The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, #2)

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The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children #2)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 33,323 ratings · 1,085 reviews

The second volume of the astonishing Earth’s Children® series—over 34 million copies sold worldwide

In The Valley of Horses, Ayla, the unforgettable heroine of The Clan of the Cave Bear, sets out on her own odyssey of discovery away from the nurturing adoptive family and friends of the Clan. She is in search of others like herself and in search of love. Driven by her intel...more

Hardcover, 512 pages

Published November 27th 2001 by Crown (first published January 1st 1982)

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The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

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Feb 01, 2012 Crystal Starr Light rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, anachronistic-heroine, audiobook, banned-books

I've never seen a series take such a downturn so fast!

When we last saw Ayla in The Clan of the Cave Bear, she had been banished, sentenced to death by the clan leader, Broud, who hated her. The Valley of the Horses takes place immediately after, as Ayla begins to wander the steppes in pursuit of her people. Eventually, she settles in a valley populated with horses. While she is there, she befriends a horse and ekes out a living.

Oh.

My.

God.

I don't think I've ever seen a series shoot itself in the...more

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Jun 02, 2008 Summer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: can-t-finish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So far, many complaints. Whereas 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 wonder what's going to happen? I honestly want to see Ayla in a better relationship but how much to I have to go through to get there?

An inordinate amount of paper was spent on rehashing events in Clan of...more So far, many complaints. Whereas 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 wonder what's going to happen? I honestly want to see Ayla in a better relationship but how much to I have to go through to get there?

An inordinate amount of paper was spent on rehashing events in Clan of the Cave Bear - some understandable (Ayla's worry about her son, mourning for Creb, and recalling useful knowlege) but they get tiresome after a while.

Also tiresome are Auel's tangents into geography, fauna and prehistoric life, which form speedbumps in the action and stilt the dialogue. There are places when she educates us without interrupting the story (for example, when the travelers predict the severity of the winter by the migratory habits of the wooly mammoth, Ayla's difficulty starting her first fire) but many times these expositories just break up the flow and cause me to glaze over. When she pauses to explain the migratory habits of the woolly rhino about to charge Thonolin, that really takes the cake. I was interested in the world as perceived by the characters and thought the vast historical perspective diminished them somewhat.

The sex is getting old really fast. I appreciate that this culture has very different mores, but how much sex and in how much detail do we really need? We start out with the First Rites scene: we get cultural information and establish Jondalar's studmuffinry, both real contributions to the story. Excellent. Then there's the incident where the all girls molest Jondalar. Less of a point to that, but it's amusing. But by the time we get to Serenio... how does this further the story? And I'm not even halfway through, *and* I think I've probably left someone out.

I have enough interest in the story that I'll probably finish it eventually. I want to know how Ayla reacts when she finally meets her own people, and whether the brewing trouble between her people and the neanderthal/ Clan/ 'flatheads' comes to a head. I just really wish the book was about those things, without so much prehistory lesson crammed into every random crevasse.(less)

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Aug 21, 2007 Renee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Woman who need a lil' strength

Shelves: topshelf

This one goes down as my all time, #1, best read. I learned 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 a medicine woman, and the skills of a sling to assist her survival. But the greatest challenge is the loneliness. She teaches herself to hunt with spears, to make knives, baskets, and implements for c...more

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Aug 18, 2008 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

I liked this book for the story of a girl surviving on her own and her learning experiences but I thought the sex was a bit over the top. I guess I just wasn't expecting that much sex and that much detail. I mean, I really don't need to know that Ayla was turned on by watching horses mate or that Jondalar's "woman maker" was too large for most females. I was under the impression that this series of books was for the "young adult" audience, mostly because I knew lots of people who read The Clan o...more

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Nov 17, 2007 Corbin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 17

Dad: "So...how's the book?"
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: "...Oh."
(Uncomfortable silence)
Me: "So...what did you think of it?"
Dad: "Well, you were right, the first two thirds is for survival nerds. After that, though..."
(Uncomfortable silence)
Me: "Caveman porn?"
Dad: "Not just that. *Bad* caveman porn!"

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Feb 27, 2008 Dyana rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 25, 2013 Monika Meilutė rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was SO SO SO much waiting for this book, because the first one was simply amazing! But.. this wasn't half of what I expected.. I thought my too high expectations were to blame, but reading other people's reviews, I see that everyone is saying the same..
It's really strange, how author can take such a big turn.. Writing an amazing first book and ruining most of the story in second (already! :O) part (what's going to be in next 4?? I trully hope they are not going worse..)
My rating is 4 stars jus...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Red rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 08-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the sequel to 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 there to help her twirl the stick. Half the book focuses on Ayla while the other half focuses on Jondalar and Thonolan, two brothers traveling east from present day France or so. Auel uses some obvious for...more This is the sequel to 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 there to help her twirl the stick. Half the book focuses on Ayla while the other half focuses on Jondalar and Thonolan, two brothers traveling east from present day France or so. Auel uses some obvious foreshadowing to make sure we understand that Jondalar and Ayla will end up together. Jondalar at one point thinks how he'd like to have a First Rites (a ceremony for a woman losing her virginity) with a woman he wouldn't hurt. Cue Ayla, the woman who's had a baby and yet never had pleasurable sex. Cue Jondalar, who gives Ayla mindblowing orgasms.
Auel tends to repeat herself over and over, especially when it comes to Ayla thinking that Durc is not deformed, he's just different from the Clan. And Auel kept reiterating how Ayla was different as well (too tall, too pale, blue eyes, crying, laughing, talking). I'm guessing that most people who read Valley also read Clan, so they don't need a reminder. The first book was all about how different Ayla was and how she adapted to survive. The second book is about her throwing off Clan customs and being willing to try new things (hunting with a spear instead of a sling, raising a horse and a cave lion, making fire with rocks).
One of the things about this series that bothered me the first few times I read it (this is my third or fourth re-read of Valley) was all the discoveries Ayla made. She domesticates a horse and a lion (and in the next book, a wolf), she discovers whatever that stone is that when struck with flint makes fire, she rides her horse, she makes baskets for her horse to carry, she invents a travois. Auel partly makes Ayla discover these things to show the difference between the Others (Cro-Magnon man) and the Clan (Neanderthal man)--the Others are innovative and adaptable and therefore will live, but the Clan is dead set in their ways and therefore dead. The other reason I think Auel gives Ayla all these discoveries is as a way to represent the general human population making the discoveries. No, one woman probably wouldn't have done all this, but A) it's fiction and B) Ayla's merely a representation of what her race can do.(less)

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May 13, 2013 Tiffany rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first Earth's Children book, Clan of the Cave Bear, was an excellent book, but after that it's all downhill. In general, I think the author makes a lot of really smart conjectures about the daily lives of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, but then she tries to write dialogue and sex scenes and relatable characterizations, and she is just hilariously bad at it. Reading this series is a lot like drinking wine coolers: you find yourself really enjoying it for what it is, but also embarrassed to be...more

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May 03, 2013 Lois rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had the large print edition of this book because it was the only one the library had. I was interested in reading it because I really liked Clan of the Cave Bear (the first in the Earth's Children series.) Frankly, I greatly admired Ayla and her strength, courage and tenacity. The importance of mentioning the large print edition is to say the book was just over 1000 pages, and for the first 600 pages or so, the reader is subjected to a dual story line. In one, we have Ayla foraging for food, m...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Swankivy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the second book about Ayla, after The Clan of the Cave Bear. At the beginning of this book, Ayla's been cast out and has to fend for herself even though she's used to at least some help making a living. Forced by circumstance, she's got to . . . well, invent a lot of things. While I was reading it, I liked that she was so inventive--I read this in high school, you know--but even then I had trouble swallowing that all these discoveries were coming to her so easily. I was especially kind o...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Katia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Après avoir été bannie par son clan d’adoption, Ayla erre seule, guidée uniquement par ses connaissances de guérisseuse et son expérience. Elle se dirige vers le nord à la recherche des siens, suivant ainsi le conseil d’Iza. Après avoir beaucoup marché, elle tombe sur des chevaux (elle est arrivée à la fameuse vallée des chevaux) et décide de s’arrêter quelques temps dans une caverne. En parallèle on découvre Jondalar et les siens, de la tribu des Zelandonii (qui sont aussi des Néenderthal comme...more Après avoir été bannie par son clan d’adoption, Ayla erre seule, guidée uniquement par ses connaissances de guérisseuse et son expérience. Elle se dirige vers le nord à la recherche des siens, suivant ainsi le conseil d’Iza. Après avoir beaucoup marché, elle tombe sur des chevaux (elle est arrivée à la fameuse vallée des chevaux) et décide de s’arrêter quelques temps dans une caverne. En parallèle on découvre Jondalar et les siens, de la tribu des Zelandonii (qui sont aussi des Néenderthal comme Ayla). Eux vivent au nord comme l’avait annoncé Iza, mais il faudra attendre le chapitre 19 pour qu’ils se rencontrent. En attendant on apprend à découvrir Jondalar, un homme très beau, qui, en plus d’être fort et intelligent, a de magnifiques yeux bleus. Ce dernier entreprend un voyage avec son frère Thonolan. Ayla décide un jour de tuer un cheval pour faire de grosses réserves et ainsi survivre dans cette vallée, elle met donc en pratique les histoires de chasse qu’elle a entendues et y arrive, mais rapidement elle prend sous son aile la pouliche de la jument morte, attendrie par ce bébé qui se retrouve seul. Le lecteur découvre donc comment Ayla va élever sa pouliche, qu’elle appellera Whinney. Son amour des animaux n’étant jamais très loin, la jeune femme se retrouvera aussi avec un bébé lion blessé, qui deviendra un fidèle compagnon. En conséquence Ayla restera plus longtemps que prévu dans cette vallée, et c’est un jour en se baladant vers l’ouest qu’elle rencontrera Thonolan et Jondalar, venant de se faire attaquer par une lionne. Ces derniers avaient poursuivi leur route, après avoir vécu plusieurs années auprès de la tribu des Sharamudoï. Malheureusement Thonolan ne survivra pas à cette attaque. Jondalar et Ayla mettent du temps avant de communiquer, dans les premiers jours le jeune homme dort beaucoup à cause de la douleur, puis c’est le langage qui fait barrière, mais peu à peu les deux protagonistes apprennent à se découvrir, et Jondalar apprend sa langue à Ayla. Pourtant rien n’est encore réglé, et leurs éducations différentes génèrent parfois des malentendus. Heureusement nos héros sont malins, et ils parviennent à passer au-dessus des quiproquos. Ayla et Jondalar finissent donc par se comprendre, et commence une très belle histoire d’amour. Enfin, et comme dans le premier tome, les éléments historiques sur la vie à la préhistoire sont magnifiquement replacés dans leur contexte, et ce roman n'est pas seulement une lecture plaisir, car le lecteur y apprend beaucoup de choses.(less)

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Dec 28, 2012 Gerry Haines rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first book in this series was a brilliant read and an interesting take on prehistoric life as it really was- apart from the insights into primitive technology and spirituality, we also get to see the world through the eyes of a little girl of five who is lost in a disaster and then gets found by a group of Neanderthal people.

Who could not sympathise with this poor lost child?And yet we see tha there were those in the tribe who didn't, and the book ends with her being an outcast.

In this episo...more The first book in this series was a brilliant read and an interesting take on prehistoric life as it really was- apart from the insights into primitive technology and spirituality, we also get to see the world through the eyes of a little girl of five who is lost in a disaster and then gets found by a group of Neanderthal people.

Who could not sympathise with this poor lost child?And yet we see tha there were those in the tribe who didn't, and the book ends with her being an outcast.

In this episode of the saga, we see Ayla, our heroine, alone once more, but not wandering as a lost child, but a fully fledged and skillfull huntress who makes her home in the lonely wild of prehistoric Europe.

Again, the book is captivating in it's details of the landscape, and the Fauna and Flora of Ayla's world. We learn how she makesa living in exile, and forms freindships with the injured young animals that she finds here. Lacking human company, she tames a young horse and a lion cub - yet there soon, another injured creature comes her way - a man this time!

Oh,my - some reviewers I know have turned their noses up and called it 'paleo-porn', because this man turns out to be, not an elderly or even an average looking guy, but a hunky young stud. Oh, he is not only young and good looking, but a sensitve and skilfull lover who is in search of 'someone special'. Yes, really. I can understand why some take the cynical veiw that they do,:)...

However, I still rate it as a masterpiece. Ayla, athough she would be adored by the film and modelling industry of today, grew up in a culture where she was noticeably different, and consequently does not see herself as being good looking.

Jondalar, the injured man that she nurses back to health, has his own story and a lot of what we might call 'personal baggage', and the writer skillfully works on the theme of how they both feel very awkward, uneasy, at first; and yet eventually meet as friends, and then become lovers. It isn't porn, it is romance - it is Mills and Boon set in a scientifically accurate representation of primeval Europe, with a lot of accurate detail gained from talking to the experts.

It talks as much about psychology as it does prehistory, taking the story forwards and giving us an insight into the sort of society that Jondalar has and Ayla may well have come from.

As the young couple strike out together to look for a new home and another tribe for Ayla to belong to, one senses that this is going to be a happy ending - even though there is another sequel to be read.
It was a masterful bit of story telling. Sexually explicit, yes, but also poigniant, as well as amusing in places and informative and descriptive in others.(less)

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Dec 28, 2012 Iceman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Este "Vale dos Cavalos" é o segundo da tetralogia "Os Filhos da Terra", iniciada como o fabuloso "Clã do Urso das Cavernas".

Tal como no primeiro volume, e outra coisa não seria de esperar, somos novamente transportados até ás planícies asiáticas de há 25.000 anos em pleno período Paleolítico.

A história segue exactamente a linha iniciada em "O clã do urso das Cavernas". Ayla é agora uma adolescente em constante conflito com os membros do clã que a adoptaram. Ela é diferente deles e começa-se a ap...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Andrea Blythe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Despite there being many problems with The Clan of the Cave Bear, the book ended on something of a cliff hanger and was interesting enough that I had to go ahead and pick up the sequel. The Valley of the Horses begins right after Clan of the Cave Bear ends, so I'll try not to get into too many details but keep in mind that there will be spoilers ahead.

The first half of the book is split between Ayla's and Jondalar's point of views. Ayla finds her own cave and is surviving alone, finding comfort...more Despite there being many problems with The Clan of the Cave Bear, the book ended on something of a cliff hanger and was interesting enough that I had to go ahead and pick up the sequel. The Valley of the Horses begins right after Clan of the Cave Bear ends, so I'll try not to get into too many details but keep in mind that there will be spoilers ahead.

The first half of the book is split between Ayla's and Jondalar's point of views. Ayla finds her own cave and is surviving alone, finding comfort only by taking in stray infant animals and caring for them. Jondalar meanwhile leaves his tribe by going on a journey with his brother, meeting up with several other tribe and having various encounters. The result is that the first half of the book dragged for me (it wasn't until Ayla and Jondalar FINALLY met each other that the pace picked up), and because Ayla is alone and Jondalar spends only short periods of time with any group of people, you don't get an in-depth look at any one culture as you did in Clan of the Cave Bear.

What you do get though is a brief looks at a variety of the Others (as Jondalar's people are described by the Cave Bear Clan), seeing how there is a mixture of perspectives and societies with different survival innovations — something you never saw among the Cave Bear Clan because of the problematic concept of racial memory. Auel also presents how the Others view the Clan as nothing more than animals. It's interesting, because for all that the Jondalar's peoples are good hearted with complex cultures, they are seen and stupidly and profoundly ignorant when it comes to the Cave Bear Clan. Their hatred is revealed to be illogical, especially when Ayla begins to reveal their humanity as she describes the Clan culture to Jondalar. It's an interesting complexity in terms of racial discussions, because for all that you want to like Jondalar's peoples, their clear racism against the Clan is disturbing, especially if you have read the first book first and grown attached to the Clan characters. So, the discussion of race in the sequel is still problematic, but at least it's an interesting problematic that opens potential for discussion.

And again this book, like the first, has some head scratching geographical and biological anomalies to it. Did buffaloes and antelopes and hyenas and wooly rhinos and horses and cave lions and mammoths all ever mix in the same location? I don't know, but I don't think so.

Another thing that had me wondering was the whole free love approach to sex that the author presents. Sex is a gift of Pleasures from the Mother and should be delighted in to honor her? Um. I'm not opposed to the idea per se, but I'm not convinced that the peoples were quite so free wheeling about that sort of thing back then. Maybe, but... Anyway, I guess despite the author's supposed research she can have her "historical" society be anyway she wants.

The character Jondalar is amusing, too, because he brings a Romance Novel aspects into the storyline that wasn't present in the first book. I remember a discussion with my college friends, when one said something like, "I know the book is totally ridiculous, but I still kind of want my own Jondalar." I can understand why. He's meant to be the perfect man, handsome, strong, tall, kind-hearted, giving in life and in love, and the perfect lover (remember what I said about the Pleasures), and of course the only person perfect enough for him to fall in love with is.... guess.

Oh! And there's the Shamud, a holy person of one of the tribes that Jondalar meets. The Shamud was interesting because the Shamud was presented as a male with the desires of a woman or a woman with the desires of a male. Jondalar keeps trying to guess which gender the Shamud is, but finally gives up under the assumption that it doesn't matter. The Shamud is powerful because of the lack of assigned gender, and is respected. Though I'm sure the portrayal isn't entirely without problems, I liked the Shamud character and how the author managed to skillfully avoid assigning gender pronouns, so that the character can remain both human and gender neutral.

Anyway, despite a lingering curiosity about what happens to Jondalar and Ayla now, the whole thing is fairly ridiculous and I think I'm pretty much done with this series, especially if the next book is going to be as slow going as the beginning of this one was.(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Beverly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Clan of Cave Bear readers

Ayla's beloved benefactors, Creb and Iza have died. Broud becomes Chief. His first order of business is to take Durc, Ayla's baby son, and "curse" Ayla out of the Clan. She is forced to leave, and survive on her instincts. The last thing Iza told her was to "find the Others". Ayla was trained by Iza to be a medicine woman. She is skilled enough to know edible plants, and she can use her sling for small game.

She wonders around until she finds a river valley that also has a cave, large enough for...more Ayla's beloved benefactors, Creb and Iza have died. Broud becomes Chief. His first order of business is to take Durc, Ayla's baby son, and "curse" Ayla out of the Clan. She is forced to leave, and survive on her instincts. The last thing Iza told her was to "find the Others". Ayla was trained by Iza to be a medicine woman. She is skilled enough to know edible plants, and she can use her sling for small game.

She wonders around until she finds a river valley that also has a cave, large enough for a shelter. Here, she begins to make her home. Too soon, she realizes, she needs to hunt bigger animals to survive the winter. Thinking about what she remembered from Clan hunting, she scouts out a game route, digs a deep pit, and uses fire to stampede horses, hoping one will fall into the pit. She succeeds, but it is a mare with a colt. She feels awful about killing the mare, but she has to eat, and she takes the foal back to the cave to see if she can keep it alive. Over time, the colt bonds with Ayla. This improves Ayla's hunting skills. She learns to ride Whinny and trains her to pull a travois of heavy meat sections back to the cave. On one hunt, a reindeer herd overruns a camp of cave lionesses with cubs. One cub with a fractured skull is rescued by Ayla. She tends him and she becomes his "mother" figure. Now the cave shelters Ayla, Whinney, and Baby.

Baby grows up enough to help in hunting. Whinney has become his nanny and Ayla keeps busy feeding herself and her animals. All is well until Baby matures and goes looking for a mate. He returns frequently to the cave to "check in" but Ayla accepts his new arrangement. She and Whinney are out hunting when they hear a human scream. They hurry to investigate and Baby has killed a human and mauled another!! Ayla calls Baby off, burys the dead man in a rock slide, and pulls the injured one back to the cave to heal. He is unlike anyone Ayla has ever seen. He is not Clan...he is one of the "Others". He will teach her how to speak again.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Daniel Montoya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Después de la 1era novela de ésta serie, con Ayla como una niña cromagnon viviendo entre neandertales y chocando con las costumbres, éste libro me deja con una sensación de lentitud en algunas partes.

Consideremos que Ayla pasa grandes lapsos del tiempo sola en el libro por lo cual no hay mucha interacción.

Algo bueno a la serie es la inclusión de nuevos personajes, siendo algunos de ellos algo latosos. Ahora bien, no me considero racista y xenofóbico, pero el hecho de que el personaje varón pri...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Stacey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 16, 2012 Books-treasureortrash rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-novel, reviewed

Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes

Ayla has been cursed by The Clan, she has been forced to leave the only family she has ever known to go out on her own. She is a young Cro-Magnon woman who was raised by Neanderthals but is now searching for her birth people. All alone, she survives through the use of her wits and her hunting abilities. She finds a sheltered valley which she calls home and where she plans to stay through the winter. Meanwhile Jondalar and his brother, two new Cro-Magnon characters, h...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Lisa.scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4.5 stars: Terrific historical fiction series a lot of romance, adventure, suspense and a touch of the supernatural
I'm re-reading the Clan of the Cave Bear series, and it is just is wonderful today as it was reading it when it was published years ago. The look at prehistoric man is facinating--seeing how they lived, organized into clans, what they believed spiritually, etc.
This book picks up where the first book Clan of the Cave Bear leaves off. It's one of my favorite books in the series. Ayl...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: earth-s-children

After reading Clan of the Cave Bear I was dying to know what happened to Ayla, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. Most of this book follows two story lines: Ayla and a new character named Jondalar. They're obviously going to converge at some point but I found myself flipping through the Jondalar part paying scant attention so that I could get to the Ayla parts faster. Those bits continued to be a fun read and I cared deeply what happened to her but the other storyline was nothing more th...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I kind of cringe to admit I bought this book with my babysitting money and read it when I was 14 thinking it was about a young woman and a horse. The salesclerk valiantly did try to discreetly inform my mom that it wasn't really YA reading, but failed to stress that it was because of the sex. Fortunately my mom was right in that I was mature enough to realize that while I was mature enough for the G-rated portions of the book, the intimate scenes were for adults. Granted when I read the series a...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Algernon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

[5/10] If any book can define the term "guilty pleasure" for me it would probably be this one. I am most probably not the target audience for this series, and I could easily pick apart the cheesy writing, so bad it becomes humorous, the bloated infodumps about vegetation and toolmaking, the purple prose towards the end that belong more to a Hustler magazine than to a general public bestseller. Ayla and Jondalar feel like Harper's Bazaar or Vogue supermodels slumming it in the Ice Age 30000 year...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Saskia Marijke Niehorster-Cook rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: banned-books

Second book on the saga of the Children of the Earth. Full of detail and interesting trivia of a long time ago era, this ice age story speaks of a time when humans discovered and invented tools for their survival. It mainly focuses on our already established Heroine Ayla and her three years living alone in a cave by a valley with horses, where she rescues and nurtures a horse and a lion and learns to hunt with both. A second strand is brought into this story when two brothers of the "Others" go...more Second book on the saga of the Children of the Earth. Full of detail and interesting trivia of a long time ago era, this ice age story speaks of a time when humans discovered and invented tools for their survival. It mainly focuses on our already established Heroine Ayla and her three years living alone in a cave by a valley with horses, where she rescues and nurtures a horse and a lion and learns to hunt with both. A second strand is brought into this story when two brothers of the "Others" go on a spiritual trip to the end of the Earth and meet different branches of their people, some are river and land folk and some are Mammoth hunters, and learn their own special survival inventions as well. The weaving of the two strands begins two thirds of the way when Ayla meets one of the brothers and nurses him back into health and then shares her knowledge with him. Well written and though sometimes a bit slow, the pacing of it forces one to slow down and really enjoy the descriptive passages in the book. There is no rushing in the Ice age! The only thing I was not completely satisfied with was that sometimes whole passages would go by without describing nature and the animals in the environment and then sometimes all animals would be mentioned at once, as if a parade of them would be passing by and now it was the time to recognize them. From my humble experiences with Nature, animals are a rare treat to glimpse at and one feels lucky of the encounter. It should be more of a special mention than an on passing comment. (502 pgs)

However, that said, I loved that she nursed a cave lion and since I was so in love with lions since I was a little girl and read Bron Free and saw many lion documentaries, I got a rush from that part of the story, especially when they hug again in front of Jondalar! Sweet, sweet!

I realize that the newest book on this series just came out this month! It is "The Land of the Painted Caves" I hope to get to it soon! But first the other ones in between!(less)

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Feb 03, 2011 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, historical-fiction, prehistoric-fiction

This is my favorite book of the series. I'm actually not quite sure why, it has tons of flaws and problems, but be it rational or not, its always been my favorite of the series. It is the 2nd book in the Earth's Children series and while you could probably read it as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the series in order for better understanding of background information.

When we last left Ayla, she had been cursed with death by her Clan and leaving her son behind, set out to find "others" like h...more This is my favorite book of the series. I'm actually not quite sure why, it has tons of flaws and problems, but be it rational or not, its always been my favorite of the series. It is the 2nd book in the Earth's Children series and while you could probably read it as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the series in order for better understanding of background information.

When we last left Ayla, she had been cursed with death by her Clan and leaving her son behind, set out to find "others" like her in hopes that she may be accepted by them. After a hard journey, she finds a valley that has just the perfect cave for settling in for the winter. All alone, she manages to take good care of herself and even finds companionship. After killing a horse for meat, she takes in its foal and raises it, eventually becoming the first to think about riding a horse. She also finds companionship in a little lion cub that she rescues as well, and while the animals are good company, she longs for humans to socialize with like herself, but is still a bit apprehensive on how they might treat her. Alone in her valley though, she wonders if she will ever meet any of the others.

Meanwhile, Jondalar of the Zelandonii and his brother Thonolan decide to take a journey from their land to the west near the great sea, to the east to follow the Great Mother River to her end. They meet fascinating people along the way, fall in love with the beautiful women of their journey, and face many dangers and hardships that befall when one is traveling so far. As they go further and further East, the Earth mother decides to have plans for them and their futures are very uncertain.

The characters in this novel are very likeable. While this book marks the start of when Ayla becomes a little too perfect, she is still an interesting character and you can relate to her quite easily. Jondalar can be annoying at times, but ultimately is a good person and very devoted to people and his craft. Thonolan, while a side character, is very essential to the novel and I actually wish I could have read more of him. There are other minor characters of course, and the brief interactions with them brought a smile to my face.

The writing is very descriptive but Auel doesn't let you get lost in it. She is able to paint her scenes so well that I can picture them and the people in my head. Her only flaw is giving Jondalar and Ayla too many inventions and idea that they come up with themselves and it makes the story somewhat unbelievable. While I understand she is trying to illustrate how these adaptations came about, it would have been better served to let Ayla and Jondalar meet people who had come up with these things instead of doing it all themselves. For some readers, this book may be uncomfortable. It has explicit detailed sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination and those that don't like this type of writing should steer clear or skip over those sections.

I really enjoy this series and find it vastly entertaining. It's the type that I can read over and over again and still find something new each time. I highly recommend this book and the series to anyone.

Valley of Horses
Copyright 1982
502 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011(less)

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Jun 28, 2010 Janet rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted to read this, the second book in the Earth Children series, because I enjoyed the first book in the series. Unfortunately, this book has quite a bit of pornish/explicit stuff in it that I ended up just skipping over to get to the end...

However, there were a couple of passages that I loved:

p. 459: "You beautiful, wild, wonderful woman!"
p. 501: "You are strong, self-reliant, entirely able to take care of yourself and of me... You are fearless, courageous; you saved my life, nursed me back...more

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Apr 23, 2010 Kemba rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Now, when I bought this I was quite excited to read it and I did have an open mind but as I read further into the novel it became clear to me that the hype of these books was not well deserved.

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Spoilers

After her adoptive mother (Iza) tells Ayla to find the 'others', Ayla waits till she is cursed before going, leaving her 'mixed spirit' son in the care of her adoptive sister (Uba). She finds a convient valley (remember she is around...more

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Feb 16, 2010 ~M~ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People Who Like Archaeology, People Who Like Survival Stories

Recommended to ~M~ by: My mom

Shelves: favorites, loved-this-book

This is the 2nd book in the Earth's Children Series, a series I began reading in high school. As I wrote in my review of The Clan of the Cave Bear, this book and other early exposure to archaeology thanks to my mom led to my getting a BA in anthropology and working in anthropology museums for several years.

Out of the entire series, this is the book I reread most often. I keep it on my bedside table and read bits and pieces of it every few days or weeks. When I do so I always skip over all the Jo...more

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Feb 16, 2010 Sarah705 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought that this was a really interesting and thought provoking book. Watching Ayla discover the nature of the world around her was genuinely exciting.
This book really made me think about the way things are. Although Ayla's world is different from ours, she too has to deal with learning new things. I've always wondered why things are the way they are- why do we speak different languages? Why do we speak at all?
Ayla does consider the first question. When Jondalar tells her that only his people...more I thought that this was a really interesting and thought provoking book. Watching Ayla discover the nature of the world around her was genuinely exciting.
This book really made me think about the way things are. Although Ayla's world is different from ours, she too has to deal with learning new things. I've always wondered why things are the way they are- why do we speak different languages? Why do we speak at all?
Ayla does consider the first question. When Jondalar tells her that only his people speak the language that she spent so much time learning, she is angry and confused. All of the Clan people speak with simmilar gestures, and this makes communication simple.
Whenever I go to a foreign country, it's SO frustrating if I can't understand what's going on. Not only their language, but their customs and beliefs. Why do different people have different beliefs? It's just one of those facts of life that we've come to accept.
It's easier not to question something when you're told that that's the way it is, but sometimes the harder way is more beneficial. No one really knows why things are the way they are, and there's not really any way to get an explanation.
Learning to live with it is one solution, but Ayla takes the opposite approach. She questions everything that goes on around her, and won't accept an easy answer. I think that this makes her character interesting and fun to read about. She's also really inspiring. She's incredibly modest and curious, and I think that more people should question nature the way she does.
People are too accepting in our world, and I am not excluding myself in that generalization. That might have been part of Jean M. Auel's purpose in writing this book. Ayla is used to having to accept things and do what she's told in the Clan, but her instincts tell her otherwise. When she is alone with Jondalar, she has no trouble questioning every little thing he does.
And without question I think that it is normal for people to be curious and unsure when introduced to something new. This is repressed in us, as are many things. When little children ask too many questions, their parents are quick to reprimand them. It's hard to overcome these habits that are stored in our earliest memories. When I am curious about something, my mind tends to just move onto a new topic, rather than me being annoying.
Things are the way they are. It's an easy statement to accept without further explanation. I guess the truth is that there is no explanation, so we have been programmed to think that it's not important. But curiosity is important, and it is people like Ayla who make great discoveries in the real world.(less)

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Jan 12, 2010 Sarah Finley rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What started out with so much potential in Clan of the Cave Bear, begins to rapidly fall apart in The Valley of Horses. By the time the 4th and 5th books of the series are reached, it's really best to just avoid reading them at all, and try to remember the better moments. Seriously, they aren't even worth reviewing, if only because Goodreads doesn't offer a negative star option.

But here, Ayla still retains some of the qualities of her childhood self. This is set just after her banishment from th...more What started out with so much potential in Clan of the Cave Bear, begins to rapidly fall apart in The Valley of Horses. By the time the 4th and 5th books of the series are reached, it's really best to just avoid reading them at all, and try to remember the better moments. Seriously, they aren't even worth reviewing, if only because Goodreads doesn't offer a negative star option.

But here, Ayla still retains some of the qualities of her childhood self. This is set just after her banishment from the Clan, the only home and family she has ever known. She has had to leave everything, including her own son, after being cursed with death. But instead of dying, for Ayla is not the type to die, even if she isn't always the chipper, positive, up-and-at-em type, Ayla begins to head north in search of her own kind, her fellow homo sapiens.

She eventually comes to a valley, with a conveniently located and sized cave. She is smart and innovative and lucky, and over the three years she spends there, she comes up with crazy new ideas (like where babies really come from), develops the art of breaking a horse, and learns that you can start fire by striking two particular stones together. It is in this novel, of course, that her inventiveness begins to become absurd and tedious. By the time one reaches the fifth book (which again, I do not recommend they try), one is ready to throw it out the window, for Ayla has figured out exactly how the world works, even though her fellow humans have not, and has invented five million new things, and is the model for about half of the pre-historic art that has ever been discovered.

Still, the second book hasn't reached such a level of absurdity, and it's almost believable (until Baby comes along -- I had forgotten that, and cried out, "A cave lion??? Seriously?!?) The scenes describing her with her animals, who are her only companions, seem realistic and charming, and Auel continues to describe the prehistoric world is vivid details.

Of course, there's still the other side of the book, where Jondalar, one of the most handsome of homo sapiens to walk the face of the earth, and his brother travel across the continent on a Journey. Their travels are unfortunately brought to life in all their dull details. There is something about these humans that Auel just can't pull off, and I can't put my finger on. But I found them almost in their entirety to be annoying, fake, two-dimensional, and useless. There is also a heavy interest in sex throughout their travels and their homo sapien culture, which comes off as Auel's overwhelming desire to write smut. The forth book, Plains of Passage, is so smut-ridden, I refer to it as Plains of Passion. Books 3-5, and part of book 2, read like fanfiction written by a horny teenager.

Eventually, Jondalar and Ayla meet, Jondalar teaches Ayla how to talk, and Ayla teaches him the fifteen new advances to the race she has discovered in the last three years. They misunderstand each other in the most tedious and ridiculous ways, but finally admit that they lust for one another, and then the poor reader has to start enduring the many page long sex scenes that will haunt the series to its end.

Not recommended except to those who truly loved the first book of the series.(less)

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About Jean M. Auel

Jean M. Auel, née Jean Marie Untinen is an American writer. She is best known for her Earth's Children books, a series of historical fiction novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. Her books have sold 34 million copies world-wide in many translations.

Author Jean Marie Auel (surname pronounced like "owl") is the second of five children of...more Jean M. Auel, née Jean Marie Untinen is an American writer. She is best known for her Earth's Children books, a series of historical fiction novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. Her books have sold 34 million copies world-wide in many translations.

Author Jean Marie Auel (surname pronounced like "owl") is the second of five children of Neil Solomon Untinen, a housepainter, and Martha Wirtanen. She and her husband, Ray Bernard Auel, have five children and live in Portland, Oregon.

Auel has been a member of Mensa since 1964. She attended Portland State University and the University of Portland. While studying, she worked as a clerk (1965-1966), a circuit board designer (1966-1973), technical writer (1973-1974), and a credit manager at Tektronix (1974-1976). At one time, she shared a secretary with author Ursula K. Le Guin.[citation needed] She earned an MBA in 1976 and has received honorary degrees from the University of Maine and Mount Vernon College for Women.

In 1977, Auel began extensive library research of the Ice Age for her first book. She joined a survival class to learn how to construct an ice cave, and learned primitive methods of making fire, tanning leather, and knapping stone from aboriginal skills expert Jim Riggs. Auel describes Riggs as "the kind of person you could put into one end of a wilderness naked, and he'd come out the other end fed, clothed, and sheltered." Clan of the Cave Bear was nominated for numerous literary awards, including an American Booksellers Association nomination for best first novel.

After the success of the first book, Auel was able to travel to prehistoric sites and to meet many of the experts with whom she had been corresponding. Her research has taken her across Europe from France to Ukraine, including most of what Marija Gimbutas called Old Europe. She has developed a close friendship with Dr. Jean Clottes of France who was responsible for, among many other things, the exploration of the Cosquer Cave discovered in 1985 and the Chauvet Cave discovered in 1994.

Jean Auel's books have been commended for their anthropological authenticity and their ethnobotanical accuracy. However, recent archaeological research may suggest that some prehistorical details in the series are inaccurate and others fictional, and that specifications of prehistorical milestones are sometimes arbitrary and inconsistent. For example, the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may have been exaggerated or underestimated in the series; it has been found that Neanderthals had a hyoid bone and may thus have been capable of using vocal language and not as dependent on sign language as portrayed in the series (the existence of a Neanderthal hyoid bone wasn't confirmed until 1983, some years after the first book in the series was published).
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Books by Jean M. Auel

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)

The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children, #3)

The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children, #4)

The Shelters of Stone (Earth's Children, #5)

The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children, #6)

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Quotes from The Valley of Horses

“If you want to fall in love, you can't hold everything in. You have to open up, take that risk. You'll be hurt sometimes, but if you don't, you'll never be happy. The one you find may not be the kind of woman you expected to fall in love with, but it wont matter, you'll love her for exactly what she is.” — 12 people liked it

“Ayla, I looked for you all my life and didn't know I was looking. You are everything I ever wanted, everything I ever dreamed of in a woman, and more. You are a fascinating enigma, a paradox. You are totally honest, open; you hide nothing: yet you are the most mysterious woman I've ever met.” — 6 people liked it

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