappointing addition to the series, she was apparently given editorial rights to this book. Big Mistake. Someone needed to take scissors (not just a blue pencil) to the manuscript.
Rating:
Summary: Huge Disappointment Doesn't Even Begin.....
Review: to explain how cheated I felt by this book! I actually bought the hardback as soon as it was out because I am such a fan of all of the books in this series. NOTHING HAPPENS in this book! It really could have been 10 pages long to get the whole plot of what happens. It actually starts out pretty good...there are the descriptions of her new home and the introduction of a new group of people, which was interesting, and there was even enough character development at the start to keep me excited. But then....nothing! The conflict between Ayla and the ex-fiance of Jondalar could have been interesting, but instead, nothing happens! The book is filled up with more repetition than I have EVER seen in any novel. Where was the editor on this project!?! I'm not exaggerating when I say that you hear the same descriptions and anecdotes 3, 4, 5 times throughout this thing. I unfortunately read every page thinking, hoping and praying something would happen. But guess what? NOTHING EVER DOES! I am giving it 2 stars for the first few chapters, which were interesting because I loved learning where Ayla and Jondalar ended up, but I think this rating is generous. Save your money and re-read one of the others in this series - you'll be much happier for it!
Rating:
Summary: disappointment - where was the editor here????
Review: I enjoyed the first four books, but couldn't believe this was written by the same author. Slow, painfully repetitive, and WAY too long for very little plot development. I made myself finish it (skimming the last half) just because I wanted to know "what happened" - in case there's a next book. Not sure I'll even read any next book at this point unless the author and editor make a concerted effort to trim. Also not sure why author has to make Ayla the inventor of all human advancements - first to tame a horse, first to use a spear thrower, first to use a sewing needle, etc. Talk about a Renaissance woman! Makes the character that much more unbelievable!
Rating: 
Summary: Set up for book 6!
Review: This book was eye-candy. After waiting for this book for so long, it was easy to ravenously devour it's sweet frothiness which lacked real substance - I wanted book 6 immediately afterward as I was still hungry for a meaty story. However, I think that after so long it was almost necessary to re-introduce old readers to the pertinent information again, as a set up for the (hopefully) deeper issues the 6th book (again, hopefully!) will broach - such as: Durc's place in the clan, and the foreshadowed meeting of him and the Others, some sort of "out-and-out conflict" between the Clan and the Others, in which Ayla will probably play a part in stopping, Ayala's indoctrination into becoming Zelandonni and the mystical world and learning that will be involved, perhaps Jondalar's struggle with losing her to that mystical world (the boy is a bit obsessed with her, don't you think?). Also, the Others learning to domesticate horses and other animals, which drastically alters the way humans began to form communities and civilization - more could be planned for, which left more time for "civilized" pursuits. Just some thoughts, but I'll be hoping that Ms. Auel has saved her best for last - book 5 was merely an appetizer.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps going downhill
Review: I have read every book in the series, and despite the fact I was not thrilled with the 4th book, I was excited to see the 5th one had come out. Unfortunately, as far as the series go, I feel the first one was wonderful, the second ok, the third excellent, and the fourth and fifth nothing to write home about. Auel needs to get herself a good editor to tighten up her work. There is a good novel in here somewhere, she just needs some help to find it. She also needs to remember that what made the first book so special is that Ayla was human. She's become such a superwoman I sometimes just find myself shaking my head. I'll read the 6th one when it comes out, it is as if I can't help myself. But here's to hoping Auel recovers the magic she seems to have lost.
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