A review by dozylocal
The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel

3.0

I'd rate this 3.5 stars. I still think her first two books were the best of the series. This one woud, however, be quite easy for someone who hasn't read the other four to pick up and still enjoy. I still enjoy her writing style and the historic descriptions of tools and cultures remains fascinating. However, there is a lot of repitition. She seems to have copied and pasted large parts of her other books and/or paraphrased. This is OK for a newcomer to the Ayla story. She also has a lot repetition in the book itself. One example is a lengthy poem called "The Mother's Song" (which I think she actually first introduced in an earlier book anyway) which is repeated in full and in parts a number of times for no real apparent reason. I enjoyed reading the book. I think it was longer than it needed to be. I would like to read the next one.