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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
In that it concluded the series without major question marks, I liked the book. But much of it was descriptions of caves and paintings, which for me, was boring. The character development fell a bit flat, as though this was a book she didn't plan on writing. The end was more typical of why I have liked the series -- filled with tension and interest -- but the resolutions seem too easy. The apprentices for Jondalar and Ayla's Zelandoni training were clearly major influences on the character development, and yet we don't see any of it. The division into parts to fast forward through time felt cheap and like I was being deprived of story.
The telling of the Marona story from Ayla's perspectie diminishes it. I am disappointed. I read so much about cave paintings that moved the story forward not at all, and not enough about Marthona/Willimar, Marona/Jondalar, Danug, Joplaya or Ayla and the One Who is First. There was so much more potential in this book and none of it was explored because the author was having a love fest with the cave paintings.
The telling of the Marona story from Ayla's perspectie diminishes it. I am disappointed. I read so much about cave paintings that moved the story forward not at all, and not enough about Marthona/Willimar, Marona/Jondalar, Danug, Joplaya or Ayla and the One Who is First. There was so much more potential in this book and none of it was explored because the author was having a love fest with the cave paintings.
Just can't make myself finish this. Such a disapointment!
Easily the WORST book I've ever read. I enjoyed the first two, tolerated the next two, was annoyed with book 5 and seriously hated this last one. No story line, rehashing content from the past books and repeating the same phrases over and over and over. It adds no value what so ever to the series.
This took me almost a year to get through. I kept putting it down and picking up something else. It really REALLY should have been about a quarter of the size and it would have been good. Endless descriptions of images painted in caves for hundreds of pages... it should have been one non-fiction book WITH PICTURES, and another fiction book with NARRATIVE and then the work that went into this may have been worth it. Seriously, for a series that was quite enjoyable for the most part this book (and the previous) were just quite disappointing.
This series has been an interesting experience for me because I often found myself dreading it while I was reading but by the end of each book I would fall in love with it again. I am not sure if it is rose colored glasses, that feeling of looking back and remembering the good feelings, while forgetting all of the struggles you had with it throughout - it could be haha. The 6th book of the series was very disappointing for most of the book because I often felt like the author was avoiding jumping into the spiritual reveal I have been waiting for since book 1. The series was incredibly long (6 books all of them at least 600 pages) and the majority of the time the author used all that space to recount the same story we had already read in a previous book or detail daily events which were very similar to things she had already described. I loved the premise of the story, I also did learn a lot and have been very surprise to see that in a lot of ways her research on early humans is very accurate - however I think she could have done more with the story to expand into other topics that could have worked well.
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I was also very upset that Ayla never got to see her first son again. I was expecting there to be a big reunion when the son travels to where she is and she is able to see how his clan and others features mixed together to make him into a man. Or that Ayla would somehow go back and meet him again and tell him about his destiny.
********Spoiler***********
I was also very upset that Ayla never got to see her first son again. I was expecting there to be a big reunion when the son travels to where she is and she is able to see how his clan and others features mixed together to make him into a man. Or that Ayla would somehow go back and meet him again and tell him about his destiny.
Big thanks to all the Good Reads and Amazon reviewers who have already given this one a big THUMBS DOWN. You've given me permission to stop wasting my time hoping it will get better.
I'm always afraid of being the one to burst everyone's expectation bubble without putting in a fair effort. No problem with that here. As of this writing, there are 398 ratings on Good Reads, and the average rating for all editions is 2.80! As I scroll through the first dozen reviews, ALL of them are one or two star ratings. This has to be the biggest bomb I've ever seen for a long-anticipated book by a popular author.
I don't know what happened to Jean Auel's writing skills in the hiatus, but this book is purely awful! The dialogue is worse than the worst chick lit I've ever read, and the story is confusing and just plain BORING. I know the lady did a lot of research, but where were her editors? She didn't have to make this an epic. If she wanted to share what she'd learned about the painted caves she could have done that in a much shorter book. Bummer, dude. Back to the library it goes for the next eager person in line.
I'm always afraid of being the one to burst everyone's expectation bubble without putting in a fair effort. No problem with that here. As of this writing, there are 398 ratings on Good Reads, and the average rating for all editions is 2.80! As I scroll through the first dozen reviews, ALL of them are one or two star ratings. This has to be the biggest bomb I've ever seen for a long-anticipated book by a popular author.
I don't know what happened to Jean Auel's writing skills in the hiatus, but this book is purely awful! The dialogue is worse than the worst chick lit I've ever read, and the story is confusing and just plain BORING. I know the lady did a lot of research, but where were her editors? She didn't have to make this an epic. If she wanted to share what she'd learned about the painted caves she could have done that in a much shorter book. Bummer, dude. Back to the library it goes for the next eager person in line.
Two weeks of my life I will never get back. I swear - what is up with all the 700 page books with absolutely zero plot? I was so excited about this book - I read Clan of the Cave Bear in high school and re-read the first three books in the series multiple times. The fourth book wasn't as good, but I still enjoyed it. I didn't really like the fifth. However, since I've given Laurell Hamilton 500 million chances, I thought I'd show Jean Auel the same courtesy with her sixth and final book in the Earth's Children series.
I should have just read the Goodreads reviews for a plot summary. Actually, I should have just read the title of the book -- The Land of Painted Caves.
In this doorstop, Ayla and Ms. Zelandonii visit a lot of caves and examine in great detail (some detail lasting for five pages) all the drawings in the caves. That's pretty much it. Oh and Ayla "discovers" that men play a role in childbearing. That was it. For 700 pages. Caves and sperm...excuse me...Essence.
Honestly, if I knew Ayla in real life, I'd probably want to smack her. She's flawlessly beautiful and fluent in every language and gifted with animals and a fabulous mother/daughter in law and an accomplished healer and a fantastic spiritual leader and a human lie detector test and wonderful in bed. Give me at least one tiny flaw -- bad breath, a disorganized cave, a catty moment amongst friends. No one is that perfect.
I should have just read the Goodreads reviews for a plot summary. Actually, I should have just read the title of the book -- The Land of Painted Caves.
In this doorstop, Ayla and Ms. Zelandonii visit a lot of caves and examine in great detail (some detail lasting for five pages) all the drawings in the caves. That's pretty much it. Oh and Ayla "discovers" that men play a role in childbearing. That was it. For 700 pages. Caves and sperm...excuse me...Essence.
Honestly, if I knew Ayla in real life, I'd probably want to smack her. She's flawlessly beautiful and fluent in every language and gifted with animals and a fabulous mother/daughter in law and an accomplished healer and a fantastic spiritual leader and a human lie detector test and wonderful in bed. Give me at least one tiny flaw -- bad breath, a disorganized cave, a catty moment amongst friends. No one is that perfect.
The writing decline from book one to book six is legit the worst I've ever seen in any author. It's legitimately impressive how bad these books get. Ah, well, at least I'm finally done with this series after over a decade of putting it off.
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-land-of-painted-caves-by.html
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-land-of-painted-caves-by.html
Long, poorly edited and without any kind of plot or proper conclusion to the series.
If I had to read about how blue Jondalar’s eyes were, how exotic Ayla’s accent was, or read interminable “introductions again I would have thrown up.
A proper editor could have saved this book and made it into an ok one rather than the mess it is.
If I had to read about how blue Jondalar’s eyes were, how exotic Ayla’s accent was, or read interminable “introductions again I would have thrown up.
A proper editor could have saved this book and made it into an ok one rather than the mess it is.
Not as exciting as some of the others, but still nice to continue the series. Definitely felt like a conclusion. Really big book, and seems like much of that was describing the caves. I'm sure they are amazing, but I think I could have lived without the detail for every one.