Rating: 
Summary: I waited ten years and...
Review: I was a very young girl when I started reading these books and have been waiting a very long time to reconnect with some of the most interesting characters in modern literature. This novel is a little disappointing for the reasons that other reviewers have stated, the repetition of stories from the previous books, the repetition of text within this book (one song lasts a number of pages and is repeated three or four times within the book), and apparent lack of plot. However, this novel has a lot of redeeming qualities. The first refutes the problem of the lack of plot. These novels are works of anthropological fiction, meant to take us into the lives of peoples who lived a very long time ago. This book, while it doesn't have much of a plot, does certainly take us into the everyday lives of the Zelandonii - from how they preserved food, bartered, traded, went to the bathroom...This is as close to "reality TV" as you get in a novel. I didn't notice the lack of plot until I had finished the novel because I was so fascinated by the factual information that was woven into the text. I look on this novel as a set up to the undoubtedly powerful conclusion being written and researched currently. I look forward, in fact, to the Clan perhaps actually sticking up for themselves and the battle which will undoubtedly ensue. Sometimes, the factual information so tediously researched seemed to become "textbook" like in its tone, but I feel that it was necessary. We are dealing with a people so far removed from our current existence and a landscape so different from anything we know now that the lengthy descriptions were absolutely necessary to provide a mental image of the rich culture of the Zelandonii and how it was completely tied to the land. One of my friends stopped by as I was reading and asked what was happening. I mentioned that a man had just been gored by a wooly rhino and my friend thought that was ridiculous, and today it would be - but 35,000 years ago, the landscape and creatures were different and man was not always as safe from those things as he is today. Most important to me in these novels has always been the way in which Ayla examines the cultural values of those around her. She questions everything, from the role and placement of individuals in society to the validity of some religious beliefs, and this is what makes her such a powerful and fascinating individual. This novel strikes a chord then when it inspires us to do the same thing with our own cultural values, which are often times just as arbitrary and based in superstition. The theme of prejudice and hatred towards those that are different runs strongly through this novel as it has through the others, and different characters have to deal with intolerance for others in many different ways and for different reasons. I think that the deeply imbedded nature of the hatred between peoples and the constant fight to change it is what hooked me into the series and I cheer internally for Ayla everytime she convinces someone to reexamine the ideas s/he has about the people around her. Some of the characters (however badly named) were so ignorant she could not change them. The tension created as a result gave the book a dimension of reality sometimes missing because Ayla's character is attributed with such a wide variety of strengths, she never seems to fail. Overall, I feel that this novel lived up to my expectations(though I did expect more sex) and I was not disappointed (except that there wasn't more sex). :) I can only say that I hope I don't have to wait ten more years for the next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I waited so long for this book, as did everyone, and was totally disappointed. I won't go into a long comment, but the book was very WORDY!!! Nothing new happened. She repeated a lot of what was in the last book.
Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: There was no character development in this book. The characters were either perfect beyond belief or just downright bad and lazy. The protaganists, Ayla and Jondalar, have become one dimensional and boring. The antagonists don't actually create any conflict worth writing about. The book is unbearably repetitive, and the physical background descriptions were endless. Too much of the book spent time reiterating what had happened in previous books, I think unnecessarily. Or maybe I've just matured in the past 12 years and expect more...What a letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Too long in length - too short in substance.
Review: It was with great joy that I discovered the 5th book was finally being released. That joy dampened with each page I turned. It is never a good thing when a reader can literally skip several pages without missing a plot point. Very few novels need to be this length, Shelters of Stone is not an exception to this rule. Ayla and Jondalar finally reach his home. The cave with the great overhanging stone eluded to in The Clan of the Cave Bear. Once there, Ayla meets Jondalar's extensive - extended family and gets ready to finally celebrate their matrimonial. There are several characters who naturally cause minor ( and I do mean minor ) problems for the super-couple but they are easily overcome. Eventually they marry, start a home and Ayla delivers her new baby, Jonayla. I have to agree wholeheartedly with a previous review that said Ayla treats the birth of her child and the child itself almost as an afterthought. It is inconceivable that a woman who was forced to abandon her first child and misses him to the point of obsession can be so cavalier about the new one. After the harrowing birth of Durc, this was a minor point in the novel. She does look at the child and her reaction, "Look darling we had a baby! Isn't that special?" My 2 major complaints are the mountain of useless descriptions of the flora and fauna of the area and the endless round of introductions. It could be argued in "The Plains of Passage" that such pages of descriptions were important as they journeyed across Europe. Here, they add ZERO to the plot. It's not necessary and frankly, it's boring. It does seem as though Jean wants to justify her years of research by throwing it all at us in one fell swoop. As for the 'formal introductions': Even should this installment of the series be the first a reader reads, they are repetitive and useless to the advancement of the story. Beyond that, the characters are terribly two-dimensional. Either they LOVE LOVE LOVE Ayla or hate her with an all-consuming passion. There is never a middle ground. There was NO character development. I wanted to hear more about the people, NOT their clothing and dinner arrangments. We wanted to know WHY the boy was beaten. We wanted to know about the character lives, not cave wall irregularities. For all the talk about Joplaya and Echozar's mating, one would think they'd be given more than 2 lines of dialog...which leades to another point. Ayla has been speaking the language Zelandonii for roughly 2-3 years - almost exclusively in "The Valley of Horses" and "The Plains of Passage". She's suddenly ignorant of words she's already used in that language? She suddenly forgets her preposistions, articles, etc? In "The Mammoth Hunters", she would frequently switch to Zelandonii because she was more fluent in that language - only now it's the opposite and Mamutoii is easier? The Zelandonii are remarkably accepting of her Clan background. This is inconsistent with Jondalar's almost violent reaction when he learned of it. The editing itself is terrible. Misspellings and punctuations errors abound. The proofreader should be fired. Last but not least, the ending was an indecent plug to buy the next book to see if Jean can tie up the mountain of loose ends. Read it at your own risk- buy it used if you must buy it at all.
Rating:
Summary: The Reader Does Not Have Short-Term Memory Loss
Review: I had been looking forward to the next installment of this series for many years. The research is impecible.The description of the life-syle of the characters, their tools, hunting and gathering methods, ceremonies and rituals, the role of the shamans and the leaders, the hierarchy of the skilled craftsman and the incredible caves was accurate. The reader could relate to the place and time through the wonderful word pictures. The constant repetition of the various experiences throughout the book was mind numbing. A reader really can remember the description of how the horses were tamed, how the spear thrower was developed, etc. from Chapter 3 to Chapter 15 to Chapter 23. There was too much redundancy. The sex really got boring. We know they were really physically attracted to each other, had great sexual compatibility and had sexual relations whenever they could. But was this really meant to be a 'romantic novel' with endless, repetitive sex? The 700+ page novel could have been cut to 400 pages.
Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: Auel continues to fascinate with her research and speculations about the life of pre-historic man, however, she missed her opportunity with this book. Amazingly, Ayla is only 19 at the END of this book?! She should have aged Ayla, which would have had its own interesting possibilities, and made this book about her children. Fans of this series waited a long time and there is little progression in the story to show for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy a Harlequin Romance--it would be cheaper!
Review: This book was a complete disappointment. It basically meanders through countless pages of soft porn and repetitive descriptions with no plot or character development. None of the characteristics that made her earlier books good reading (insight into anthropological discoveries about human origins and development, descriptive scenes in which we are introduced to prehistoric animals and habitats, well-developed characters whose behaviors are motivated by plot twists) are in evidence in this volume. Instead, we are left with luke-warm husks of characters, many of whom are simply introduced on one page, only to disappear for good two pages later, with no seeming connection to the plot, and with no contribution to the development of the story. Ayla, who in previous volumes is portrayed as a strong, confident heroine is reduced to a sniveling, weak and submissive creature who continually worries about her mate's undying love, meeting and anticipating his every need, and being a happy little hearth-wife This trite novel takes a shallow, sophomoric look at current social ills such as alcoholism, single motherhood, and child neglect and applies cliches in the form of Ayla-turned-social worker to redeem them. However, the characters involved seem one dimensional and one feels that perhaps they are in the book simply to provide an opportunity for Ms. Auel to expound upon her social views. Finally, there are no conflicts to resolve, no obstacles to overcome, and no real reason for the reader to continue to turn the pages of this dull book. It is, quite simply, an overblown soap opera put in book form. In short, you'd spend less time and money on a Harlequin Romance, and probably get a better story.
Rating:
Summary: Better than many of the reviews
Review: OK--maybe it wasn't the best of the series--but it was the best one in the past ten years. Seriously, the book did seem to show signs of repition and we did spend alot of time re-hashing the plot lines of the previous 4 books, but if you haven't read the other books--or its been 10 or more years since your read the books---it was nice to be reminded about important plot lines that one may have forgotten. I enjoyed this book very much. I think the best thing I can say is that when I finished the last page I was ready to pick up book 6. Unfortunately,it appears we will have to wait another year or so to see it published.
Rating:
Summary: I waited HOW LONG for THIS?
Review: After waiting with great anticipation for 12 looonnggg years, I actually took the day off work when my copy arrived so I could immerse myself back in the Ice Age! 300 pages later, I gave up and decided to clean house instead. I now know why the book has the shortened title of SoS - 'cause if I EVER saw a book in distress this is it! I am now perfectly willing to believe all those rumors that Jean is dead - she couldn't possibly have written this drivel.(well actually she did, it was just in books 1-4) This has been my favorite series of all time and now, sadly, I don't care if she ever gets around to publishing book 6. Even Ayla's skills as a medicine woman can't revive this victim.
Rating:
Summary: Puh-leese...
Review: ...hindsight being 20/20, I would have wished that Auel had spent an ADDITIONAL 12 years revising this book and gotten a better editor instead of dumping this horrible parody of our beloved Ayla on her fan kingdom. Not even a brief "thank you for your patience" on her dedication page to all of us who put her financial portfolio in the stratosphere these 20+ years. It apprears she took her loyal readers for granted in a big way. It's obvious from the writing that she doesn't care about her characters or fans anymore. That's her right. It's also my right not to buy any more books from her - not that she needs the bucks. This book was an insult to her fan's intelligence. She wrote it like we had complete amnesia about Ayla's previous exploits. It was like she was more concerned with making the last 4 books understandable to a brand-new reader - as if any new reader to Auel would pick up book #5 from her series on purpose! My biggest gripe (and they are legion) is the spooky feeling that Auel didn't really write this book. It's hard to put a finger on, but the writing just doesn't have the same "punch" as the last 4. I think she simply lost her momentum and interest for the story in 12 years. It's obvious that her interests lie more with the archaeology/anthropology aspect than with the creative writing aspect - and it shows. I still give Auel kudos on her prior masterpieces - she deserves them, but I'll be very cautious about anything else she writes from this point forward, and I won't buy her books sight unseen. I'll read them from the library first! Jean, I hope you read all these reviews and take them to heart. We love Ayla's story, but are real disappointed in this offering. Fire your editor, and spend more time with your character's lives. Use your prodigious research to enhance the story, not detract from it.
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