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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
What a disappointing ending to what started as a decent series. No compelling story arc, stilted dialogue, way more descriptions of cave paintings than is warranted. If you're new to Jean Auel and the Earth's Children series, read the first 4 then stop. The final two are not worthwhile. This one did get moderately better in the final quarter of the book, but even then was merely derivative of earlier books in the series.
Okay to be real I did a re-read of this whole series but I was Skimming Heavily through the first 5 so just logging this one. For those who haven't had the unique pleasure: ultra-smart cavewoman is raised by Neanderthals, single-handedly discovers the domestication of animals (she tames a cave lion, several horses, and a wolf), then screws her 6'6 Aryan Cro-Magnon prince charming into the sunset. And also becomes the Lisan Al-Gaib of her caveman society. Anyhoo,
This is one of the most bonkers book series I've ever read and it probably did irreperable damage to my psyche when I first read it at age 12. Also fun fact my grandmother took me to a book signing with Jean M. Auel at that age, and JMA was wildly demeaning to me when I asked my question, probably because she was weirded out that this 12 year old had read her batshit crazy lightly smutty caveman romance series that is masquerading as fiction in order to cover up a 500,000 word archaeological essay. Like damn lady we get it! You did Real Research on Cro-Magnon society! If you haven't read these I cannot emphasize enough, it'll be like 2 pages of plot, followed by 6 pages explaining the flora and fauna of the arid steppes in Western Europe twelve thousand years ago. It kind of rules even if your eyes are glazing over.
Anyways, thank you JMA for this deranged, loony treatise on what happens if your self-insert mary sue cavewoman becomes the Messiah of early hominid society. Bless the Mother and her Gifts!
This is one of the most bonkers book series I've ever read and it probably did irreperable damage to my psyche when I first read it at age 12. Also fun fact my grandmother took me to a book signing with Jean M. Auel at that age, and JMA was wildly demeaning to me when I asked my question, probably because she was weirded out that this 12 year old had read her batshit crazy lightly smutty caveman romance series that is masquerading as fiction in order to cover up a 500,000 word archaeological essay. Like damn lady we get it! You did Real Research on Cro-Magnon society! If you haven't read these I cannot emphasize enough, it'll be like 2 pages of plot, followed by 6 pages explaining the flora and fauna of the arid steppes in Western Europe twelve thousand years ago. It kind of rules even if your eyes are glazing over.
Anyways, thank you JMA for this deranged, loony treatise on what happens if your self-insert mary sue cavewoman becomes the Messiah of early hominid society. Bless the Mother and her Gifts!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is nowhere near as good as the others. Still I will keep plugging away at it in between other more interesting books
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Had some interesting ideas, but in general suffered from a lot of the problems plaguing the third, fourth, and fifth books in the series. Often Ayla is too perfect of a protagonist who does nothing wrong and is amazing at everything she puts her hand to, and everyone likes her unless they are characterized as in unredeemable villain (the one exception to this maybe being Brukeval, who is a little more complicated). The first two thirds of the book are really pretty dull, which is a shame because I think there are some interesting places and subjects that maybe could’ve been played with by a better author. A lot of this book describes cave painting, but doesn’t really seem to have a reason why besides it’s just what the Zelandoni do and it “probably means something”: it feels as though it is written by someone who, although they may superficially appreciate art, doesn’t really understand how to engage with it meaningfully. I think the first half of this book suffers from being overlong and so it drags, which is a similar issue I had to The Plains of Passage. The strengths of these stories really lie in the interactions between characters and the way that these intricate and diverse cultures and believes and knowledge systems Auel has constructed. Unfortunately two books into the Zelandoni arc most of that interesting discovery has been played out, and the few interactions that still have room to be explored are often left unexplored due to frustratingly easy to fix miscommunications between characters. The last two hundred pages of the book are almost a complete rehash of the central conflict in The Mammoth Hunters, albeit slightly condensed (thank you Jean) and the stakes raised. At first I was excited for the way that Ayla might confront the situation, it was one of the first times we had ever seen her have a strong emotional reaction to something that wasn’t entirely socially acceptable and I thought that was interesting. Unfortunately the situation deteriorated into two self loathing spirals of despair, and it was really frustrating to read after such a similar story was played out three books ago ad nauseam. There were parts where I was literally screaming at Jondalar for being such an irredeemably selfish c*nt, which is a shame especially because his motivations for the dumb shit he does are so shallow, often portrayed as being “needs beyond his control” which ends up just making him seem like an immature idiot instead of a complicated character doing his best in a tough relationship. The lack of communication between the two main characters is so contrived after all the events of The Mammoth Hunters, and I really wish Ayla had more of a backbone and got angry with him for how shitty he was being instead of just taking it out on herself, again especially after she had this exact same arc with the Mamutoi. Its also a little sad how much of a backseat Ayla’s daughter takes, I know she’s young but she often feels more like a prop for her parents than an interesting new character. There were parts of this book I really wanted to like, especially the return of old familiar characters and story elements, but they often felt underutilized. I also wished I could get more into the fun Zelandoni esotericism but often it was described so dryly that I wondered what Ayla was so enticed by. I also just thought all in all the ending was pretty unsatisfying and divorced from the first half of the book. We go from a lot of tours of cave paintings to all of a sudden the discovery of paternity with seemingly no link between the two and it makes the story feel very disjointed, as well as a huge waste of time for the first four hundred pages. I also just found it so confounding that the book ended on such an open ended note, I know that maybe this wasn’t originally the intended ending, but damn it didn’t feel good to put down.
a lot of rehashing of old themes. i only finished it because i loved the series and had to have closure.
Anyone who has got this far in the series will know what to expect - lots of repetition and pages where you just scan over because it's going into a tad too much detail. This book is sadly no different.
Parts of the book were really gripping (e.g. the murdering gang), however it seemed Jean M Auel wanted to focus more on Ayla's teaching and these interesting parts were quickly resolved, leaving us instead with more description on Ayla's abilities.
I think part of me had hung onto the silly hope that Ayla's past life would come up again, which made me a little disappointed this was the final book.
I'm glad I've read it so I can say I read the whole series, however it isn't something I plan to repeat. The Clan of the Cave Bear was amazing and I think that's the only one I'd ever read again.
Parts of the book were really gripping (e.g. the murdering gang), however it seemed Jean M Auel wanted to focus more on Ayla's teaching and these interesting parts were quickly resolved, leaving us instead with more description on Ayla's abilities.
I think part of me had hung onto the silly hope that Ayla's past life would come up again, which made me a little disappointed this was the final book.
I'm glad I've read it so I can say I read the whole series, however it isn't something I plan to repeat. The Clan of the Cave Bear was amazing and I think that's the only one I'd ever read again.
Awful book. Seriously, do not bother reading Land of the Painted Caves. There are plenty of reviewers who give many detailed reasons and examples of why not to read this book. Take their advice. Content yourself with ending the series at Shelters of Stone and imagine they Lived Happily Ever After.
fun read, but not as good as the others in the series, which is kind of surprising, considering how long it took for this one to come out. You'd think she would have had a lot more time to work on it. It was alright, but a ridiculous number of flashbacks and repetitions of a "song" that is important in the book, but it's not necessary to repeat it in its entirety 10 times or more. Seriously. And, she could have taken the book a little bit further, but I understand why she didn't. All in all, I enjoyed the series and I'm glad I read it. If you're into the series, you'll always wonder about it, so just read it already, but borrow it from someone or go to the library and get it.