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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
slow-paced
slow-paced
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Doncs a mi m'ha agradat.
Em feia molta por agafar aquest llibre. Tot el que n'havia sentit era: "massa descripcions", "massa sexe", "massa descripcions de sexe"... I potser per això m'esperava un llibre dolent, i he acabat dient que m'ha agradat. Però és que m'ha agradat! I no pas poc! És difícil que un llibre de més de 1000 pàgines no es faci pesat. I no se me n'ha fet. D'acord, en algun moment he llegit una mica en diagonal alguna descripció, però podria comptar les vegades amb els dits de les mans, i ha estat motivat pel fet que m'esperava que hi hagués moltes descripcions...
A part del mapa que ja hi ha al llibre (on no es veu gaire res), he estat seguint el camí de l'Ayla i en Jondalar en aquest mapa.
Entenc les crítiques que fan gent del llibre. Diuen que tota l'estona és el mateix. I sí, es podria dir així, però a mi m'han agradat totes les seves trobades. Al principi, quan tothom s'apartava d'ells, em feien patir. Però després van trobar els Sharamudoi. D'acord. Ells són els salvadors. L'Ayla cura el braç de la Roshario. Els ensenya els cavalls. Els ensenya el llop. Es porta bé amb tothom... i ha de marxar.
Entenc l'Ayla. Té por que no l'acceptin a la caverna d'en Jondalar (ja m'agradarà veure el proper llibre! Quines ganes tinc de veure com es porta amb la seva nova família...) i, com que arregla la vida a tothom, tothom la vol amb ells. A estones li agafava mania a en Jondalar. Hagués sigut tan perfecte que s'haguessin quedat amb els Sharamudoi... però no! Hagués sigut bo també que s'haguessin parat amb els caçadors Hadumai, però tampoc va ser possible.
La part de les llobes i l'Attaroa em va agradar. No perquè m'agradés el que feien, sinó perquè, d'alguna manera, en tots els llibres no hi havia ningú que fos dolent del tot. Com ja deia al llibre anterior (o a dos anteriors), la nostra societat ha anat evolucionant cap a una banda que no semblava plausible que pogués venir d'aquesta història. Ja ho sé, la història no és real, però es feia com massa irreal.
El fet de que al poblat de l'Attaroa passés el que va passar em va fer veure que sí, que no tot era com semblava, i que d'alguna manera, la història tenia una mica més de sentit. Bé, el fet que una persona mig Clan fos el cap d'un poblat em sembla poc creïble, però que hi hagués una barreja i les dones deixessin de ser motiu de veneració per transformar-se en el que eren les dones del clan, ja em sembla més normal.
El fet que també comencessin a trobar gent "dolenta" (el fill de la Roshario que violava dones del Clan, l'Attaroa, en Charoli...) fa que la història tingui més sentit per mi, tot i que el fet que l'Ayla i en Jondalar ho descobreixin tot segueix fent que la història no s'aguanti per enlloc...
He trobat una mica curt (sí, curt, què passa?) el tros on explica la trobada amb els Lanzadonii. Ja sé que segurament s'espera per poder-ho explicar tot amb els Zelandonii, però hagués agraït més històries.
M'acabo d'adonar que tant el segon com el tercer també els vaig llegir un mes de maig... Deu ser alguna cosa del mes de maig que fa que se'm doni per llegir "Los hijos de la Tierra"? Aquest cop, però, intentaré que les ganes que tinc de llegir el cinquè facin que el llegeixi més aviat!
I found this book to be very episodic. It was filled with exciting and interesting interactions with the people that they meet on their journey and the natural obstacles that they encounter, broken up by LONG descriptions of the ecosystems they are passing through. Auel always includes a lot of educational information, but it got to be a bit too much in my opinion, in this novel in particular. However, when there was something happening besides travel, it was very entertaining.
There were a few things that bugged me though:
1. Ayla and Jondalar never learned from past experiences. Every time they met someone new, and they were scared by the tame animals, Jondalar & Ayla were surprised and said they should have left the horses behind at first. It happened over and over - we get it! The animals are an anomaly. After the first few times, they should have come up with a system. They had enough travel time to sort it out!
2. Again, they have all of this time travelling, and it's well established that Jondalar is looking forward to seeing the Sharamudoi again. And yet it never occurs to either of them that Ayla could learn the language beforehand?! Even just to help pass the travel time? I think Auel just wanted to show off Ayla's language skills again.
There were a few things that bugged me though:
1. Ayla and Jondalar never learned from past experiences. Every time they met someone new, and they were scared by the tame animals, Jondalar & Ayla were surprised and said they should have left the horses behind at first. It happened over and over - we get it! The animals are an anomaly. After the first few times, they should have come up with a system. They had enough travel time to sort it out!
2. Again, they have all of this time travelling, and it's well established that Jondalar is looking forward to seeing the Sharamudoi again. And yet it never occurs to either of them that Ayla could learn the language beforehand?! Even just to help pass the travel time? I think Auel just wanted to show off Ayla's language skills again.
This is the beginning of the decline in the series for me. My favorite book in the series is the Mammoth Hunters and I consider it the apex of the series. This is a good story as they are traveling through the world back to France and spreading all this new knowledge to people.
There were several times I wanted them to just settle down and live with several peoples. I thought the Glacier was a thrilling scene. The scene with the horse people who had enslaved all the men and the women were ruling was weird and could have been cut.
This story is very long and I think a bit bloated. Again, she has been writing the same sex scenes for 2 books now and they are simply boring at this point. It's all the same really.
The series is worth reading and it's a great story told.
There were several times I wanted them to just settle down and live with several peoples. I thought the Glacier was a thrilling scene. The scene with the horse people who had enslaved all the men and the women were ruling was weird and could have been cut.
This story is very long and I think a bit bloated. Again, she has been writing the same sex scenes for 2 books now and they are simply boring at this point. It's all the same really.
The series is worth reading and it's a great story told.
if i’m being honest, i almost stopped reading this book after the first 200 pages. the only reason i didn’t, is because my OCD brain cannot handle an unfinished series, and so i persisted. however, this has to be my least favorite of the series so far.
here’s what i didn’t like about the book:
- this book did not need to be 800+ pages. an editor could have scrapped a good deal. the plot doesn’t really start until page 275, which makes the first third of the book very hard to get through.
- ayla stopped being an interesting protagonist after she left her clan. she has become too perfect; there are no flaws. she’s a classic mary sue: everyone loves her, and even if they don’t, all it takes is a few words from her before they change their minds. she always wants to help. she is super pretty, but doesn’t realize it. she invents riding horses, owning dogs, firestones and soap (not joking). she’s also an advocate for neanderthals and handicapped people. like are you kidding me? she lived thousands of years ago so how is that realistic??
- for a book with a supposedly strong and independent female protagonist, ayla conforms waaaay too much to jondalar’s wants and needs. also, i find some parts sexist. for instance, in the entire series there is only one clan that is entirely led by women, and those women happen to hate men and throw them in jail. like… really?
- there is SO much repetition. not only specific comments (people must have noticed ayla’s weird accent at least 27 times), but also in the plot. every time ayla and jondalar meet a new clan, the same thing happens: the clan finds them and their animals strange, they get used to them, ayla helps someone from the new clan, they start to really like her and ask her to stay, she wants to stay but jondalar wants to move on and then they move on until they meet another clan.
there were some redeeming parts, but i lhope the next installment improves a lot, because i do generally enjoy it when ayla interacts with new people in new ways.
here’s what i didn’t like about the book:
- this book did not need to be 800+ pages. an editor could have scrapped a good deal. the plot doesn’t really start until page 275, which makes the first third of the book very hard to get through.
- ayla stopped being an interesting protagonist after she left her clan. she has become too perfect; there are no flaws. she’s a classic mary sue: everyone loves her, and even if they don’t, all it takes is a few words from her before they change their minds. she always wants to help. she is super pretty, but doesn’t realize it. she invents riding horses, owning dogs, firestones and soap (not joking). she’s also an advocate for neanderthals and handicapped people. like are you kidding me? she lived thousands of years ago so how is that realistic??
- for a book with a supposedly strong and independent female protagonist, ayla conforms waaaay too much to jondalar’s wants and needs. also, i find some parts sexist. for instance, in the entire series there is only one clan that is entirely led by women, and those women happen to hate men and throw them in jail. like… really?
- there is SO much repetition. not only specific comments (people must have noticed ayla’s weird accent at least 27 times), but also in the plot. every time ayla and jondalar meet a new clan, the same thing happens: the clan finds them and their animals strange, they get used to them, ayla helps someone from the new clan, they start to really like her and ask her to stay, she wants to stay but jondalar wants to move on and then they move on until they meet another clan.
there were some redeeming parts, but i lhope the next installment improves a lot, because i do generally enjoy it when ayla interacts with new people in new ways.
I first read the Earth's Children series in 2001. I read this particular book on a long Greyhound bus ride from Albuquerque to St. Paul. The book seemed endless then, and it seemed endless again in this 2011 reading. Having read it twice before, I looked forward to the different remembered stops in Ayla and Jondalar's journey.
Somehow, I had remembered the Valley of Horses to be full of tawdry caveman sex, and Plains of Passage to be relatively benign, but in fact, the opposite is true. I did, however, remember accurately the vivid mating scene between the wooly mammoths.
Two weeks ago, I visited the new Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian- this was somewhat like a guided tour through the Earth's Children series. The Plains of Passage mentions several important sites and it enhanced my reading of the book to have recently seen artifacts and explanations of the specific sites.
I appreciate Auel's extensive research, but often the detailed descriptions of flora and fauna seem endless. I enjoyed hearing about the different prehistoric animals, but I got it the first time that horses are usually Whinney's color and that Racer is unusual in being dark. Or that woolly rhinos are temperamental. The same information is repeated over and again and it gets a bit tedious.
In all, I'm glad I've been rereading the series in preparation for the final book, but I think I could have easily skipped this book and been fine.
Somehow, I had remembered the Valley of Horses to be full of tawdry caveman sex, and Plains of Passage to be relatively benign, but in fact, the opposite is true. I did, however, remember accurately the vivid mating scene between the wooly mammoths.
Two weeks ago, I visited the new Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian- this was somewhat like a guided tour through the Earth's Children series. The Plains of Passage mentions several important sites and it enhanced my reading of the book to have recently seen artifacts and explanations of the specific sites.
I appreciate Auel's extensive research, but often the detailed descriptions of flora and fauna seem endless. I enjoyed hearing about the different prehistoric animals, but I got it the first time that horses are usually Whinney's color and that Racer is unusual in being dark. Or that woolly rhinos are temperamental. The same information is repeated over and again and it gets a bit tedious.
In all, I'm glad I've been rereading the series in preparation for the final book, but I think I could have easily skipped this book and been fine.
Finally finished this book! Good godfathers these books are getting progressively bigger. Love the story but am starting to get a bit over all the added info