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A review by slothandenvy
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
3.0
I finally got the last book in this series, although it’s been out for a few years now. Three stars is a bit generous for this muddled mess, but I think it’s because I had read other poor reviews of the book prior to reading, so my expectations for it were rather low.
SPOILERS
This book is divided into 3 sections spanning over about 6-7 years of time. A lot of time is spent with the characters touring and describing sacred cave sights. I’m also pretty sure we are told in detail at least twice how to use and eat cattails as well as what every part of the plant looks like (*yawn*). Events occur but then just trail off into a big nothing, like the earthquake in the first section. Jondalar & Ayla remain worshipped and adored by all, except for the 4-5 people who still hate their guts from the previous book. They are practically Mythical Legends in the stories of people all over the land.
In the third section, Ayla and Jondalar both act so completely out of their current character, and make the exact same mistakes they made when they lived with the Mamutoi/Lion Camp, just over a shorter time frame. There is no excuse for this other than the author’s apparent laziness in rehashing the same threats to their relationship. It’s even basically the same event which brings them back together just in time to save Ayla from being lost in the spirit world. Girrrrrl, just stop with the drugs already! Throw out that stupid root and move on.
Is the author getting paid per word? You kind of suspect she is after the umpteenth repetition of that golden oldie, the Mother’s Song, which, surprise, ends up having a final hidden verse. One which Ayla makes up while high on yet another weird drug concoction, and wow, what a bigger surprise, it confirms her belief that it’s a man and a woman who produce children together.
These people need to hurry up and invent AA/NA, because there are sure a lot of drunken, drugged up behaviors going down with the Ninth Cave.
I fully admit that what probably helped this book get 3 stars is that being forewarned about the pointless details and repetitive sections, I did skim over some of the duller parts. I almost didn’t bother to read this based on other reviews, but I couldn’t resist finishing off a series I’ve been reading for over a couple of decades. As long as you don’t expect much out of this poor finish to such a promising series, you won’t be too disappointed. Just be prepared for every single character in the book to comment on Ayla’s special foreign accent, again.
SPOILERS
This book is divided into 3 sections spanning over about 6-7 years of time. A lot of time is spent with the characters touring and describing sacred cave sights. I’m also pretty sure we are told in detail at least twice how to use and eat cattails as well as what every part of the plant looks like (*yawn*). Events occur but then just trail off into a big nothing, like the earthquake in the first section. Jondalar & Ayla remain worshipped and adored by all, except for the 4-5 people who still hate their guts from the previous book. They are practically Mythical Legends in the stories of people all over the land.
In the third section, Ayla and Jondalar both act so completely out of their current character, and make the exact same mistakes they made when they lived with the Mamutoi/Lion Camp, just over a shorter time frame. There is no excuse for this other than the author’s apparent laziness in rehashing the same threats to their relationship. It’s even basically the same event which brings them back together just in time to save Ayla from being lost in the spirit world. Girrrrrl, just stop with the drugs already! Throw out that stupid root and move on.
Is the author getting paid per word? You kind of suspect she is after the umpteenth repetition of that golden oldie, the Mother’s Song, which, surprise, ends up having a final hidden verse. One which Ayla makes up while high on yet another weird drug concoction, and wow, what a bigger surprise, it confirms her belief that it’s a man and a woman who produce children together.
These people need to hurry up and invent AA/NA, because there are sure a lot of drunken, drugged up behaviors going down with the Ninth Cave.
I fully admit that what probably helped this book get 3 stars is that being forewarned about the pointless details and repetitive sections, I did skim over some of the duller parts. I almost didn’t bother to read this based on other reviews, but I couldn’t resist finishing off a series I’ve been reading for over a couple of decades. As long as you don’t expect much out of this poor finish to such a promising series, you won’t be too disappointed. Just be prepared for every single character in the book to comment on Ayla’s special foreign accent, again.