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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
informative
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
My two words to Ayla and Jondalar for most of this book: EPIC FAIL
I really couldn't handle all the stupid misunderstandings. I couln't wait for the book to be over because it just kept going on and on. And everyone around them not interfering because they think it's not their place - COME ON! SOMEBODY SAY SOMETHING!
500+ pages could have been solved by two minutes of honest talking, and not over-analyzing everything the other person said, or did, or didn't do.
By the time they actually did talk, I was in shock, and kept waiting for one of them to do something that wouldn't resolve the problem, but make it worse, because that's what the other 600 pages were about.
So, all in all, the worst of the series that I have read so far.
I was hoping that the next book in the series will be better, but after reading the reviews dont have very high hopes....but I'm going to read it anyway because I actually like the characters and want to continue with them on their journey-despite all their stupid, self-inflicted misfortunes. And who knows, if I dont have any expectations, maybe it will surprise me.
I really couldn't handle all the stupid misunderstandings. I couln't wait for the book to be over because it just kept going on and on. And everyone around them not interfering because they think it's not their place - COME ON! SOMEBODY SAY SOMETHING!
500+ pages could have been solved by two minutes of honest talking, and not over-analyzing everything the other person said, or did, or didn't do.
By the time they actually did talk, I was in shock, and kept waiting for one of them to do something that wouldn't resolve the problem, but make it worse, because that's what the other 600 pages were about.
So, all in all, the worst of the series that I have read so far.
I was hoping that the next book in the series will be better, but after reading the reviews dont have very high hopes....but I'm going to read it anyway because I actually like the characters and want to continue with them on their journey-despite all their stupid, self-inflicted misfortunes. And who knows, if I dont have any expectations, maybe it will surprise me.
I just love this series!!! I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on here and complaining about technicalities in her finding, learning and inventing new things. I don't care...I still loved it!!!! I still cannot believe I have heard of this series when I was younger.
4.5 aside from the angst which was mostly justified I loved this. I also think that Jean m auel tends to over explain and sometimes I find myself skimming paragraphs so I can move in the story. Ayla also turned into a little bit of a jerk especially at the very end
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
tense
Long before Twilight, there were love triangles. They were just as bad and cloyingly annoying then as they will be when Myers gets her hands on them a decade or two later. In a way, I think the only redeeming factor in this book is that if Stephanie Myers got her hands on it she might have been wise enough to avoid the whole Jonathan vs Edward thing.
OK. - Breathe - Rant over. The end of the Valley of Horses took this series on a downhill slide. This book dropped it right off a cliff. In that one Auel treats us to an inane misunderstanding that could have easily been cleared up with one simple, silly conversation. Apparently not realizing how much damage that did to her second book, she doubles down and almost exactly duplicates the same misunderstanding, between the same two people, and carries it through for a good 80% of this book. Even worse, in Valley of Horses, the two are alone. Here in Mammoth Hunters, they are with a tribe of 20 some odd people, every one of them knows exactly what the misunderstanding is, and yet not one of them bothers to set the two down and talk some sense into them.
I honestly multiple times wanted to just put the book down and forget it. Of the three main characters (Ayla, Jondalar, and Ranec) not a single one draws out any empathy from me. I could care less. Many of the others are simply cardboard cutouts of real people. Give them one or two character traits and let them interact on those levels alone.
JA is still excellent at descriptive narrative. Her ability to paint the picture of a sunset in words is still unparalleled and her research into what we know of the people and cultures of this time is amazingly rich. That simply is not enough to carry this forward for me. I do remember that this was my least favorite of the series, but I did not remember just how bad it got. It will be a long time, if ever before I try and pick up Plains of Passage to continue my reread of the series. This one completely ruined it for me.
OK. - Breathe - Rant over. The end of the Valley of Horses took this series on a downhill slide. This book dropped it right off a cliff. In that one Auel treats us to an inane misunderstanding that could have easily been cleared up with one simple, silly conversation. Apparently not realizing how much damage that did to her second book, she doubles down and almost exactly duplicates the same misunderstanding, between the same two people, and carries it through for a good 80% of this book. Even worse, in Valley of Horses, the two are alone. Here in Mammoth Hunters, they are with a tribe of 20 some odd people, every one of them knows exactly what the misunderstanding is, and yet not one of them bothers to set the two down and talk some sense into them.
I honestly multiple times wanted to just put the book down and forget it. Of the three main characters (Ayla, Jondalar, and Ranec) not a single one draws out any empathy from me. I could care less. Many of the others are simply cardboard cutouts of real people. Give them one or two character traits and let them interact on those levels alone.
JA is still excellent at descriptive narrative. Her ability to paint the picture of a sunset in words is still unparalleled and her research into what we know of the people and cultures of this time is amazingly rich. That simply is not enough to carry this forward for me. I do remember that this was my least favorite of the series, but I did not remember just how bad it got. It will be a long time, if ever before I try and pick up Plains of Passage to continue my reread of the series. This one completely ruined it for me.
The book was very good but sometimes it felt a bit outstretched. The love triangle in this book made me very frustrated. When I read the last few pages I actually felt a bit sad. I think though that this is the best book in the series so far!
Lo..Love triangles...
Spoilers!
So Ayla, her horses Whinney and Racer, and her new, actually human friend Jondalar, return. They are on their way and come across a group of people called the Mammoth Hunters, who willingly take them in. There, she comes across many people, such as the enormous leader Talut, the half-Neanderthal, half-human Rydag, a girl of her own age called Deegie the shaman called Mamut, and a black man named Ranec, whom she might have feelings for.
At first she has trouble fitting in the new group, especially since everyone thinks she's a bit strange, since she can ride horses, tame wolves, and was raised by the Clan (Neanderthals) instead of "real" people. But eventually she fits in nicely and befriends pretty much everyone in the group. She also develops a huge admiration for Ranec. Jondalar, who's totally jealous, makes a few mistakes and ignores Alya for a while which leads into him thinking that she feels nothing for him, and he decides to leave the Mamutoi to return to his own people.
However, in the end Ayla, who promised to marry Ranec, realizes that Jondalar's just been jealous all the time, and she also realizes that she does truly love Jondalar, and just feels a very strong platonic feeling for Ranec.
She goes after Jondalar, who by that time already left, and the two reconcile and she leaves the Mamutoi to go with Jondalar to the Zelandoni tribe.
It's just...urgh.
Alright, first things first. Love triangle. Booh! We're all tired of that cliché.
"Well...it shouldn't be so bad, Lynn? I mean, the book is almost 800 pages thick...surely an innocent love trian-" NONONO concience. Yes, it is the main conflict of the book. I was just as hopeful as you were when I started the book, but this is the only overarching conflict in the entire book. There's small sub-arcs like Rydag's health problems, Alya trying to fit in and becoming the new Mamut, taming Wolf, but really, the main conflict is just the love triangle...smeared out over sevenhundredandsomething pages. I wouldn't mind it as much if it was a small subconflict or something, but COME ON. We all know how it's going to end by the first time Ranec comes along! Do we really need that conflict going on for the ENTIRE book?
Yep, the love triangle is obnoxious. You get it. How does the rest fare?
Not as great as I hoped. It's just kind of mediocre.
The characters are good...but this book did really make me realize how much of a Mary Sue Ayla's becoming. Alright, she's not a perfect Sue or something, so we don't go Ebony Dark'ness Dementia TARA Way with her, but let's see...everyone likes her and thinks she's at least very pretty, there's two guys after her, she has supernatural powers (for their world)...yeah...it's becoming more and more apparent. Ugh. She does still make mistakes, but less than in the first book (in the second book there wasn't really any wrong or right because she lived all by herself as literally an outlaw, so I'm not counting that here), and her personality has just become...kind of uninteresting. Her only major personality struggle in this, ignoring her wondering whether Ranec or Jondalar is the one, is overcoming her mild, very mild self-esteem issues. But that's really all there is to her.
Jondalar is probably the most flawed character in this, and I did enjoy him more here than in the last book, but the fact that his behaviour is very, very largely influenced by that stupid love triangle plot bothers me to no end and that also shows that he isn't that interesting a character if the triangle wouldn't have been there.
The others are just...meh. Just the people you come across with one or two traits. I did enjoy Rydag but we all knew that he was going to die by the end. But, really, the book is all about Jondalar and Ayla.
The pacing in the book is way too slow, like you probably already guessed. Alright, I hate it when a book just has a subconflict that comes and goes withing a chapter or two, but this book made me realize how bad it can end when you spread it out too much! I just feel like all of the subconflicts plus the overarching one combined easily could've been put in a 400-pager or so and it would have the right pacing. Also, the subconflict with Jondalar deciding to leave starts in the first 100 pages and he doesn't leave until the last 40...yeah you should know what I mean with dragging by now.
Talking about the triangle once more...yeah...the lack of subtlety was pretty annoyying. Yes, we could all predict who she was going to choose. But it doesn't stop with the triangle...how about Rydag, who we all know is going to die? We also have the Jondalar-leave plot, which we all know is going to end with either him returning or Ayla going with him...it's just comes off as really uninspired. Come on, Auel, the first book was really good, the second one...depends on what we're talking about, but this? It just feels really unoriginal, like Auel just put some cliche's in a bowl, closed her eyes, and grabbed four random ones that she decided to put into the story.
Ah well. Anything else I can say? Yeah that character of Wolf feels pretty useless and Babe's return feels sort of pointless as well. From the way the latter was written, it feels like this was a definete goodbye to the lion...didn't we already have that last book? Oh and the wolf pup is called Wolf and I really really hate it when people are that lazy with names. Whinney, Racer and Babe all have real stories behind their names, while Ayla right here's just like "Hey you're a wolf let's call you Wolf." Isn't that like calling Babe Lion and calling Whinney Horse and calling Racer Another Horse? No, seriously, I've always hated lazy naming like this. They could've called him Mickey Mouse for all that I care, but Wolf is just unoriginal.
Oh and one more thing about the triangle: the plot literally could've been solved withing a chapter by just TALKING. Seriously, it mostly revolves around love and a lack of communication, which makes Jondalar think that Ayla doesn't like him and vice versa for Ayla. But they NEVER EVEN TRY TO TALK. I'm sorry, I really hate being annoyed by this, but it's also LITERALLY how the conflict is solved in the final chapter. Jondalar and Ayla just talk for a bit, then they do some more cavemen sex, and we're all settled...couldn't they have done this in chapter three or something? Would've saved us from a painful and predictable overarching plot.
Ah well. It is what it is. Just a big 'meh' 2.5 stars, but since I can't give halves I'll just round it up to three.
Spoilers!
So Ayla, her horses Whinney and Racer, and her new, actually human friend Jondalar, return. They are on their way and come across a group of people called the Mammoth Hunters, who willingly take them in. There, she comes across many people, such as the enormous leader Talut, the half-Neanderthal, half-human Rydag, a girl of her own age called Deegie the shaman called Mamut, and a black man named Ranec, whom she might have feelings for.
At first she has trouble fitting in the new group, especially since everyone thinks she's a bit strange, since she can ride horses, tame wolves, and was raised by the Clan (Neanderthals) instead of "real" people. But eventually she fits in nicely and befriends pretty much everyone in the group. She also develops a huge admiration for Ranec. Jondalar, who's totally jealous, makes a few mistakes and ignores Alya for a while which leads into him thinking that she feels nothing for him, and he decides to leave the Mamutoi to return to his own people.
However, in the end Ayla, who promised to marry Ranec, realizes that Jondalar's just been jealous all the time, and she also realizes that she does truly love Jondalar, and just feels a very strong platonic feeling for Ranec.
She goes after Jondalar, who by that time already left, and the two reconcile and she leaves the Mamutoi to go with Jondalar to the Zelandoni tribe.
It's just...urgh.
Alright, first things first. Love triangle. Booh! We're all tired of that cliché.
"Well...it shouldn't be so bad, Lynn? I mean, the book is almost 800 pages thick...surely an innocent love trian-" NONONO concience. Yes, it is the main conflict of the book. I was just as hopeful as you were when I started the book, but this is the only overarching conflict in the entire book. There's small sub-arcs like Rydag's health problems, Alya trying to fit in and becoming the new Mamut, taming Wolf, but really, the main conflict is just the love triangle...smeared out over sevenhundredandsomething pages. I wouldn't mind it as much if it was a small subconflict or something, but COME ON. We all know how it's going to end by the first time Ranec comes along! Do we really need that conflict going on for the ENTIRE book?
Yep, the love triangle is obnoxious. You get it. How does the rest fare?
Not as great as I hoped. It's just kind of mediocre.
The characters are good...but this book did really make me realize how much of a Mary Sue Ayla's becoming. Alright, she's not a perfect Sue or something, so we don't go Ebony Dark'ness Dementia TARA Way with her, but let's see...everyone likes her and thinks she's at least very pretty, there's two guys after her, she has supernatural powers (for their world)...yeah...it's becoming more and more apparent. Ugh. She does still make mistakes, but less than in the first book (in the second book there wasn't really any wrong or right because she lived all by herself as literally an outlaw, so I'm not counting that here), and her personality has just become...kind of uninteresting. Her only major personality struggle in this, ignoring her wondering whether Ranec or Jondalar is the one, is overcoming her mild, very mild self-esteem issues. But that's really all there is to her.
Jondalar is probably the most flawed character in this, and I did enjoy him more here than in the last book, but the fact that his behaviour is very, very largely influenced by that stupid love triangle plot bothers me to no end and that also shows that he isn't that interesting a character if the triangle wouldn't have been there.
The others are just...meh. Just the people you come across with one or two traits. I did enjoy Rydag but we all knew that he was going to die by the end. But, really, the book is all about Jondalar and Ayla.
The pacing in the book is way too slow, like you probably already guessed. Alright, I hate it when a book just has a subconflict that comes and goes withing a chapter or two, but this book made me realize how bad it can end when you spread it out too much! I just feel like all of the subconflicts plus the overarching one combined easily could've been put in a 400-pager or so and it would have the right pacing. Also, the subconflict with Jondalar deciding to leave starts in the first 100 pages and he doesn't leave until the last 40...yeah you should know what I mean with dragging by now.
Talking about the triangle once more...yeah...the lack of subtlety was pretty annoyying. Yes, we could all predict who she was going to choose. But it doesn't stop with the triangle...how about Rydag, who we all know is going to die? We also have the Jondalar-leave plot, which we all know is going to end with either him returning or Ayla going with him...it's just comes off as really uninspired. Come on, Auel, the first book was really good, the second one...depends on what we're talking about, but this? It just feels really unoriginal, like Auel just put some cliche's in a bowl, closed her eyes, and grabbed four random ones that she decided to put into the story.
Ah well. Anything else I can say? Yeah that character of Wolf feels pretty useless and Babe's return feels sort of pointless as well. From the way the latter was written, it feels like this was a definete goodbye to the lion...didn't we already have that last book? Oh and the wolf pup is called Wolf and I really really hate it when people are that lazy with names. Whinney, Racer and Babe all have real stories behind their names, while Ayla right here's just like "Hey you're a wolf let's call you Wolf." Isn't that like calling Babe Lion and calling Whinney Horse and calling Racer Another Horse? No, seriously, I've always hated lazy naming like this. They could've called him Mickey Mouse for all that I care, but Wolf is just unoriginal.
Oh and one more thing about the triangle: the plot literally could've been solved withing a chapter by just TALKING. Seriously, it mostly revolves around love and a lack of communication, which makes Jondalar think that Ayla doesn't like him and vice versa for Ayla. But they NEVER EVEN TRY TO TALK. I'm sorry, I really hate being annoyed by this, but it's also LITERALLY how the conflict is solved in the final chapter. Jondalar and Ayla just talk for a bit, then they do some more cavemen sex, and we're all settled...couldn't they have done this in chapter three or something? Would've saved us from a painful and predictable overarching plot.
Ah well. It is what it is. Just a big 'meh' 2.5 stars, but since I can't give halves I'll just round it up to three.
Don't you love over 700 pages of love triangle drama that could easily be solved within a chapter if the characters just bothered to sit down and TALK about their feelings for a moment?
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-mammoth-hunters-by-jean-m.html
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-mammoth-hunters-by-jean-m.html
I still really liked this one, but I wouldn't have been sad if the author had left out a hundred pages or so of Jondalar and Ayla being stupid about one another... other than that I enjoyed it.