Review: The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In The land of Painted Caves, Jean M. Auel brings the ice-age epic Earth's Children series to an extraordinary conclusion. Ayla, one of the most remarkable and beloved heroines in contemporary fiction, continues to explore the world and the people around her with curiosity, insight, and above all, courage.

As the story opens, Ayla, Jondalar, and their infant daughter, Jonayla are welcomed by the Zelandonii, but problems arise. They are faced with new challenges, not just the ordinary trials of sheer survival, but the complications posed by many groups of people who need to live and work together. The wisdom that Ayla gained from her struggles as an orphaned child, alone in a hostile environment, strengthens her as she moves closer to leadership of the Zelandonia.

Ayla and Jondalar's first priority is the care for their golden-haired child, Jonayla, and the well-being of their amazing animals, Wolf, Whinney, Racer, and Gray. The two participate in hunts to provide food, in travels to Summer Meetings for decision making, and in social activities. Whatever the obstacles, Ayla's inventive spirit produces new ways to lessen the difficulties of daily life: searching for wild edibles to make delicious meals, experimenting with techniques to ease the long journeys the Zelandoni must take, honing her skills as a healer and a leader. And then, there are the Sacred Caves, the caves that Ayla's mentor--the Donier, the First of the Zelandonia--takes her to see. These caves are filled with remarkable art--paintings of mammoths, lions, aurochs, rhinoceros, reindeer, bison, bear. The powerful, mystical aura within these caves sometimes overwhelms Ayla.

Ayla's final preparations for her initiation as a Zelandoni bring The Land of Painted Caves to a riveting climax. So much time apart from Jondalar has caused him to drift away from her. The rituals themselves bring her close to death. But through those rituals, Ayla gains A Gift of Knowledge so important that it will change the world.

Spellbinding drama, meticulous research, fascinating detail, and superb narrative skill combine to make The Land of Painted Cavesa captivating, utterly believable creation of a civilization that resonates long after the reader has turned the last page, and serves as an astonishing end to this beloved saga.

For years I’ve been waiting for the last book in this wonderful series, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And when I did I read it in four days flat.

One thing I did find was that there was an awful lot of repetition of scenes in the book, and retelling of previous scenes in previous books (and earlier chapters of this book too). And Ayla spent a lot of time going around all the caves, which are described in great detail – several times. Fantastic detail, but a little repetitive in places.

Also, a lot of the minor story lines are reoccurring ‘themes’ of the other books. Indeed parts of it seemed like a continuation to ‘The Mammoth Hunters’, but it was still good. Especially when old characters, who we weren’t sure we’d see again, appeared!

I did enjoy the book and, although it’s not the strongest of Auel’s books plot-wise compared to the others in the series, I love it! Especially the humorous parts! And, despite the plot lacking in places, the overall book worked as a wonderful conclusion to the series.

I chose to give this book such a high rating, mainly because I’m just in love with the series, and SO glad that Auel finished the series–I’ve followed Ayla since she was five years old, so it was great seeing her settle down with her own family. But, for me, she seemed to have lost some of her own ‘character’. An example of this is, in the first books she seemed more adventurious and would stand up for herself. This book… not so much. But, then again, through this character arc (spanning six books) Auel has shown how people really do change.

Don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t all bad, there’re parts which I loved, and, if you’ve been following the serious, then I’d highly recommend that you read the conclusion to Ayla’s story.

Review: People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear (review from 2014)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the dawn of history, a valiant people forged a pathway from an old world into a new one. Led by a dreamer who followed the spirit of the wolf, a handful of courageous men and women dared to cross the frozen wastes to find an untouched, unspoiled continent. Set in what is now Alaska, this is the magnificent saga of the vision-filled man who led his people to an awesome destiny, and the courageous woman whose love and bravery drove them on in pursuit of that dream.

A sweeping epic of prehistory, People of the Wolf is another compelling novel in the majestic North America's Forgotten Past series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

So, I've been reading this book for a while now, and I finished it a few days ago. It took me about 6 weeks to read (reading a chapter or two each night), because it is just so long.

I loved the premise of this one--well, I love any fantasy novels set in prehistoric times--but I have mixed feelings on this book.

The descriptions and imagery were great. No problem there. Each scene felt real and authentic. The writers--a husband and wife team--are archaeologists and you can tell from reading that they definitely know their stuff.

But the actual writing itself--in terms of *writing*. It wasn't that great. It was engaging, sure. But there were some pacing issues. And at times it just got too bogged down by all the description--actions scenes didn't read quite as 'action-y' as they should've done.

And let's talk about the fantasy world part. So, one of the main characters is a Dreamer. It's pretty obvious that the Gears have created a really complex world, but it was just too complex and not explained enough. Only about 60% of the time, was I able to follow what was actually happening during these scenes. And the final climax--well, it just got confusing. And, although I know the right people won, I wasn't sure how they won.

Also: timing. As I was reading, I never really had a proper sense of how much time was passing. I thought it was only a few weeks--but then suddenly we were told a year had passed. And this particularly happened at the end. One moment, we're told that the Dreamer can see a woman has conceived, then a few pages later the baby's born.

I think the ending felt really rushed, particularly because of these timing issues. I mean, we've had about 400 pages of details and the events leading up to it. And then it was just suddenly over, but the last pages covered at least ten months with no apparent warning--or maybe I missed it.

But the main characters themselves were very real and believable. Each of the main characters stood out and was instantly recognisable, just from the way they talked/acted/behaved. And I think that's what saved the book for me, and made me sure to finish it. Dancing Fox was my favourite character, shortly followed by Runs In Light/Wolf Dreamer and Heron. I also quite liked Ice Fire, though I wasn't immediately clear that he was one of the 'Others'.

There are A LOT of characters in this book, and some of them have very similar names, so I had to concentrate as I read to make sure I didn't misread a name. Some of the background characters especially blurred into one another. But it had a strong community feel, which I loved.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and am pleased I read it. If I see the sequel in a shop, I'll probably buy it--but for me it's not one of those books that I finish and then just have to look up book two and buy it now.

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