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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another installment of the Earth's Children series.
This one was ok...but the love triangle between Ayla, Jondalar and another man she meets in the book got to be tiresome and over-visited. At times some of the scenes felt they belonged more in a romance than a historical fiction novel. Sometimes Ayla's super-human intelligence and ability to come up with outside-the-box (for her time) solutions got a bit wearysome as well. How many super important inventions are we supposed to give one girl credit for? Domestication of animals, the ability to create fire more easily, new weapons, a correct interpretation of how we propigate the species...it all gets to be a little much.
But that aside...I enjoyed learning more about prehistoric life seen through Ayla's eyes and seeing how she adapts to living with her own kind.
I'd recommend this if you enjoyed the first two Earth's Children novels and want to learn more about what happened to Ayla.
This one was ok...but the love triangle between Ayla, Jondalar and another man she meets in the book got to be tiresome and over-visited. At times some of the scenes felt they belonged more in a romance than a historical fiction novel. Sometimes Ayla's super-human intelligence and ability to come up with outside-the-box (for her time) solutions got a bit wearysome as well. How many super important inventions are we supposed to give one girl credit for? Domestication of animals, the ability to create fire more easily, new weapons, a correct interpretation of how we propigate the species...it all gets to be a little much.
But that aside...I enjoyed learning more about prehistoric life seen through Ayla's eyes and seeing how she adapts to living with her own kind.
I'd recommend this if you enjoyed the first two Earth's Children novels and want to learn more about what happened to Ayla.
adventurous
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury
Too much romance novel false drama for me, but enough of the Ayla story to keep me to the end. Was ready to end my affiliation with this series, but my daughter begged me to continue. She promised the relationship false drama was over.
This series falls firmly into the category of 'guilty pleasure reads.' They were fun at the beginning, but I found myself rolling my eyes and skipping over redundant passages a lot with this third installment. Jondalar is a whiny bitch, and Ranec totally got played. I'm also supposed to believe that between Jondalar and Ayla, the two of them came up with just about every prehistoric advancement ever. I got really tired of the Ayla/Jondalar 'he hates me/she hates me/my loins are pulsating anyway' hand-wringing. I'm not sure if I'm going to move on to the 4th book or not. I feel like this one could have shaved down about 200 pages and they wouldn't have been missed.
I am loving this series! That said, this was not my favorite one. The whole back and forth of sorting out romantic relationships tends to irritate me in any book I read. I spend my time thinking "Well if they'd just *talk* to each other... " But the spirituality talked about in this one really draws me in and I find myself wanting to know more about the ancient goddess religions.
Wonderful as always. The attention to detail in the everyday lives of early humans continues to fascinate me. Ayla's love life shenanigans felt a little forced, but apart from that I loved everything. Her interactions with a human tribe for the first time, overcoming their prejudices about neanderthals, Ayla continuing to learn new skills, and continuing to tame animals. Loved it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The vivid imagery and character development once again makes this installment of this series a 5 star read.
I remember reading the whole trilogy..loved the story and the settings... A good adaptation of what life was like in the beginning of man and the world, how they struggled for survival and intelligence reigned over extinction....It was good to follow Ayla.... Even the film adaptation of the first book was good.