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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse
Minor: Torture, Kidnapping
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book 4. Ayla and Jondalar say goodbye to the Mammoth Hunters and together they set off, back towards Jondalar's home and family so that they can be mated. Great book, it's basically just the two of them trekking back across prehistoric Europe and having some interesting adventures and sex along the way.
Well. I get pissed off by Jondalar a lot in this book. He keeps dragging Ayla away from people who like, even love, and accept her. He is a dick to the Wolf because he's not as useful as the horses. He's ridiculously possessive (we saw that even more in the former book). She is nothing but good and obliging and nice and she deserves better. There is finally some real plotwise excitement with the S'armunai camp and I enjoyed the meeting with the Clan couple too, but most of the book is still a lot of repetitions of things that.. we have already read 1000 times in the past books, and pages and pages and pages of basically the same descriptions of the prehistoric flora and fauna (can't count how many times I've read the reason that mammoths like it better up north) These books really have lost the magic they held for me when I was much younger and it's a shame.
I loved the overall plot (mostly the second half) of this fourth book in the series (repetativeness aside). It probably would have taken me even longer to read this book if I had not skipped over the landscape descriptions. As interesting as these landscape, cultural, and other descriptions were in the first book, I grew weary of them quickly. Besides that, I loved the different interactions Ayla and Jondalar had with each set of people they came across and I can't wait to read the next book.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of the worst of the series, along with Book 6.
Ayla and Jondalar go home....with much detailed description of stuff that happened before, almost every page.
For instance. Ayla mounts Whinny...and remembers when....blah blah on and on.
Jondalar looks at Ayla and remembers when...blah blah...
Ayla and Jondalar stop for sex every couple of pages as well, ditto much description.
I get bored with the David Attenborough commentary as well. I don't need to know the mating habits of mammoths nor the differences between onagers and steppe horses.
Finally they arrive, thank god .
Ayla and Jondalar go home....with much detailed description of stuff that happened before, almost every page.
For instance. Ayla mounts Whinny...and remembers when....blah blah on and on.
Jondalar looks at Ayla and remembers when...blah blah...
Ayla and Jondalar stop for sex every couple of pages as well, ditto much description.
I get bored with the David Attenborough commentary as well. I don't need to know the mating habits of mammoths nor the differences between onagers and steppe horses.
Finally they arrive, thank god .
I had completely forgotten about the Arattoka male prisoners. It was nice to read this part of the story a second time.
Good lord, well I guess we know how the glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age. All that Pleasuring must have warmed the atmosphere. These books are so funny. The characters are interesting and the setting is definitely compelling, but then it nose dives into soft-porn cave man style at times. Auel could also use an editor to cut out repetition. I seriously doubt anyone who hasn't read the last three of these books would bother to pick this up and the back story could be more lightly refreshed. That said, I know I will end up reading the final book to see what happens in the end.
Nice "timekiller". Lots of repetition so you don't have to pay attention all of the time. You could easily be annoyed by the endless descriptions, superwoman Ayla, spoilt Jondalar and their exciting sexlife, but why bother? Life's short. If you like to escape to a different world, this series does does the trick.