The Land of Painted Caves: Earth's Children (Book Six) [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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I have nothing good to say about this book, so if you're hoping for positive comments, you'll have to read someone else's review.

I used to love this series, but now that I know how it ends, I'm donating all my copies of the books to my local library. I don't want them in my collection anymore. That's how disappointed I am.

This book is not only garbage, it's boring, predictable, unbelievable garbage. It's back-to-front, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, end-to-end crap.

Ayla and Jondalar have become one-dimensional and uninteresting, and the way they behave at the end of the book is not only completely out of character, it's despicable and almost makes me hate them.

If this book had been cut by half its length, it would still have been too long. There's a lot of repetition, and note to Ms Auel: read about one cave, read about 'em all. Do we REALLY need minute descriptions of every single painted cave the bunch of them visit? Yeah, we get it: you're good at research. Do you really still need to prove that after all this time? And do we REALLY need to hear everyone's names and ties every single time every single character gets introduced to someone? They spend the whole damn book travelling! They're constantly meeting new people! WE DON'T NEED TO HEAR IT 600 TIMES. Then there's that Mother Song thing, over and over and over. Please, somebody, make it stop!

For an experienced author, Auel does far more telling than showing. I confess I skipped page after page of this book, waiting for something interesting to happen. Something finally does around page 430, but sadly, that's where the book begins to jump the shark. The story moves from boring repetition into soap opera-worthy melodrama complete with overblown marital strife, jealous rages, violent vengeance, inappropriate sexual encounters, and general douchebaggery. The main characters have apparently lost their minds, and by the time they patch things up and get back on an even keel, the exasperation and repulsion you feel make it hard for you to care.

I've been an avid reader for over three decades now. I've read a lot of books, but I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in one.

This book left a bad taste in my mouth. Somebody pass the Listerine.

I (along with everyone else) waited nearly a decade for this book?!? Let me preface this review by stating I love this series. I am aware that many people found "Shelters of Stone" disappointing, I am sorry to say that it is a work of literary genius when compared to "The Land of Painted Caves". I will be succinct in my reasons why you should forgo spending your time and money on this book.

**Possible spoilers**

1.You've already read it. Read the last five books? Then you have already read 90% of this one.(Spoilers??!??)
2.A large portion of the "new" material is about dots on cave walls. Really.
3.The characters that we have grown to know and love have become flat, one dimensional and have changed in their underlying natures.
4.The climax was pulled almost entirely from a previous book.(see point number one)

I actually threw the book down in disgust when I finished it and am seriously contemplating sending it back to the author. Don't buy this book. Make up your own ending to the series; you will be much happier with it.

This review is based upon an advance copy I received from Amazon Vine (US). There is always the hope that an editor will be allowed free rein and the final edition may vary from the copy I read, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

The first part of this book picks up the story of Ayla and Jondalar left off in the last book, The Shelters of Stone. Still living with Jondalar's family, Ayla is training as an acolyte to the First Among Those Who Serve and hopes to receive a calling to become a Zelandoni (a wise woman/healer of sorts). Ayla and Jondalar join the rest of the members of the Ninth Cave for the Summer Meeting, and spend lots and lots of time visiting with new and old friends. Each time Ayla is introduced to someone new we get to hear the looooooooooooong list of her proper titles all over again. We also get plenty of back history on returning characters, both major and minor ones, as well as lengthy refreshers on Ayla and Jondalar's adventures from the previous five books. The Summer Meeting ends and the members of the Ninth Cave return home.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Part II begins several years later as Ayla, Jondalar and The One Who Serves First (the leader of the Zelandoni and Ayla's mentor) prepare for a long journey so that Ayla can see the painted caves. Many many pages are spent telling the reader about the minute details of preparing for a journey. The reader is also treated to a prehistoric version of Map Questing the proposed trail - over hill and dale, north along this river, cross here and south along the other one. The great journey begins and our merry band travels from one cave to the next, with lots of introductions and more rounds of hearing every one's proper titles. Our band must also stop to hunt between cave visits, so we get to hear about how to hunt, throw spears, nap flint and other cool stuff. They make visits to the various painted caves and the reader gets very thorough descriptions of said caves. Just in case you missed it the first time, Ayla makes a second trip to one of the caves so you can hear about it all over again. You will be glad to know that Wolf relieved himself of solid waste in one of the painted caves. Why we needed to know that I'm not sure, but rest assured he did :)

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Nodding off yet? I sure was...

***Begin Spoilers***

Part III takes place in the next year as Ayla is finishing up her training as an acolyte and hopes to receive her calling to be a Zelandoni. Her training is very time-consuming, leading to some *marital* tensions and a Big Misunderstanding (you can figure out where this goes lickety split). Ayla drinks some special tea, has some big LSD kind of trip that ends with a huge revelation from The Earth Mother. Ayla then joins the rest of her family for another Summer Meeting, culminating in a festival to honor the Earth Mother wherein Ayla's big gift is shared with the rest of the people, leading to long discussions about the implications of said discovery. Pages and pages of looooong discussions.

*End Spoilers*

Sooooo, just what can you expect to find in this book? Let me detail it for you in case you are still interested,

*Lots of back-history and exposition so don't bother rereading the first five books, it's all taken care of for you in this one. Over and over and over again.

*The descriptions of the day-to-day details are very long-winded and repeated often. I really didn't need to learn about what went into Ayla's latest batch of tea on every other page.

*You will learn about the paintings in the caves, although to be honest I found reading from Wik and the official sites much more interesting.

*A&J are as perfect as perfect can be, as is their daughter. Even as an infant she was smart enough to hold her water until she was out of her carrying blanket. You will be informed of this at least three times in Part I, just to make sure you don't forget it.

All kidding aside, this is not a terrible novel, it is merely suffering from the lack of an editor with a big red pencil. The repetition is so over done to the point I felt I was being clubbed over the head - I am smart enough to figure it out the first time. On top of that, Auel slipped in too many *modern* words that really pulled me out of the story. Now I know it isn't possible to recreate an ancient language that would be readable to us mere mortals, but at the same time I didn't need Ayla using words like earthquake, soporific and epicanthic fold either. Wait, this is an advance copy so perhaps the red pencil guy will fix these...

Nah. If you enjoyed the slow pace of Shelters of Stone and want an entire rehash of that all over again, I guess you'll love this, but if you're looking for something with a bit more action you will not find it here. Will you find the resolution to A&J's story that you were hoping for? You know I can't tell you that, but I for one was sorely disappointed. Library only, then buy it if you love it.

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1.0 out of 5 stars I wish I hadn't read this!
The Clan of the Cave Bear is my all-time favorite book. First picked up at age 11, I was enthralled. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Okotoks Public Library

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I had been greatly anticipating Ms. Auel's final book in the series . Upon reading the first three hundred pages, virtually, nothing has happened, except excessively detailed,... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Ilsa von Earnhardt

1.0 out of 5 stars Sadly disappointed...
I've have been a big fan of the series since I was a teenager and was excited to learn that another book had come out. I was sadly disappointed. Read more

Published 4 months ago by amlysc

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Recommended
Given the years we had to wait from book 5 to the release of "The Land of Painted Caves", I had high expectations. Read more

Published 4 months ago by tgiber

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing after such a long wait
After waiting 11 or so years for this novel, I was sorely disappointed. There was too much reference to past events, too much extranious description of the areas, too much... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Brynecho

1.0 out of 5 stars DISAPPOINTMENT
It is a shame to end off a great series with this letdown. There is little new content of any interest. A lot of review of the previous books. Read more

Published 5 months ago by SEL

3.0 out of 5 stars Land of Painted Caves
I have at long last finished Land of Painted Caves. The first 100 pages were okay, but not exciting. The last 100 pages were back to Jean's usual quality. Read more

Published 7 months ago by D. Ross

2.0 out of 5 stars worst of the whole
this book was a summary of the previous 5 with a little twist. cave visits after cave visits....
it's really not worth the purchase unless you'd like to complete your... Read more

Published 7 months ago by random

5.0 out of 5 stars The Earths Children series can do me no wrong
The clan of the cave bear, and following books were the first adult books I ever read. I love them. I will always love them. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Dot

5.0 out of 5 stars The land of painted caves
Due to a recent house fire, we recieved the book, but never got to read it. Would like to reorder at a later date.
My husband had her collection and enjoyed them.

Published 8 months ago by Annette

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