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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
The last three books in this series are way too long, filled with so much repetition and recapping that it really slows the story down. But once you get to the last 250 pages, it's back to a good pace. Worth reading to finish out the series, but took me a lot longer than the others to get through.
A very disappointing end to a lovely series. I can’t help but wonder what Auel’s editor did, if anything. 2/3s of the novel have no place in the story line and do nothing to move the plot along. The other third is spent repeating facts that have been drilled into us throughout the series and putting the characters in situations that they were already in prior to this novel (stop doing drugs and thinking Jondular doesn’t love you, Ayla, I mean, come on...). One thing Auel is really good at is creating a great deal of tension and anticipation, but she doesn’t know what to do with it once it’s there. She doesn’t seem to like to kill her darlings, even when they really do need to die. I was almost wishing Ayla was dead in the end because it would have come as such a nice change of pace in the lives of these nearly flawless characters. Instead, everyone lived happily ever after, and I felt ripped off.
Quite the disappointment after the magnificence of the first 5 books.
You know, I am finding Jean Auel to be a bit repetitive in this book.
There is still plenty of classic writing, but I feel that I have heard things 4 times already in just this book.
That being said, I am enjoying the book and learning more and more about our ancient ancestors
There is still plenty of classic writing, but I feel that I have heard things 4 times already in just this book.
That being said, I am enjoying the book and learning more and more about our ancient ancestors
slow-paced
I can't get the past few weeks of my life back that it's taken me to read this book. You'd think with it being such a large book with long chapters that lots would happen... But literally NOTHING happens in this book! It is completely pointless. And the repetition is ridiculous. I know I'm not Clan and don't have the memories but, for the love of god, you don't need to tell me the same pointless crap over and over again!
I didn't finish this book. Part of the reason was because I read reviews on Goodreads and could not handle the re-introduction of a "love" triangle. To me, introducing a third party to Jondalar and Ayla's relationship shows a total lack of character development (I mean, didn't we just deal with these issues a few books ago?!), and I hope that the reviews are overstating the case! I am sure that I will revisit it in time and give it a try, if for no other reason than to close out the series, having read all the others. But for now, I need a break from cavemen :)
I can sum up this book in 3 words: disappointing, dull, and repetitive. I was so looking forward to this book and hoping that Auel would resolve some of the many questions that she had been kicking around for some time. Instead, I got 500 pages of mind numbing description and 200 pages of slightly interesting plot. The ending was rushed, contrived, and dissatisfying. There is a huge difference between showing the reader and telling the reader and Auel chooses to forcefully TELL the reader in excruciating detail about MANY of the painted caves. Instead of letting the art speak for itself, she rammed it down my throat. I found myself counting the number of times she reused certain words and phrases and chose to recap situations from previous books over and over again. If this hadn't been the last book in the series, I would have stopped halfway through in disgust.
Oh my God. I would give this zero stars if I could. Do you know what this book is about? This book is about Jean M. Auel going on a tour of ancient caves with cave paintings in them. The first two thirds of this novel are just literally a reproduction of Auel's research trips. Ayla and Jondalar and the other characters go from cave to cave and look at things. For like 500 pages.
It's repetitive, and the writing style is beyond infuriating. To cap it all off, there's another infuriating "misunderstanding" plot at the end, where Ayla and Jondalar each believe that the other has stopped loving them. It's unbearable. I swear to God this book nearly destroyed me. I listened to the audio, and I actually had it going at 2x the speed just to rush through it as quick as possible, and I still feel like it wasted precious hours of my life. The only good thing I can say about this book is that it finally ended, and the series ended with it. I pray that Auel never writes another novel in this ridiculous series. I don't think I've ever seen something fall so far from its origins. The first book was actually pretty good!
It's repetitive, and the writing style is beyond infuriating. To cap it all off, there's another infuriating "misunderstanding" plot at the end, where Ayla and Jondalar each believe that the other has stopped loving them. It's unbearable. I swear to God this book nearly destroyed me. I listened to the audio, and I actually had it going at 2x the speed just to rush through it as quick as possible, and I still feel like it wasted precious hours of my life. The only good thing I can say about this book is that it finally ended, and the series ended with it. I pray that Auel never writes another novel in this ridiculous series. I don't think I've ever seen something fall so far from its origins. The first book was actually pretty good!
I know, I know...this series went crashingly downhill after Clan of the Cave Bear, but I still want to find out how the saga ends.
And...now I'm done. Bleah. Talk about going out with a whimper. Even though it got to be a little ridiculous about how Ayla invented everything from needles to helicopters (heh), it was at least interesting to me to read how those things *might* have been created. This book didn't have any of that. Lots of long descriptions of caves, like Auel couldn't bear to leave a single one out. Flat characters acting out of character. No sense of personality for Ayla's daughter. Depressing ending. I hated it.
And...now I'm done. Bleah. Talk about going out with a whimper. Even though it got to be a little ridiculous about how Ayla invented everything from needles to helicopters (heh), it was at least interesting to me to read how those things *might* have been created. This book didn't have any of that. Lots of long descriptions of caves, like Auel couldn't bear to leave a single one out. Flat characters acting out of character. No sense of personality for Ayla's daughter. Depressing ending. I hated it.