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A review by reader_and_writer
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The best word to describe what I feel is: bittersweet.
Auel’s work and research are tremendous over the course of this series. I’m really thankful that she was able to entwine the knowledge she has gathered over the years with a beautiful fictional story.
I loved and hated what I read. The first book, The Clan of the Cave Bear, was one of her best and my favourite was the second one, The Valley of Horses. After that, I struggled quite a bit with the redundancy and some plot choices.
The two main plot points of The Land of Painted Caves (Ayla becoming Zelandoni, which includes the visiting of the painted caves - that takes such a big part of the book that I have to consider it as a main other plot ) started out to be promising. But disappointment started creeping in when Auel renewed a whole plot from The Mammoth Hunters only as a means to have a dramatic effect at the end - when Jondalar has to come running to zelandonia’s dwelling to save Ayla, because they were estranged and he wasn’t around .
The redundancy was still overwhelmingly present: Ayla’s accent, the Mother song, her exotic beauty, all the names and ties, etc. That being said, I felt that the pacing of this book was handled so much better than the last five ones, as it was divided into three parts and we went through 7 years.
The end was troubling. I expected so much more but I understand why Auel wanted to finish with this particular aspect. Overall, I think that some plot points weren’t explored, even though they deserved it, and some events I feel should have happened and they didn’t (meeting her son Durc, for instance ). Surprisingly, and quite ironically, I felt that the ending was rushed.
It is bittersweet for me because I love these characters but in some ways, I feel like Auel didn’t do them justice. However, I can see her writing bettering itself, especially from the The Shelters of Stone to this one. And, once again, the heavily detailed descriptions are truly one of a kind and I’m thankful for Auel and her ability to transport us to the Upper Paleolithic era, as if she was there herself.
Auel’s work and research are tremendous over the course of this series. I’m really thankful that she was able to entwine the knowledge she has gathered over the years with a beautiful fictional story.
I loved and hated what I read. The first book, The Clan of the Cave Bear, was one of her best and my favourite was the second one, The Valley of Horses. After that, I struggled quite a bit with the redundancy and some plot choices.
The two main plot points of The Land of Painted Caves (
The redundancy was still overwhelmingly present: Ayla’s accent, the Mother song, her exotic beauty, all the names and ties, etc. That being said, I felt that the pacing of this book was handled so much better than the last five ones, as it was divided into three parts and we went through 7 years.
The end was troubling. I expected so much more but I understand why Auel wanted to finish with this particular aspect. Overall, I think that some plot points weren’t explored, even though they deserved it, and some events I feel should have happened and they didn’t (
It is bittersweet for me because I love these characters but in some ways, I feel like Auel didn’t do them justice. However, I can see her writing bettering itself, especially from the The Shelters of Stone to this one. And, once again, the heavily detailed descriptions are truly one of a kind and I’m thankful for Auel and her ability to transport us to the Upper Paleolithic era, as if she was there herself.