Back in 1980,
‘The Clan of the Cave Bear’ was published; it spawned a genre of prehistoric
novels, none of which ever grabbed me the way that book did. Jean Auel not only
put an incredible amount of research into her books, but her heroine, Alya, was
one of the most engaging protagonists I’ve ever ‘met’. I followed the series as
this Cro-Magnon superwoman survived being orphaned at age five and then being
raised by a band of Neanderthals, learned to hunt, tamed animals, learned
herbal healing, and so much more. Auel showed, in an entertaining way, how
various things could have been learned and invented. I read that book at a time
when I was going through a back to the land phase, and Ayla’s adventures
resonated with me.
I waited
eagerly for each new volume. Sadly, the quality dropped as the series went on;
the books started to drag. Still, I could not give up on the series, even
though I didn’t get to reading ‘Land of the Painted Caves’ until it had been out for two years. I
kind of wish I hadn’t read it at all.
There is little
in the way of plot; Ayla and the First (the spiritual leader of the caves and
her mentor) make a journey to visit all the caves with paintings in the area. There
are some personal issues for Ayla, of course, but they seem contrived. And the
book is extremely repetitious; every time Ayla is introduced (which, given the
travel theme, is very, very often) her entire list of names and affiliations is
given as if we have never read them before; as is the fact that she has an
accent. We read about every person’s reaction to the horses and to Wolf. While
it’s valid that people would have never seen tame animals before, we don’t need
to know about every single reaction. Nor about every time Ayla brews up tea. It’s
a huge book and I feel would have benefited from some serious editing.
It is almost
like Auel felt she needed to finish the series but didn’t really have it in
her. It’s a sad ending for the Earth’s Children series.
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