Unabridged Audiobook
I enjoy all of Ms Auel's books. I have always been fascinated by the pains she takes in her research. She tends to go overboard with her graphic and meticulous descriptions of sexual encounters and every day surroundings. In my opinion it gets in the way of the story.
I loved the book but I did not like the narrator changing Ayla's voice. I thought at first it was a different narrator than the first 4 books but it isn't.
I really enjoyed her books. Even though the last 2 books , Ayla's voice is different I found it didn't change the story or her character. I read some of the reviews on the last 2 books. A lot of them were negative mostly about Ayla's voice. I don't feel that way. I love all the books.
Fantastic
I did not like how ayla' s accent changed between this book and it was harder to just relax into the story
This wasn't as good as the previous books. Over kill on the sex scenes. The Narrator is fantastic but I didn't like that Ayla suddenly had a different accent than the previous books. I found it annoying. One really needs to listen or read to the books in sequence.
The first 3 in the series had great story lines and character development. The last 3, including this one, were not up to the standard the first 3 set.
Since I ALWAYS love Jean Auel (and have read this book in print) I am probably biased but I find her novels to be thought provoking and extremely addictive. Once I start, I don't want to stop until the last chapter is done! I slight problem since most of her books are marathoners...
I started out enjoying the series. About halfway thru Plains of Passage I started fast forwarding to skip repeated information, and in Shelters of Stone... oh my, the book would probably be half as long if the repeats were omitted. Tedious.
excellent excellent continuation of the story, what else is there to say?
I did read this book when it first came out and I too thought it was on the boring side compared with the previous three. Listening to it instead of reading it made it way, way better. I'm really enjoying it.
This is not my favorite in the series. It seems that Auel was searching for events to develop the plot and I did not really have the same intense desire in listening. It certainly seemed that Auel developed Ayla as a god and no one was close to her in knowledge and/or abilities. I still enjoyed the history and was glad that Ayla had finally reached her goal. The Earth's Children series was excellent.
I got this book not knowing it was the last in a series and enjoyed it very much. I think the reason I liked it was because all the "catching up" that was done in this book was new to me.
I have read the other reviews and while I appreciate their comments, I want the person who is just picking up this audiobook to understand that the entire earth children's series is wonderful. While this book does reiterate much of the previous 4 books, it has a bit of magic all its own. So, if you are just starting to read the series with this book, please feel confident that you will have the gist of the story adequately. Jean is a master storyteller to be sure. Her work has been extensively researched and given careful literary license, has woven an incredible story. Her insights into human nature are artfully discussed and there is no doubt that our very early breathern on this planet felt feelings much the way we feel them today. Again, this is a carefully crafted work and we meet up with our heroine, Ayla, as she is introduced to the people of her paramour, Jondalar. Her acceptance into the 9th cave of the Zelandonii cave is frought with challenges.
I found this book to be a bit of a big let down. It seemed so redundant. I was hoping for more but found it to be little else but overview and review. Seemed like all needed such an explanation as if there weren't the four other books. It did not move much and was a bit of a waste of my time. The next, if any. will not be appreciated by me. I will spend my money elsewhere.
I'm a HUGE fan of Jean Auel Earth's Chidren series. However, this one was a big letdown. Why? It reiterated every single thing that happened in the previous 4 books. While this might be okay if you haven't read the other four in awhile, if you are anything like me, you probably refreshed your memory of the first four just before reading this one. She became so caught up in explaining Ayla's behavior due to her past experiences, that the current story often gets completely lost, or slowed down to the point of boring you to sleep. If, on the other hand, you don't remember the first four books very well, this would definitely be a great book to catch you back up to speed. Honestly, I'm having a tough time finishing it, and have found myself fast forwarding past many of the sections.
Details are nice, but sometimes she just kept going. Unfortunately, the story did not. Just when you thought the story line would take a truely human turn into conflicting personalities, a ritrual or metaphysical discussion would break out about the same subject over and over again. Two thirds of the way through...I was bored.
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