The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children, Book Four) by Jean M. Auel
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Book Reviews of The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children, Book Four)
Book Review: Well written, but boring
Summary: 3 Stars
The Plains of Passage has a good storyline, but it is extremely annoying when she goes into page after page of descriptions of wildlife and plants that Ayla is going through. The first three books were full of drama, and kept me wondering what was going to happen, while this one keeps me wondering when is Something going to happen. The only highlights of this book are when she meets people (rarely). Another problem i found with this book is the sex scenes. They are repetitive and happen often. While i do like my book to have a little bit of sex in it, i don't like the repetive scenes that appear constantly throughout the book. I'm hoping that the next book will have more action in it and less description.Book Review: Completely anticlimactic!
Summary: 3 Stars
Auel takes painstaking efforts to describe all of the trials, tribulations, and people that Ayla and Jondalar meet on their long journey from the Mamutoi summer meeting to the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii,and yet when they finally meet the Lanzadonii and then make their final trek to the Zelandonii, the story just completely falls apart. The strange dreams Ayla has been having all along apparently mean that she is meant to have a home there with Jondalar, but I just didn't feel it. I have felt so many emotions throughout these books, and at the end of this one, which I was so looking forward to, I felt nothing. It was so disappointing. I hope the 5th and final book has a more satisfying ending.Book Review: Enjoyable plot when there, WAY too much description
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoyed the first three books, even though I was slightly frustrated by the amount of time spent on describing the landscape. This book is practically nothing BUT landscape. I like the characters and enjoyed the storyline (when it was there), but I really couldn't care less about how the glacier came to be or how many different types of trees grow next to the river. There were pages at a time when not a single word was spoken; it was all description. This book would be much better if it was about 200 pages shorter. I wish someone had warned me that this book reads like an Earth Science textbook.Book Review: no pleasures here
Summary: 2 Stars
Jean Auel has done it again...written the same book for the fourth time.
I know books in a series usually begin with exposition detailing key developments from the preceding episodes, but come on. I KNOW how Ayla controls her horse with subtle body movements, I KNOW that shamans "speak with a shadow on the tongue", that Ayla believes babies come from a mans essence, and how she raised horses, wolves and lions. Yeah, yeah, you were marked by the cave lion, never knew your own people, and are terrified by earthquakes. We KNOW. So sorry you had a bad trip with Creb, Ayla, but do we need to hear about it every damn time you meet a new mog ur or mamutoi?
In fact I am 1/2 way through the book with little more than incidents repeated (often verbatim) from all the previous books. Ayla and Jondular are the party guests who just keep telling the same anecdotes over and over. The story might be interesting the 1st time but it gets old really fast.
Book Review: The last half isn't too bad....
Summary: 2 Stars
The Plains of Passage is the weakest of the first four Earth's Children books. The first third of the book consists of sex, review, more sex, eco-lecture, still more sex. Please don't misunderstand: I am all about whatever moves the story along but there is no plot to the first half of the book and the only real action is between the furs. Ms. Auel has set Ayla as the archetype of the creative, inventive, progressive Cro-Magnon, but she has made Jondalar a caricature of the sex-obsessed, self-absorbed, take-charge-when-he-hasn't-a-clue macho caveman. It's a good thing she gave him a horse because after all of that, I doubt he could walk.
Even in the second half, the narrative drags along. The frequent five-page geological history lessons begin to pall quickly and the constant rehash of the previous books reads like filler material. If you've read the series up to this point by all means check this one out from your local library and skip the first half.