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"Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good."
Earth's Children 02: The Valley of Horses
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Earth's Children 02: The Valley of Horses
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1 journaler for this copy...
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From the back of the book: This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman. Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through the stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winner, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship. One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don't fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her of living with her own kind. I first started reading this series because I saw it on one of those lists of books that have been banned by someone or the other somewhere. After reading the first book I wasn't particularly sure why it was banned. Yes, it contained a rape scene, but no I don't think it should be read by anyone younger than high school. More of that happens in this book, most notably a very lonely Ayla looking on as the mare she took in as a pony finds a well-endowed stallion for a mate. To top it off the book repeatedly, lightly describes people having sex. Oh no!! :-p I mean, how exactly do the people who ban these books think that they got on this green earth?? None of it is gratuitous either, but rather I think it advanced the plot and/or the development of characters. The one complaint that I read often about the first book at places like Amazon and such was that a lot of time was spent describing plants and cooking and hunting and language and so on. I didn't mind it so much since I found a lot of it interesting. However, by the time I got through this book it was really starting to wear. I still think they're interesting, but I seriosly think she could've cut back on a lot of things in this book. From the back of the book and just from the concept alone that Ayla might find people like her, you know she just HAS to run into some in this book. So the fact that that doesn't happen until TWO-THIRDS of the way through the book - and it's not a thin paperback - was annoying. A lot of the stuff that happened before that could've been shortened or outright cut. The concept is still interesting, but the fact that Auel spends so much time describing all sorts of things which I'm thinking more and more are just tangentional makes me hesitate on reading more of this series. Perhaps I just need to take a break from the series. An interesting book, but not a series to pick up lightly. |
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