The highly anticipated The Land of Painted Caves concludes Jane Auel’s 30-year Earth’s Children Series.
In the culmination of this prehistoric cult-like historical fiction series, Ayla fulfills her destiny and Jane Auel lovingly puts to rest the family she created in 1980 and has nurtured ever since. The Land of Painted Caves, published by Random House, releases March 29, 2011.…
Article comments
26 - Robin
I'm just past page 400 and, as an avid bibliophile, I do NOT skip passages. However, this book BEGS for the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading course! I keep seeing set-ups where SOMEthing should happen but it doesn't. It's just narrative on everyday life. I haven't read many of the comments here because I don't want to know how the book ends but I'm not sure I might end before it does! It could have been the BEST! Very disappointed so far....:(
27 - Beth
What a disappointment, the only twists or any form of plot line were entirely out of character. Meaningless drivel. As an avid fan of the series I feel cheated. Wish I had never read it. I thought Shelters of Stone was the last book; wish it was.
28 - Nicole
I have read all the other books, and have been reading them since I was 12. This is the main reason why I was salivating at the prospect of getting my hands on this book. I read in 4 days what should have taken me a couple of weeks as I was skimming so much. I agree that severe editing should have happened with this book.
29 - Linda Rogers
I have to agree with all that was said about this last book. Horrible! I slogged through it because I did buy it. Skipped through most of it.
30 - Francesco GREGORETTI
Really boring, Should have stopped at the previous book.
31 - cokie
I was so excited when I heard that the final book in the series had come out, that I ran to Costco and bought it (I NEVER buy books) Needless to say, i was so crushingly disappointed, that there really was so much more that she could have done with the book and yet so little that was done in terms of a story. If they were going to make a film about this book in would have to be a documentary about caves and s little about food prep. The first chapter was the best chapter and all the others were BORING. I chose to donate my less than one week old book to the local library in the hopes that I would save someone else from pruchasing it, even if I can't save them from reading it.
32 - SANDRA L REYNOLDS
I have read all of the series several times, as many times as 5 on some of them.
I barely got thru this one. So sad. All it was was a repetion of the other books. It was boring. The part that bothered me most was when Jondalar cheated on Ayla. I know it is realistic and this is what actually happens but just this once I would have liked to have stayed ignorant of it.
I agree Jonayla could have really been developed.
To me this was one of the most beautiful and long awaited series, with a sad ending.
33 - Lisa S
I too was so disappointed in Ms. Auel's final book. I have been waiting 9 years to find out about Ayla's life and was left feeling really let down. What happened to all the visions of her two sons meeting? I thought at least there would be some meeting with the clan or clan people. Even some info on what happened to Durc. The cave descriptions and the mothers song was repeated way too many times. I wouldn't go as far as to say not to read this book but I think that it was a disappointment for the fans that have been reading this series for so long.
34 - sjess76
I completely agree with the reviewer. The pace was too slow, too many caes, too much repetition. It was a bit of a disappointment, but really good to finally read another novel about Ayla!
35 - Deb Sapp
I have the series in hardback and bought the much awaited last book. I was soooo disappointed. I know it was to be about painted caves, but page after boring page. The characters took a back seat in this book with a weak storyline. Alot of questions unanswered. I think she left herself open for another book. I'll be less apt to buy so quick if she does write another.
36 - Toni Benedict
I am SOOOO dissapointed!~~~!!
This book was the WORST I have read in a long time. It was plotless, repetative, beyond boring... it was a sheer misery to even get through it. As I went through the first 100 pages I was still hoping...then 200...then 300...then 400....I finally just forced myself to "get it down" like you do a bitter pill!
The endless introductions, tea making, what felt like ten times reading tThe Mother's song, endless drivel about trial nonsense...it was EXCRUCIATING!!
I almost feel like Ms auel didn't even write this book. Us loyal fans of 30 years deserved better than this!
37 - pat, somerset
extremely disappointed in the final book. Have looked forward to it's release for 10 years and what a boring, boring 500 pages, then I thought something exciting was going to come, but unfortunately it didn't. I can't express what a BIG let down this book was.
38 - pat, somerset
extremely disappointed in the final book. Have looked forward to it's release for 10 years and what a boring, boring 500 pages, then I thought something exciting was going to come, but unfortunately it didn't. I can't express what a BIG let down this book was. Have read all the books in this series and thoroughly enjoyed them - but not this one - it was really hard work to finish it. Jean M Auel left it far too long to write anything new, it was all repetative of previous books. Cannot put into words how disappointed I am.
39 - Holly Weiss
It appears I have captured the public's opinion well in my review.
40 - Judie
I have just finished reading the Land of Painted Caves...I realize that I read it much later than when it was first published. I waited so long for this book, and I was truly disappointed. Like the majority of the comments that have already been posted, I found it redundant and boring. I also thought that there were too many formal introductions and too many names to try to remember. I cannot recommend it as interesting reading material. I was hoping that Ayla wound somehow be reunited with Durc, but it didn't happen. Also, I think that Jonayla deserved better. Although I managed to read the entire book, I was sorely disappointed in the ending. I think that Ayla's thoughts should have been the final written words. I own all of the other books, but I don't think I will make the effort to purchase this one.
41 - Syrena
The whole story could have been told in a book 1/4 the size of this one.
42 - Jenni
I really have to add my own say to the seemingly vast majority of comments saying this novel was a huge disappointment.
It's 3am in my country, and I've just finished the book, having read the last 300-ish pages in one go, without even stopping to eat.
When I read the first of the books it was around the time when the fifth book had just come out, and I was only eleven years old. In about a year I had read all five books, always having one of them nearby. When I closed the fifth book, it was devastating for me. I couldn't bear the thought that I could no longer continue reading what had become my favourite story. I simply wandered around for a few days, not knowing what to think or do, it was all a blur. The one thought that pulled me out of it was knowing that there would be one final book. But I also knew that Auel had been writing part five for 12 years, which she had started before I was born. It felt crushingly bad that I might have to wait for another 12 years to find out what happens next.
I didn't purchase the copy of Painted Caves straight away, perhaps because I felt I wasn't ready to feel the sense of finality after finally reading the whole story. But a couple of days ago I did, and unlike the other books, which I read in my native tongue, my copy of Painted Caves is in English. I wanted it to be more authentic, considering I've now grown up and my skill in English is adequate enough. Perhaps because of that the repetition of the other books didn't bother me so much, because I hadn't read those passages in the same language before anyway.
Needless to say, the climax I'd been waiting for nearly half my life just wasn't there.
It wasn't just that the first 400 pages were about caves and introductions. It was mostly what happened after them that made me see all the previous books in a different light than I had before. The moment I saw "Jondalar and Marona" written on the page shattered a part of my world, the part that had held onto the thought of Ayla and Jondalar's everlasting love thousands of years ago as something I could always return to. Perhaps it's slightly irrational and having to do with my personal loathing for infidelity but I don't think I will ever forgive the author for doing this to me. Not only did she ruin the grande finale of the last sequel, but she also cast a shadow over all the previous books. From now on, when Jondalar tells Ayla how much he loves her in any of the books from two to five, I will never believe it anymore. His love could not possibly have been that strong and true if he's willing to have a casual relationship with Marona just because he is a "man with strong needs" and sort of can't help it, or something, or whatever. And Ayla, who I've always looked upon, not only acts in a ridiculous way choosing Laramar, but in the end forgives Jondalar unconditionally and even tells him it's alright for him to be with others, because it's just Pleasures, you know, or something, whatever, and a man's got needs, right? My respect is gone, and it's not coming back. Not to even mention how furious I was to find that Jondalar's years of unfaithfulness, particularly with a woman who had tried to hurt his loved one, were not so bad because, again, "a man's got needs", but Ayla's one time with someone else was regarded a similar, if not worse, offence because she only did it to hurt him. That's something else I will never tolerate, because the fault was that of Jondalar's. The drama ended similarly as it has before: "Well, we didn't realise before how much we love each other, but NOW we do" Yeah, as if I hadn't heard that before. Everything that happened had happened in the previous books, and if they hadn't realised before how they feel for each other, they never will.
Oh, and let's not forget everything else the previous commenters said. I still think 400 pages of caves are a terrible waste.
I will never read this book again.
And after this I'm starting to feel I will read none of the books ever again.
43 - Glenda
I've waited 20 years for the culmination of this series and what a disappointment. Mrs. Auel seems more interested making this her longest book than finishing themes hinted in earlier books. What happened to Durc? She hinted at a meeting between the Zelandonii and the Clan? Ayla and Jondalar's son? Was this all my imagination? Sadly Mrs. Auel is tired of writing, only wanted to finish her series and was only interested in the END not a CONCLUSION. Dissapointment is a mild description of my feeling about it.
44 - ruth wright
...please tell me this is just the first part of the "last book" and maybe then we will get the part where she meets someone from the clan who knows about her, or ayla in the future (like 15 - 20 years from now) this book ,sorry to say is just not jean m. auel in my opion
45 - Tone P Kortnes
I'm sorry to say that this book disappointed me. I had to force myself to finish. I really wanted to hear about her son, or maybe she found some long lost relatives or something.... And the translation to Norwegian was really BAD. It did not feel like a finish to the story I love. Sorry Auel, love the other books you have written, just feels sad about this one :(
46 - Tone P Kortnes
But I still Love all the other books, and I got audiobooks of the three first as well. I love The Earths Children :)
47 - David Long
Extrealy dissapointing! I have also grown up reading these books, and it was a whole 750 pages of tea making cave exploration and i shitty cliche lovestory. Honestly I expected hunting trips, the only exciting bit was the first lion encounter. And no clan encounter!!! this was the most dull book i have read in years.
48 - Estelle Oelofsen
I have not read the book yet myself, but this review is published on loot.co.za It doesn't sound very promising though. As soon as I finish reading myself, I will give my comments.
Customer reviews
by Yolande S (5 out of 5 people found this review helpful)
This book is a must-read for fans of the series, just so that one can know what happens to Ayla and Jondalar. However it is a bit of an anti-climax. In contrast to the other books (and especially the first four books) of the series, this one feels rather superficial. With the exception of the Donier tour that covers a whole summer, it only dips into Ayla's life for a few days or weeks at a time over several years, and with little reference to how much time has passed, one feels puzzled as to where we are in Ayla's life at several points in the book.
Also there are none of the minutiae of day-to-day stone age living that I enjoyed in the earlier books. Hunting is suddenly quick and easy. Gathering plant foods seems to take a only a few minutes. And there are mistakes. At one point Ayla explains how she found Wolf, and the details are glaringly wrong when one knows the earlier books as well as long-time fans most certainly will. There is also twice references to where Ayla is now storing her Clan Amulet and its content. Only a few pages apart and set during the same summer meeting, but the places she supposedly store it changes from the Ninth Cave to her current Zelandonii-style medicine bag from where she can take the objects and look at it. The details of Ayla's training as a Donier is sparse. Her "Donier call" is also unimaginative, and the price paid for the knowledge gained too high.
In my opinion, the events covered by this one book should have been spread over at least two, possibly three books, to put it on the same level of epic storytelling as the other books in the series. Still a must-buy for long-time fans however
49 - Ann F.
I absolutely loved the first book and it will always be my favorite book of all time. The next four all had slow moments but were exciting enough to keep me super motivated to read the next one. Land of painted caves was such a disappointment. Too repetitive, too many cave descriptions, too many characters introduced who weren't developed enough for me to form an attachment to, too big of a part for Wolf, I could go on and on. I'm sticking with the ending I have been envisioning since reading shelters of stone in 2002.
50 - Dianne
Earth's Children has had a special place in my heart for many years...when first finding Clan of The Cave Bear in a 2nd hand book shop i stayed up all night and was searching for the next books the next day. I was totally hooked. I identified with Ayla on so many levels. The Valley Of Horses took my breath away. The Mammoth Hunters amazed me with complex characters and brilliant descriptions. Every book kept me wanting more. The characters, the descriptions, the way Ayla has lived and survived...i was there with her, surviving, hunting, lonley, happy, all of it, Jean took me there with brilliant writing. I cried, laughed, was shocked, proud, every step of the way was a magical journey. I waited for Land of Painted Caves with baited breath. When i had my copy i turned off the phone, closed the curtains and doors and settled back thinking i was going off on another wonderous adventure...oh my. I read on and on, becoming more and more worried. Where had Ayla gone? Where was the stirring in my soul? I read the whole book and turned over the last page thinking..."is that it?" Really, is that it? I expected so much more, but it was repetative, boring, empty, uneventful, a huge let down. After the 50th description of a painted hand print or dot i felt cheated. Had i really waited ten years for this? Where was the anticipated meeting with The Clan? Why was there a silly repeat of the love triangle? Tell me i'm wrong but what happened here? It was so bad. Was anyone else expecting a gem of a book, that tied off all the loose ends and left you with a feeling of proper completion? I love Jean M Auel, her talent is out of this world, but what went wrong here? Im left hanging and longing for a proper and fitting end to this amazing story. Every one i know who has read it feels the same. I just cant believe it. Ayla deserved better.
51 - Angie
So sad. Just finished and agree with everything above but feel compelled to add how disappointed that Ayla's earlier "vision" of her sons face to face did not come to fruition. The potential ending was robust with unfulfilled possibilities. The big ending is knowledge of conception we've known since book 1? So sad.
52 - rabidreader
what a giant disappointment! endless boring descriptions of caves? I could have bought a travel guide to Nevada that would have been more entertaining.At the very least, being so close to clan territory, Ayla could have accidentally run in to her son ,Durc.this was such a sad let down. I agree with other posters, if this had been the first book of the series, I wouldn't have bothered with anymore. Did Jean really write this? I'm starting to wonder.
53 - Curious George
I feel so bad for Jean Auel. I too was so disappointed and bored that I skipped over most of it. What a sad thing for an author to spend so much time on a book that is so disappointing to her fans....9 years. I'm so sorry.
54 - melita
Agree with Mark, because I´d read the previous books I plodded through, but sadly I found it extremly boring , it has taken me ages to read picking it up and putting it down. I was really really disappointed.
55 - Sandra Blume
I find myself disappointed with this book. Doesn't live up to the others. I wonder if Ms Auel did an outline and someone else actually wrote the book.
56 - Julia Richards
Whilst on holiday in Spain, staying at a relative's flat, I found 'Clan of the Cave Bear' I couldn't put it down and on my return home eagerly bought the other subsquent books. From March '11 to now, Jan '12 I have finished 'The Shelters of Stone' so I have the advantage of not having to wait so long for each book to be published and I was looking forward to the final book in this series, hopefully for Ayla to find Durc. However, after reading these unsatisfactory reviews I won't bother and will fantasise my own ending for Ayla. Thanks to all for your comments.
57 - Ariadne
I just cannot comprehend why or how this got published. How is this possible?? I literally skipped over 500 pages full of repetitive, inconsequential filler just so that Ayla could finally do what exactly? Oh yes, have a profound revelation that would change the world. Sorry. I got lost somewhere in a painted cave looking a countless animals drawings waiting for the characters to develop.
I totally agree with Jeni's comments about Jondalar and Marona. From that point on, I was done with the story and really couldn't care less what happened from then on out. I wish I'd never read the darn thing. What a waste.
58 - Duh!
This narrative is self indulgent drivel which I feel is insulting to the many fans of this series. Ms Auel has treated her fans with contempt with the release of this effort. The book drones on, has no plot line, story or character development.....the information gleaned from this book could have been obtained from any travel brochure or museum visit of the area.
59 - Lalena
I waited for the Dutch translation and then I bought the book, but I shouldn't have. I read it last summer but was left with such a feeling of dissapointment that I decided to google to see if the were others that shared my point of view. Everything Holly Weiss said in het review is so true. And there was more: in the other books Ayla does things no one thinks can be done and so receives a lot of status. So when on one of their many travels they encountered a girl who was born with double teeth I somewhat expected Ayla to save the day, but now besides some pain medication...nothing... And then at the very and the big thing between Ayla and Jondalar still came late compared to the Mammoth Hunters. I just could not see what the real topic was and was left with a feeling that I should have sent the book to Jean Auel for a re-write. Too bad she doesn't speak Dutch.
60 - Lalena
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Why no clan encounters this time and as some else commented here: why nothing about durc or another child being born. I could go on and on. I say: Jean either re-write this thing or give us a number 7, but one that really ends leaving us fulfilled.
61 - Pinny
I agree with most of the comments.
I bought this quite expensive book (books are ekspensive in DK hence it is a very small country with a strange language) last summer, since I had to spent some time waiting at the vet.
And how I regret it! It is really not worth waiting all these years.
I have never thought of Ms Auel as a great writer but a last here was a writer,who not thought that Neanderthals were ugly grunting clubcarrying beasts.
But how can they hunt and talk while their spears shall be rammed into the prey by hand? In close combat?
They must have three arms?
And then again: She excerts them a real language, and includes some tremendous unbeliveable racial memory. Adverse: Her Homo sapiens sapiens are too modern- trousers? Loveconflicts? She has surely not heard of "the mother-in-law taboo" read more about it on wikipedia. Essentially it means that people with an ongoing conflict are forbidden to talk or act socially to one another in a length of time.
She is definately quite inspired of, what one knows about modern "primitive"/savages/tribalsystems. Especially Native Americans and Inuits.
But they have not lived for a very long time i the Americas.
Maybe Aboriginals would have been a better lean on?
I all her books she thanks her editor, I have allways wondered why?
She tells, the same and the same- over and over again (and the cavemansex are interessting the first 5 times- then it gots really boring like seeing a porn. It is to vomit about. (Sorry, it's a Danish saying of my generation, when something is ennerving)
I CAN renember, what you wrote 20 pages earlier Ms Auel, but you make me feel like an amnesia patient. A serious one this time.
There's a major flaw (plothole) in the book: Aylas vision of conception will ruin the entire social system based on tribal matrilenal heritage. Renember: Mothers brother are those who are importent on heritage- not hearth mates.
(If you also have forgotten this see: Mammoth Hunters & Shelters of Stone).
And when Zeladoni First says, that abortions shows evolutionary stages, my toes cramp. This knowledge came very late in the 1800. century (after microscopes and so on).
I do not think people at that time examined abortions, it is inconsistent what is weitten about births.
-- And why is the funeral in Shelters of Stone committed with so many fears and Taboos, when Thonolan dies Jondalar aren't frigthened to go to his burial place, even if it is considered "Serious Bad Luck" when someone dies on a hunt?!
---
The book is inconstent, abrupt, anachronistic and leaves more question than asked for.
After reading it I really considered to sent Ms Auel a nice giftwrapped book- Steven Kings "On writing"- with the chapter about editoring highligted by a yellow marker.
But I thought it to be somewhat cruel.
This book is nearly as bad as "The Da Vinci Code" except the last a least was thrilling but with the exact same flaws in the persons- they are not real people but something out of one dimensional cardboard.
I grew tired in the same procedures about making stuff. When people eat together I'll give a sugar about what their plates are made of and how. I want to READ what they talk about!
Ms Auel is not a person who are able to draw a quick and impressing picture in a few words in writing. She describes in minutiae but it gets very very boring. One time is okay but the 117. times it is painstaking. (A pain in the "dairy air"- sorry- P'Terry are a favorite of mine. One can swear without really using bad language it's all in the readers mind ;-D )
A tired work of a tired women who had done better by not releasing this book.
It seems as it is based on plot notes, written years ago.
If I want a guided tour in cavepaintings, i'm sorry to tell, there are quite a few book with photographs for sale...
It could have been interessting if s Auel had given her own explanation consistent with time and place. Par exemple on the "White Grotto" (in Shelters of Stone). We all know the hunting magic, and I have actually red a brief notice on the subject of the caves as sound reflectors. But Ayla acts as a dressaged monkey, when people ask for her animals sound. It is not explained, how she as a real donier, can make her ways around in the caves.
And it is completely forgotten to mention, that a real donier shal go somewhere lonely a have visions. Its a plothole so big, tha you can chase a Mammoth through...
As an author who has planned her books too- I prefer Ms Rowlins, she has ruled it all out from the very beginning.
Yours sincerely
Pinny- book-addict
PS: Sorry about the pselling and the strange language.
62 - Cheryl
I couldn't have been more disappointed two of my friends asked for my opinion all I could say was boring. I expected more from her .There was no plot and to top it all off her husband had an affair with her worst enemy after making a promise to the great mother to always be there for her it as if at the end of the book she was grasping for something to write .I will not be looking in anticapitation for the next ten years for another book .
I remember thinking people have died waiting for each book and for 30 years hoped Iwould live long enough for the last book.What a let down .
63 - Dean Charris
Cheated. Yes, that is the word that describes this book. I waited for 20 years for what ? For this ? For this ? Being one of the biggest fun of the series I have received one of my biggest disappointments. Such a terrible ending for a fine line of books.
What was this all about with the endless descriptions of the caves ? Yes, Mrs Auel has visited them and was astonished by their beauty. Couldn't she keep it to herself ? Why this endless torture ? Even if she was determined to make us part of her experiences she could have done that in much fewer pages. And give the plot some space to breathe if there was any left between the endless introductions, the tea making and the Mother's song. Obviously Mrs Auel is very proud of it (maybe too proud) but she shouldn't have tested our patience like that. In my humble opinion her audience was tricked into buying the last book having in mind the laurels of the past. Neither me, nor anyone else is entitled to say to Mrs Auel what to write. But I am sure that this was not the end that everyone was expecting.
64 - Neilnphyl
All the comments hit the mark ...repetitious stuff and cardboard -cutout people. And finally an ending that gives no closure. Fill out the clan connection, have the characters age and make some huge blunders ... accidentally kill Whinney or???????????
65 - jules mckechan
Please, if you read these reviews Jean Auel, then finish what you started and give us a final excerpt of this beautiful story.. there is certainly room to do that as even though painted caves was repetetive and boring, I was still left with a feeling of wanting to know what happened to Ayla etc....we need a happy ending.
66 - whinny
Was incredibly diasapointed with.the last book and feel heartbroken that it is the end and ended so vapid their was so much scope to do something different and fulfilling with the characters and I hated the ( problems) don't want to spoil it for those that havnt read it all yet with jondalar it just didn't ring true having read ( no devoured) all the other books in the series that he would do that..... I actually threw the book across the room at that point and cryed ( I was 8 months pregnant so I'm allowed lol) please please write another and Tue up all the loose threads in a satisfying and final way instead of leaving a bitter taste in all fans mouths after a previously amazing series x
67 - zenia
I am in total agreement. This book doesn't even sound like it was written by Jean. It sounds to me like a ghost writer trying to sound like her. The worst part in my opinion was the rehashing of previous novels so much. Perhaps they help people that haven't read the other novels... but honestly, if someone hasn't read the other ones, they shouldn't be reading the last one first.
68 - Paul TREHIN
Two of my comments in support of Jean Auel's latest book have been rejected. I don't un derstand why...
I think this book is fascinating, perhaps is it because of my own passion for paleolithic art, but I fin Jean Auel's hypothesis about paleolithic art excellent, although I have a different point of view on the subject.
I wish I knew why my previous comments were rejected: no offensive language, no personnal attacks , no business oriented advertissment.
Please let me know why my two previous comments were rejected.
Paul
69 - S. Thomas
Totally disappointed. I wanted Ayla to find out where she came from and meet her son again. I was very angry that the author got Jondalar involved with Marona and that Ayla lowered herself to have sex with that despicable character. We are just left hanging with questions on how Ayla's life would end. She put lots of fillers in with repeat info, introductions, the Mother's song, etc. which could have been taken up with discovering Ayla's past and the status of her son. In all those travels she couldn't discover her home and find her son again? It was bad enough in previous books to have so much sex (got really boring) and then to have her throw in the sleezy sex at the end was irritating. I wanted her to dump Jondalar and take the child and leave for another cave. Then she goes and lowers herself to act in such a surprising way. It just wasn't Ayla. Yep, the author blew it. She could still give us an interesting ending, but I doubt she will--sounds like she is done.
70 - Greg Shenaut
I just read all six books (I had read four of them years ago). I completely disagree with the review. To me, the most important part of this series has to do with the great web of humanity. It connects us modern folk to our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago. As I read through the books, I followed the action on maps and read as much as I could about the actual remains that the places and even some of the people were based on. In the last book, when Ayla made her two visits to the Chauvet cavern, it was absolutely thrilling to me: I had pictures up on my computer screen so I could see the images Ayla and her companions saw. I even screened a documentary video so I could see them better. The repetition wasn't annoying to me: it was useful to me as a way to get closer to the characters and the places. The idea of a cave tour was a wonderful way to make the connection between the ancients and our modern world. As for the discovery of fatherhood, and the repetition of the chant and its added verse, I thought that was a good way to resolve the story. The sex scenes didn't bother me, and in fact, I don't think I've ever read anything where explicit sex was more central to the story line that it was here. I'm glad I read all of them at once, because it is clear that they were conceived as a whole. Well, 'nuff said. I liked the final volume at least as much as the others; every one of them is necessary to the story.
71 - John Cancelarich
This is my first on Auel's books and I am quite disappointed. The endless repetition and excessive details ruin this book.
A real loser.