• The Land of Painted Caves

  • Earth's Children Series
  • By: Jean M Auel
  • Narrated by: Rowena Cooper
  • Length: 29 hrs and 57 mins
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars (132 ratings)

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The Land of Painted Caves  By  cover art

The Land of Painted Caves

By: Jean M Auel
Narrated by: Rowena Cooper
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Publisher's summary

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES concludes the story of Ayla, her mate Jondalar, and their little daughter, Jonayla, taking readers on a journey of discovery and adventure as Ayla struggles to find a balance between her duties as a new mother and her training to become a Zelandoni - one of the Ninth Cave community's spiritual leaders and healers.

Once again, Jean Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived thousands of years ago, rendering the terrain, dwelling places, longings, beliefs, creativity and daily lives of Ice Age Europeans as real to the reader as today's news.

©2011 Jean M Auel (P)2011 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

What listeners say about The Land of Painted Caves

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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    32
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Echoes

Repetitious, tedious and quite disappointing. This book is but a weak echo of the previous books. And just like an echo it repeats itself over and over again. If you buy this be prepared listen to a dreary amount of ???mother songs???, explanations of what happened in previous books and descriptions of cave paintings. I do not mind listening to Auel describing them going about their business and doing everyday things like drinking herb tea and weaving baskets, in fact I quite like it. But really, what is the plot here? Where are we going with this? At the end of the book there is an attempt at a romantic twist that is once again but a weak echo of something that happened in one of the previous books. We briefly meet some cavemen criminals, but it is handled so fast and is such random part of the story that it might as well have been left out. I guess you could say that Aylas education to becoming a shaman is the plot here, but then why is her touring the painted caves the only part of it we really hear about?

There seems to be two narrations available. This one is very well done, but since the narrator strikes me as an elderly British woman I was deathly afraid of the explicit sex scenes I have come to expect from Auel. Thankfully there were fewer than usual.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

One word - Repetition

Having practically grown up with the Earth Series I was so completely disenchanted with this final sequel of an excellent series. The author has just rehashed the first 4 books with absolutely nothing new until the last couple of chapters. The Mothers Song is repeated so many times, I could probably recite it word perfect in my sleep. Ayla (who was my inspiration when I was younger) came across as a 2 dimensional personality, I was even beginning to get irritated with her. So buyer beware, there is not much new over 30 hours, but if you need help getting to sleep this is perfect.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring

I was so looking forward to this book, what a disappointment it was repetitive and just didn't go any where. What happen to Ayla's spirit? Unless you really feel you need to read the last book in this series save you money don't buy it.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I was so looking forward to the final series of the Earth Children series only to be disappointed, it was so repetitive, rehashing what was in the previous books, why couldn't Ayla meet up with her son or the clan again. If your thinking about purchasing this book save your money.

What else was disappointing about this book was the narrator, one point in the book she slipped into a cockney accent, it was only for a split second but was weird, I kept thinking she should be reading Enid Blyton series not these ones, please bring back Sandra Burr.

A most disappointing book.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Jeans most Auelful work-an embarrassment!

I wish I had taken note of the comments of other readers and saved my money. The endless repetition and lack of plot was a huge let down after all these years of reading Auel's books. She should recall all copies , apologise and go back to the drawing board (or should that be "bored")As regards the "Mothers Song" you can't help groaning the minute you hear someone launch into it again, and again and again and again and again and again and........!.I feel sorry for the lady who narrated the book as it can't be good for her reputation.That's Auel folks!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible, don't buy this!

I was a huge fan of Ayla, but this book put and end to it! If I never hear the "Mothers Song" again it will be too soon. This song is repeated word for word in entirety about 6 times. (The total duration of this song must be about 5 minutes!) About 60% of this book must be dedicated to the Mothers Song and long boring descriptions of each Mammoth and Bison painting encountered in each cave they visit). Oh and another 15% of the content is dedicated to the 3 minute reciting of ties during the greetings. I eventually wished that Ayla would stop meeting new people so that we could just get on with the story!

I will never read another one of Auel's books, if she is ever published again after this shockingly bad performance!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

what happened?

I can't believe this is the final book in what was an interesting and most readable series. I was immensely disappointed. I actually cries it was so bad.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Predictable, repetitive, tedious

Hard to believe this is the same author that wrote Clan of the Cave Bear. This story could have been covered in one short chapter, instead of a narration of over 28 hours. The material kept going over same ground and even repeated stuff from previous books. The characters were so predictible you could see what was coming a mile off, no suspense, just one long tedious saga that was only just made bearable by the narrator's skill. I really enjoyed the previous books, but am so disappointed with this poor effort that I won't be wasting my time with any more of Ms Auel's Earth's Children books.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Repetitive

I have always loved this series, and remember reading book 1-3 many times. Something in me always stopped there, but with the audiobooks, I continued. Books 4-6 is very repetitive, and there have been segments I have jumped forward a lot. in-between the repetitive segments, where we get "new story", the story is excellent. But it takes away somewhat that old parts of the story drones on like that. You could really read books 1-3, and 6. I was also a bit disappointed that the really interesting part came so late in this book, and instead of going into it, it felt rushed. But it feels good to have a conclusion. If I ever read again, I'll go back to book 1-3, and just remember the later parts.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Repetition

struggled to finish. it's just repetitions and not a lot happening at all. should had stopped after the second book while it was good.

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