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sidhe 's review for:
The Land of Painted Caves
by Jean M. Auel
I came away from this with the distinct feeling that Jean M. Auel hates her fans and/or this series and its characters. Aside from repeating the same things over and over again - such as the fact Ayla was raised by the Clan, how she and Jondalar met, how she was able to communicate with Wolf, Whinney and co, how Ayla thought babies were conceived - the majority of the conflict, no matter how challenging, is resolved within a page or two because Ayla and her mate, Jondalar (very handsome, tall, blonde, with stunningly blue eyes, as he is described every time he appears) are magical beings who can overcome anything with the flick of their wrists. Then toward the end of the book, the writer commits character assassination against Jondalar by making him betray Ayla's trust by sleeping with the very woman who has gone out of her way to humiliate Ayla at every chance, while Ayla is working so hard she ends up miscarrying their baby, then severely beating the guy that Ayla sleeps with for revenge (which is something he did as a teenager and spent most of the series regretting and feeling ashamed of. Apparently it was just show because he'd clearly learned nothing from the incident.) To cap it all, the book ends with Ayla getting into the very same dangerous situation she did back in The Mammoth Hunters, "dying", then being rescued by Jondalar in the exact same way she was last time.
In between these infuriating elements, Ayla spends a lot of time caving. I know this book is called The Land of Painted Caves but surely that shouldn't mean that more than 60% of the action takes place in a cave looking at cave paintings. When she's not caving or training to be a Zelandoni, she's always ready to have sex with Jondalar whenever he feels like it, even with little to no foreplay. Oh and Jonayla grows up to be a stunningly beautiful, intelligent and well-behaved child.
If you enjoyed the first two or three books of the series, do yourself a favour and stop at the end of The Mammoth Hunters. Not much happens in The Plains of Passage and the last two books will likely destroy the series for you.
In between these infuriating elements, Ayla spends a lot of time caving. I know this book is called The Land of Painted Caves but surely that shouldn't mean that more than 60% of the action takes place in a cave looking at cave paintings. When she's not caving or training to be a Zelandoni, she's always ready to have sex with Jondalar whenever he feels like it, even with little to no foreplay. Oh and Jonayla grows up to be a stunningly beautiful, intelligent and well-behaved child.
If you enjoyed the first two or three books of the series, do yourself a favour and stop at the end of The Mammoth Hunters. Not much happens in The Plains of Passage and the last two books will likely destroy the series for you.