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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
Kinda felt like Auel ran out of gas or interest by the time this book rolled around. Good end to the saga, though.
The Land of Painted Caves is the final instalment in the Earth’s Children series, which started with Clan of the Cave Bear, one of my all time favourite books. In this, the sixth book, Ayla is trying to balance her family life with her training to become a spiritual leader.
For me, this was a typical Earth’s Children book, with the usual characters, and the descriptive passages. It felt like returning to old friends, and for the whole, it’s a comfortable book. It’s a long book, and some of it is repetition, but for those who enjoy the series, this is something to be expected. A large portion of the book is about Ayla’s travels to various caves, which is all part of her training – this is obviously well researched, but maybe went on a little too long.
Before writing this, I went onto amazon.co.uk to check reviews, and I’m surprised by the amount of angry sounding 1 star reviews. I wonder if many people had far too high expectations of this book, especially as it’s been advertised as the final book. I didn’t have any real expectations, and as such I was able to enjoy it for what it was.
There was one final story line with both Jondala and Ayla which didn’t ring true – although the author does explain some of the reactions, it didn’t seem true to their characters.
I also saw an early review which suggested that Ayla had much more to tell, and that there should be further books. For me though, it feels finished. If anything, it may be interesting to hear about their daughter’s story when she’s older, with the others as back characters, but in my opinion, The Land of Painted Caves should be the final word.
For me, this was a typical Earth’s Children book, with the usual characters, and the descriptive passages. It felt like returning to old friends, and for the whole, it’s a comfortable book. It’s a long book, and some of it is repetition, but for those who enjoy the series, this is something to be expected. A large portion of the book is about Ayla’s travels to various caves, which is all part of her training – this is obviously well researched, but maybe went on a little too long.
Before writing this, I went onto amazon.co.uk to check reviews, and I’m surprised by the amount of angry sounding 1 star reviews. I wonder if many people had far too high expectations of this book, especially as it’s been advertised as the final book. I didn’t have any real expectations, and as such I was able to enjoy it for what it was.
There was one final story line with both Jondala and Ayla which didn’t ring true – although the author does explain some of the reactions, it didn’t seem true to their characters.
I also saw an early review which suggested that Ayla had much more to tell, and that there should be further books. For me though, it feels finished. If anything, it may be interesting to hear about their daughter’s story when she’s older, with the others as back characters, but in my opinion, The Land of Painted Caves should be the final word.
I love these books and the continuing saga of Jondalar and Ayla and their families. Some of the repetition of the Mother gets old, but I am especially intrigued by the descriptions of life - the way they hunt and gather and create everything they need in the Ice Age.
Fantastic story! But it did leave me thirsting for more. I know this is the last book in the series, but you never know...
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Does Auel's contract reject editing, 'cause is like nobody edited this book for repetiveness. If I had to listen to that stupid Mother Song again, or all Ayla's formal titles, or another boring cave description, or how good Ayla is at hunting, reading body language, studying animals, cooking Ptarmigan or talks like a foreigner, or how fat Zelandanii is, I'm going to quit. Oh wait, I just did.
slow-paced
slow-paced
Què dir d'aquest llibre?
La primera cova és interessant. La segona, també. A partir de la tercera llegia en diagonal. A partir de la vintena, em saltava alguna pàgina fins qua sortien de la cova...
No és que el llibre no m'hagi agradat. Està bé, m'ha interessat molt. Només que, un cop l'he acabat aquest matí, he pensat: El llibre té 800 pàgines. No se m'ha fet pesat (a banda de la repetició de coves i la repetició del cant a la mare). Però, si hagués d'explicar la història del llibre, la podria resumir en: es visiten moltes coves; tothom té enveja de l'Ayla, d'en Jondalar i de la Jonayla; es produeix un episodi de gelosia; l'Ayla es pren la ditxosa arrel i es reconcilien.
Les pàgines més interessants són les últimes 50 o 100.
Hagués preferit no tanta cova i que els visitants que apareixen al final expliquessin més coses. El que expliquen m'ha semblat poc, i podrien haver explicat molta cosa.
D'alguna manera, tot i que representa que aquest ja és l'últim llibre, la història acaba molt de cop. M'ha donat la impressió de que si hi hagués un setè llibre no em sorprendria, tot i que l'Auel hagi dit que és l'últim...
No és una mala lectura, però després d'acabar-lo em sento una mica decebuda. Sí, parla de coves (com ja explica el títol), però... potser m'hagués interessat més que s'hagués centrat en altres temes.
La primera cova és interessant. La segona, també. A partir de la tercera llegia en diagonal. A partir de la vintena, em saltava alguna pàgina fins qua sortien de la cova...
No és que el llibre no m'hagi agradat. Està bé, m'ha interessat molt. Només que, un cop l'he acabat aquest matí, he pensat: El llibre té 800 pàgines. No se m'ha fet pesat (a banda de la repetició de coves i la repetició del cant a la mare). Però, si hagués d'explicar la història del llibre, la podria resumir en: es visiten moltes coves; tothom té enveja de l'Ayla, d'en Jondalar i de la Jonayla; es produeix un episodi de gelosia; l'Ayla es pren la ditxosa arrel i es reconcilien.
Les pàgines més interessants són les últimes 50 o 100.
Hagués preferit no tanta cova i que els visitants que apareixen al final expliquessin més coses. El que expliquen m'ha semblat poc, i podrien haver explicat molta cosa.
D'alguna manera, tot i que representa que aquest ja és l'últim llibre, la història acaba molt de cop. M'ha donat la impressió de que si hi hagués un setè llibre no em sorprendria, tot i que l'Auel hagi dit que és l'últim...
No és una mala lectura, però després d'acabar-lo em sento una mica decebuda. Sí, parla de coves (com ja explica el títol), però... potser m'hagués interessat més que s'hagués centrat en altres temes.
Jean M. Auel's first book in her "Earth's Children" series, The Clan of the Cave Bear, was published in 1980, and introduced Ayla, a Cro-Magnon child who had lost her family in a earthquake. She was found by a group of Neanderthals, the Clan of the Cave Bear, who took her in and raised her. It was a well-written and thoroughly researched book which brought the people of that prehistorical period to life.
In the next ten years, Auel published three more books in the series: The Valley of Horses; The Mammoth Hunters; and The Plains of Passage. The books continued to show the author's attention to getting the details of prehistoric life plausible and as correct as possible, and they contained a wealth of information about how those lives may have been lived. But by the fourth book, the series was definitely running out of steam.
Twelve years passed before Auel completed the fifth book in the series, The Shelters of Stone, in which Ayla and her lover, Jondalar, were mated and settled down to life in the Ninth Cave of the Zeladonai, who were Jondalar's people. Now, nine years later, the sixth and, apparently, final book in the series, The Land of Painted Caves will be released on March 29. I received an advance copy and spent this week reading it.
I am fascinated by anthropology and archaeology, especially of prehistoric humans, and so this series would seem like manna from the heavens for me, and, indeed, I have enjoyed it for the most part. This last entry, though, was a disappointment.
The book is divided into three (very big) parts. In part I, Ayla is an acolyte to the Zelandonii, who are healers and keepers of the people's myths and ancient wisdom. Ayla and Jondalar have a baby daughter, Jonayla, and Ayla experiences all the conflicts of any working mother. In part II, five years have passed but Ayla's training continues and she must often spend time away from her family to perform her duties. In part III, she becomes a full-fledged member of the Zelandonii, but her relationship with Jondalar suffers and conflicts threaten to tear them apart.
This is a very, very long book, over 700 pages, and it seems longer.
It could have easily been shorter with some judicious editing and I think that would have made it a better book. As it stands, the writing is boringly repetitious. The author recapitulates all Ayla's history from the previous books. There might have been a need for that once, but it seems like she does it in practically every second chapter. After the second or third retelling, I'm saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know! Just get on with the story!" But she doesn't.
In truth, not much happens in this book. There isn't much drama at all until part III. Mostly it is a relating of the day-to-day lives of the Zelandonai (Cro-Magnon) and how they utilize the resources around them to make life better and easier for themselves. As a gardener myself, one of the things that I truly enjoyed about the book was all the lore about plants and their uses, including psychotropic plants and how they might have been utilized. Auel has not lost her touch as a researcher and the intricate explanations of the uses of plants is proof of that.
I'm sorry to say, though, that I think she has lost her touch as a story-teller, and perhaps it is just as well that this is the last in the series.
In the next ten years, Auel published three more books in the series: The Valley of Horses; The Mammoth Hunters; and The Plains of Passage. The books continued to show the author's attention to getting the details of prehistoric life plausible and as correct as possible, and they contained a wealth of information about how those lives may have been lived. But by the fourth book, the series was definitely running out of steam.
Twelve years passed before Auel completed the fifth book in the series, The Shelters of Stone, in which Ayla and her lover, Jondalar, were mated and settled down to life in the Ninth Cave of the Zeladonai, who were Jondalar's people. Now, nine years later, the sixth and, apparently, final book in the series, The Land of Painted Caves will be released on March 29. I received an advance copy and spent this week reading it.
I am fascinated by anthropology and archaeology, especially of prehistoric humans, and so this series would seem like manna from the heavens for me, and, indeed, I have enjoyed it for the most part. This last entry, though, was a disappointment.
The book is divided into three (very big) parts. In part I, Ayla is an acolyte to the Zelandonii, who are healers and keepers of the people's myths and ancient wisdom. Ayla and Jondalar have a baby daughter, Jonayla, and Ayla experiences all the conflicts of any working mother. In part II, five years have passed but Ayla's training continues and she must often spend time away from her family to perform her duties. In part III, she becomes a full-fledged member of the Zelandonii, but her relationship with Jondalar suffers and conflicts threaten to tear them apart.
This is a very, very long book, over 700 pages, and it seems longer.
It could have easily been shorter with some judicious editing and I think that would have made it a better book. As it stands, the writing is boringly repetitious. The author recapitulates all Ayla's history from the previous books. There might have been a need for that once, but it seems like she does it in practically every second chapter. After the second or third retelling, I'm saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know! Just get on with the story!" But she doesn't.
In truth, not much happens in this book. There isn't much drama at all until part III. Mostly it is a relating of the day-to-day lives of the Zelandonai (Cro-Magnon) and how they utilize the resources around them to make life better and easier for themselves. As a gardener myself, one of the things that I truly enjoyed about the book was all the lore about plants and their uses, including psychotropic plants and how they might have been utilized. Auel has not lost her touch as a researcher and the intricate explanations of the uses of plants is proof of that.
I'm sorry to say, though, that I think she has lost her touch as a story-teller, and perhaps it is just as well that this is the last in the series.