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.

Mixed feelings

I have loved this series from the beginning - especially the first 2 - and like most of her fans, I have awaited this last book for a VERY long time. Maybe, because of that, I was not happy about this book. 1) While I liked Sandra Burr for the most part, I totally HATED her portrayal of Ayla. I know that we always hear about Ayla's accent, but Burr's accent for Ayla made her sound stupid. It was a shock and I almost couldn't continue because of it.
2) The story itself. I felt like there was a lot of repitition with the same story, or introductions or poems/songs being repeated in their entirety multple times. I think the Mother's Song lyrics had to be in there 5-6 times.
3) There is also an incident with Ayla and Jondolar that formed the basis of the last quarter of the book that made me go, "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?"
4) There are also some wierd time gaps that occur. Jonayla seemed to go from suckling infant in one scene to horseback riding in the next scene. It was so jarring that it made me go back and relisten because I was sure I must have missed an entire chaper or section of the book. There are more gaps where entire years go by and the only transition is essentially, ".....and a year later...."
5) I felt like there was just something missing from Ayla's character - somehow, she became "ordinary" in this book. Despite the fact that we kept being "told" how special she was, there was nothing she DID in this book that was particularly interesting, innovative or even good. If I would not have known her history, I would have asked, "What's all the fuss about?" The things that made her special or even spectacular in previous books were downplayed or non-existant.
6) Finally, there was one "invention" that I kept expecting her to come up with and she never did. It is primed and set up for it to happen about 50 times in the book and never comes about. I don't want to say more lest I ruin the book for others, but I was disapointed overall.

Boy, I tired!

If this was book 1, I never would've read 2. Glad it's over. Glad it is the last.

Worst of the Series

Previous books in the series I was sorry they ended. This I almost didn't finish. The author repeated explanations over and over. She resorted to the same literary tricks that were annoying in previous books.

The description of the drawings in cave after cave had me fast forwarding thru sections.
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IMO she could have added a few chapters to the previous book and finished the story there

Not my favorite but still a great book!

A little too much description, not enough story but still an excellent book. I did like that it had less descriptive porn. Overall, a great book but my least favorite of the series. Excellent narration!

I couldn't do it.

As always, the reader was amazing. No complaints there. It was the story. Through all the stories, I've had some serious contempt for Jondalar. He's so whiny! I've got no problems with a man being in touch with their feelings, its important. But he carries on, whining and crying through every novel! I got through most of this book, mostly because the idea of not finishing it was going to drive me crazy, but when the Marona scene came up, I was done. It's a prehistoric (right term?) soap opera. I'm waiting for Jerry Springer to show up. Nope. I'm through. No more with this mess. I'll go read a dictionary first.

great for a long winters read

I so loved this whole collection of books that I read through audible. It's been a pure joy just to listen .

no ending!

I have really enjoyed their story. I feel the ending was unfinished. sorry it's the last of the series.

BEAUTIFUL IN AUDIO FORM

while books become tiresome after several books are written, this author has always managed to be refreshing. this book will not disappoint and I highly recommend that you download it and enjoy the last book of her series.

A class of it's own

The best was saved for the last ! A true colonizer of dreams thank you.

The End

Great series of books if you don't mind hearing the same part of the store being told over and over and over. Visited to many caves...I had a hard time getting through this last book.