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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Very boring, lots of walking through mountains.
I understand the reviews left by others. This book did tend to drag, with detailed explanations of animal life, vegetation, geographical occurrences and the formations of glaciers. Since Ayla and Jondalar had few interactions with other groups of people, the author seemed to struggle to fill in the silence, so to speak. However, though I admittedly skipped over a page or two here or there, I ultimately enjoyed this book and hope that the next two provide more opportunities to see how Ayla and Jondalar grow together. In a way, I suppose we were as tired of the traveling as Ayla and Jondalar were! The monotony of the story telling, in a way, helps us to relate to these characters even more. There wasn't much to entertain them on the open plains, either! I appreciated the ways in which Jondalar's character evolved, and often found myself wishing that Ayla would stop being so worried about being accepted by people they did eventually encounter. I'm trying to decide now if I want to move right into Shelters of Stone or give this series a bit of a rest. Either way, I still feel that this series is captivating, educational and exciting in the way it shows how our species evolved.
This is the fourth of the Earth’s Children series I’ve read and the fourth I’ve rated four stars. It’s not that they’re all equally good, or… well, maybe it is. I kind of wanted to say that they all have different strengths and weaknesses, but no they’re pretty much the same as well. Yes, the plot varies—the specifics change, the characters change, but the *elements* which work (and those which definitely do not) are consistent across the series.
In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, author Jean Auel refers to this as the “travel book”. It picks up where the last left off, with Ayla and Jondalar having just left the Mamutoi headed for the far north reaches and the Zelandonii, Jondalar’s homeland. The first 1/3 of the book is just the two of them traveling together (with Whinney, Racer, and Wolf, of course). This portion of the book is primarily repetitive descriptions of the landscape, the animal life they encounter, and the plants Ayla sees along the way. It’s almost clinical in the way it describes these things, making the whole ordeal a bit dry and uninteresting.
I don’t know if it came in this early or not, but there’s also a running issue of Ayla hiding the fact that she’s taking a contraceptive tea from Jondalar, who repeatedly worries he’s infertile. Auel has long had issues with repetitiveness and this thread especially became irksome. I was eager for Jondalar to find out the truth, get mad for a little bit, and then forgive her already! In fact, I wasn’t looking forward to Jondalar’s eventual anger over what she’d been doing but I felt it was inevitable and in keeping with his persona—he’s often been a bit of an ass in the previous books. In fact, spoiler alert: I think Jondalar ends up coming across much better in this book overall (a few recommendations to leave the animals behind notwithstanding), and he never learns about the contraceptive or freaks out about it, which upended my expectations.
The length and monotony of the journey was especially wearisome for me as this was the first e-book I read with my new Kobo device; as it is much smaller than a regular printed book, there are far more pages—and these are already long books. This one came in at 2,051 pages. That means that the portion of the book that dragged went on for some 700 pages. That perhaps made it feel even more interminable than it already was.
Ah, but things turn around as soon as Ayla and Jondalar encounter the Sharumadoi (who Jondalar had spent time with and where his brother had found a mate). All of the things that make the series great arrive immediately. There’s the tension created as the new camp fears the animals. There’s an awesome medical scene where Ayla takes charge and sets a woman’s broken leg. There’s the wonder as Ayla quickly learns their language. And there’s the spectacular sweetness of the headman of the Sharamudoi who, after having an initial bout of rage upon learning of Ayla’s Clan past, comes to understand the humanness of the “flatheads” and makes Ayla feel welcome. When the pair decided they had to move on, I worried that it meant a return to the plodding journey of before.
However, once it gets started the book doesn’t let up. First, there is a thrilling river crossing in which Ayla nearly succumbs to hypothermia and Wolf seems lost. Then they encounter a group of hunters who ominously warn them not to continue traveling north. They press on regardless and Whinney gets taken by a band of wild horses. They track and locate her, just as the herd is being pushed toward a cliff by another group of hunters. Ayla’s saving of Whinney and Racer just before they cross the edge is exhilarating. Next, Jondalar is captured by a group of man-hating S’Armunai and saved in movie-perfect last-minute style by Ayla, who cuts him loose from bindings where he’d been strung awaiting a spear to his chest by firing her own spear-thrower from up above the camp, then refers to the headwoman Attaroa by name *in their language* despite seemingly just arriving out of nowhere. It is completely badass! THEN, rather than escaping immediately, Ayla and Jondalar *return* with the intent of overthrowing Attaroa’s despotic rule and freeing the men who are caged and malnourished. All the people of the S’Armunai view them as god-like and their very return encourages revolution on its own. Attaroa is taken down brutally by Wolf, who leaps into action when Ayla is attacked by the headwoman—tearing the evildoer’s throat out. But before this, Ayla and Jondalar learned that Attaroa’s whole deal is a result of trauma she experienced; when it comes time to decree how to move forward, Ayla expertly advises breaking the cycle, not repaying cruelty with more cruelty. There is a call to torture Attaroa’s enforcer Epadoa, but the person Ayla suggests be in charge now proclaims that she should repay her crimes by being the protector over a boy she maimed at Attaroa’s command. Epadoa takes this very seriously and her promises to the boy that she will never harm him or allow harm to come to him are terribly sweet.
A & J move on again but it’s not long before they encounter the Lanzadonii, which involves another sequence of getting to know and become accepted by a new people. As ever, they are terrified by the animals. They agree to let Wolf into the camp based on Ayla’s assurances that he is harmless and the children quickly flock to his side. A few moments later, one of the children run in yelling for her mother to come right away. The mother fears the wolf has attacked the kids after all. She goes to find the youngest child, who was previously crawling, is now standing and taking small steps while holding Wolf’s fur. Both the child and Wolf seem to be smiling.
In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, author Jean Auel refers to this as the “travel book”. It picks up where the last left off, with Ayla and Jondalar having just left the Mamutoi headed for the far north reaches and the Zelandonii, Jondalar’s homeland. The first 1/3 of the book is just the two of them traveling together (with Whinney, Racer, and Wolf, of course). This portion of the book is primarily repetitive descriptions of the landscape, the animal life they encounter, and the plants Ayla sees along the way. It’s almost clinical in the way it describes these things, making the whole ordeal a bit dry and uninteresting.
I don’t know if it came in this early or not, but there’s also a running issue of Ayla hiding the fact that she’s taking a contraceptive tea from Jondalar, who repeatedly worries he’s infertile. Auel has long had issues with repetitiveness and this thread especially became irksome. I was eager for Jondalar to find out the truth, get mad for a little bit, and then forgive her already! In fact, I wasn’t looking forward to Jondalar’s eventual anger over what she’d been doing but I felt it was inevitable and in keeping with his persona—he’s often been a bit of an ass in the previous books. In fact, spoiler alert: I think Jondalar ends up coming across much better in this book overall (a few recommendations to leave the animals behind notwithstanding), and he never learns about the contraceptive or freaks out about it, which upended my expectations.
The length and monotony of the journey was especially wearisome for me as this was the first e-book I read with my new Kobo device; as it is much smaller than a regular printed book, there are far more pages—and these are already long books. This one came in at 2,051 pages. That means that the portion of the book that dragged went on for some 700 pages. That perhaps made it feel even more interminable than it already was.
Ah, but things turn around as soon as Ayla and Jondalar encounter the Sharumadoi (who Jondalar had spent time with and where his brother had found a mate). All of the things that make the series great arrive immediately. There’s the tension created as the new camp fears the animals. There’s an awesome medical scene where Ayla takes charge and sets a woman’s broken leg. There’s the wonder as Ayla quickly learns their language. And there’s the spectacular sweetness of the headman of the Sharamudoi who, after having an initial bout of rage upon learning of Ayla’s Clan past, comes to understand the humanness of the “flatheads” and makes Ayla feel welcome. When the pair decided they had to move on, I worried that it meant a return to the plodding journey of before.
However, once it gets started the book doesn’t let up. First, there is a thrilling river crossing in which Ayla nearly succumbs to hypothermia and Wolf seems lost. Then they encounter a group of hunters who ominously warn them not to continue traveling north. They press on regardless and Whinney gets taken by a band of wild horses. They track and locate her, just as the herd is being pushed toward a cliff by another group of hunters. Ayla’s saving of Whinney and Racer just before they cross the edge is exhilarating. Next, Jondalar is captured by a group of man-hating S’Armunai and saved in movie-perfect last-minute style by Ayla, who cuts him loose from bindings where he’d been strung awaiting a spear to his chest by firing her own spear-thrower from up above the camp, then refers to the headwoman Attaroa by name *in their language* despite seemingly just arriving out of nowhere. It is completely badass! THEN, rather than escaping immediately, Ayla and Jondalar *return* with the intent of overthrowing Attaroa’s despotic rule and freeing the men who are caged and malnourished. All the people of the S’Armunai view them as god-like and their very return encourages revolution on its own. Attaroa is taken down brutally by Wolf, who leaps into action when Ayla is attacked by the headwoman—tearing the evildoer’s throat out. But before this, Ayla and Jondalar learned that Attaroa’s whole deal is a result of trauma she experienced; when it comes time to decree how to move forward, Ayla expertly advises breaking the cycle, not repaying cruelty with more cruelty. There is a call to torture Attaroa’s enforcer Epadoa, but the person Ayla suggests be in charge now proclaims that she should repay her crimes by being the protector over a boy she maimed at Attaroa’s command. Epadoa takes this very seriously and her promises to the boy that she will never harm him or allow harm to come to him are terribly sweet.
A & J move on again but it’s not long before they encounter the Lanzadonii, which involves another sequence of getting to know and become accepted by a new people. As ever, they are terrified by the animals. They agree to let Wolf into the camp based on Ayla’s assurances that he is harmless and the children quickly flock to his side. A few moments later, one of the children run in yelling for her mother to come right away. The mother fears the wolf has attacked the kids after all. She goes to find the youngest child, who was previously crawling, is now standing and taking small steps while holding Wolf’s fur. Both the child and Wolf seem to be smiling.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The first 300 pages was super hard to get through. But I'm glad I did. It ended up being pretty good.
I loved the Clan of the Cave Bear series...but stopped with this one. The pages and pages and pages and pages (get it?) and pages of scientifically named flora bored me.
Now I see that she has released book 6.
Am I willing to give her another try and go for book 5 and 6?
Now I see that she has released book 6.
Am I willing to give her another try and go for book 5 and 6?
And things get worse. While this book doesn't have a stupid prolonged "misunderstanding" plot, it is actually worse than its predecessor. Why? Because it basically has no plot. This book could be a single sentence and we wouldn't lose anything important in the series. Here, let me give it a try: "Ayla and Jondalar traveled a great distance, meeting many new people and struggling through rough weather and terrain until finally they could see the land of Jondalar's people in the distance: they were home."
That's literally everything you need to know. They start the novel having just set out from the Mamutoi, and they end having arrived at the land of the Zelandonii. Along the way we are treated to an ASTOUNDING amount of repetition, recaps of previous books, and meetings with pretty uninteresting and indistinguishable groups of people, all of whom instantly find Ayla to be the most beautiful and perfect and godly woman they've ever seen.
I'm seriously astounded that this pile of crap got published. And that people read it and enjoyed it. I can't believe I actually sloughed my way through this one. And now that I'm this deep in it, I'm going to finish the whole damn series if it kills me.
That's literally everything you need to know. They start the novel having just set out from the Mamutoi, and they end having arrived at the land of the Zelandonii. Along the way we are treated to an ASTOUNDING amount of repetition, recaps of previous books, and meetings with pretty uninteresting and indistinguishable groups of people, all of whom instantly find Ayla to be the most beautiful and perfect and godly woman they've ever seen.
I'm seriously astounded that this pile of crap got published. And that people read it and enjoyed it. I can't believe I actually sloughed my way through this one. And now that I'm this deep in it, I'm going to finish the whole damn series if it kills me.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think this might be my favorite book in the series so far. It starts really slow and you have to tredge through endless descriptions of the environment and the animals that inhabit it. I'd say the book picks up the pace 1/3 or so of the way in, which is a bit shy of 300 pages considering the length of the book. That said I really enjoyed the stay with the Sharamudoi, I enjoyed the fact that they managed to change the opinion of the Shamudoi leader on Clan people and that it came to light that it was his son that provoked them causing the senseless hatred in his father. I didn't care for the chapters regarding the Sarmunai (I hope I remember the name correctly). It was interesting at first but after Ayla rescued Jondalar it felt a bit chaotic and poorly thought through. Why did Attaroa let them leave so easily not once but TWICE if she was so hellbent on killing them? And the relosution of the conflict felt anticlimactic. I really liked the stay with the Losadunai (again hope I remember the name correctly) and I really loved the Clan encounter, I really really hope they meet Guban and Yorga again. I especially liked the ending, I liked Echosar and the parallel between Joplaya and Ayla, I really liked the idea of Joplaya being secretly in love with Jondalar. I hope we get the chance to see these characters again and see of the relationships between all of them pan out. I really recommend this book, if you think about quitting the series after the third book (understandably) give this book a try and try not to get discouraged by the sluggish start, I think it's really worth it.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Dauert sehr lange bis etwas passiert.
En esta cuarta entrega de la saga vemos la evolución, el progreso de los otros, como surgen conflictos al crecer la población. Me ha resultado muy interesante cuando se topan con la jefa Attaroa y sus cazadoras. Y también la destrucción que genera la banda de Charoli, tanto a a los cabezas chatas como a los otros. El libro no está mal, pero ya estoy un poco saturada de Ayla y Jondalar. Continuaré la saga en otro momento.