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They also invented Porn! Not human kind But sex between animals REALLY turned them on YECK I kinda skim those parts lol Also Old men haveing sex with Kids! Cripe!
Okay, I'm about 3/4 through the book. Not horrible, but very annoying at times. My observations thus far:
#1: Ayla visits numerous caves in southern France that contain cave paintings of animals and symbols. These cave paintings are old even in her time, and no one back then knows what they mean, kind of like today.
But no matter how descriptive the author can be, and no matter how well developed your visualizing ability is, the very long, very detailed descriptions of the caves and paintings are boring and tedious. Auel could have inserted statements like "rather than reading the next 6 pages, the reader might instead go to the following website and view lovely pictures of this famous painted cave."
#2: The repetition and "reminders" of things in the previous books is annoying and frankly, insulting to the reader. I don't need to be reminded over and over about how Ayla had been adopted by the Mamutoi. I don't need to be reminded over and over how Ayla and Jondalar ended the tyrannical rule of Attaroa of the S'Armunai. I don't need to be reminded over and over about how Jondalar's mom was once the cave leader. Like the other poster said, about 2/3 of the book could be edited out as repetition. And, please, stop repeating the damned Mother Poem. She should have just made it an appendix in the back of the book that the reader can refer to. But to include it in its entirety or in parts, many times throughout the book, only serves to make the book thicker.
#3: There are very few of the trademark annoying sex scenes, but the ones that are there are still the same. I don't need to be reminded over and over how Ayla tastes, and how it's her unique flavor. And I'm weirded-out by the fact that the clitoris is continually described as a hard erect knob or nodule. If that part of a woman's body is that large and hard, then she probably has some sort of intersex hormonal or genetic disorder. Just sayin'.
#4: Here's a spoiler. I'll try to use the "hide spoiler" function. My apologies if it doesn't work.
Spoiler
Jondalar, that needy guy obsessed with Ayla, who can't even stand if another guy looks at her, actually CHEATS on her. She's pursuing her "career" as a zelandoni, a healer and spiritual leader, and poor widdle Jondawar feels all needy and neglected, and he can't handle his own "needs" so he starts screwing around with the nasty woman he left at the alter years ago, who hates Ayla.
I'd have chucked a couple of good stones at his head with my sling.
#5: Here's another spoiler about the "big revelation" that Ayla shares that changes the rest of humanity and history. The problem is that it's no surprise to the reader at all, because Ayla has been thinking and saying this for all 6 books, since she was like 12 years old:
Spoiler
Ayla has a grueling acid-trippy religious experience in which it's revealed to her that it's sex with a man that makes women pregnant. It's not even a surprise to her, so it's kind of anticlimactic.
The things I do like are that there are visits from Mamutoi people, so you can get caught up on what happened with them in the last 6-7 years.
What I had been hoping for all along was that Ayla would one day encounter her son Durc, or at least hear about thim, and how he's become prominent or famous among the Clan, and an example of the success of when neanderthals are combined with modern humans. I only have like a half-inch of pages to go, so if that's gonna happen it better be soon. But I have my doubts.
I'd also hoped we'd get to see the entirety of Ayla's life, and follow her into old age, to her death. But when I glanced at the last page, it seemed like she was still in her late 20s. I was at least hoping to see Jondalar become an old man plagued by E.D. No such luck.
Okay, I'm about 3/4 through the book. Not horrible, but very annoying at times. My observations thus far:
#1: Ayla visits numerous caves in southern France that contain cave paintings of animals and symbols. These cave paintings are old even in her time, and no one back then knows what they mean, kind of like today.
But no matter how descriptive the author can be, and no matter how well developed your visualizing ability is, the very long, very detailed descriptions of the caves and paintings are boring and tedious. Auel could have inserted statements like "rather than reading the next 6 pages, the reader might instead go to the following website and view lovely pictures of this famous painted cave."
#2: The repetition and "reminders" of things in the previous books is annoying and frankly, insulting to the reader. I don't need to be reminded over and over about how Ayla had been adopted by the Mamutoi. I don't need to be reminded over and over how Ayla and Jondalar ended the tyrannical rule of Attaroa of the S'Armunai. I don't need to be reminded over and over about how Jondalar's mom was once the cave leader. Like the other poster said, about 2/3 of the book could be edited out as repetition. And, please, stop repeating the damned Mother Poem. She should have just made it an appendix in the back of the book that the reader can refer to. But to include it in its entirety or in parts, many times throughout the book, only serves to make the book thicker.
#3: There are very few of the trademark annoying sex scenes, but the ones that are there are still the same. I don't need to be reminded over and over how Ayla tastes, and how it's her unique flavor. And I'm weirded-out by the fact that the clitoris is continually described as a hard erect knob or nodule. If that part of a woman's body is that large and hard, then she probably has some sort of intersex hormonal or genetic disorder. Just sayin'.
#4: Here's a spoiler. I'll try to use the "hide spoiler" function. My apologies if it doesn't work.
Spoiler
Jondalar, that needy guy obsessed with Ayla, who can't even stand if another guy looks at her, actually CHEATS on her. She's pursuing her "career" as a zelandoni, a healer and spiritual leader, and poor widdle Jondawar feels all needy and neglected, and he can't handle his own "needs" so he starts screwing around with the nasty woman he left at the alter years ago, who hates Ayla.
I'd have chucked a couple of good stones at his head with my sling.
#5: Here's another spoiler about the "big revelation" that Ayla shares that changes the rest of humanity and history. The problem is that it's no surprise to the reader at all, because Ayla has been thinking and saying this for all 6 books, since she was like 12 years old:
Spoiler
Ayla has a grueling acid-trippy religious experience in which it's revealed to her that it's sex with a man that makes women pregnant. It's not even a surprise to her, so it's kind of anticlimactic.
The things I do like are that there are visits from Mamutoi people, so you can get caught up on what happened with them in the last 6-7 years.
What I had been hoping for all along was that Ayla would one day encounter her son Durc, or at least hear about thim, and how he's become prominent or famous among the Clan, and an example of the success of when neanderthals are combined with modern humans. I only have like a half-inch of pages to go, so if that's gonna happen it better be soon. But I have my doubts.
I'd also hoped we'd get to see the entirety of Ayla's life, and follow her into old age, to her death. But when I glanced at the last page, it seemed like she was still in her late 20s. I was at least hoping to see Jondalar become an old man plagued by E.D. No such luck.
Laughing here...thanks for the summary. Yes, I forgot that it's that awful repetition that made me not like the last two books. If she couldn't think of a new storyline, then she just should have ended it.
I'd also hoped that Ayla would come across her Cave and her son at some point. Another thing that bugs me that was hinted at, I think in The Mammoth Hunters, is when they encounter some people with a name like the Sundai or something, and Ayla feels as if she should be able to understand their language and then chalks it up to them being related to the Mamutoi. I thought that was a hook to her finding the people to whom she originally belonged before the Neanderthals found her, but it was never mentioned again.
Good point Mighty. I'd really hoped that little loose end of Ayla's original people would get tied up. I mean, she had like 6 books in which to do it. Maybe if she'd left out about 200 pages of cave descriptions, there'd have been space to finally show who her original people were.
My idea:
At the very end of the last book, have an Afterword--
Far to the East, in a land just North of an inland sea, an elderly woman watches the sun setting in the west. Despite her age, she has long golden hair, with only touches of white. The ornate tattoo on her cheek is faded, as it's been there since she was initiated into the Ones Who Serve the Great Earth Mother when she was a very young woman. It had been apparent at an early age that she would Serve--her visions, though difficult to interpret, often came true.
A tear came to her eye. She remembered when she first discovered that her daughter had the same Gift. She too was destined to become One Who Serves. But instead her beautiful daughter fell in love with the handsome, intelligent trader, and she chose to give up her Calling and travel with him. The old woman wipes another tear.
The horrible earthquake was devastating even in the home cave, and much worse in the region where her daughter had been traveling, with her husband and young child. That child. A beautiful little girl that the old woman had seen only a handful of times in her 5 years of life. Even at such a young age, it was clear that Ahliayla had that same spark--a spark of intelligence, yes, but also a clear indication of the Gift. Only weeks before what would be their final journey, Ahliayla had said "Grami, you were in my dream last night about the earth shaking, weren't you?" The woman also had remembered the dream, but for her it came with a wrenching sadness, knowing that the shaking earth would take away those she love so much. The hunters had found the bodies of the little girl's parents, deep in a fault opened up by the earthquake. But there had been no sign of the child.
The old woman had tried again and again over the years to find her granddaughter in the Spirit World, and though she did contact her daughter, she never reached the child. Could she have survived? No, it wasn't likely. It would be impossible. Still, she never gave up. She continued to try to make Contact with her for the past 25 years.
The old woman closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, focusing on the spirit of her beloved grandchild. Once again, she sees images of horses. Why? What does that mean? She will need to meditate on that again, and consult the other Sundi, those with perhaps more expertise on the interpretation of symbols. Those horses seem to be there every time. And the wolf too. Another symbol she may never understand.
The woman can't help it, she is compelled to watch the sun setting every night, over that distant great sea far to the West.
The old woman smiles and tells herself "Maybe it was for the best that Ahliayla never had the chance to become a woman. At least she didn't grow up to inherit my huge vagina."
The old woman closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, focusing on the spirit of her beloved grandchild. Once again, she sees images of horses. Why? What does that mean? She will need to meditate on that again, and consult the other Sundi, those with perhaps more expertise on the interpretation of symbols. Those horses seem to be there every time. And the wolf too. Another symbol she may never understand. Yet another symbol was the big, giant penis, but that she could probably make a guess.
Okay, now I am really annoyed. Auel messed up. Ayla is reviewing the objects in her clan amulet, and they completely blow it. They mention a crystal that she got when she was in the valley, that never happened in Valley of the Horses, then Auel forgets or ignores the "sign" Ayla got when she was made Mamutoi, the piece of amber she put in her amulet. GEEZ, at least know your own books!
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