The Land of Painted Caves

Earth's Children, Book 6

By: Jean M. Auel

Narrated by: Sandra Burr

Length: 34 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Ayla, one of the most remarkable and beloved heroines in contemporary fiction, continues to explore the world and the people around her with curiosity, insight, and, above all, courage.

As the story opens, Ayla, Jondalar, and their infant daughter, Jonayla, are living with the Zelandonii in the Ninth Cave - a shelter of stone. Ayla has been chosen as an acolyte and has embarked on the arduous task of training to become a spiritual leader. The wisdom that Ayla gained from her struggles as an orphaned child, alone in a hostile environment, strengthen her as she moves closer to leadership of the Zelandonia.

Whatever the obstacles, Ayla’s inventive spirit produces new ways to lessen the difficulties of daily life: searching for wild edibles to make delicious meals, experimenting with techniques to ease the long journeys the Zelandoni must take, honing her skills as a healer and a leader. And then, there are the Sacred Caves, the caves that Ayla’s mentor - the Donier, the First of the Zelandonia - takes her to see. These caves are filled with remarkable art - paintings of mammoths, lions, aurochs, rhinoceros, reindeer, bison, bear. The powerful, mystical aura within these caves sometimes overwhelms Ayla and the rituals of initiation bring her close to death. But through those rituals, Ayla gains A Gift of Knowledge so important that it will change the world.

Spellbinding drama, meticulous research, fascinating detail, and superb narrative skill combine to make The Land of Painted Caves a captivating, utterly believable creation of a long ago civilization that serves as an astonishing end to this beloved saga.

Listen to more in the Earth's Children series.

©2011 Jean M. Auel (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Not too bad

If I were to have judged this last book by the reviews, I would not have even started listening. While there is a lot of repeating from previous books and rather boring descriptions of cave drawings, it was not so bad in my opinion. There were some surprises but most events were rather predictable. But having grown to really like the characters I was more tolerant of the repetitions. It was a nice way to end the series.

hollow ending

I have been a fan of this series since the beginning. But this last book seemed almost like it was pumped out to fill a contract obligation. The audio part of it is good. No complaints there, but the story itself is a bit of a letdown after following this series for as long as I have.

Disappointing!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would only if you read the whole series. Don't like to leave things unfinished

Would you be willing to try another book from Jean M. Auel? Why or why not?

Yes, except for the last book I loved the series.

What three words best describe Sandra Burr’s voice?

Good character creation

Was The Land of Painted Caves worth the listening time?

Not really.

Any additional comments?

There was too much repetition and overly detailed descriptions in this book. It could have been half as long.

What a let down

This is a disaster! I loved the first books so much that as soon as this started I almost cried. Voices different. Not a little but drastically so. IT DOES NOT WORK. Makes them sound dumb and they most defiantly are not. I stopped listening after 10 mins. So sad to ruin a good story. Sounds forced and phony. Go back to the original. Very sad

spectacular

First time read this 3times. now listened to on audio. so awesome to listen to a book. love this series

As expected, impossible to put it down.

Auel never disappoints. we can only hope she is around long enough to give us a definitive closing to Ayla's saga.

Epic

This is the first time I have listened to Earth Children's Saga and loved the performance of the narrator. I have read the series several times in the past and loved them. For anyone that wants to make a journey to the past and follow the life of a woman whose extraordinary Life. Ayla is a great representation of who we should be.

Still Wanting More

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if you like the other books this one is for you.

What other book might you compare The Land of Painted Caves to and why?

Any of the Earth's Children series.

What about Sandra Burr’s performance did you like?

She remains consistent throughout the entire series.

If you could take any character from The Land of Painted Caves out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Ayla and Jondalar both because I feel like after 5 books together I know them.

Any additional comments?

I truly enjoyed the entire series. If there were a book 7 I would get it, but I do not believe that is in the works. While I love the audiobooks I feel this one was a little weaker than some of the others. I will not give away plot but here are some of the reasons I feel this book is a little less than the others. The book covers a larger section of time, but in order to accomplish this the book has different sections and there are large gaps of time that pass between them. History tends to repeat itself, but that is not necessarily consistent with how I felt the characters had grown. The book leaves many questions still unanswered, some of which have been hanging around since book 1. I would love to have checked in on some of the people that had been in the other books as to how their lives changed as a result of meeting Ayla and/or Jondalar, but they and their relationship remains the central focus, so if they don't see or experience it neither do we as readers.
The series was well researched and I feel a believable representation of life during a time before written history was in place. To look at life as it would have been and the social practices that are normal for life to survive and compare it to the world today is a real eye opener. Many things would not be acceptable in today's society, but some practices seem to be more advanced but lost over the progression of time and human evolvement.

disappointing end to the series

Jondalar is an idiot who can't handle not being the central focus of Ayla's life, and makes horrible decisions. Ayla is clueless, not guileless, and continues behaving like a 15 year old kid despite being some super intuitive healer. Her strength of character is diminished, and she is more wet dish rag than heroine by the end. Zelandani is selfish and doesn't care that her agenda causes all sorts of havoc in Ayla's personal life. The story has continuity issues, it becomes a hot mess by the end.

Judge for youselves

I was fortunate to have Jean Auel's previous books in audio, so I was able to listen to those first before jumping into Land of Painted Caves. Had I not done that, my opinions may be much different. The cadence in this book was pretty much the same as the previous books. I think Jean Auels books are more about the anthropology, archaeology and evolution of the people of that time period as opposed to the life and love story of Ayla. I enjoyed the book much like I did her previous novels. I have read much better books but what can I say, I am a fan. I am glad I purchased Land of Painted Caves as I intend to return to the series someday. Regardless, without giving too much away, it left me with more questions than I had at the end of the last book. This is one you will need to judge for yourselves.