Review: The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

Title: The Land of Painted Caves
Author: Jean M. Auel
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011
Rating: 3 stars



To start, here is a bit of information about the book, taken (again) from Goodreads.com:

The highly anticipated sixth book of Jean Auel's Earth's Children® series, THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES, is the culmination fans have been waiting for. Continuing the story of Ayla and Jondalar, Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived more than 25,000 years ago. THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES is an exquisite achievement by one of the world's most beloved authors.

The Land of Painted Caves is a book that I (and many other people all over the world) have been eagerly anticipating for several years. The Earth's Children series was started by Auel back in 1980; now, more than thirty years later, the series finally comes to an end.

As you can see from this blog entry, I have spent a long time in recent days and weeks thinking about/obsessing over how the series would end. As it turns out, I didn't really need to be that worried. The Land of Painted Caves is written with the same attention to, and depth of, detail that is found in the rest of the series, with the prehistoric landscape vividly brought to life. As for the plot, well... it was a nice ending, I suppose. Everything was resolved, and tied up into a neat little parcel. Of course, there were some tense moments and some exasperating moments, but no issues that hadn't arisen earlier in the series. The good characters were still good - almost painfully so - and the bad characters were still devious and ruthless and malicious. 

I don't know what I was expecting from this novel, and my three star rating isn't to say that I was disappointed. I wasn't. This novel made me happy and provided the right amount of closure to the story. But really, not a lot happened. There were no big dramatic twists (well, not really), and nothing that really moved me. However, as I've said, it was an enjoyable read, and was very well-written. And, of course, meticulously researched. 

All in all, though, it simply doesn't live up to the earlier books in the series. It ends the series with a kind of quiet dignity that is, I suppose, fitting after its long 30-year life, but it is definitely an ending with less of a bang, and more of a whimper.

Three stars: enjoyable and a pleasant ending to the series, but definitely not for you if you're looking for something action-packed and dramatic!