false 40493 54 This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of <b>The Clan of the Cave Bear</b>, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman. <br><br>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 a 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 winter, 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&#8217;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 hope of living with her own kind. 630903 1980 The Valley of Horses (Earth' Children #2) total:6889|5:2004|4:2391|3:1892|2:511|1:91| 6889 26373 7917 317 2 4 false true Mon Jun 02 14:25:10 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 20 13:29:01 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 02 14:25:10 -0700 2008 Clan of the Cave Bear kept me turning the pages, wondering where Ayla was going to toe the line next, its sequel is bland and predictable. Okay, Ayla's got hangups about men and halfway across the continent comes an obvious stud who's never been in love. Gee. I wonde...more...]]> 5 3 false false Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Aug 21 16:37:37 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 16:48:50 -0700 2007 SO many things and gained more strength and independence than I though possible. The story is this, Ayla is cast out from her family, leaving behind her only son, to survive in the ice age and the wilderness alone. She has the knowledge of ...more...]]> 4 3 false false Mon Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 11 10:14:48 -0800 2008 Mon Aug 18 18:10:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 7 false false Sat Nov 17 16:30:45 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 17 16:30:45 -0800 2007 Me: "Hmn. Well, I like the first two thirds or so, that's all survivalist nerd stuff. But after that, it kind of turns into caveman porn."

(Later that week...)

Dad: "So...I borrowed your book."
Me: "...O...more...]]> 1 2 false true Tue Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 11:03:47 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 11:07:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false true Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 05:32:49 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 05:46:34 -0800 2008 Clan of the Cave Bears, and in some ways I enjoy it more. Ayla has to live on her own, and she has to find a way to survive, which for a person alone in that time (as in Ice Age), could not have been easy. She even runs into problems building a fire because there's no one the...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 20:01:09 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 20:14:29 -0700 2009
Ayla is still sometimes interesting, but her feats are becoming absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, being the first person to tame a horse, create a cart (without wheels, but still), create fire with...more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 10:46:01 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 10:54:58 -0700 2009 Clan of the Cave Bearcertainly didn't set the bar high, literarily speaking. However, I was taken aback by the shift in tone and emphasis. Whereas Cave Bear seemed genuinely interested in being taken seriously, Valley of the ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1992 Thu May 14 00:18:11 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 00:31:11 -0700 2009 Jean M Auel's Earth Children series. This is, perhaps, my favorite of all her novels. I've read this book as many times as the first (Clan of the Cave Bear), at least once a year since I was 12.

This is the continued story of Ayla, a young woman who grew up wi...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 15:42:56 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 01:55:38 -0700 2007 In this volume I found the story and personal character development even better than the first book of the series (Clan of the Cave Bear) but the historical aspects devol...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Mar 13 09:57:23 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 09:57:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 19:09:21 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 19:16:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 08:48:49 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 08:53:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 25 08:12:57 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 09:55:05 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 08:12:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jun 02 02:15:54 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 02:17:22 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 02:54:27 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 03:13:45 -0700 2009 1
As in the first novel, Auel spends a great deal of time describing the properties of the land and vegetatio...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 20 08:50:24 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 10:10:23 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1987 Sat Jul 04 17:34:27 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 18:26:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 07:08:32 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 09:44:36 -0800 2009 the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where I...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 15:27:48 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 12:24:19 -0700 2008 The Valley of Horses is the second book Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series and follows the main character of the series, Ayla, after she is banished from the Clan and begins her search for “the Others,” which are really her people. The writing style in The Valley of Horses is as engaging a...more...]]>