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The Land of Painted Caves

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The Land of Painted Caves

By: Jean M. Auel
Narrated by: Rowena Cooper
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About this listen

 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.


(P)2011 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd©2011 Jean M. Auel Ancient Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

Jean Auel's amazing, ground-breaking series reaches a stunning conclusion. . . . . If you ever wondered what it was like for the first reasoning humans, this is the perfect way to learn. It's as though Auel has opened up a time portal, travelled with and lived with actual human beings as they begin their journey towards the people we are today. Moving and majestic, this story sweeps all before it and encompasses everything we know about our ancestors as they trek through central Europe and set up home in the caves there. All life is here in all its glory, the loves, the jealousy, the rivalry, the medicines . . . A compelling historical drama with every modern trait of the human being, but set in the days when the world was young. Magnificent, and a privilege to be able to read it. You must read this.
She deftly creates a whole world, giving a sense of the origins of class, ethnic and cultural differences that alternately divide and fascinate us today. Among modern epic spinners, Auel has few peers.
Incredibly poignant and relevant to today
She does have a most extraordinary talent for recreating lost worlds
All stars
Most relevant
Having read the reviews given by some other readers, I was wary of bothering to listen to this book, despite the fact that I had enjoyed the others so much and was looking forward to the conclusion of the story. However, I am so glad I did purchase it. Although at times the repetition got a bit tedious, and I am sure that I know the mother's song word for word now, the general story was great and I really enjoyed it. If you have followed the other books, don't hesitate to go for this one too.

Better than expected

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A disappointing 6th installment with very little happening. The only real interest is in the final few hours of the book. Furthermore the VOA is apparently incapable of producing any voices other than a very genteel English RP with the odd inappropriate attempt at Geordie. She should stick to reading the classics to be honest and let a more versatile artist cover the series.

Slow to get going

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I really struggled to enjoy this story, and I really tried to. I am a huge fan of the rest of this series, but this book seemed a stretch too far. Jondalar behaved in ways I never would expect his character to, there was no focus on the child I assumed would be a pivotal character, and Ayla was quite one dimensional. very dissatisfied. a real shame.

drawn out, irrelevant and unbelievable

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Had to finish the book because it was the last one. The best part was the very last chapter. The book is overly descriptive. If I hear the mothers song once more I will scream . Found myself fast forwarding far too much . Having said all that I would still read the next book if she ever writes one .

Repetitive

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I don't understand why this book has received such harsh criticism personally. Yes, perhaps the author does repeat things, but I think that is the purpose of the book. To look back at how far Ayla and Jondalar had come and to bring the series to a final conclusion. Honestly, listening to the ending made me shiver. This book is amazing. Without adding any spoilers I just love the way that it asks questions that, at some point in time, humans must have asked themselves. I've read and reread these books so many times, and I thoroughly intend to read or listen to them again in the future.

It did take me a while to get used to the strange South Africa/Australian accent that the narrator used (when she hadn't used it when reading any of the other books) but after a while I just forgot about it.

A wonderful ending to an epic journey

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