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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

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
Loved and enjoyed every min of listening
At the end really enjoyed the extra music and can't wait for the next book

Love it

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Loved the series from start to finish, a great escape from the world we inhabit today.

Great series, one to read over again.

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I have loved this series & I'm sorry it's over, but it has filled many hours for me & for that I'm grateful. Thank you.

The Land of Painted Caves

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The first time I listened to this I hated the ‘drama’ of this book. The process of being inducted into the priesthood and function of the ‘religion’ of earth’s children was interesting and even the speculations on what drove the cave paintings and use of psychedelic concoctions was worth reading. However the whole drama between j and a was both tiresome and repellent - quite a lot of it was a repeat of the whole plot of ‘mammoth hunters’ which was also annoying especially after the triumph of the first and second books. What saved this book was the contemplation of the way in which understanding the function of a man in starting life fundamentally changed society. Zelendoni number 1 also grew on me (mind the pun) as a character of interest as she manipulated, bullies and cajoles her society to stay together. So I give this book more stars than I would have if I had just listened to the book once. I admit to skipping several chapters around the time of the mother festival as being just too horrible to listen to again.

It took a second or third listen

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Well written, as all the others in the series have been but there is very little action or storyline in this one. It seems to mostly have been intended as a tour of actual caves and cave paintings known to us today... except, without illustrations or photos, it felt pointless. It's very hard to visualise these amazing places via written word alone.

This book rounded out the Earth's Children series

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