Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168696 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 784 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jean M Auel's The Shelters of Stone, is the latest title in the Earth's Children series--undoubtedly one of the most celebrated works in publishing history--and includes The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters and The Plains of Passage. Each of these books enjoyed long runs on the bestseller lists across the world and have sold more than three million copies in the British marketplace. There are 28 foreign language editions of Auel's books in print and 34 million copies have been sold worldwide.

The Shelters of Stone continues the story of Ayla who lost her family to an earthquake and was raised by the people who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear. She arrives in the land of the man she loves, but his people are wary of her and think of the Clan who cared for her as animals that resemble people and who are not much smarter than beasts. Ayla has brought with her two horses and a wolf over which she has uncanny control. Ayla vows to learn from the Zelandonii and hopes, in turn, to teach them. She is particularly pleased to meet the spiritual leader of the tribe, a fellow healer with whom she is able to share medical skills and knowledge. But Ayla's greatest problem is to convince her new hosts that she is from a tribe of human beings, not the subhumans they are regarded as. And when she gives birth to her eagerly awaited child, she is forced to accept that she and her child will have to play a very significant role in the clouded destiny of the Zelandon.

Auel is particularly sharp in her characterisation of Ayla, the woman who is foreign and strange in this new land, and her heroine's clashes with her new-found people are handled skilfully. The reader is immersed in another world, one whose every detail is skilfully evoked, while the writing has all the colour and vividness of Auel's previous books.--Barry Forshaw

Peterborough Evening Telegraph
'A publishing event . . . a huge new pre-historic masterpiece'

Review
'Bursting with hard information about ancient days and awash in steamy sex . . . Auel's latest will not only please her legions of fans but will hit the top of the list, pronto.' (Publishers Weekly )

'Auel is particularly sharp in her characterisation of Ayla . . . has all the colour and vividness of Auel’s previous books.' (Starlog )

'Meticulously researched . . . fascinating . . . course-by-course menus for Upper Paleolithic blow-outs . . . that Joanne Harris might envy. Jean Auel is as remarkable a figure as J R R Tolkien.' (Independent Magazine )

'Jean M. Auel has meticulously researched her subject and this latest book should continue the huge success of the series.' (Hello )

'Jean Auel's greatest achievement is to have created a plausible primeval community where men and women love and sometimes hate, and learn to survive in a harsh environment that demands rules and co-operation.' (Daily Express )

'As always, Auel has meticulously researched her prehistoric subject and this latest offering is a triumphant continuation of the saga.' (The Irish News (Belfast) )

'Impeccable research makes this much more than a fantasy reconstruction of prehistoric life.' (Daily Express )

'A publishing event . . . a huge new pre-historic masterpiece' (Peterborough Evening Telegraph )

'Massive in scope' (Daily Mirror )

'A glorious blend of purported history with sexy fantasy.' (Evening Standard )

'A triumphant continuation of the saga.' (Western Daily Press )

'Enthralling, exciting and impossible to put down.' (York Evening Press )

Customer Reviews

Was it worth the twelve year wait? Hmm...
This must be the longest I have ever waited for the next book in a series. I bought the first one in 1984 when I left home for university, got absolutely hooked and avidly read them as they appeared, including The Plains of Passage, which was the last one in 1990. If I have to wait another twelve years for the next book in the series, I'll be nearly fifty and will have spent thirty years on this story.
So was it worth it and will I be anticipating the next book as eagerly? I'm not so sure. Oh, I'll read it - I have grown very fond of the heroine, but I found this book somewhat of a letdown. It mostly feels like scene-setting for the next book, and half the content seems to be retelling of the four books before (something that was already starting to irritate in The Plains of Passage, together with the too-dry lectures on flora, fauna and geography). Yes, the new people Ayla lives with need to know about her life, but it could have been done better. Jean Auel should really trust her readers more to know what has already happened - after all, we have had twelve years to read the story again and again. Compared to the scope of the plot in the earlier books, this is a bit feeble.
But I still want to know how it all ends. Meet you all at my fiftieth birthday party.

entering the territory of 'Beyond Endurance'
I really, really wanted to love this book.

I have read the previous four at least 8 times each, averaging one or two volumes every 18 months over the past 20 years. With the latest release I have realised that the main joy of the previous volumes was Ayla's continual discoveries and innovations in survival situations. There are no discoveries in Shelters of Stone except for a limestone cave. An empty limestone cave. An empty limestone cave with blank white walls, perhaps the perfect symbol for this entire book. But that's only the start of the problems.

There was so much wasted potential here, so many, many plotlines that could have been explored, if only Ms Auel's passion had been present during the writing of it, but I'll get to that theory in a moment.

This book hurt to read, and it was irritating and finally it made me angry. I feel very let down. In an ordered list, here's why:

1. Throughout the previous three books, Jondalar made frequent references to his mother's mate, Willomar. In SoS, it was spelled Willamar. The first time I read it I thought I had found the first typo. After the 75th time, it was like getting popped with hot bacon fat. The author has been quoted as saying she changed the spelling because she felt it was more in keeping with how the character would have spelled his name. My question is, why is spelling an issue when it regards people who have no written language?

2. The instant Ms. Auel seemed to be flirting with a dramatic scene or actual character development, she interrupted-Sometimes In The Very Midst Of A Conversation(!)-with a page and a half treatise on why a certain oil might be used for a stone lamp...

3. There was a cast of a 75-80 characters that reminded me of those life-size cardboard cut-outs you buy in movie memorabilia shops. Why? In "The Mammoth Hunters" readers were introduced to nearly that many, yet each character had a distinct personality that added to the story. Maybe I just answered my own question...there was no story here, so why should I expect memorable people?

4. There are two ways to write sequels. One is to assume the previous books have been read and the other is to approach each book as a standalone. In the case of the Earth's Children series I would recommend that Ms. Auel assumes 95% of her public has read, re-read and recall with love the previous books and that they deserve the finest literary experience she is capable of delivering. I've been able to deal with repetition in previous volumes by skipping *that paragraph or so* and getting back to the story. In SoS I found myself skipping Entire Pages and hoping there was a story to get back to. And what is up with this Mother's Song? Not only is it too long and mind-numblingly banal, it is repeated three times and added as an addendum at the end. At this rate, I almost expect to see it with background music on a CD as well. My god. In Ms Auel's favour, she did not once mention that wolverine fur is great on hoods because they don't frost up from your breath. It's not much, but I am willing to give credit where credit is due. The major difficulty was the repetition, in some cases lifted word for word for **several pages** from the previous books, an obvious and inexcusable example of the purest laziness I have ever seen. And how many times must we read what we have read before, told again and again to different characters? And the long, drawn-out introductions including ties to everyone you've ever known? Get surnames, people! Sorry, I am starting to froth at the mouth. And repeat myself.

5. Misspellings, contextual inconsistencies and sophomoric writing. example: page 413:

"It seemed like a long time since he had held her like this, then she realized it had been a long time."

This is SO Wrong. If this was a first time effort, this book would never have seen the light of day. No one would have published it without serious editing, and even then probably not, for the simple fact that it happened to be 700-plus pages in search of A Plot.

In closing, borrow it if you have to, read it and spread the word:

We, the faithful readership, have been well and truly swizzed on this one. And that's a shame.

Dreadful & painful to read
I wish I had spent time reading the book reviews online rather than reading the actual book. They are far more entertaining! Jean Auel seems to have got bored with her characters and given them 20th century touchy-feely personalities. Ayla seems to have become 'wonder woman' - is there nothing she can't do? how did the Zelondoni get on before she joined them? I ended up rooting for the 'baddies' hoping they would 'do her in', but even those storylines melted away. And the 'Mothers Song'... well don't get me started on that. A dreadful bore. from Kim Wells