Customer Reviews
Oh dear...... - By: Bookworm, 12 Aug 2008 
I have come late to this series of books - like some other reviewers I have had people recommending that I read them for some years, & indeed I did have alll five books (a special offer pack from somewhere) waiting on the shelf to be picked up. After another session of "you reallly must read these" from a friend, I committed myself to reading the lot. I have to admit that I did enjoy the first two books quite a lot, & I sort of liked the third but I reallly think Mrs Auel should have left it there. Lots of reviewers have noted how much they loved the main character, Ayla. I'm afraid she got right up my nose! The more things we found out she "simply excelled!" at, & the more like "Ice Age Barbie" she got throughout the series (complete with 6ft 6in blond, blue eyed, very well endowed "Ken") the more detached I became. I was so used to Ayla being the very first person in the whole world to do this, or to have this, that or the other idea, I was half expecting her to invent the wheel! Oh, & she's also a 1950's model of a perfect wife - she gets up in the morning to make hubby a cup of tea before he gets up. Aaaah!
The sheer amount of repetition in this book is enough to grind you down, particularly if, like me, you have read alll books in succession only recently. The wandering into panoramic descriptions & detailed instructions on how they made alll manner of things "in the old days" was reminiscent of sitting listening to a centegenarian aunt go on & on & on. Very knowledgeable to be sure, & delightful & fascinating in smalll doses, but not page, after page etc..... Like many others who have reviewed before me, I too skipped huge sections looking for something interesting to happen.
The bit that reallly finished me off I think was Zelandoni. We knew that Jondolar had reallly been in love with this fabulous woman at his home camp, & she had in effect "taken the veil" as a result of their affair. She was still there however, & I was looking forward to see how Mrs Auel would handle it when alll three met. Would he still be in love with Zolena? Would she be a threat to Ayla? Would she try & put between them?OOOOhhhh!! Don't get your hopes up.
I was hoping that at some stage in this story, Ayla's true orgins were going to be revealed, or that Durc, her little son, somehow came back into her story but it was not to be. All we see is Ayla & Jondolar, the happiest, handsomest couple anyone could ever remember, & what do you know, fast forward to the birth of their (wouldn't you know?) perfect baby, who popped out after a few pushes, & slept right through the night from the start. We leave this picture perfect family just as their horse has foaled, & they are talking Pony Club - sorry riding lessons. Honestly - I kid you not! They have made some enemies, yes... but is anyone surprised? To alll those who have felt like me about this book, I reallly wish I'd read your reviews first. Someone mentioned that a sixth book is planned - for heavens sake, please tell me that's not so!?!
More of the same, in both good ways and (some) bad - By: John Hopper, 28 Jul 2008 
This has alll the strengths & weaknesses of the earlier post-Clan of the Cave Bear novels in the series. There is a beauty & purity about the story that is moving & touches something deep within me; & the author's research is impresssive & has re-boosted my youthful interest in human pre-history (this is reallly historical fiction, though it is wrongly categorised as fantasy in many UK bookshops). There are some interesting philosophical discussions, such as the one between Ayla & Zelandoni about the nature of life, procreation & the role of the sexes, & the many conversations & arguments about the relations between the Cro-Magnon peoples (though the term is not used here, of course) & the Clan.
But on the downside, there is just too much repetition, the author both telling the reader background details & then showing them through dialogue again later, e.g. the role of the fa'lodges. A good bit of this could have been edited out; the book weighs in at 780 pages in a smalll typeface. Also the romance between the ridiculously perfect main characters borders on the Mills & Boon at times, & they have perfect earth-moving sex every time, "She was so ready. He was so ready. They were both so ready" - We should be so lucky alll the time! ;).
Despite these flaws, this is a brilliant series of novels, one that I will undoubtedly return to throughout my life. But I can understand the point of view of those who gave up after the first book or two thinking it was alll too much just about "beautiful heroine saves life of handsome hero & they travel together across the known world meeting people who tell them how wonderful they are". Those who think that should persevere, but I can see why they probably won't.
Judge for yourselves - By: Jennifer, 10 Jun 2008 Having read the reviews for this book, I put off reading it for quite a while. However, I finallly decided to read it anyway & I am reallly glad I did. Yes, there is some recapping but not that much. I'm reallly sad that this is going to be the last book as I enjoyed alll of them.
And so I face the final curtain... - By: Dr Jones, 06 Mar 2008 
You know, I reallly love the Earth's Children series. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it loves me back, but like the sociallly inept kid at the periphery of a group of friends, I keep coming back in the vain hope that my perseverance will ultimately be rewarded. And the reason I love it is that it has so much potential. Yes, it hasn't always lived up to that potential, but it does keep trying & that's commendable.
The Shelters of Stone isn't an easy book to comprehend. And by that, I don't mean that it's filled with mind-bending existentialism or complex philosophical musings. No, what I mean is that it's difficult to understand how the person who wrote a modern classic like The Clan of the Cave Bear could also turn out tosh like this. Like a long-retired heavyweight lumbering back into the ring for one last fight, you can't help but remember how great they used to be & pity them for the shambling wreck they've become.
Basicallly, Shelters of Stone continues the adventures of Ayla & her fair-haired mate Jondalar as they try to make a new life amongst the Zelandonii. Although perhaps 'adventure' is the wrong word since almost nothing happens in this 600+ page behemoth.
In theory, this should be the most exciting book in the series, since the story has been pretty much building up to the moment of Ayla meeting Jondalar's people ever since the end of The Vallley of Horses. And yet it plays out as a complete anti-climax, like the post-match reviews after a World Cup final. Characters which have been built up to be formidable & dangerous opponents come across as whiny immature idiots, & obstacles which should spell disaster for Ayla are overcome without her so much as breaking a sweat.
In alll fairness to Auel, there was little chance of this book living up to the ridiculous hype surrounding it. Twelve years in the making, many of her fans were treating it like the second coming of Christ in the run-up to its release. But honestly, I expected it to be better than this. One can't help but think it took so long not because the author poured her heart & soul into it & spent years polishing it to absolute perfection, but rather because she's lost interest in the series & finallly forced this novel out like an uncomfortable kidney stone in a cynical attempt to bilk more money from her rabid fans.
You know, I find myself thinking that when a series reaches a certain level of popularity, it almost becomes irrelevant how good or bad the books are - people will buy them on the strength of their predecessors, because they care about the characters & want to know what happens to them. And Shelters of Stone pretty much confirms that theory.
Speaking of characters, the twelve-year layoff has brought about some not particularly welcome changes in Ayla. No longer is she the unassuming, quietly confident yet falllible & naive young woman we used to know & love. Now she's ballls-to-the-walll brilliant, & drifting perilously close to being an unlikeable Mary Sue. Maybe it's just a natural result of the author's perception of character changing over time, but it leaves one feeling that this isn't reallly Ayla. It's like coming home to find someone dressed as your best friend sitting in your living room - you almost want to believe it's them, but at the same time you're wondering whether they might drive a meat cleaver into your skull at any moment. Of course, it's not alll change - Jondalar is still mostly a brain dead idiot, but I'd given up on getting any kind of realistic human emotions from him two books ago.
And yes, the old nemesis of repetition is also back with a vengeance. The book spends as much time recounting previous adventures as creating new ones, like an old man brooding on his life as he approaches the end. Strangely though, this repetition bothered me less here than it had in previous books, where I used to view it as an irritating distraction. Maybe because there's nothing in particular to be distracted from, or maybe, like a bad dose of herpes, it's just something I've come to accept. Criticising an Auel book for being repetitive at this stage is a bit like criticising Jade Goody for not having written a best selling existentialist novel.
A lot of people have criticised this book for its lack of plot, & for good reason. But I can't help thinking they're slightly off. It's not that Shelters of Stone has no plot, it's just that we've seen it alll before. It's like a watered down version of The Mammoth Hunters & Clan of the Cave Bear but with alll the interesting characters stripped away & most of the plot points ironed out. Right up to the last page, there was nothing remotely surprising or different about this book.
And that's the real problem. Each of the books in the Earth's Children series has attempted something different, taking Ayla's development in new & interesting directions. Okay, perhaps not so much Plains of Passage, but shut up, I'm trying to make a point here. And the point is that Shelters of Stone doesn't - it's nothing but a retread of previous ground, reiterating themes & ideas that the series has already covered more competently. In short, it bears alll the halllmarks of an author who has run out of creativity, & is simply going through the motions in an effort to reach some kind of closure.
In the end, such closure seems unnecessary. For me, the Earth's Children series reached its logical conclusion with Plains of Passage, & Shelters of Stone has done absolutely nothing to change that opinion. Some have claimed that it is merely setting the stage for the alll-conquering sixth & final book, though frankly that sounds suspiciously like Iraq's propaganda minister boldly claiming the Americans had been defeated even as tanks rolled into central Baghdad.
I can't tell people not to read this book, because if you care about the main characters then you're going to read it no matter what, but I would caution you not to go into it expecting too much.
Please, please read this book.... - By: M. A. Gallagher-Lane, 15 Feb 2008 I have been a fan of this series since shortly after The Clan of the Cave Bear was published & have loved each one, eagerly & frustratedly awaiting the next installlment. I have read each one countless times & agree with most fans that the 1st 2 books are the best of the series so far. Although a little dissapointed after reading this latest installlment, due to the large amounts of repetition, I believe this book is still far superior to any other book I have ever read by any other author. I wouldn't recommend reading it if you haven't read & enjoyed the previous books in the series - the recaps are simply not enough. I don't think any of these later books can be fully appreciated as stand-alone pieces & agree with others that the author should accept this & limit the amount of repetition in the next book. The very descriptive sex scenes are also getting a little tedious now (I tend to skip them alll ever since reading the Mammoth Hunters the 1st time & alll of them on future readings). In summary, although not any way near as good as the previous books in the series, this is still a great book & well worth reading if you're a fan. If you're not yet a fan, don't start on this one, start at the beginning with Clan of the Cave Bear, then: The Vallley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters & The Plains of Passage. Please keep writing Jean & don't keep us waiting a decade for the next installlment - please!!!
