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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I read this series in high-school and loved it. I enjoy stories about strong women.
The protagonist, Ayla, continues to grow, learn, and awe people with her wealth of knowledge, clever re-imaging of tools and ideas, all amidst an air of humility, compassion, and patience. She meets a new group of people who, although hesitant to take her in, are curious about her animal companions, her odd ways with language, and co-traveler. Like all of Jean M Auel's books in this series, Ayla faces difficulties and prejudice due to her differences and yet still perseveres to prove that people that are different are still human, still worthy of love and deserving of care and companionship. Mixed with incredibly accurate depictions of life 30,000 years ago, this book is just as mesmerizing at the first 3. The descriptions of hunting, the skinning of animals and tanning of hides, making of food, preserving meat, and building shelters as well as ornamentation is accurate to those tasks performed by our ancestors and beautiful to relive in words.
This story just seemed to revolve around Jondalar and Ayla repeatedly not being able to tell each other that they lived each other. This just got boring very fast. There wasn't as much historical information as in her previous books.
Leaving the valley, Ayla and Jondalar decide to spend the winter with the mammoth hunters, the Mamutoi. During the long winter, they are estranged and Ayla encounters a strange man with dark skin. The tribe’s shaman, Mamut, recognizes power in Ayla and adopts her into his hearth to begin her training.
Ayla has been something of a Mary Sue from the beginning, but it really comes out in this book. She has everything – the ability to hunt, the ability to be a shaman, perfect beauty, great strength, etc. She and Jondalar seem to be single-handedly responsible for inventing far more than seems plausible for just two people.
Ayla and Jondalar refuse to communicate, preferring instead to simply assume what the other must be thinking. As a result, they spend most of the winter angry at each other and wondering if the other still loves them. I find this kind of romance to be incredibly frustrating to read, because the obstacles are purely of their own making.
It was also a little disconcerting when Jondalar rapes Ayla, but we’re supposed to continue thinking of him as a good character because he only did it because he really really loves her and it’s okay anyway because she wanted it. Somehow, this makes it okay (even though she never consented and he believed, at the time, that he was raping her). Bit of a skewed moral sense there.
The book wasn’t totally bad. Learning about the Mamutoi was interesting, and Ayla’s interaction with Rydag (a half-Clan half-Other child) was excellent to read.
Ayla has been something of a Mary Sue from the beginning, but it really comes out in this book. She has everything – the ability to hunt, the ability to be a shaman, perfect beauty, great strength, etc. She and Jondalar seem to be single-handedly responsible for inventing far more than seems plausible for just two people.
Ayla and Jondalar refuse to communicate, preferring instead to simply assume what the other must be thinking. As a result, they spend most of the winter angry at each other and wondering if the other still loves them. I find this kind of romance to be incredibly frustrating to read, because the obstacles are purely of their own making.
It was also a little disconcerting when Jondalar rapes Ayla, but we’re supposed to continue thinking of him as a good character because he only did it because he really really loves her and it’s okay anyway because she wanted it. Somehow, this makes it okay (even though she never consented and he believed, at the time, that he was raping her). Bit of a skewed moral sense there.
The book wasn’t totally bad. Learning about the Mamutoi was interesting, and Ayla’s interaction with Rydag (a half-Clan half-Other child) was excellent to read.
This is by far my favorite book in the series! She becomes part of a group of people. She learns how to communicate with speaking people and she decides just where she should be and that is with Jondalar.
Cover
Dieses Mal ist das Cover blau und erinnert mich sehr stark an blaues Eis oder so. Abgebildet ist dieses Mal die Höhlenzeichnung eines Mammuts. Wieder einmal kann ich sagen, mir gefällt die einheitliche Gestaltung der verschiedenen Cover dieser Reihe.
Die Höhlenzeichnung passt perfekt zu der Geschichte und auch das eisblau als Farbe finde ich äußerst passend gewählt.
Meine Meinung
Eigentlich wollten Ayla und Jondalar nur einen kleinen Ausflug mache, als sie auf Talut und das Löwen-Lager stoßen.
Der große Anführer besagten Lagers bringt die beiden dazu, sich ihm anzuschließen und Zeit bei ihnen zu verbringen. Talut als Figur ist einmalig. Er ist ein so unglaublich herzlicher Mann, dass man gerne über die Tatsache hinwegsieht, dass er eigentlich über zwei Meter groß sein müsste, was meines Wissens zu dieser Zeit kaum möglich war und auch heute noch eher eine Seltenheit ist. Trotz dieser kleinen Ungereimtheit habe ich Talut direkt ins Herz geschlossen, ebenso wies eine etwas kritischere Schwester Tullie.
Ayla lernt nun viele der „Anderen“ kennen und lebt sich recht schnell bei den Mammutoi ein. Grund dazu ist Rydag, ein Kind von gemischten Geistern (Halb „Mensch“ halb Neandertaler), der ihrem Sohn Durc sehr ähnlich sieht. Ihm bringt sie im Laufe des Buches auch die Sprache des Clans bei, genauso wie den meisten anderen aus dem Löwen-Lager.
Wieder einmal verblüfft Ayla die Menschen mit ihrem umfangreichen Wissen und Können. Manchmal scheint das wirklich etwas übertrieben, aber man kann darüber hin Wegesehen, finde ich auf jeden Fall.
Was mich allerdings etwas gestört hat, war das Verhalten von Jondalar und Ayla. Stellenweiße hat es gewirkt wie aus einer billig produzierten Fernsehshow. Jondalar hat sich für Ayla geschämt, danach hat er sich noch mehr dafür geschämt, dass er sich überhaupt für sie geschämt hat. Es war und ist ein ewiges Hin und Her. Dann ist da noch Ranec, der von der ersten Sekunde an sehr fasziniert von Ayla ist und auch auf sie eine unglaubliche Faszination ausübt. Das mag zum großen Teil daran liegen, das Ranec dunkelhäutig ist und Ayla das noch nie zuvor gesehen hat. Sie ist neugierig auf den jungen Bildschnitzer und dieser wiederum ist bis über beide Ohren in Ayla verliebt. Irgendwann hat Jondalar dann nicht mehr mit Ayla geredet und so hat sich das Drama hochgeschaukelt. Meiner Meinung nach war es ziemlich überflüssig, aber irgendwo müssen die Buchstaben für 1008 Seiten ja auch herkommen und von nichts kommt nichts. Doch irgendwann ist diese „dramatische“ Geschichte etwas in den Hintergrund gerückt und es ging wieder um andere Dinge.
Ayla wurde vom Löwen-Lager adoptiert und ging zusammen mit ihnen und Jondalar auf Mammutjagd. Sie hat unglaublich viel erlebt und gelernt während ihrer Zeit beim Löwen-Lager. Als es irgendwann so weit ist und sie alle zum Sommertreffen ziehen, kocht das ganze Drama wieder auf. Ayla ist nahezu von der Idee besessen ihren Sohn Durc zu sich zurück zu hohlen. Manchmal kam mir das schon etwas heftig vor, wie sie alle die Dinge, die dagegen Sprachen komplett ausklammerte und sich nur darauf fixierte, dass sie selbst ihren Sohn an ihrer Seite haben wollte, koste es, was es wolle.
Jondalar spürt hingegen immer stärker den Wunsch, weiter zu seinen eigenen Leuten zu ziehen.
Ich mag diesen Teil immer noch ziemlich gerne, auch wenn ich ehrlich gestehen muss, dass ich mittlerweile auch etwas genervt war. Diesen Teil habe ich nämlich nicht selbst gelesen, sondern mir vorlesen lassen und das entsprechende Hörbuch ist etwas über 34 Stunden lang und das ist verdammt lang. Ich habe noch nie in meinem Leben ein auch nur ansatzweise so langes Hörbuch besessen oder gesehen. Es hat glaube ich fast 3 Wochen gedauert, bis ich durch war und wirklich alles angehört hatte. Zum Glück konnte man an der Audible-App den Schlafmodus einstellen, so habe ich nicht immer so lange nach der Stelle suche müssen, an der ich eingeschlafen bin.
Trotz der deutlicher zu Tag tretender Schwächen des Buches habe ich es gerne gelesen. Beim zweiten Mal jedoch muss ich zugeben, immer mal wieder ein paar Seiten übersprungen zu haben. Wie einige andere musste ich mir jetzt auch erst einmal eine kleine Ayla-Pause nehmen, bevor ich in Teil 4 starten werde.
Wertung (3/5)
www.valaraucos-buchstabenmeer.com
Dieses Mal ist das Cover blau und erinnert mich sehr stark an blaues Eis oder so. Abgebildet ist dieses Mal die Höhlenzeichnung eines Mammuts. Wieder einmal kann ich sagen, mir gefällt die einheitliche Gestaltung der verschiedenen Cover dieser Reihe.
Die Höhlenzeichnung passt perfekt zu der Geschichte und auch das eisblau als Farbe finde ich äußerst passend gewählt.
Meine Meinung
Eigentlich wollten Ayla und Jondalar nur einen kleinen Ausflug mache, als sie auf Talut und das Löwen-Lager stoßen.
Der große Anführer besagten Lagers bringt die beiden dazu, sich ihm anzuschließen und Zeit bei ihnen zu verbringen. Talut als Figur ist einmalig. Er ist ein so unglaublich herzlicher Mann, dass man gerne über die Tatsache hinwegsieht, dass er eigentlich über zwei Meter groß sein müsste, was meines Wissens zu dieser Zeit kaum möglich war und auch heute noch eher eine Seltenheit ist. Trotz dieser kleinen Ungereimtheit habe ich Talut direkt ins Herz geschlossen, ebenso wies eine etwas kritischere Schwester Tullie.
Ayla lernt nun viele der „Anderen“ kennen und lebt sich recht schnell bei den Mammutoi ein. Grund dazu ist Rydag, ein Kind von gemischten Geistern (Halb „Mensch“ halb Neandertaler), der ihrem Sohn Durc sehr ähnlich sieht. Ihm bringt sie im Laufe des Buches auch die Sprache des Clans bei, genauso wie den meisten anderen aus dem Löwen-Lager.
Wieder einmal verblüfft Ayla die Menschen mit ihrem umfangreichen Wissen und Können. Manchmal scheint das wirklich etwas übertrieben, aber man kann darüber hin Wegesehen, finde ich auf jeden Fall.
Was mich allerdings etwas gestört hat, war das Verhalten von Jondalar und Ayla. Stellenweiße hat es gewirkt wie aus einer billig produzierten Fernsehshow. Jondalar hat sich für Ayla geschämt, danach hat er sich noch mehr dafür geschämt, dass er sich überhaupt für sie geschämt hat. Es war und ist ein ewiges Hin und Her. Dann ist da noch Ranec, der von der ersten Sekunde an sehr fasziniert von Ayla ist und auch auf sie eine unglaubliche Faszination ausübt. Das mag zum großen Teil daran liegen, das Ranec dunkelhäutig ist und Ayla das noch nie zuvor gesehen hat. Sie ist neugierig auf den jungen Bildschnitzer und dieser wiederum ist bis über beide Ohren in Ayla verliebt. Irgendwann hat Jondalar dann nicht mehr mit Ayla geredet und so hat sich das Drama hochgeschaukelt. Meiner Meinung nach war es ziemlich überflüssig, aber irgendwo müssen die Buchstaben für 1008 Seiten ja auch herkommen und von nichts kommt nichts. Doch irgendwann ist diese „dramatische“ Geschichte etwas in den Hintergrund gerückt und es ging wieder um andere Dinge.
Ayla wurde vom Löwen-Lager adoptiert und ging zusammen mit ihnen und Jondalar auf Mammutjagd. Sie hat unglaublich viel erlebt und gelernt während ihrer Zeit beim Löwen-Lager. Als es irgendwann so weit ist und sie alle zum Sommertreffen ziehen, kocht das ganze Drama wieder auf. Ayla ist nahezu von der Idee besessen ihren Sohn Durc zu sich zurück zu hohlen. Manchmal kam mir das schon etwas heftig vor, wie sie alle die Dinge, die dagegen Sprachen komplett ausklammerte und sich nur darauf fixierte, dass sie selbst ihren Sohn an ihrer Seite haben wollte, koste es, was es wolle.
Jondalar spürt hingegen immer stärker den Wunsch, weiter zu seinen eigenen Leuten zu ziehen.
Ich mag diesen Teil immer noch ziemlich gerne, auch wenn ich ehrlich gestehen muss, dass ich mittlerweile auch etwas genervt war. Diesen Teil habe ich nämlich nicht selbst gelesen, sondern mir vorlesen lassen und das entsprechende Hörbuch ist etwas über 34 Stunden lang und das ist verdammt lang. Ich habe noch nie in meinem Leben ein auch nur ansatzweise so langes Hörbuch besessen oder gesehen. Es hat glaube ich fast 3 Wochen gedauert, bis ich durch war und wirklich alles angehört hatte. Zum Glück konnte man an der Audible-App den Schlafmodus einstellen, so habe ich nicht immer so lange nach der Stelle suche müssen, an der ich eingeschlafen bin.
Trotz der deutlicher zu Tag tretender Schwächen des Buches habe ich es gerne gelesen. Beim zweiten Mal jedoch muss ich zugeben, immer mal wieder ein paar Seiten übersprungen zu haben. Wie einige andere musste ich mir jetzt auch erst einmal eine kleine Ayla-Pause nehmen, bevor ich in Teil 4 starten werde.
Wertung (3/5)
www.valaraucos-buchstabenmeer.com
This book tapped in at 3.75 stars for me, but I rounded up to 4 for rating purposes. Before I get into the meat of this review, I want to state how much I enjoyed this book. I'm beginning to learn I honestly didn't do my romantic heart justice by reading only YA for so long. The more I read of adult novels, the more I love romance and how amazing the relationship and trials can be. I have read some amazing YA romances too, but I find it harder these days to wade through the bad romances for the great ones. With adult novels I seem to have a far better chance of finding a good romance.
AYLA
I still love my gorgeous, strong, brave, honest heroine, but I also lost a bit of respect for her in this novel. I felt disappointed by a lot of her choices and the way she let the misunderstanding grow when she's supposed to be this honest and direct character. But similarly I felt disappointed in Jondalar, which I'll get into below when I talk about him specifically.
I understand the reasoning behind her first sexual encounter with Ranec, but I still didn't like it. I felt that if she could defy the clan ways to hunt why couldn't she sexually? But on the other hand she didn't understand the social conventions Jondalar wanted. Even with the Others it was common for people to have lovers other than their partners. Therefore, I can't fault Ayla for going to Ranec. Jondalar certainly didn't tell her he wanted to be exclusive, he didn't even tell her he wanted to make a hearth with her.
It was her interactions afterwards which upset me the most (even though I cried when she actually slept with Ranec). The first couple of times Jondalar ignores her I understand why she didn't push him. It's hard to face rejection and continue on. However, because of how long it went on, I would have liked to have a third of their interactions cut out. There was SO MUCH of Ayla trying to talk to Jondalar but him walking away and vice-versa. It got old. I loved the angst at first, but because of how long it went on, it annoyed me.
The biggest issue I had with Ayla's choices was her promise to Ranec. She clearly didn't want to, but let him pressure her into it. I guess that's part of her character growth, but I hated how she felt "so bad" for hurting him at the end of the novel. I can't read that without shaking my head and wanting to shake her for agreeing to him in the first place, and for letting it go on for so long. She did not want him, but she agreed.
Despite all that, I still really love Ayla and I can't wait to see how her life pans out. I hope it features more medicine woman stuff, because the spiritual crap was BORING. I don't really buy into any of it and I also feel annoyed, like Ayla does, that she has some "destiny". It's yet to reveal itself and so far the biggest spiritual stuff that happened (the root) seemed to serve as just another reason to float the Jondalar/Ayla boat after she's agreed to promise to Ranec.
I love the herb lore and how Ayla experiments and wants to help people no matter what. I hope they focus more on that in the next novels.
JONDALAR
He's still my favourite. Thank GOD. Despite all the stuff Jondalar could have done to stop the miscommunication between the two I still quite liked his parts in the novel. Those were some of my favourites and I loved his character growth. The conflict of Jondalar feeling ashamed of Ayla's heritage was realistic and sort of endearing. I wanted him to get past it of course, but it made him into a more real character especially because everyone wants to screw him. It humanised him and his back story with Zolena made his fear justifiable.
MINOR CHARACTERS
I'm still yet to be convinced that Ranec loves Ayla for more than her beauty. I didn't see any evidence of it, even when in his POV. He mainly focused on how beautiful she was and therefore I didn't think he was a good mate for her. I feel quite convinced that come the next summer meeting Tricie will win him over and they'll be happily ever after.
I loved Deegie. Such an awesome female friendship with Ayla and her. It's sad they can't make a camp together!
Auel did a great job of incorporating a camp of many characters yet making them individual and therefore able to remember each one.
I hope Ayla one day goes back to the clan but we'll see. It might not be in the cards and that would be okay.
Overall, I did really enjoy this instalment. It began to drag in the last quarter and I skimmed two pages of scenery description, but the romance was A+ and I loved being at the summer festival with the other camps. If only Auel hadn't dragged that winter on so damn much. And, at the end when Jondalar and Ayla DO get together, they just confess their love. They don't talk about why they weren't together: Jondalar's jealousy; Ayla sleeping with Ranec because of their clan background; Jondalar didn't rape Ayla in the field. It makes me feel like this kind of conflict could happen again because does Ayla even know still that Jondalar wants to be exclusive? I dunno. But I guess I should be satisfied after this volume that Auel hopefully won't put me through that kind of separation again. I LOVE THEM TOGETHER.
AYLA
I still love my gorgeous, strong, brave, honest heroine, but I also lost a bit of respect for her in this novel. I felt disappointed by a lot of her choices and the way she let the misunderstanding grow when she's supposed to be this honest and direct character. But similarly I felt disappointed in Jondalar, which I'll get into below when I talk about him specifically.
I understand the reasoning behind her first sexual encounter with Ranec, but I still didn't like it. I felt that if she could defy the clan ways to hunt why couldn't she sexually? But on the other hand she didn't understand the social conventions Jondalar wanted. Even with the Others it was common for people to have lovers other than their partners. Therefore, I can't fault Ayla for going to Ranec. Jondalar certainly didn't tell her he wanted to be exclusive, he didn't even tell her he wanted to make a hearth with her.
It was her interactions afterwards which upset me the most (even though I cried when she actually slept with Ranec). The first couple of times Jondalar ignores her I understand why she didn't push him. It's hard to face rejection and continue on. However, because of how long it went on, I would have liked to have a third of their interactions cut out. There was SO MUCH of Ayla trying to talk to Jondalar but him walking away and vice-versa. It got old. I loved the angst at first, but because of how long it went on, it annoyed me.
The biggest issue I had with Ayla's choices was her promise to Ranec. She clearly didn't want to, but let him pressure her into it. I guess that's part of her character growth, but I hated how she felt "so bad" for hurting him at the end of the novel. I can't read that without shaking my head and wanting to shake her for agreeing to him in the first place, and for letting it go on for so long. She did not want him, but she agreed.
Despite all that, I still really love Ayla and I can't wait to see how her life pans out. I hope it features more medicine woman stuff, because the spiritual crap was BORING. I don't really buy into any of it and I also feel annoyed, like Ayla does, that she has some "destiny". It's yet to reveal itself and so far the biggest spiritual stuff that happened (the root) seemed to serve as just another reason to float the Jondalar/Ayla boat after she's agreed to promise to Ranec.
I love the herb lore and how Ayla experiments and wants to help people no matter what. I hope they focus more on that in the next novels.
JONDALAR
He's still my favourite. Thank GOD. Despite all the stuff Jondalar could have done to stop the miscommunication between the two I still quite liked his parts in the novel. Those were some of my favourites and I loved his character growth. The conflict of Jondalar feeling ashamed of Ayla's heritage was realistic and sort of endearing. I wanted him to get past it of course, but it made him into a more real character especially because everyone wants to screw him. It humanised him and his back story with Zolena made his fear justifiable.
MINOR CHARACTERS
I'm still yet to be convinced that Ranec loves Ayla for more than her beauty. I didn't see any evidence of it, even when in his POV. He mainly focused on how beautiful she was and therefore I didn't think he was a good mate for her. I feel quite convinced that come the next summer meeting Tricie will win him over and they'll be happily ever after.
I loved Deegie. Such an awesome female friendship with Ayla and her. It's sad they can't make a camp together!
Auel did a great job of incorporating a camp of many characters yet making them individual and therefore able to remember each one.
I hope Ayla one day goes back to the clan but we'll see. It might not be in the cards and that would be okay.
Overall, I did really enjoy this instalment. It began to drag in the last quarter and I skimmed two pages of scenery description, but the romance was A+ and I loved being at the summer festival with the other camps. If only Auel hadn't dragged that winter on so damn much. And, at the end when Jondalar and Ayla DO get together, they just confess their love. They don't talk about why they weren't together: Jondalar's jealousy; Ayla sleeping with Ranec because of their clan background; Jondalar didn't rape Ayla in the field. It makes me feel like this kind of conflict could happen again because does Ayla even know still that Jondalar wants to be exclusive? I dunno. But I guess I should be satisfied after this volume that Auel hopefully won't put me through that kind of separation again. I LOVE THEM TOGETHER.
Out of the valley Ayla and Jondalar meet this new Cro-Magnon group called the Mamutoi…the mammoth hunters. They join them and live with them for a while. I will tell you that in this book I wasn’t the biggest fan of Jondalar…you see, he has a serious jealousy issues. When they arrive to the cavern where the Mamutoi live, they met Ranec, a black Cro-Magnon that turns out to be really attractive to Ayla. Off course Jondalar doesn’t like this and because of his jealousy Ayla and him, fall into a ridiculous fight. Obviously the book doesn’t talk exclusively about this, is with this group that Ayla starts feeling part of the Cro-Magnon people again. She learns about The Mother which is the deity they have in the group, as well as she gets in touch with her affinity with the Mother. A new animal joins the group in this group, Wolf, which will make you remember the most playful dog you have ever met. At the end, Jondalar and Ayla are back together, but not before falling apart greatly, founding each other again and remembering how much they love each other.
Listened to as an audiobook. I’m hopeful that the latter books will be more in the style of the first two. This book had plenty of merits, but it was a quieter storyline than the first two and the author seemed to aim to pep it up with numerous and detailed sex scenes. It got a little monotonous, plus was a pain as I was listening to it whilst painting in the garden and the explicit nature meant I had to keep switching it off/skipping to the next section in case others could hear. It felt a bit Mills & Boon.
The third in the "Earth's Dawn" series, this was definitely one of the strongest in the series, with a fantastic culture born of Auel's research into archeological sites.
Jondalar and Ayla have met more humans, the Mammoth hunters, and though they are deeply in love, is there a chance that another could come between them?
A favorite of mine.
Jondalar and Ayla have met more humans, the Mammoth hunters, and though they are deeply in love, is there a chance that another could come between them?
A favorite of mine.