The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children) [Hardcover]

Jean M. Auel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Earth's Children | Publication Date: November 27, 2001

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 intelligence, her curiosity, and her destiny, she explores where the Clan never dared to travel and encounters a hostile world of awesome mystery, glacial cold, terrifying beasts, and intense loneliness in which survival itself is a constant battle.

Sharing a hidden valley with a herd of steppe horses, Ayla finds a unique friendship with animals as vulnerable as herself and ingeniously discovers the complex skills needed to survive—skills no Clan member was ever able to master. But none of her experiences prepares her for the emotional turmoil she feels when she rescues a young man—the first of the Others she has seen—from almost certain death. Torn between her desire for human companionship and her fear of the unknown Others, she struggles against her deep attraction to the handsome Jondalar. It is Jondalar who teaches her the meaning of true friendship and love.

Once again, Jean M. Auel uses her powerful storytelling talents and her thorough understanding of human nature to take us on an amazing journey into the primordial past, re-creating the prehistoric world as it truly might have been in this compelling and timeless new epic of the dawn of civilization.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Shiningly intense... Sheer storytelling skill holds the reader in a powerful spell." -- Publishers Weekly


From the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Here is an unforgettable odyssey into a world of awesome mysteries, into a distant past made vividly real, a novel that carries us back to the exotic, primeval world we experienced in The Clan Of The Cave Bear -- and to beautiful Ayla, the bold woman who captivates us with her fierce courage and questing heart. Cruelly cast out by the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla now travels alone in a land of glacial cold and terrifying beasts. She is searching for the Others, a race as tall, blond, and blue-eyed as she. But Ayla finds only a hidden valley, where a herd of hardy steppe horses roams. Here, she is granted a unique kinship with animals, enabling her to learn the secrets of fire and raw survival -- but still, her need for human companionship and love remains unfulfilled. then fate brings her a stranger, handsome Jondolar, and Ayla is torn between fear and hope -- and carried to an awakening of desire that would shape the future of mankind.

"Shiningly intense... Sheer storytelling skill holds the reader in a powerful spell." -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 2001 Ed edition (November 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609610988
• ISBN-13: 978-0609610985
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean M. Auel is one of the world's most esteemed and beloved authors. Her extensive factual research has earned her the respect of renowned scientists, archaeologists and anthropologists around the globe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars After "Clan", Auel seems to have forgotten how to write...., July 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

It sounds a bit harsh, but there it is. As I was reading "Valley of Horses," I could hard;ly understand how a woman who could write something as enchanting and interesting as "Clan of the Cave Bear" could degenerate to such...drivel. Here's the story: Ayla, the plucky cro-magnon raised by neanderthals is all alone, playing a sort of female Dr. Doolittle/Pamela Lee to the animals in the valley she inhabits. All she really wants is to belong somewhere...i.e. to have a mate of her own. Enter Jondalar, a sort of paleolithic Fabio, on a journey toward...whatever destiny lies before him. On the way he has fun hopping into bed (VERY graphically) with just about every pretty cave-woman he comes across. WHAT HAPPENED? The beauty of the last book was the originality and believability of the characters. You really felt for them, especially Ayla, Iza, Creb, Brun, and some of the others. This Jondalar is a two-dimensional male-pinup admired far and wide for his incredible schlong (I'm not kidding). Ayla whines incessantly. Her animal friends don't provide too much snappy conversation. There really ARE no other characters, except maybe Jondalar's younger brother, who's about as fascinating as a slice of spam. It's also not so well-written. Do we really need three chapters on the building of a boat? I mean all the little intricate details? Do we need all these lengthy descriptions of food, tupper ware, and so on? Better if Auel had used all those chapters and pages to work on her plot and her characters. Here's the thing: "Clan" is REALLY good book. Don't let this review dissuade you from it by any means! Read it! Enjoy it! I certainly did! Just pretend it's the ONLY book in the series. Or make up your own ending.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A pathetic prehistoric loincloth-ripper, October 1, 2008

By 

Me (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, Book Two) (Paperback)

I couldn't even get halfway through this one because Ayla's character just becomes too ridiculous to believe. Clan of the Cave Bear was a decent book, but this sequel finds her inventing and discovering so many more things completely on her own that the plot loses all credibility. Between CotCB and the first half of this book, she:

Discovers the connection between sex and pregnancy
Invents the bra
Becomes the greatest hunter in the Clan and invents the double-stone throwing technique
Creates weavings, mats, and other wares that *of course* surpass everyone else's
Invents the hairbrush and the concept of braiding hair
Domesticates a wild horse, decides to ride it, then turns it into a draft animal after inventing the travois
Discovers how to make fire from pyrite and flint

And so on. All of this completely on her own. Plus, she's tall, blonde, and perfect with no character flaws. Or any broken bones or illnesses despite living alone for years (because she's a medicine woman, natch). I won't be reading any more of the series, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ayla winds up inventing the wheel, agriculture, aquaducts, and call waiting.

The part of the book I was not prepared for was the sex. I don't read romance novels, and I really didn't want to read a Pleistocene loincloth-ripper. I never did reach the part where Ayla meets Mr. Stud Muffin, but given the three-page description of how he brings a young girl to gasping ecstasy as he ravages her maidenhood, and the constant reminders of his throbbing manhood and chisled good looks, I knew immediately where the book was heading and I gave up in disgust.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow but almost as good as the first book....., November 26, 2005

By 

S. Duden "KittieCatGirl" (Southern Cali, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Auel's second installment in the Earth's Children series does start out fairly slow. Not only does the plot follow Ayla and her newly-found animal companions but it also focuses on Jondalar, the handsome blonde-haired, blue-eyed wonder, and his brother, Thonalon. Most of the first half of the book tends to make you want to skip pages to get to "the good part" however, again, there is a wealth of knowledge about the Ice Age throughout the pages. Auel even uses several pages to discuss flint knapping. For those of you who aren't interested in the historical perspective, you may find the book rather dull until Ayla and Jondalar finally meet.