I saw this a couple of months ago and picked up Clan of the Cave Bear and couldn't put it down. By the time I finished the second to last book, Painted Caves was published so I didn't have to wait in between as many of you have. I was up late, rose early, couldn't put it down. But there is tons of repetition in the books, especially when you read them one after another. Maybe Jean Auel thought that someone would just pick up a middle book and not know what was going on in the story. The Clan and Valley were my favorites of the series.

Usually, I like a strong male lead in a story but this is one series where it was Ayla that fascinated me. I wanted to follow her life, make sure that she was OK, cheer her on, etc. Jondolar I could take or leave.

The story reminded me of a reverse Tarzan (Ayla being the female Tarzan).

Yes, Ayla is definitely a fascinating heroine to watch. It was great to watch her learn the ways of all the different people she came in contact with. Definitely more interesting than Jondalar, but I liked him too (most of the time).

One thing that bugged me about the last book was that we spent 6 loooooong books following Ayla, and then the very end of the last book wasn't in her point of view or focused directly on her and that just felt wrong to me. I wanted it to end with Ayla. (That and the excessive repetitiveness kind of ruined the overall effect of the last book for me.)

Picking up The Mammoth Hunters again - will hopefully have it finished by the time Voyager arrives.

Ayla definitely develops along with the story throughout the books. This thread has encouraged me to pick up The Land of Painted Caves again. Maybe I will finish this time. Thanks for the encouragement! (I am waiting for the Scottish Prisoner.)

repoman, you just need to do some self-editing and skip over the repetitive parts (and all right some of the painted caves parts) until it gets back to the characters, which I do regularly with books like this. Jean Auel did years of research into the painted caves and she proves it in this book, but really how many descriptions of red dots do we really need!

Pauline, you may be right. Maybe it is the accountant in me, I am anal retentive enough to insist on catching every detail. I am looking for the light at the end of the *cave* though.

Way too many caves but I think that the point of this journey for Ayla is to show how she is being pulled away from her relationship with Jondalar (me thinks that the Zelandoni is doing this a little bit on purpose). Ayla is being pulled by the Zelandoni one way and trying to maintain her family on the other which is proving untenable. The fallout will come since no man can have two masters.