Rating: 
Summary: Ignore the Naysayers: This Book is Good!
Review: I don't know why people are complaining about this book. Did the time lapse bewteen Ms. Auel's last book and this one cause some people to forget that prehistoric times were different from today's world?Yes, personal character introductions are repeated in this book. That's because in the prehistoric world there was no television, radio, or Internet to spread information about unknown individuals. Introductions were also used to show honor and respect. Ms. Auel, as an excellent writer, understands that she needs to realistically represent the patterns people followed when they introduced new people to one another. It's called storytelling. Certainly, the dialogue Ms. Auel writes may not be the snappy, clever or minimalistic Hemingway-type dialogue that is used in modern pop literature, but that's because she is not writing a Tom Wolfe or a James Patterson novel. She is writing to communicate the human-ness and ordinary-ness of prehistoric humans. That is her aim and her casual, refreshing character dialogue is the tool. Ms. Auel includes some flashbacks and rehashes of past events in her book. People are saying they don't like this. Why? The segues fit into the narrative perfectly, and help to add to the drama and power of the story. In real life, people think back over past events all the time. As a writer, Ms. Auel is once again reflecting reality. I suspect the complainers must be people who usually read minimalistic detective dramas or modern realistic fiction where not much internal work happens. People are griping about the fact that Ayla is "larger-than-life". Ummmm ... and the point is? Ayla is SUPPOSED to be larger-than-life! Much like a lead character in a graphic or epic novel, she is astounding to both the reader and the characters within the book. She is an archetype. She has always been an archetype. She is not one of those mundane, self-consciously "normal" characters people in MFA creative writing classes create. Ayla is the product of a REAL writer who knows how to create unusual characters that people literally love. Do you think people would have named their daughters Ayla had Ayla been one of those modern American Janet Evanovich characters? No, of course not. In addition, Ayla is one of those history-changing people that pop into existence now and then. People are whining because Ayla makes all sorts of new discoveries, like how to use rocks to make sparks, where babies come from, how to make a pole drag, etc. Well, people like that DO and HAVE existed. Look at Leonardo da Vinchi and Einstein for examples. I also don't understand why people are objecting to how Ms. Auel makes Ayla very beautiful and grants her a very charismatic personality in the book. Again, extremely beautiful women have existed in the past: ever heard the phrase, "The face that launched a thousand ships"? Charismatic women have existed as well: Joan of Arc, for one. And sometimes women have existed who were both supernaturally beautiful AND charismatic: consider Cleopatra as an example. Finally, people are saying they are unhappy with Ms. Auel's long descriptions in the book. The long descriptions are there because it is an EPIC tale and an EPIC book. Tolkien did the same thing and no one complains about him. Besides, Ms. Auel wants to impart some knowledge of prehistoric times to the reader and enhance the artistic level of the narrative in doing so. As Ms. Auel has said; "The magic is in the details." This book is a worthy accomplishment of a top-notch writer and should be bought, savored, and reread. If you are brave enough to have an open mind, buy this book. If you just follow the pack and base your book purchases on what the masses are saying, well then, you will only be cheating yourself when you miss out on this wonderful, fascinating work by one of the world's greatest living authors.
Rating: 
Summary: Mailing it in
Review: I was incredibly disappointed by the latest installment of the Earth's Children series. There was far too much emphasis on the Earth, and not nearly enough on the Children. First, the major events of this book are almost skipped over to get to more description of the local landscape. I would like to have had more heartfelt descriptions of the adoption ceremony, the matrimonial and the birth of the child. I felt like they were just added as plot points, rather than major events. Secondly, I agree with many of the other reviewers that the constant greeting and naming of ties is tiresome and overdone. Occasionally it was glossed over with a "so-and-so named their major ties," but I suspect that most of it was added as filler, to get the page count up. Wouldn't be an Earth's Children novel at 400 pages. Finally, the repetition of past events. Good grief, if someone hasn't read the other books, too bad! They should! The old books are far better than this one! A few sentences of remembering I can forgive, but the constant reiteration was really poor storytelling (or editing, or whatever). If Mz. Auel was concerned people woulnd't be able to follow the plot, they should have reissued the previous books. Oh, wait, they did. Then I must assume that like the name and ties, the backstory retelling was done to pump up the page count, and the price. This chapter of Ayla's story is obviously a bridge to the sixth and final work, which will no doubt deal with Ayla's zelandoni training. I recognize a transition book when I see one. But this book should have had about half the page count, and perhaps dealt with the important events of the homecoming of Jonde and the assimilation of Ayla rather than simply treating the plot as a vehicle for the description of the terrain.
Rating: 
Summary: Hanging out to dry in the Shelters of Stone
Review: What a let down I hope the next book comes out sooner and is better than this one. I started reading this series when I was 17 years old and am now 33 so I am invested in the story. When I finished reading the Plains of Passage I was not even married and now have been for over a decade. The day the book became available I was first in line and couldn't wait to spend a quiet weekend in my most comfortable chair reveling in Ayla's next adventure.
I have to say that I read through the entire book with my normal vigor but I feel almost betrayed in what this book has done to a once powerful storyline. The antagonistic characters in the book are transparent and no effort was made to develop or resolve their conflicts with Ayla. Other than the complaints at the different ceremonies and the foreshadowing malevolence they wished upon Ayla and Jondolar in their thoughts we are left at the end of the book knowing that we have been hung out to dry. When I finished the book I had the same feeling I get when a Sunday night movie special ends with a to be continued right in the middle of the main plot. I hope Jean Auel's 'to be continued next Tuesday's episode' is not eleven years down the road because if it is as weak as this book is then it will not be worth the wait or anticipation I had while waiting for this release.
On a more positive note, hopefully the next book will resolve some of the many open plot items left hanging in the Shelter of Stone. As I mentioned earlier, I have been an avid and loyal reader to this series and I hope to be rewarded in her next book. Finally, I hope the wait is not so long that I receive it as a retirement gift.
Rating: 
Summary: Not great, but no as bad as 'Others' make it out to be.
Review: It's been said by others, and I will agree. There is way to much repitition from other books. I never want to see the 'Mother's Song' again and I am very well aware of how to domesticate wild animals. But, honestly, that's not what irritated me about this book. What bothers me is the lack of follow through. I waited and waited for a major confrontation with Brukeval, Laramar and Marona and in the end all I got was Ayla's acknowledgement that she had made enemies. Was it Madroman who was leaking the secrets of the zelandonia? No mention was made of it after Zelandoni said there was a serious problem she had to take care of. After Ayla and Jondalar's trial isolation, not much else was mentioned about the summer meeting. Jonadalar's trip back to the cave to make Ayla a dwelling could have been interesting, adventurous and touching, but it was totally glossed over. He left, he came back. I did like Ayla's relationship with Zelandoni. I also liked the side story of Lanoga and Lorala and later, Lanidar. I would have liked to know what happened to the other children. Ayla was going to make Bologan some clothing with his help, but that part of the story was not told. Overall, if you are a fan of the series you need to read this book. But I really hope that Ms. Auel ties up the loose ends she left in this book when she does the sixth. It would be nice if the final Earth's Children book came out in a year or two, rather than 12.
Rating:
Summary: The Shelters of Stone
Review: Fans of the Earth's Children series have waited for this fifth novel, sometimes dispairing of seeing it published, for years. I would like to say that it was worth the wait, and in some ways it was, but it was not without some disappointments. Like all of the books in this series, Shelters is voluminous. The need to describe a culture that no longer exists takes a great deal of space. As do the descriptions of the landscape (with its distinctive flora and fauna) and the development of the characters, almost all of whom are new to the series. Putting that aside, there are places in the story where the author feels compelled to go on and on about events that are described in great detail in earlier books of the series. This occurs with too much frequency in this book. There are entire parts of this work that can be skimmed over without missing a thing. The bulk of the book could have been greatly reduced if the editor had taken a more liberal hand in dealing with this problem. The pace of the story is irreparably harmed by this repetitiveness. Ms. Auel is a very gifted writer. The amount of time she has put into the development of the characters makes them believable and gives the reader a need to know what happens next. Her extensive research pays off in the wonderfully detailed descriptions of the story's setting allowing the reader to "come into" the story. The plot development, at times sluggish, is interesting enough to keep the reader going but could have done with a few more twists. Some of it was very predictable. In all, I enjoyed the book because it is part of the series and because I do want to know what happens to the characters. Anyone who has read the series to this point, has invested a great deal of time in the story and wants to see it to its end. It is unfortunate that there was such a great expanse of time between the fourth and fifth installments. The Shelters of Stone was a long time in coming -- emphasis on long.
Rating:
Summary: drivel
Review: I cannot believe I waited so long with high expectations for this book. I wished for it to tie up so many loose ends and instead it only created more. As far as I am concerned the last three books have been a total loss. It has taken three books and many years for us to get from Ayla being, what 17, to the 19 she is now. Puleeze!!! Also as another reviewer mentioned, the sex is out of this world and that is not the point of the story. The introductions are ridiculous for people living in the time frame they are in. And the flowery language they use and some of their descriptions do not seem to ring true. Please, enought sex, enough on the spear thrower and the fire stones, etc. etc. If someone has not read the previous books they can go out and buy them. Please don't put us thru the endless drivel of describing this again and again, each chapter in each book. We know the food they ate, and we know Ayla is beautiful.
I also have a problem with the babys name, Jondayla?? Did Jean M. Auel lose her imagination?? Even IZA would have been better.
Where is she going with a girl baby? I assumed that Durc would one day meet his half-brother. The story leaves us hanging about the secret cave that Wolf finds, yet it is the Earth Mothers cave? This book has taken us only nine months further along in the series. There are a lot of loose ends that need tying up.
I also will wait for the paperback issue of the next book, if there ever is another one.
Rating:
Summary: Boooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnngggggg
Review: Okay, I too waited 10 years for this thing! The book was just very boring. The characters were boring, there was really no plot except for maybe Ayla being pregnant, which of course lasts the entire book. There was no tension; nothing to keep you on the edge of your seat. In ten to twenty years whent the last book in the series comes out, I think I'll wait for it in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: I looked at all of the reviews and find that quite a few people were dissappointed in this book. While not as gripping as the previous 4 books in the series, it is in the style that Ms Auel writes. There were several sections that grabbed me emotionally. I liked the book very much. I came accross the Earth's Children series of books about 4 months ago. The whole series thrills me very much. Ms. Auel joins a very limited panthyon of authors whose books I would buy on sight. They include Robert Henlein, Isaac Asimov, Gordon R. Dickson, J. K. Rawlings, Bruce Moen, and Robert Monroe. So, I'm a traditional science fiction fan among other things.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: If you are looking for well-developed characters, an interesting storyline and fascinating background information - look elsewhere. I have struggled through 1/2 of this book and thus far have found it to be little more than tedious scenic descriptions (which run on for page after page) peppered with sexual encounters (which are so poorly written as to be laughable). I am returning this book to the library unfinished because I cannot bear to read one more page and am quite relieved that I did not waste money on this drivel. Unless you honestly enjoy books which use phrases like "tumescent manhood" and "pulsating nodule," I would strongly suggest you avoid this book like the plague.
Rating:
Summary: Complete shame..
Review: After waiting so long for the next installment it is sad that this is the best we get. I am so disappointed. I kept reading the book waiting for something, anything, to happen. The story never got off the ground, the charactors were flat and at no time inspired my imagination as the previous books had done.
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