AUTHOR: Jean M. Auel
STARTED: September 1, 2016
FINISHED: October 16, 2016
PAGES: 828
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: The band of travelers walked along the path between the clear sparkling water of Grass River and the black-streaked white limestone cliff, following the trail that paralleled the right bank.
SUMMARY: [From BN] The highly anticipated sixth book of Jean Auel's Earth's Children series, The Land of Painted Caves, is the culmination fans have been waiting for. Continuing the story of Ayla and Jondalar, Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived more than 25,000 years ago. The Land of Painted Caves is an exquisite achievement by one of the world's most beloved authors.
THOUGHTS: As with all the other books in the series, I found it overly info dumpy and repetitive. It was kind of frustrating that Auel thought she had to remind her readers over and over again about facts and characters that were well established earlier in the book or series. Other than that, I'm glad I read the story. It was nice to see how everything in this world wrapped-up, even if I thought the ending was a bit lackluster.
There were two things I enjoyed in this book that stand out from the problems:
1. The detailed descriptions and tours of painted caves. The imagery Auel evoked was fantastic. It probably helped that I read the majority of this book while traveling in Southern France. That is where this story takes place. The landscape described was the landscape we were traveling through. It added and extra layer to my reading.
2. The completeness of the world. Auel thought through every detail and made all her characters and the world they live in rich and complete. I feel like there could be much more to this series if Auel wanted to continue with the series.
According to the internet, this is the last book in the series. I will keep my eye out, however, for any additions or spin-offs.
RATING: 6/10 [Good]
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