A review by zaira_001
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

challenging emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Had some interesting ideas, but in general suffered from a lot of the problems plaguing the third, fourth, and fifth books in the series.  Often Ayla is too perfect of a protagonist who does nothing wrong and is amazing at everything she puts her hand to, and everyone likes her unless they are characterized as in unredeemable villain (the one exception to this maybe being Brukeval, who is a little more complicated).  The first two thirds of the book are really pretty dull, which is a shame because I think there are some interesting places and subjects that maybe could’ve been played with by a better author.  A lot of this book describes cave painting, but doesn’t really seem to have a reason why besides it’s just what the Zelandoni do and it “probably means something”: it feels as though it is written by someone who, although they may superficially appreciate art, doesn’t really understand how to engage with it meaningfully.  I think the first half of this book suffers from being overlong and so it drags, which is a similar issue I had to The Plains of Passage.  The strengths of these stories really lie in the interactions between characters and the way that these intricate and diverse cultures and believes and knowledge systems Auel has constructed.  Unfortunately two books into the Zelandoni arc most of that interesting discovery has been played out, and the few interactions that still have room to be explored are often left unexplored due to frustratingly easy to fix miscommunications between characters.  The last two hundred pages of the book are almost a complete rehash of the central conflict in The Mammoth Hunters, albeit slightly condensed (thank you Jean) and the stakes raised.  At first I was excited for the way that Ayla might confront the situation, it was one of the first times we had ever seen her have a strong emotional reaction to something that wasn’t entirely socially acceptable and I thought that was interesting.  Unfortunately the situation deteriorated into two self loathing spirals of despair, and it was really frustrating to read after such a similar story was  played out three books ago ad nauseam.   There were parts where I was literally screaming at Jondalar for being such an irredeemably selfish c*nt, which is a shame especially because his motivations for the dumb shit he does are so shallow, often portrayed as being “needs beyond his control” which ends up just making him seem like an immature idiot instead of a complicated character doing his best in a tough relationship.  The lack of communication between the two main characters is so contrived after all the events of The Mammoth Hunters, and I really wish Ayla had more of a backbone and got angry with him for how shitty he was being instead of just taking it out on herself, again especially after she had this exact same arc with the Mamutoi.   Its also a little sad how much of a backseat Ayla’s daughter takes, I know she’s young but she often feels more like a prop for her parents than an interesting new character.  There were parts of this book I really wanted to like, especially the return of old familiar characters and story elements, but they often felt underutilized.  I also wished I could get more into the fun Zelandoni esotericism but often it was described so dryly that I wondered what Ayla was so enticed by.  I also just thought all in all the ending was pretty unsatisfying and divorced from the first half of the book.  We go from a lot of tours of cave paintings to all of a sudden the discovery of paternity with seemingly no link between the two and it makes the story feel very disjointed, as well as a huge waste of time for the first four hundred pages.  I also just found it so confounding that the book ended on such an open ended note, I know that maybe this wasn’t originally the intended ending, but damn it didn’t feel good to put down.