The Land of Painted Caves

This really wasn't good. The only reason I'm giving 3 stars is because it ended well. The writing was bad and the plot was even worse. It almost destroyed the deep, loving relationship Ayla and Jondalar built in the 3rd and 4th books. I personally think Mrs. Auel should have finished the series with the 4th book, as the 5th and 6th books weren't anywhere near as good as the rest of the series.

Ugh. Couldn't finish.

What to say after all that? It was almost anticlimactic. I agree with several of the other reviewers of this series, and say that the first 3 or so books were good, then it started going down hill. I still think that Ayla's entirely too perfect. Her personality is flawless, her body is perfect and exotic, the skills she learned from surviving on her own in the wilderness are impressive, but being born with other superhuman skills just makes it too much. I would be more impressed by a quote unquote normal person going through the things she goes through, and thriving, instead of someone so extraordinary from the start.

I gave this book 3 stars because it does improve from the last one. It's still not as good as the first few books, but it is better. More happens, and it's not quite as repetitive. The constant repetition, though, does make the reading tedious. There's only so many times we need to hear about how the tools were made and how they are used. Hearing how beautiful and unique Ayla is over and over and over each time someone new sees her, and a few times in between, becomes annoying, instead of actually building the readers respect for her or the author. And if I hear one more comment about Ayla's accent...

Despite all the complaints about Auel's writing, however, the setting and culture of the series is still captivating. The characters and storyline are creative, yet realistic. I commend Auel for her careful and thorough research of the subjects she writes about. She does say somewhere in one of her books that she prefers writing nonfiction, and it shows in her writing. if the last two or three books had been written better, I would wish there was more. I'd like to know what happened after that. How that civilization started becoming more like the society we know today, and how the knowledge revealed at the end of this book changed their lives and customs.

If I could make two suggestions on how to improve on this series as a whole, they would be:
1. Auel should get a better editor. or,
2. Someone should publish an abridged version of the series.

A movie, or movies, of the books would be interesting.