Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Valley of Horses [With Earphones]

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Valley of Horses [With Earphones] by Jean M. Auel

8 reviews

kendraerin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book took a long time to finish. It's a good idea and not a bad execution, but as a reader, it can be difficult. Nearly every chapter for the first 2/3rds or more of the book switches POVs between Ayla and Jondalar. They don't cross paths, their actions don't affect each other, it's two completely different stories until they meet. Again, I don't hate the idea, I would just have preferred the book to spend less time switching back and forth by sticking longer with one POV before switching to the other (I would split it into four parts— Ayla's getting settled in the Valley, Jondalar's journey with Thonolan, a third where the POV switch does happen, and the fourth where Ayla and Jondalar fall in love and get to know each other).

Unsurprisingly, Auel continues to be very detailed, exact, and blunt with the environment and actions of the animals and characters. Her research was very thorough and as someone who has always been interested in anthropology (thanks to my mother, who recommended these books and studied anthropology in college), I love this!

It is very explicit and can become violent, though not as violent as the first book. I prefer to go into books blind, but I figured they would come up. If you have anything you're worried about or are trying to avoid, be aware of trigger warnings!

Content Warnings

mrcesq's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Clan of the Cave Bears was a challenging, informative book about primitive cultures , finding your and compassion. Valley of the Horses was about cultural understanding and the tendency to be afraid of “Others.” The steamy love story did have a tendency to get in the way but the reader gets sucked in to this and accidentally learns undergraduate level understanding of xenophobia and cultural relativism. Together- a must read. Even after having courses in anthropology and sociology, this book has does the best job to showcase how we “other” cultures and pass judgements before we understand even the simplest things.

Content Warnings