Rating: 
Summary: A Very Worthwhile Read!
Review: I really enjoyed this continuation of Ayla and Jondular's continuing adventure back to his home. Their journey is the most dangerous and daring yet-away from the welcoming hearths of the Mammoth Hunters and into the unknown. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but sparsely populated and treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the pair among strangers. Some will be intrigued by Ayla and Jondalar, with their many innovative skills, including the taming of wild horses and a wolf; others will avoid them, threatened by what they cannot understand. By Ayla with no memory of her own people, and Jondalar, with a hunger to return to his, are impelled by their own deep drives to continue their trek across the spectacular heart of an unmapped world to find a place that they can both call home.The book is very descriptive in many places, but I became engrossed in all of it, finding it hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Other People Said This Book Was Boring? I LOVED IT!
Review: I really enjoyed the Plains of Passage very very much! True, it has a lot of descriptions in it of the background scenes. But the journey Ayla and Jondular are taking is very interesting along the way. They are trying their very hardest to get back to Jondular's folks, taking their animal friends, Whinney, Racer, and the Wolf. Along the way though they meet a lot of dangers. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but sparsely populated and treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the pair among strangers. Some will be intrigued by Ayla and Jondular, with their many innovative skills, including the taming of wild horses and a wolf; others will avoid them; feeling threatened by what they cannot understand.
Some people will also threaten them along their way. I enjoyed this book even more and more as I got into it. Parts of it tended to drag a bit, but I didn't think it was too bad. And for the most part, Jean Auel wrote a great continuing sequel!
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting....But Has Low Points
Review: The great things about this book were the meeting of different people (will everyone stop falling in love with Ayla, for heaven's sake?). My favorite part was when they met the Lanzadoni. But, tsk tsk tsk, the love scenes are losing their lust. Every single time they kiss they end up having sex! Geez, Jean M. Auel, do you live inside a narrow world. Clan Of The Cave Bear was great, Valley Of The Horses slightly faltering, Mammoth Hunters a disgusting long soap opera when she ends up with Jondalar (big surprise). This had peaks. Clan was great, but we're starting to push it.
Rating: 
Summary: Where it started going downhill
Review: Unfortunately, this book is where the Earth's Children series started going downhill. In retrospect, it is midway between the excellence of the Mammoth Hunters and the Shelters of Stone.
Rating:
Summary: Too much extraneous description
Review: After really enjoying the previous books in the series, I found this one rather disappointing. There was too much (repetitious and therefore boring) description of lovemaking, and also too many lengthy descriptions of wildlife--bird and other animal species found in the various habitats were listed and described too repeatedly to hold the interest of a lay person. These overly detailed environmental descriptions tended to interrupt the development of the story, which flowed much more smoothly in the earlier books. If a good deal of these descriptions had been edited out of the nearly 900 pages of this novel, I think it would have been a much more interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: loved it
Review: i loved this book but it took so long describing what is happening to the earth (eg.seasons/enviroment)that it lost me some times! probaly not as good as the other books but just as beliveable.
can't wait untill the other editions come out!
but will they be as good? i sure hope so!
Rating:
Summary: Many skipped pages
Review: I was quite disappointed with this book, after the first three in the series. About half the book is a description of the environment, and sex. Twice, I set the book aside in my 'reject' bin. Yes, there were interesting sections, and I did end up reading the entire book. However, I skipped many pages that seemed to be Auel's attempt at porn, and many paragraphs that went into too much detail about the surrounding land.
Rating: 
Summary: The Plains of Boredom...
Review: Jean M. Auel is getting more ridiculous with each book she writes. Sure, "Clan of the Cave Bear" was a little unbelievable (Neanderthals living at the same time as almost modern humans?), but it was original and at least had some plot. With "Valley of Horses", the series abruptly went down hill. It started out innocently enough, but it soon became apparant that we had a couple of gods on our hands. Jondalar, the perfect guy who everybody wants with the biggest "manhood" around, and Ayla, Wonderwoman, who is talented, smart, beautiful and humble to boot. (Not to mention the only woman who can sexually satisfy Jondalar). There was barely enough plot to keep me reading - I really was more absorbed in the other characters who, if they were at all interesting, got killed off. "The Mammoth Hunters" was bearable only because of the supporting characters. What was truly ridiculous was that Ayla honestly invented just about everything. Face it folks, if civilization moved this fast, you'd be on Pluto and I'd be on Planet X. Despite the previous books flaws, "Plains of Passage" is worse yet. The majority of it is description, and every fifty pages (count 'em!) Jondalar and Ayla have sex. That's the extent of about 400 pages. Yep. Don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Plains of Passage
Review: This was an excellent book about cave people. In this book you will read about the first animals to be trained as domestic animals. You will also read about where the first cave women and the first cave man met. In this book you will learn a-lot about why they tained the animals and how. YOu will also read about what other animals their were and what they ate and how thay caught it. Also what animals they were afraid of. this is a long book for many people but its worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Sex and Scenery
Review: What went wrong with Jean Auel? Her series went downhill fast after the first book, and by the third I was beginning to wonder if she'd run out of plot! It was over 50% 'filler' --- descriptions of the scenery, the sex, and a contrived love triangle that made me want to step in and mediate so we could get on with the story. Fans of the series might be able to hang on long enough to finish this book, but if you're not already hooked you're better off to walk away from this worm!
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