The Mammoth Hunters

Earth’s Children, Book 3

By: Jean M. Auel

Narrated by: Rowena Cooper

Length: 28 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Leaving the valley of horses with Jondalar, the handsome man she has nursed back to health and come to love, Ayla embarks on a journey that will lead her to the Mamutoi; the Mammoth Hunters. But as she settles into this new life among a people at first strange and disturbingly different, Ayla finds herself irresistibly drawn to Ranec, their master-carver. Ultimately, she is compelled to make a fateful choice between the two men.

Jean Auel's imaginative reconstruction of pre-historic life, rich in detail of language, culture, myth and ritual, has become a set text in schools and colleges around the world.

©1985 Jean M. Auel (P)2004 AudioGO Ltd

Critic Reviews

"The authenticity of background detail, the lilting prose rhythms and the appealing conceptual audacity continue to work their spell." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Clearly falls into the "unputdownable" category... once again Jean Auel presents a compelling, vivid and authentic picture of man's existence at the dawn of history, an epic tale the fluency of which is a tribute to the depth of her research." (Citizen, Gloucester)

I love this book

I first started reading this series in 1991 and loved the first four books and then disappointed by the final two. Jean Auel paints a carefully researched world with compelling characters that draw the reader in. Ayla is epic and you love her throughout. I have re-read this book several times, it's my favorite and I was delighted by the audio version, Rowena Cooper does a fine job. It's hard to say what draws me back to this book. I think it's the relationship tension that is so carefully built up between Ayla and Jondalar interspersed with memorable Lion Camp characters especially Rydag, Mamut and Nezzie. Add to this some entertaining events - Bison hunt, Finding Wolf, Summer meeting, Funeral.....and it's a great read.

Defiantly not the best in the series....

I struggled to finish this book. By far a big disappointing compared to the first two books, which were pretty good, especially the first. But I've grown attached to characters and narritor so I still bought the 4th book. Hope it's better

Just amazing!!!!

Oh how I love these books… Makes me appreciate everything we have so much more, but it also makes you realise how much we’ve hurt our earth.

Mal, no leído

No he podido leerlo, lo quisiera en español y no lo encuentro en los dos primero si estaban en español

Gripping story!

The plot is fascinating, but I liked Sandra Burr as reader better (in previous books). Chose this one for its slightly shorter length, but the names are pronounced in such a different way, that I regretted doing so.

characters got a bit annoying and repetitive, but

the indecision and back and forth of *certain* characters gets repetitive and frankly annoying by the end. Problems entirety of their own making get frustrating after a while. Characters are a bit too emotionally stunted and moronic at times. Also a little too much painstakingly detailed sex read in a grandmotherly BBC documentary voice for my liking, but if you're into that, then this is the book for you.
Otherwise a good listen, and I'm looking forward to the next instalment as I'm told there's far less of the annoying bits.

Circular

It's the same story in a different location. Getting boring. Will try one more book and might give up. Research for the story is awesome and it allows me to walk back in time.

Timeless classic of a lost time.

Passion, empathy and love set in a time long gone. This love story is brought to life so brilliantly that I feel I can step into the world created, feel the heat of the Sun, the chill of the Glaciers and experience the sights, sounds and smells of the landscape. I have loved this series of books since I began with Clan of the Cave Bear in my late teens. Jean M Auel has created a vision of a time long gone who's messages are still relevant today if you only take the time to look. The need to co operate, work together, show and indeed Be tolerant. Be respectful of the world and it's gifts and never take anything for granted. This book shows life is a Gift and should be embraced. Please make time to lose yourself in this incredible series as you may well find yourself along the way.

stone age soap opera

I LOVED the preceding book, Valley of the Horses, but this was a slog. Not much of a story apart from a misunderstanding over marriage (really? a bit hard to believe) which went on and on and on. And found the preachy description teaching me about clothes, baskets, spears, food, etc etc a bit tedious. So a bit of a yawn really.

I've given up now

I loved the first book in this series, and quite enjoyed the second, but I've tried 3 times and this one is too much.
So much detail about everything. And the characters started to get on my nerves, it's like the author is trying to create conflict all the time.
The narration is poor, no difference in tone for each character.

Give this one, and any subsequent ones a miss.
If I could have returned it to Audible, I would have.

The Worst of the Series.

First off I must point out that I've really enjoyed The Earth's Children books, however this one was its weakest installment.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the new characters and their relationships with our favourite stone age couple but actions and thoughts of both of them were just so unbelievable it actually made me skip though as I couldn't bear the unrealistic writing.
I kept on shaking my head in disbelief as they kept doing one thing but thinking the complete opposite, over and over just so at the end it would make for an heartwarming reunion of the pair.
Uber poor storytelling from the author.
I should also point out that the books filled with banging, im no prude but it gets boring time after time and again had me hitting the forward skip even although the sex description is hilarious, the authors choice of words had me laughing out loud until it became tedious.
I did like the general story, the new group but again the way the author chose to build a plot based on unrealistic behaviour made this installment the weakest of the entire series.
If this is your first time listening, dont let it put you off continuing through the books as it all gets back on track after you make it through this one.

Great story of jealousy and love

I have recently started replacing my paper copies of this book series with Audiobooks, and the whole series is interesting enough to listen to over and over. It follows the love story of Ayla and Jondalar, and all their adventures on their long journey. These books are enjoyable principally because the research into stone age times is so meticulous that the tale is totally believable. For me, it's all about the effective suspension of disbelief. This story achieves that very well and totally immerses tbe listener in that prehistoric world, with all the customs and everyday ways of those ancient people.

This part of the series depicts the incredibly painful struggle of Ayla and Jondalar to overcome their cultural beliefs and recognise their love for each other when they settle for the winter with the Mammoth Hunters. The problem mostly lies with Jondalar. For a supposedly sensitive man, he is unbelievably dense, incapable of recognising Ayla's continuing love for him and repeatedly pushing her away until she feels forced into another man's bed. I seriously wanted to strangle him by the Spring. If I was Ayla, I'd kill him for hurting me so much. Stupid thick idiot!!

I was afraid this story might be read in an American accent (as the author is American) and was initially pleased to hear an English voice. However, the narrator, Rowena, reads this series in a genteel, well bred voice which stayed the same regardless of the character speaking. She pitches her voice higher for a child and slightly lower for a man, and uses plenty of expression, but everyone is depicted with complete gentility and sounded equally polite and cultured. People crying out with intense fear, anguish or passion could have sounded more emotional. Different accents, from Ayla, all the diverse characters, the Neanderthal Clan and different tribes of Cro-Magnons, are ignored, and it is impossible to tell the difference between any of the characters from voice tone alone. But the text repeatedly refers to Ayla's guttural accent. No matter, everyone sounds like a posh middle aged woman. She also slightly mispronounces certain words, which I found a little irritating. ("flaccid" was pronounced "flacksid", "tisane" became "tizzarn", "withes" was said "wythes" as it's spelt, rather than "withees". "Travois" was said as "travoyz" instead of "travoi" and "shaman" became "shamman" rather than the longer "shaaman". "Temporary" she pronounces "Tempry" and "necessarily was pronounced "necessrily" ). Only minor, but still a bit irritating as I'm so pernickety about accuracy!

I've listened to much better narrators who give each character a distinct voice, which really enhances the story. However, Rowena Cooper's narration is expressive and compassionate to each character, ansd much better than reading the book myself.

Story not bad.

Story not to bad, but to much waffle in between the good bits. Narrator good

More than I can put into words

I am stunned by these books, in awe of the themes Jean explores and highlights pulling you into a "page turning" addictive lissen, with such rich imagery exquisite detail and fascinating historical context, so greatful I found these books I love them so much and all they have given me from listening to them!

Brilliant

I Loved it, start to finish. Breathtaking world of Ayla continues, hooked forever. Must read