Rating: 
Summary: Didn't live up to the anticipation
Review: I read this series for the first time in 1991 and have been waiting for this book ever since. I was very disappointed in the Shelter of Stones. The story had no flow and the main character of Ayla and Jondolar were almost written as secondary characters. They had hardly the level of interaction and romance that made the other books so enjoyable. Most of the book was a rehash of what happened in the first 4 books. She waits until the last 100 or less pages to get them married and have the baby. The authoress spent a chapter and a half talking about characters (whom we never got to meet at all) death. Who cares? J.M. Auel spent 12 years doing research for this and it shows. Her time would have been better spent working on character studies.
Rating: 
Summary: Captive audience, but major letdown...
Review: I've been waiting for the release of this book for almost 10 years. I started the series in high school, and books 1-3 quickly became some of my favorite books. The 4th book started to get repetitive and dragged a lot, and I was hoping that wouldn't be the case with this one. Unfortunately, that is the case. I was hoping for something along the lines of The Mammoth Hunters, but what I got was a stream of forgettable characters that were never very well-developed. Too many characters were introduced, for no good reason. I kept mixing up the two women whose names started with "P", and the two men whose names started with "B". And too many different caves to keep track of. It's the same old story...Ayla is perfect. People don't trust or like her at first, she must prove herself by showing them her inventions and skills, then they love her and practically make a goddess out of her. Puhlease!!! I used to like Ayla, I really did, but I've lost interest in her because she is no longer realistic at all. I mean, does she have any faults? The only one I can think of is her inability to sing (which I find completely ridiculous, since she is able to mimic every animal known to man - why can't she mimic a good singing voice too?). Ayla is just TOO perfect. She is no longer human but a mockery, sort of like a child's superhero. She needs to wind up on the losing side sometimes, needs to reveal SOME human foible! The chick is starting to really annoy me. I've actually started rooting for her antagonists. The story would be richer and more intersting if just for once, Ayla didn't become allied with the most powerful people in the tribe, the most skilled, the ones with the highest status. Why can't Wolf really kill someone? (then she'd have to suffer through guilt and be truly ostracized) Why can't she get truly ANGRY once in a while? Like a real person? I was hoping this novel would answer a lot of lingering questions put forth in the first 4 books. I was sadly disappointed. There didn't seem to be much of a plot, other than Ayla meeting new people, the endless recitations of relationships and titles, Ayla showing everyone her inventions, etc. Of course Ayla is going to be challenged, and of course she is going to overcome it fabulously. One thing I was surprised at, was the lack of Jondalar's character in much of the story. His relationship with Ayla seemed to lose its steam. I admit that I used to like Auel's descriptions of Pleistocene Europe, but endless descriptions of this valley, that stream and this rock outcrop got very tedious. I skipped over many paragraphs, and at time many pages, just to get to some action. I think Auel did a disservice to her longtime fans by bogging them down with too much description of the landscape, and too much repetition of Ayla's exploits, of which we are already familiar! (I mean, come on! Hardly anyone is going to pick up this book, 5th in a series, without having read the other books!). I think this series has definitely run out of steam. I must admit that I'm only halfway done with the book, but it's all I can do to finish it, and this is coming from a person who has read and reread the first 3 books at least 4 times each!! It is a CHORE to finish this book. I keep hoping something interesting will happen, some questions about Ayla will be answered, but I am let down. The points in the story that are supposed to be important leave me feeling really ho-hum. Of course I'll finish it, just because I'm such a long-time fan of the series, but I almost wish that Ayla and Jondalar would've settled down with the Sharamudoi and the series ended there. I can't imagine how the last book will be any better than this one. This book put me to sleep. It's sad. It truly seems that Ms. Auel's heart was not in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Slow and Repetitive
Review: I was eagerly awaiting the 5th book in the Earth's Childern series, but it left me somewhat disappointed. In all of the previous books, there were numerous scenes of action, suspense, and intrigue. Even though they all would have the chapters of long descriptions of Pleiostcene life and ecology, they flowed better. The previous books also cover a much longer period of time. I estimated 80%-90% of the book takes place within the first few weeks Jondalar and Ayla return to the Zelandonii! Around a 1/3 of it is the first day back! It then seems Auel realizing how long the book has gotten, quickly moves ahead until its time for Ayla to have her baby. Many scenes were repetitive, Ayla and Jondalar seem to be constantly reminiscing in great detail. Even the expected controversy over her being raised by the Clan seems less dramatic. All but the dregs of Zelandonii society are quick to accept it and believe the Clan is at least worth an acknowledgement of their humanity. But, it was good enough for me to look forward to the next book. Maybe Ayla will invent agriculture or the bow and arrow?? Or make contact with the local Clans?
Rating:
Summary: Dreary
Review: Jean Auel has written 5 books in this series. This one is the poorest. It drags, page after page, it drags. It is repetitious to the point where I skipped whole paragraphs. Much of it is re-hashes the previous books. The sex appears to be added as an afterthought to relieve the boredom. I kept hoping, but nothing ever happened that grabbed my attention. "Valley of the Horses" was fascinating, it sits in my bookcase and I'll re-read every couple of years. Shelters of Stone I'll donate to the local libary.
Rating: 
Summary: And it took 12 years to write THIS????
Review: Thanks God I work in a book store and could review this book without spending any money on it. I buy tons of books but frankly, if somebody gave it to me for free, I probably would have tossed it just to save the space for even a mediochre book...the...reviews that gave the book one star. They got it right!
Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed
Review: Not up Jean's par. Too much repetition. Not enough plot. Too predictable. I really hope the next book is back to the level or her earlier works. And I hope it doesn't take another decade. Still an enjoyable read and a must for those following the series, but if this was the first and not the fifth book I don't know if I'd be so anxious for the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Shlteres of Stone
Review: I have read the first four books so many times my friends tease me that I can recite long passages. I say this to give some means of valuation of my opinion. OK here goes. I was disappointed in the book. I cannot uderstand why it took so long to write. The book uses pages and pages of quotes (word for word) from previous books, renames charactrers that appeared in other books and presents them as new--they are not--and uses scenes and situations from previous books that are hardly reworked just name changes (the young man who is attacked and Ayla rushes to the rescue and sets the bones. Sound familiar? check Valley of Horses). Just one more example: The child that is shunned in the Mamouth Hunters is presented again in this book under a different name with a different handicap but the situation is the same. Much material in the book is repeated needlessly. The book needs a good editing. There are contridictions within this book and constridictions of material in the previous books. I thought it was poorly organized and that there was no real plot just aimless wandering with little or no connection. After so many years of waiting it was quite a let down.
Rating:
Summary: *yawn*
Review: Ayla and Jondalar arrive at his people's home, where some people are awed by the things they bring back while others are nervous and/or hostile. There, now you can save yourself the trouble of reading The Shelters of Stone. This book has nothing new to offer. The pages could have been recycled from the third and fourth volumes, changing people's names and titles to fit. Ayla meets Jondalar's people and goes through the same process of introduction and mutual discovery that she's gone through with every society she's encountered throughout her journey. As if we hadn't been there when she raised her animals or discovered the firestones, here we're subjected to those same tales as Ayla tells them to her new people - not once, not twice, but half a dozen times - and only one iteration is noticeably condensed from the others. At this point it would be perfectly acceptable for the author to say "Ayla showed them the firestones and they all murmured in amazement," or something to that effect, but no, each time someone new comes along we get another three-page demonstration (and I won't even mention all the new people who have to be introduced to the horses and the wolf). You can get through the first 400 pages without discovering anything of great interest. I recommend finding something better to do.
Rating:
Summary: 12 years of waiting...
Review: I'll admit to being one of those fans that read the first four books in this series 15 times a piece! They were wonderful. But after waiting the twelve years it took Auel to write this fifth book, I was sorely disappointed. The style, the excitement and the herbalism i had grown to treasure in the other Ayla books were really lacking in this one. The rehashing of old stuff was over the top, and I think the editor didn't do such a great job of catching the repitition Auel insisted on writing. I guess it would have been helpful for someone who hadn't read the other books in the series, but even then, some of the repition was within this same story! Had i not known better, i would have believed this book written by a totally different person. On the flip side, if you are a die-hard fan such as myself, this book is a must. If only to offer us hope for the next one!
Rating: 
Summary: Loved the story, hated the details
Review: I have been eagerly waiting for this book for years, scanning book review journals every month to see if it's been released yet. I loved the story, but the repetition was somewhat boring. Auel told over and over of the people's reaction to Ayla's animals and "her (Ayla's)big, beautiful smile" was really starting to get on my nerves by the end of the book. Also, I kept expecting something terrible (death/destruction) to happen with the Marona and/or Brucheval and it never did. I also thought the endless description of the landscape (right,left, north, south) was too much for me. Tell me about heading up the river to the camp but leave out all the directions. I'm not really going there for heaven's sake! Even with these criticisms though, I would recommend this book to other fans of the series, in fact, I can't wait till the last books is published to finally finish Ayla's story.
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