A Prehistoric Clip ShowOkay, guys, that was really funny. Switching the novel with this fan fiction? Brilliant joke! You got me. Now, where's the real novel?...Uh...THIS is the novel?Summary: Ayla and Jondalar return to his home. Everyone loves Ayla; Ayla and Jondalar tie the knot; Ayla gives birth to the hellspawn and somehow her name sounds better than Twilight's Renesmee--but only just barely.Oh, yeah, and EVERY SINGLE STORY FROM THE LAST BOOK IS REPRINTED. So don't bother even READING the previous four books; at some point in this book, Ayla or Jondalar will tell you it.I don't know whether I should be p!ssed that I spent all this time listening to the book equivalent of a 90's clip show or I should laugh my @ss off at the ridiculous joke of this being published. Or cry thinking about how many trees this piece of sh!t destroyed on its route to the bookstore. Or rage about the number of books that were rejected to make room on the bookseller list for THIS.I've done my raging about this series; it's been a ridiculous, over the top, barely concealed Mary Sue fanfiction-y ride. But I almost want to go back to all the previous books and bump up the ratings by a star or two (YES, a star or TWO). With ALL the complaints I've had for the last three books (and if you've read my reviews, you know THAT is a laundry list), those books look like literary GOLD next to this piece of Mammoth defecation.Gone are any attempts at making Ayla a realistic character. Gone are any attempts to take this story to the next level, to have ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING that was foreshadowed in the previous books. Gone are any attempts to treat the reader with intelligence.I am SHOCKED that this book took 12 years to write. I would have given 12 days: that would be PLENTY to pick through the last four books, copy all the stories from there and paste them into this waste of paper, sprinkling a bunch of senseless research, bad sex, and Ayla Sue prancing around, telling someone off for their "bad behavior".Ayla is the biggest Mary Sue I've ever read. She is such a flagrant Mary Sue, I had to check to make sure that this wasn't fanfiction; I wouldn't be surprised to see this characterization from a thirteen year old girl on the internet, but from a 60+ woman? You coulda fooled me! Ayla is the sexiest, most attractive, most intelligent, most competent woman that the world has ever seen. She could heal cancer with willow bark tea; she can wear boy's underwear (a big Zelandani no-no) and a top with her boobs hanging out, and no one will mutter a peep about her indiscretion--in fact, women will imitate her and every man will get a huge boner for her (and yes, this does happen). Everyone gasps in admiration about her ability to tame animals, produce fire, use a sewing needle, use stitches to heal wounds; everything she says is as if from the Mother's lips. She rushes into the town drunk's home to rescue his starving family, and the crowds cheer. She heals a stupid boy that was hunting rhino, and the Zelandani roar. Ayla could blaspheme the Mother, destroy their religion, and burn the entire shelter to the ground, and STILL the ENTIRE Zelandani race would cheer her on.Oh, but POOR AYLA is humiliated when Marona dresses her in boy's underwear![image error]
The main flaw in this book (and the last couple of them as well) is the repetition. Ms. Auel is a good author who can illustrate a scene vividly, but her downfall is that she repeats herself so much.I kept reading about how amazed people were at Ayla and Wolf and the horses. It happened like ten times. Enough is enough. Yeah, we get the idea. There's also how often people think Ayla is so hot or smart or amazing or whatever. Even Marona, despite her hatred for Ayla, is jealous because Ayla is so awesome.My problem is not that Ayla was able to do so many things. She had to figure out how to survive with the Clan and I liked that she was able to save Durc, that she was able to hunt and do other cool things. The second book was good. But the third and fourth books have a lot of repetition - people think Ayla and the animals are amazing, that she is so hot and gorgeous and brilliant, blah blah. Shelters of Stone was different in that it was centered in a community, much like Clan of the Cave bear, which is good because books 2-4 have Ayla living by herself or with Jondalar, just the two of them for the most part except their occasional encounter with other tribes. The Mammoth Hunters had some of its story set in a community, so it was good. After reading Plains of Passage, I was so ready to start this, and this book does have a lot of good parts.The sex is also repetitive, as well as Jondalar and Ayla's thoughts about one another - she loves him so much, he loves her so much he can't imagine life without her, and so on and so forth. Honestly, it got old, I preferred reading about their interactions with other people (when the people weren't being so freaking amazed by Wolf) One thing I would have liked to see is Ayla throwing a temper tantrum. In many cases, having a cool head is good, but once in a while I'd like to see her actually get pissed off and scream at someone. She never confronts Tremeda, Marona, Brukeval, Laramar, or any of the others who act spiteful or mean towards her. She's all sweetness, and that got boring. It'd have been cool to see her get into a fistfight or whatever.It'd also be nice to have someone NOT be attracted to Ayla. Men and women alike think she's gorgeous and everything, and her beauty is talked about quite a few times. Bleh! It'd be nice for someone to think, sure she's pretty, but she's just not my type'.I'd have also wanted to see a gay or lesbian character, for the sake of variety. I don't mean just a MENTION of them, as has happened a couple of times in the series. I want a gay character as part of Jondalar's cave and flirting with either Jondalar or Ayla, depending on the character's gender. It certainly would add a new dimension to Jondalar and Ayla's relationship!I heard that Ms. Auel had one more book planned after this, THEN two, but now it's back to one, to come out next year. Having just finished Shelters of Stone last week, I'm glad I don't have to wait as long as some of the others here did, and hope that there's not as much repetition and Ms. Auel actually tries something new. If she focuses on not being repetitive, Book 6 could be a true masterpiece and a wonderful way to end a creative series.
What do You think about The Shelters Of Stone (2004)?
Auel has written a beautiful saga about prehistoric man, and if I weren't so attached to her characters and their fate, I would have chucked this book long ago. Sadly, this is the worst of the five--mainly because it lacks plot and interest. Auel spends 200 pages on their first day with the Zelandoni, about 600 on the first month or so, then suddenly the last months whizz by in, maybe, 100 pages. She is redundant not only from her previous books, but within the book itself. She makes the same detailed statement 4 or 5 or 6 times. How many times can she tell us, in great detail, of Ayla's special language for the horses? Too many times. I love the premise of this book. I love the first 4 books (tho they are also quite detailed and redundant to a lesser extreme). This book just annoyed me greatly. Yet, I still like it in a way because it sets up the conclusion of her series. I still want to know what happens to my favorite prehistoric family. Auel leaves you wanting to know Ayla and Jondalar's future, and that's even with an obnoxiously boring book. I look forward to book 6, and I will remain optimistic that she can give us another page-turner.
—Ally
I ran out of books and my husband had bought this because he has a stronger constitution than I. I will save you the trouble of reading the whole book, here's the condensed version:Jondalar finally returns home to the Zelandonii, with Ayla at his side. Ayla is introduced to his family and friends and as she gets to know them they love her as much as every other soul on the planet does. Except, of course, the white trash and those ladies who want more of Jondalar's jondalar*. Although very annoying, Jondalar and Ayla are forced to repeat over and over again how she tamed the animals, how to use flint to start a fire, how the spear thrower works and was invented, and how flatheads aren't animals. (randomly insert way too graphic sex content)The end. *My husband an I have reassigned Jondalar's name to mean: Extraordinarily large and competent penis. Example: "I was a lesbian until I came in contact with his jondalar!!" I really hate how much I hated this book. I loved Clan of the Cave Bear with every fiber of my being. This gives me a sad.
—Junkie for the Written Word
After reading and liking Clan of the Cave Bear as a kid, all the vitriol against Auel's Shelters of Stone surprised me, and made me curious despite never having read the volumes in-between.While I agree with some criticisms, they don't spoil the book in my opinion. Ayla and Jondalar have silly scenes in and out of the sack, but they take up little page time. The story is slow, but doesn't drag so much as meander; Ayla learns about a new culture and meets new people, so the plot is character-based. Ayla is a Mary Sue, but this allows her to be in on various aspects of caveman life (religious ceremonies, tribal meetings, heelings, hunting parties) without jarring point-of-view switches, which helps narrative flow. The detailed descriptions of every fiber of every rug on each floor are interesting to Anthropologically-inclined readers, and others can skip them.Unfortunately, Auel has a serious problem with exposition. She goes into excruciating detail about everything that happened in earlier books whether we need to know or not. Worse, she repeats things that happened earlier in SoS, sometimes later in the same chapter, or even on the same page. For example, on page 272 Auel gives details about cleaning up after a burial ritual. Then on page 273 Ayla asks why Jondalar is so clean and someone explains to her, in the same detail, about cleaning up after the burial ritual!All that unnecessary padding dragged down a great story about Ayla struggling to be accepted and learning about a new culture, appealing to fans of drama, history, and soap opera alike. If 200 pages or so had been cut, SoS would be a fantastic book instead of a mediocre one.As it is, the magic of Clan of the Cave Bear isn't lost, and Ayla's travels have plenty of life in them. Just be ready to do some page-flipping.-Elizabeth ReuterAuthor, Demon of Renaissance Drive
—Elizabeth Reuter
