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.

Really?

After all this time, I have to say I expected a better product than the one that was delivered by both Ms. Auel and Ms. Burr. The narrative was weak and jumpy. Ms. Auel's unaccountable love for her own poetry ad nauseum (The Mother's Song) and Ms. Burr's pseudo-Russian, -French and -Italian accents definitely detracted from the story. (And if there were going to be any consistency about it, why didn't the Mamutoi have any accent?) On the positive side, at least Ms. Auel seems to have finally mostly gotten over her obsession with describing every last action performed during "Pleasures." By the time I was finished with the previous books, I was starting to wonder if she was a frustrated soft-porn writer.



Overall, if you're a fan of the Earth's Children series, I'd say go ahead and get this one, but lower your expectations before listening to it. One final note to all series writers: PLEASE go back and read your previous books before you write the newest one, lest you drive your readers (ok, listeners) completely crazy as you rewrite the history of your characters!

Wonderful Series...the Earth's Children books!

To begin with...I am a Jean Auel fan. I have read AND listened to all 6 of the books. They are well written and really give you something to think about. Her characters are as normal and flawed as real people. They dither and misinterpret other folks...just like we do today. Sandra Burr is a very good reader, changing her voice to indicate characters and situations. All Six Books are a good adventure in the world 10,000-20,000 years ago.

Needs more lot elements

It's as if she ran out of plot elements in the first few books. How many times do we have to suffer through the main characters thinking the other doesn't love them? Good stories, but please show some restraint on the copy/paste method of writing.

Dont marathon this series

Back in the day, every book in a fantasy/scifi series had to stand on its own. The expectation was that these were mostly cheap/dumb pulp fiction that someone would tear through on the beach, or waiting for the train. This meant that every book in a series had to dedicate space to world building and explaining what happened in previous books and introducing the characters. That is what makes this book a pretty bad read by todays standards. Half of the book is copypasta and backstory from 5 other books and that kills any possibility for character development or plot momentum.

The upside of this is if you were a fan of the books back in the day, you dont have to reread the series just so that you can understand the more recently published conclusion.

The plot that isnt backstory is about religion and Ayla studying to be a priestess. Just like the prehistoric road trip in plains of passage might only interest a reader with serious wanderlust, this book might be most appealing to folks who are seriously into theology/earth centered paganism /getting uncomforably high and contemplating, like, the universe, and like, your place in the universe, and like, getting really far out man.

full disclosure: i marathoned this whole series in about 2 months. Its fun even of it is sort of dumb. Sandra Burr is a pretty great reader.

Very repetitive!

What did you like best about The Land of Painted Caves? What did you like least?

I liked the continuation of the series. While others have been bored with the cave explorations I found them to be very interesting. Ayla's story continues to intrigue. However the repeated story of the past becomes extremely frustrating especially if you are listening vs. reading this book. I think 25% of the book could have been omitted because it was simply repeating the story. For those of us who have followed the series the need for the continued review of the story of Ayla, the wolf, the horse, etc was disappointing.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Take out all the repeated stories.

Least favorite of all the Earth Children

Just to much rehash of the earlier earth children series. sometimes I felt the book was just a summary of all the other books. the actual story in the book could have been an hour or two of narration.

Not my favorite of the series

there was a lot of repeated information with no logical conclusion. Still a great book series.

Great book

After waiting so many years for the last book in the series, I couldn't buy it fast enough when it came out. It is a great continuation of the story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well written and Sandra Burr did a very good job with the narration. I did not agree with some others who said she spoke too quickly. I thought the pacing was excellent, the accents pleasing and her performance added to the entire book. The only reason I didn't give the book five stars was because Auel did one thing that was a tad annoying. She would repeat different details several times during the book as if those details had never been given. For example, the physical description of Jondalar or some of Ayla's experiences with the Clan. It was a bit strange to do that, but not too concerning. Overall, a great read! So satisfying to finally get the last book. YES!

Last novel?

I guess this was her last novel. I know it had a happy ending but I just wish she could have written some novellas regarding her first son Durc and the Clan to add to this amazing journey. It would have closed a lot of chapters.

A Super Read

Loved the book in printed form, but the audible version is SO much better! Really made the story come alive. Just wish Jean Auel had written another book; was sorry to hear the story come to an end.