The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This makes me heartsick. I should have known since the last several books in the series were a complete letdown, but I had hopes. I've waited for this book for nearly thirty years.



My girlfriends and I poured over Clan of the Cave Bear in high school. It was so different from anything we'd ever read, then we fell in love with Jondalar as young women.



I bawled--literally had to stop because I couldn't see--through the Mammoth Hunters when Rydag died. 



Then my friends and I anxiously waited for the next book since they only came out every four years. They went downhill from there. It was as though with Ms. Auel's fame and money, now she could go on expeditions to research the caves and landscape she was writing about. Unfortunately, the books started reading like a research thesis instead of continuing with the characters growth. "Look at the interesting fauna here and the cave painting there" as the characters do little more than travel across the continent. Really?



Okay, I could forgive one or two books because there were hints of Ayla's half-clan son and a son of Jondalar's meeting in battle at the end. That should be good, right? Worth the wait, right? All will be forgiven. I can understand getting excited and wanting to throw in all your hard-earned research into a book.



Except, except . . . she should have just written a non-fiction Painted Caves of France book, because that's all this was with Ayla traipsing through them so we could see them.



I read the entire weighty tome, hoping for something. There were maybe forty pages of small actions and dreams that brought up the whole Clan son vs. Jondalar's son in a vision to put it to rest. A vision! Talk about broken promises.



It hurts to say how disappointing this is, esp. when I consider the first three books my all time outstanding favorites that amaze me with the awesome characterization. I wish Ms. Auel hadn't lost that somewhere along the way.











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