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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!
I was already dissapointed with the last book, but this made me angry and I lost my lost my will to read. To be honest, I had to stop midway through at my second attempt to read it (at my first attempt, I did not even finish the first part). I audiobooked it to finish it, because I had hoped the end would maybe calm my anger. I was wrong. I was so angry after I was finally finished, I actually wanted to burn this fucking book!
I won`t get into details, as I don`t want to repeat what others have written already (and most likely much better, than I ever could). What make me angry the most is that there was so much potential to turn this series around and end with an overall good feeling. I would have forgiven the rather dissapointing book 5, if the author had given the characters and the plot a little more thought and skipped most of the booooooooooooooring, useless descriptions of caves and all that shit.
To anyone, who started the series, stopp after book 4 and use your own imagination how Ayla adapts to her new home. You will be much happier, more satisfied and calmer.
I was already dissapointed with the last book, but this made me angry and I lost my lost my will to read. To be honest, I had to stop midway through at my second attempt to read it (at my first attempt, I did not even finish the first part). I audiobooked it to finish it, because I had hoped the end would maybe calm my anger. I was wrong. I was so angry after I was finally finished, I actually wanted to burn this fucking book!
I won`t get into details, as I don`t want to repeat what others have written already (and most likely much better, than I ever could). What make me angry the most is that there was so much potential to turn this series around and end with an overall good feeling. I would have forgiven the rather dissapointing book 5, if the author had given the characters and the plot a little more thought and skipped most of the booooooooooooooring, useless descriptions of caves and all that shit.
To anyone, who started the series, stopp after book 4 and use your own imagination how Ayla adapts to her new home. You will be much happier, more satisfied and calmer.
Desperately needed an editor...the last two books definitely could have been combined.
Very poorly written, although the last 1/3 was better. Sad to see such a wonderful series end on this note.
Boring, with lots of repetitive parts... Not sure why I stuck it out.
750+ pages, and what happened? Well, we read the Mother's Song eighteen bazillion times ... and read people's long-winded introductions and recitations of titles ... and read descriptions of the sacred painted caves ... complete with people (and a wolf) relieving themselves in these sacred places. Lots of repetition (from previous books, from this book) and not much action. (Ayla's daughter had chicken pox for HALF A PARAGRAPH! Why even bother if it's clearly so unimportant?)
And the 'twist' of Jondalar being unfaithful with the ex-fiancee that he hates just came out of nowhere. Haven't we spent the last three books establishing that Ayla is the only one for him, and that he doesn't want to sleep with anyone else? (But it's OK because he has a lot of FEELINGS that he keeps bottled up to keep from being OVERWHELMED.) And Ayla's great Gift of Knowledge (that it takes men and women having sex to create babies) is going to lead to more monogamy (and control over the sexual behaviour of partners) which is the 'ideal' that Ayla and Jondalar were set up to be showing us all along.
This is supposed to be the last book (so the cover says) and yet nothing felt resolved to me.
Bah.
Edited to add: I do love cave paintings/carvings and I wish there had been some artists' renderings of some of the art she described.
If you want to see the painted caves she talks so much about, try these links:
-http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html
and
-http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/chauvet_cave_art.php
And the 'twist' of Jondalar being unfaithful with the ex-fiancee that he hates just came out of nowhere. Haven't we spent the last three books establishing that Ayla is the only one for him, and that he doesn't want to sleep with anyone else? (But it's OK because he has a lot of FEELINGS that he keeps bottled up to keep from being OVERWHELMED.) And Ayla's great Gift of Knowledge (that it takes men and women having sex to create babies) is going to lead to more monogamy (and control over the sexual behaviour of partners) which is the 'ideal' that Ayla and Jondalar were set up to be showing us all along.
This is supposed to be the last book (so the cover says) and yet nothing felt resolved to me.
Bah.
Edited to add: I do love cave paintings/carvings and I wish there had been some artists' renderings of some of the art she described.
If you want to see the painted caves she talks so much about, try these links:
-http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html
and
-http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/chauvet_cave_art.php
Be aware that I'm spoiling a lot of the final arc of the book throughout the review. You've been warned! I will also indicate further spoilers with the tag.
So, I pretty much speed-read through Land of Painted Caves to see how the story finishes. You know, since it is reportedly the final book in the Earth's Children series. Pretty much, skip all the really long descriptions of caves and you can finish the book in a few hours. My impression? Let me say this, how would you feel if J.K. Rowling suddenly decided to stop writing Harry Potter after Half-Blood Prince? Sorry, no final battle for you. No knowing if Ron and Hermione ever get together, if Voldemort is ever defeated, or even if Harry lives to turn 17. Sorry folks. JKR has taken her millions and headed to Aruba and we don't get the end of the story.
That's essentially what this book is. It's not winding down the story. Instead, it only opened several new plotlines, fails to answer some of the really big questions about old plots that have dangled like carrots for years and recycles one plot in a way that it makes the end of Slayers Evolution-R look like the most original piece of media ever. I do give the characters credit for realizing this is the same plot take two, and because the first plot point happened, it alluded to this possibly happening again.
The thing is that overall, this wasn't a bad book up until halfway through the final arc. Oh yes, I rolled my eyes at all the mentions of how perfect Jondalar and Ayla are. To their credit, their flaws do show up. But the painted caves were fascinating, and I enjoyed Ayla's role as an acolyte and what she had to learn. What's not to the book's credit is how suddenly Jean M. Auel hits the brakes, swings the car into the opposing turn lane, and proceeds to spectacularly run over Ayla and Jondalar in order to set up the end of the book.
Throughout the book, Jondalar and Ayla are shown to be the model married couple. In a society where being sexually intimate with other people is acceptable (the huge revelation at the end is that you can't have kids without men, thus the concept of monogamy begins to really become popular), they choose to only be with each other. Neither one of them, when given the opportunity, chooses anyone else.
And Ayla's duties takes her away from Jondalar and Jonayla, their daughter, a lot. She has to undergo periods of fasting, abstinence and travel. Through it all, Jondalar is patient, helps care for their daughter and supports his wife, often accompanying her and growing himself through those travels, though his POV is largely absent in this book. Again, he's never indicated he even wants anyone else or that he's overly horny, and Auel has never missed an opportunity in the past to express if he was suffering because of a lack of Pleasures, and that all he wants is Ayla.
Suddenly, in order to drive Jondalar and Ayla apart so Jondalar can pull Ayla back from the spirit world with the power of his love at the end of the book, Auel reveals that he's been having an affair with his ex so he doesn't bother Ayla during her studies and travels. And, hey, this is OK because he was born with great passions and they must be fulfilled.
This rather pisses me off. A lot. In a society where monogamy isn't all that common and people do at times take different partners, Auel spent three books drilling into the reader's head that Jondalar and Ayla are very, very monogamous and only want each other. The only time either of them had sexual intercourse with another person was during a period in the third book where they were no longer together and Ayla was engaged to someone else. I don't even think Jondalar had sex with anyone then, but I'm probably wrong about that since it's been years since I read The Mammoth Hunters.
So, after all of this, I'm suddenly suppose to believe that Jondalar is so damn horny that he'd go sticking it in anyone, not just his ex, before being with Ayla? And that he's abandoned the daughter he's been so devoted to in order to do this? And there's no hint of this beforehand? There's only two sex scenes in the novel, and both times it's apparent that both Jondalar and Ayla have abstained for a period of time prior to this. I'm having a really hard time buying this affair.
Hi, Jondalar. Meet your right hand. Right hand, meet genitals. You're no stranger to this concept. I have read Valley of Horses.
There were other ways to set up this scene where Jondalar needed to pull Ayla back from the spirit world. Ayla had just miscarried. That's drama on its own. There could have been an implied affair with all the busyness and lack of communication causing the separation, which is exactly how things happened in The Mammoth Hunters. And, hey, Jondalar could have actually remained true to the spirit of his character by revealing that Marlona kept trying and he refused. As long as we're recycling old plots, just go ahead and do that.
I will give Auel credit for both Ayla and Jondalar realizing the sequence of events happening surrounding the affair and what happened after was both their faults, and they finally deal with it like adults. And, yes, these things do happen at times and bad things happen to good people.
What the hell is so wrong with having a happily married couple in a healthy monogamous relationship? Not to mention as well that one of the key character arcs surrounding Jondalar, especially in Valley of Horses, is that he kept trying to find someone he could love. And for all of the Pleasures he has given other women, he hasn't been able to find it until he falls in love with Ayla. That was the beauty of the entire relationship. Really, he was like the prehistoric version of Roarke in the In Death series. Plenty of girlfriends, but not the one that captured his heart. Can you imagine the backlash if Roarke did something like this? Well, Eve would gut him and hang his entrails from the flagpole outside Cop Central. But I digress ...
There was a better way for Auel to arrive at her ending without Jondalar cheating. There was enough pressure on both of them that it could cause issues in any marriage. If we even had a hint of Jondalar not being happy with the forced celibacy at times, I could buy this a bit easier. But, I can't. I'm not sure if I'll get the hardcover version of this now. If there is a 7th book (and I'm hearing mutterings that there might be after all), I'm not sure if I'll get it. I'm that disappointed in you, Jean M. Auel.
So, I pretty much speed-read through Land of Painted Caves to see how the story finishes. You know, since it is reportedly the final book in the Earth's Children series. Pretty much, skip all the really long descriptions of caves and you can finish the book in a few hours. My impression? Let me say this, how would you feel if J.K. Rowling suddenly decided to stop writing Harry Potter after Half-Blood Prince? Sorry, no final battle for you. No knowing if Ron and Hermione ever get together, if Voldemort is ever defeated, or even if Harry lives to turn 17. Sorry folks. JKR has taken her millions and headed to Aruba and we don't get the end of the story.
That's essentially what this book is. It's not winding down the story. Instead, it only opened several new plotlines, fails to answer some of the really big questions about old plots that have dangled like carrots for years and recycles one plot in a way that it makes the end of Slayers Evolution-R look like the most original piece of media ever. I do give the characters credit for realizing this is the same plot take two, and because the first plot point happened, it alluded to this possibly happening again.
The thing is that overall, this wasn't a bad book up until halfway through the final arc. Oh yes, I rolled my eyes at all the mentions of how perfect Jondalar and Ayla are. To their credit, their flaws do show up. But the painted caves were fascinating, and I enjoyed Ayla's role as an acolyte and what she had to learn. What's not to the book's credit is how suddenly Jean M. Auel hits the brakes, swings the car into the opposing turn lane, and proceeds to spectacularly run over Ayla and Jondalar in order to set up the end of the book.
And Ayla's duties takes her away from Jondalar and Jonayla, their daughter, a lot. She has to undergo periods of fasting, abstinence and travel. Through it all, Jondalar is patient, helps care for their daughter and supports his wife, often accompanying her and growing himself through those travels, though his POV is largely absent in this book. Again, he's never indicated he even wants anyone else or that he's overly horny, and Auel has never missed an opportunity in the past to express if he was suffering because of a lack of Pleasures, and that all he wants is Ayla.
Suddenly, in order to drive Jondalar and Ayla apart so Jondalar can pull Ayla back from the spirit world with the power of his love at the end of the book, Auel reveals that he's been having an affair with his ex so he doesn't bother Ayla during her studies and travels. And, hey, this is OK because he was born with great passions and they must be fulfilled.
This rather pisses me off. A lot. In a society where monogamy isn't all that common and people do at times take different partners, Auel spent three books drilling into the reader's head that Jondalar and Ayla are very, very monogamous and only want each other. The only time either of them had sexual intercourse with another person was during a period in the third book where they were no longer together and Ayla was engaged to someone else. I don't even think Jondalar had sex with anyone then, but I'm probably wrong about that since it's been years since I read The Mammoth Hunters.
So, after all of this, I'm suddenly suppose to believe that Jondalar is so damn horny that he'd go sticking it in anyone, not just his ex, before being with Ayla? And that he's abandoned the daughter he's been so devoted to in order to do this? And there's no hint of this beforehand? There's only two sex scenes in the novel, and both times it's apparent that both Jondalar and Ayla have abstained for a period of time prior to this. I'm having a really hard time buying this affair.
Hi, Jondalar. Meet your right hand. Right hand, meet genitals. You're no stranger to this concept. I have read Valley of Horses.
There were other ways to set up this scene where Jondalar needed to pull Ayla back from the spirit world. Ayla had just miscarried. That's drama on its own. There could have been an implied affair with all the busyness and lack of communication causing the separation, which is exactly how things happened in The Mammoth Hunters. And, hey, Jondalar could have actually remained true to the spirit of his character by revealing that Marlona kept trying and he refused. As long as we're recycling old plots, just go ahead and do that.
I will give Auel credit for both Ayla and Jondalar realizing the sequence of events happening surrounding the affair and what happened after was both their faults, and they finally deal with it like adults. And, yes, these things do happen at times and bad things happen to good people.
What the hell is so wrong with having a happily married couple in a healthy monogamous relationship? Not to mention as well that one of the key character arcs surrounding Jondalar, especially in Valley of Horses, is that he kept trying to find someone he could love. And for all of the Pleasures he has given other women, he hasn't been able to find it until he falls in love with Ayla. That was the beauty of the entire relationship. Really, he was like the prehistoric version of Roarke in the In Death series. Plenty of girlfriends, but not the one that captured his heart. Can you imagine the backlash if Roarke did something like this? Well, Eve would gut him and hang his entrails from the flagpole outside Cop Central. But I digress ...
There was a better way for Auel to arrive at her ending without Jondalar cheating. There was enough pressure on both of them that it could cause issues in any marriage. If we even had a hint of Jondalar not being happy with the forced celibacy at times, I could buy this a bit easier. But, I can't. I'm not sure if I'll get the hardcover version of this now. If there is a 7th book (and I'm hearing mutterings that there might be after all), I'm not sure if I'll get it. I'm that disappointed in you, Jean M. Auel.
I came away from this with the distinct feeling that Jean M. Auel hates her fans and/or this series and its characters. Aside from repeating the same things over and over again - such as the fact Ayla was raised by the Clan, how she and Jondalar met, how she was able to communicate with Wolf, Whinney and co, how Ayla thought babies were conceived - the majority of the conflict, no matter how challenging, is resolved within a page or two because Ayla and her mate, Jondalar (very handsome, tall, blonde, with stunningly blue eyes, as he is described every time he appears) are magical beings who can overcome anything with the flick of their wrists. Then toward the end of the book, the writer commits character assassination against Jondalar by making him betray Ayla's trust by sleeping with the very woman who has gone out of her way to humiliate Ayla at every chance, while Ayla is working so hard she ends up miscarrying their baby, then severely beating the guy that Ayla sleeps with for revenge (which is something he did as a teenager and spent most of the series regretting and feeling ashamed of. Apparently it was just show because he'd clearly learned nothing from the incident.) To cap it all, the book ends with Ayla getting into the very same dangerous situation she did back in The Mammoth Hunters, "dying", then being rescued by Jondalar in the exact same way she was last time.
In between these infuriating elements, Ayla spends a lot of time caving. I know this book is called The Land of Painted Caves but surely that shouldn't mean that more than 60% of the action takes place in a cave looking at cave paintings. When she's not caving or training to be a Zelandoni, she's always ready to have sex with Jondalar whenever he feels like it, even with little to no foreplay. Oh and Jonayla grows up to be a stunningly beautiful, intelligent and well-behaved child.
If you enjoyed the first two or three books of the series, do yourself a favour and stop at the end of The Mammoth Hunters. Not much happens in The Plains of Passage and the last two books will likely destroy the series for you.
In between these infuriating elements, Ayla spends a lot of time caving. I know this book is called The Land of Painted Caves but surely that shouldn't mean that more than 60% of the action takes place in a cave looking at cave paintings. When she's not caving or training to be a Zelandoni, she's always ready to have sex with Jondalar whenever he feels like it, even with little to no foreplay. Oh and Jonayla grows up to be a stunningly beautiful, intelligent and well-behaved child.
If you enjoyed the first two or three books of the series, do yourself a favour and stop at the end of The Mammoth Hunters. Not much happens in The Plains of Passage and the last two books will likely destroy the series for you.
I think I'm going to travel to the past, go inside a cave and start painting the walls, so that people in the future think about what I was trying to say, and more people get inspired to write another incredible book like this one.