The Shelters of Stone: Earth's Children, Book 5

NOTHING NEW happens in this part of the series. I am not exaggerating: Jondalar and Ayla repeat their adventures from the previous books over and over again to every person they meet and sometimes even to each other! There is absolutely nothing going in this part that can possibly constitute a new book. There's no purpose to the book: it could never stand on its own to spark interest in those who had not read the previous installments, nor could it possibly hold any interest in those who are familiar with the story. The author should have been ashamed to cheat like this, and the editors never should have agreed to publish it.

And yes, the newly added accent is annoying.

After the first three books, this was painful to listen to. I really love this story and the book just repeated itself over and over. I can't listen to the last book after reading the reviews, I believe them to be true.

I read the first three books as a teenager and wanted to listen to all the books now/again before the last book comes out this year, but after listening to the first 4 books in the series with a 'normal' voice, why the need for Ayla to have an accent? Why after 4 books was it necessary to give her a bad accent now...like russian? It is very hard to listen to her in this book with the horrible accent. The books are still incredible though!!

I read the first book in this series shortly after it first came out and was captivated by the story and the setting. Auel had an excellent idea for a story and did a bang up job of telling it. The next four books in this series I grabbed as soon as they were released. When these books became available as audio books on cassette I bought them and listened to them again and again over the years. Now I have the entire series again through Audible. Good investment in money and great investment in time. Personally I think Sandra Burr does a good job with the series. My only complaint is that it has been 31 years since the first book in the series came out and Auel said at that time it would be a six book series. For anyone that's interested book 6 'Land of Painted Caves' will finally be released in book stores on March 29, 2011. I hope Audible makes it available then as well I've been waiting on for 31 years. Actually the five books of this series that have already been published read more like one exceptionally long book. I know a lot of people don???t care for the detail that Auel goes into but I like it. Now I just wonder where Auel will take the series in the last book.

The constant retelling of the same story on previous books gets into your nerves. And why the sudden change of Ayla's voice like an Irish girl. Fire the editor for too many filler notes.

Exactly what the first reviewer said. Far too repetitive. It's not unusual for an author to make references to her earlier books to refresh people's minds, but this is beyond that. The Plains of Passage was the same way. It feels a little bit like cheating to me, using that much of her earlier books as filler. And in this book it's even worse, because each time Ayla and Jondalar meet new people they go through the same 'getting to know you' scenarios, with the same 'getting to know you' reactions that have already been done a few times earlier in the SAME book, let alone series. And each time it happens in great detail, as if it had never been written before. It's cheating. And the narrator suddenly sounding like Natasha in book 5? YES!! I was JUST telling my friend that, right before I read the review! I keep expecting her to say 'moose and squirrel' instead of Whinny and Racer. I'm still listening to it because I've invested time and money into the first 4 audio books, so I have to finish it out. But I still feel cheated by the author, her editors should feel ashamed.

Been listening to the whole set of books 1 - 4 from audible.com since Audible just made them available. Then just started this audiobook #5 The Shelter of Stones, and found that they changed Ayla's voice, adding an accent. Why was Ayla changed from how she was portrayed in the other four audiobooks? It's hard to understand the accent, and sorta ruins the reading of this book. Please don't have an accent for Ayla on the last audiobook!

Book is okay, but could have used some major editing. Auel repeats herself too often. Can be annoying. Even more annoying is that suddenly the reader has made Ayla speak like she's Natasha the Russian spy on "Bullwinkle and Rocky." Bizarre.

I used to be a huge fan of this series but I was really bored with all of the repetition in this book. I can understand refering to things that happened in previous books but when Auel constantly brings up the same dumb subject over and over and over...I just want to scream. This book just seemed so "simple" and even corny. I wish I skipped this book.

Wow, I could close my eyes and feel, smell, and taste the area and time. This book is one of five books in the series however audible doesn't carry them any more.