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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
This series has been an interesting experience for me because I often found myself dreading it while I was reading but by the end of each book I would fall in love with it again. I am not sure if it is rose colored glasses, that feeling of looking back and remembering the good feelings, while forgetting all of the struggles you had with it throughout - it could be haha. The 6th book of the series was very disappointing for most of the book because I often felt like the author was avoiding jumping into the spiritual reveal I have been waiting for since book 1. The series was incredibly long (6 books all of them at least 600 pages) and the majority of the time the author used all that space to recount the same story we had already read in a previous book or detail daily events which were very similar to things she had already described. I loved the premise of the story, I also did learn a lot and have been very surprise to see that in a lot of ways her research on early humans is very accurate - however I think she could have done more with the story to expand into other topics that could have worked well.
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I was also very upset that Ayla never got to see her first son again. I was expecting there to be a big reunion when the son travels to where she is and she is able to see how his clan and others features mixed together to make him into a man. Or that Ayla would somehow go back and meet him again and tell him about his destiny.
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I was also very upset that Ayla never got to see her first son again. I was expecting there to be a big reunion when the son travels to where she is and she is able to see how his clan and others features mixed together to make him into a man. Or that Ayla would somehow go back and meet him again and tell him about his destiny.
Big thanks to all the Good Reads and Amazon reviewers who have already given this one a big THUMBS DOWN. You've given me permission to stop wasting my time hoping it will get better.
I'm always afraid of being the one to burst everyone's expectation bubble without putting in a fair effort. No problem with that here. As of this writing, there are 398 ratings on Good Reads, and the average rating for all editions is 2.80! As I scroll through the first dozen reviews, ALL of them are one or two star ratings. This has to be the biggest bomb I've ever seen for a long-anticipated book by a popular author.
I don't know what happened to Jean Auel's writing skills in the hiatus, but this book is purely awful! The dialogue is worse than the worst chick lit I've ever read, and the story is confusing and just plain BORING. I know the lady did a lot of research, but where were her editors? She didn't have to make this an epic. If she wanted to share what she'd learned about the painted caves she could have done that in a much shorter book. Bummer, dude. Back to the library it goes for the next eager person in line.
I'm always afraid of being the one to burst everyone's expectation bubble without putting in a fair effort. No problem with that here. As of this writing, there are 398 ratings on Good Reads, and the average rating for all editions is 2.80! As I scroll through the first dozen reviews, ALL of them are one or two star ratings. This has to be the biggest bomb I've ever seen for a long-anticipated book by a popular author.
I don't know what happened to Jean Auel's writing skills in the hiatus, but this book is purely awful! The dialogue is worse than the worst chick lit I've ever read, and the story is confusing and just plain BORING. I know the lady did a lot of research, but where were her editors? She didn't have to make this an epic. If she wanted to share what she'd learned about the painted caves she could have done that in a much shorter book. Bummer, dude. Back to the library it goes for the next eager person in line.
Two weeks of my life I will never get back. I swear - what is up with all the 700 page books with absolutely zero plot? I was so excited about this book - I read Clan of the Cave Bear in high school and re-read the first three books in the series multiple times. The fourth book wasn't as good, but I still enjoyed it. I didn't really like the fifth. However, since I've given Laurell Hamilton 500 million chances, I thought I'd show Jean Auel the same courtesy with her sixth and final book in the Earth's Children series.
I should have just read the Goodreads reviews for a plot summary. Actually, I should have just read the title of the book -- The Land of Painted Caves.
In this doorstop, Ayla and Ms. Zelandonii visit a lot of caves and examine in great detail (some detail lasting for five pages) all the drawings in the caves. That's pretty much it. Oh and Ayla "discovers" that men play a role in childbearing. That was it. For 700 pages. Caves and sperm...excuse me...Essence.
Honestly, if I knew Ayla in real life, I'd probably want to smack her. She's flawlessly beautiful and fluent in every language and gifted with animals and a fabulous mother/daughter in law and an accomplished healer and a fantastic spiritual leader and a human lie detector test and wonderful in bed. Give me at least one tiny flaw -- bad breath, a disorganized cave, a catty moment amongst friends. No one is that perfect.
I should have just read the Goodreads reviews for a plot summary. Actually, I should have just read the title of the book -- The Land of Painted Caves.
In this doorstop, Ayla and Ms. Zelandonii visit a lot of caves and examine in great detail (some detail lasting for five pages) all the drawings in the caves. That's pretty much it. Oh and Ayla "discovers" that men play a role in childbearing. That was it. For 700 pages. Caves and sperm...excuse me...Essence.
Honestly, if I knew Ayla in real life, I'd probably want to smack her. She's flawlessly beautiful and fluent in every language and gifted with animals and a fabulous mother/daughter in law and an accomplished healer and a fantastic spiritual leader and a human lie detector test and wonderful in bed. Give me at least one tiny flaw -- bad breath, a disorganized cave, a catty moment amongst friends. No one is that perfect.
The writing decline from book one to book six is legit the worst I've ever seen in any author. It's legitimately impressive how bad these books get. Ah, well, at least I'm finally done with this series after over a decade of putting it off.
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-land-of-painted-caves-by.html
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-land-of-painted-caves-by.html
Long, poorly edited and without any kind of plot or proper conclusion to the series.
If I had to read about how blue Jondalar’s eyes were, how exotic Ayla’s accent was, or read interminable “introductions again I would have thrown up.
A proper editor could have saved this book and made it into an ok one rather than the mess it is.
If I had to read about how blue Jondalar’s eyes were, how exotic Ayla’s accent was, or read interminable “introductions again I would have thrown up.
A proper editor could have saved this book and made it into an ok one rather than the mess it is.
Not as exciting as some of the others, but still nice to continue the series. Definitely felt like a conclusion. Really big book, and seems like much of that was describing the caves. I'm sure they are amazing, but I think I could have lived without the detail for every one.
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love historical fiction and this series made me realize I also love ANCIENT HISTORICAL fiction. Auel's fictional characters and cultures are based on such painstaking research that any lover of ancient history will find this series slow but intriguing.
After reading a bunch of reviews, I decided to skip the first two thirds of the book. The last third was terrible: everything that was wrong with #5 was doubly worse in this one. I feel bad counting this as one of the books I read this year.
The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is because I loved this series so much that it would physically hurt to shun it completely. Honestly, this was book so boring and awful that I could barely read it. I skipped over loads of pages in the middle and I just didn't get what was going on, not that I cared enough to work it out. Then the Jondalar and Ayla debacle. It was so contrived and over-the-top and melodramatic that I didn't believe it for a second. I didn't understand why Auel couldn't have just left them alone! Oh but lo and behold, they made up and invented something else! Monogamy! Gee, how utterly revolutionary of them.
It made me so sad to remember how much I loved the first three books of this series, then it slowly dwindled and then this.
So, sorry Auel, there goes my respect.
It made me so sad to remember how much I loved the first three books of this series, then it slowly dwindled and then this.
So, sorry Auel, there goes my respect.
Rereading the series this year.
I hadn't read this one before because of the horrible reviews when it came out. Now I understand why, and while I'm not sorry I read ('read' as I skimmed much of it) this final book, I continually wished it had been better.
So much of this book is a repeat of Shelters of Stone, which is itself a repeat of the previous 4. Exhausting to slog through. The 'resolutions' were not satisfactory, and again, I wish some editor had kept tabs on the storylines and threads...
For instance, someone from Ayla & Jondalar's past shows up at the Zelandonii summer meeting, but other than a brief reintroduction and a couple of actions, this character was basically forgotten. This 'storyline' - actually much of the last quarter of the book - was practically lifted wholesale from Mammoth Hunters, including the datura experimentation and Ayla & Jondalar's torturous 'misunderstanding.'
This final entry in this series left me feeling disappointed and bored, skipping madly to the end just so I could say I finished it. Not recommended.
I hadn't read this one before because of the horrible reviews when it came out. Now I understand why, and while I'm not sorry I read ('read' as I skimmed much of it) this final book, I continually wished it had been better.
So much of this book is a repeat of Shelters of Stone, which is itself a repeat of the previous 4. Exhausting to slog through. The 'resolutions' were not satisfactory, and again, I wish some editor had kept tabs on the storylines and threads...
For instance, someone from Ayla & Jondalar's past shows up at the Zelandonii summer meeting, but other than a brief reintroduction and a couple of actions, this character was basically forgotten. This 'storyline' - actually much of the last quarter of the book - was practically lifted wholesale from Mammoth Hunters, including the datura experimentation and Ayla & Jondalar's torturous 'misunderstanding.'
This final entry in this series left me feeling disappointed and bored, skipping madly to the end just so I could say I finished it. Not recommended.