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Average Customer Rating:

Another fine Ice Age epic

Customer Rating:

This fourth in Jean Auel's Earth's Children series depicts the journey of Ayla and Jondalar (with their horses and Wolf) to the home of Jondalar's people in what is now the Dordogne in France. It is exciting, philosophical, informative and romantic. Theirs is an epic journey across hard and dangerous glacial terrain, in which they come across other Cro-Magnon settlements as well as Neanderthals. The interactions between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals, and between Man and other Ice Age animal life illustrate graphically the destructive potential of our most "intelligent" of species. Jean Auel's research is so thorough that it is easy to believe that everything she writes COULD have happened. I have totally loved all the books and I very much hope that Auel will produce another one soon, so I can continue to share the wonderful Ayla's experiences

I hope the next one is better than this

Customer Rating:

I have loved this series from the start, but while the last book was a little boring for me, this book really takes the boredom up a notch and fills in scenes which should be action with sex. There's very little to recommend this book, aside from the fact that it's the next in the series, and now I'm wondering if I will pick up her future books. I also felt the characters were too modern, thinking in ways that only modern people think in due to technology, which obviously didn't exist back then. Give this one a pass, unless you are desperate to continue the series.

Could have been better

Customer Rating:

Having read the previous three novels, I was disappointed when I read this one many years ago. It is a very tedious, redundant book with remarkably similar encounters with various tribes along the way. The good: Auel provides rich scenery (sometimes too rich) for the reader and I like the way that she works artifacts into her novels. In my anthropology, art history and ancient history from college, I was often thrilled to find a "venus" statue that she had described or a mammoth bone dwelling. The tediousness of the book even works for it in a way since you have a huge sense of relief at the end, much as Jondalar and Ayla would have felt, FINALLY!!! There was also a lot of potential with this novel. For characters, I liked S'armuna, Epadoa, Dolando and Joplaya simply because all of them had a chip on their shoulders for one reason or another. Unfortunately, Auel did not take advantage of it. The conflicts are mild and predictable. There is more telling than showing. Wolf, who is hardly a year old, responds to Ayla with almost perfect obedience. The characters for the most part are eminently suited to their positions. With the exception of Attaroa, there are no leaders who are incompetent or who make mistakes or do anything bad. Ayla in the first three novels made cultural mistakes, got angry and spoke without thinking, and didn't always do things the right way. Now, she always does what is right and Jondalar is there to support her. Her personality has gone. Also, I find it very incredible that all of these cultures are so similar in their religious beliefs. Auel has put a lot of effort into the Sharamudoi and Mamutoi culture, but hasn't given them any spiritual independence. All worship The Mother, all have First Rites, all accept women leaders in some form or another, it is very incredulous to believe that these people were so similar

Jane M. Auel's Earth Children Series Truly Amazing	Customer Rating:
Who would believe a mini-series about a woman living in the Stone Age could be so fasinating. I for one would not had not a friend insisted I would enjoy these books. I am now reading the fourth book in the series and my friend was on the money. What a wonderful writer.

This was my favorite of the series	Customer Rating:
What a mixed group of reviews! This, however, ranked as my favorite in the the series.