I enjoyed this story and was glad to read to the end. This book however could be cut in half and be a better story. How many frigging caves do we need to have described? And how many times do I need to read the Mother Song? I would have rather had to read a 100th page about megaloceros and their antlers, or in depth description of the ice age steppes. I’m glad I read it, and will again some day- but I won’t worry about skipping many parts!

I heard horrible things about this book, unfortunately, because I was so looking forward to it, and even though my expectations had a damper put on them, I was eager to complete the story. (I actually won a copy of this book from Goodreads’ First Reads program but did not shelve this on my first-reads shelf because I won an unreadable pre-publication edition that arrived a few weeks after the book had been published; I waited and read a hardcover edition borrowed from my public library.)

Very disappointing and anticlimactic!! I also found it discombobulating to continually get taken between the historical fiction story and being educated about the little ice age, which is when this story takes place.

Yes, despite its flaws, this was a 3 star book for me, until the end/toward the end, which left me so unsatisfied. It’s not that it deserved 3 stars, and maybe it doesn’t deserve even 2 stars, but I’m rating on my enjoyment while reading, not on the book’s merits.

It’s been nearly a decade since the last book; I would have happily waited years more for a better conclusion to this epic story. It’s been 25 years since I read the first book, the best of the 6, and book 2 was unique and fascinating, and I do love being with these people in these setting, and enjoy the conjectures about what life was like in this era.

Because so much time has elapsed since I’ve read the previous 5 books, I was grateful for reminders of what had happened in those books, but this book is so ridiculously repetitive. This book needed major editing. The author should not have thanked her editor in the acknowledgements; I can’t imagine what her editor did to help with this chaotic book.

I do love Wolf. What a great character. I also love the horses. As with the previous books, I enjoyed reading about how people might have lived in that time: what materials they used, how they might have domesticated animals, practiced medicine, etc. etc.

I also am assuming the author has made use of new discoveries about this period; I know she does do quite a bit of research. For this book she got to visit many of the caves with cave paintings.

BUT, major spoilers:

Spoiler

Jump the shark!: Page 575: When Ayla finds Jondular having sex with Marona. Ridculous! Especially given that it turns out this dalliance had been going on for some time. And page 660, when Jondular attacks Laramar. Unnecessary. But, the worst is one thing I hate in books (along with love triangles) happens: when a lack of communication absurdly complicates things, done just to make the soap opera more of a soap opera.

And, there was absolutely no resolution to the whole epic story. I wanted something. Yes, Ayla was a year’s walk away from her original people and the clan she grew up with, but I was hoping she’d find her son and wished even more that she’d learn something about/meet some of the people she was born to. Maybe I shouldn’t have expected that, but I wanted it. Am I the only reader who wanted this? Sans that, I’d have liked a better conclusion to a 6 book epic series; the ending of this book didn’t feel like the end of the story; it felt no more conclusive than the end of any of the other books. I was left feeling another book was in the pipeline, but this is the end.

Inadequate is the word that best describes the entire book and especially its conclusion.

I read the first 200 pages and skipped to the end. Maybe I'll give it another go someday, but it was just too repetitive.

It was ok, not unbearable but not great either. Way too repetitive and could probably have told the story in half as many pages. I think it definitely got better towards the end (how many cave paintings can you read about really) but this was one book I was glad to see finished as it didn't enthral me like the first 2-3 books.

Eh. The beginning of the book was rather slow, and the tour of all the caves I found rather repetitious. It was better towards the end when there was more action.

Is this really the conclusion of this series?

What happened to the subtle discussions of racism and class? This reads like a diary kept of her research trip.

My biggest problem with the entire story, the rehash of Mammoth Hunters notwithstanding, is that it has been clearly defined, over and over and over again, that Ayla knows the medicines in her pouch by knots and type of cordage, not by smelling them. AND YET. The CRUX of this entire story is based on both her and the reader forgetting this so she can have the trip that gives her information she already knows.

I was contemplating giving this book half a star, but I'm giving it one for the extensive research involved. However, research is all this book is. After "shelters of stone" I didn't precisely have high expectations, but this book failed to meet even my modest ones. It has no story line that I could detect. This is purely a discussion of the possible life of the cro-magnon people - the first "modern" humans. To say it is boring is an understatement. To say that the author is high on her own research ability is to put it mildly. It makes me wonder whether the first four books were really as good as I remember, because it's seems incredible that the plunge in readability could be so steep.

Jondalar, Ayla, their daughter and the Zelandoni of the ninth cave make a Donier tour and visit other sites of human habitation and some sacred sites. This goes on for nearly all the book. At the end of it "the great Mother" calls Ayla and makes her miscarry her second child (mystical mumbo-jumbo). She has a falling out with Jondalar, who's had "intimate relations" with his former fiancé. After this she takes a spirit journey and falls into a coma, from which Jondalar miraculously calls her back to life and they live happily ever after. It really hadn't required 661 pages to tell this story. If you have read the other Jean M. Auel books and liked them, do not read this book. It will ruin the memory of Ayla. This is the worst book I've read in a long time.