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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Little Bit of the Magic Has Been Lost., May 3, 2004
I have recently finished the main four books of the "Earth's Children" series, and I have decided to review "The Mammoth Hunters" because I thought that this third book is where the series started to lose some of it's charm. That doesn't mean that it isn't worth reading, though. I just have a few qualifications. "Spoilers"In the first two books, "The Clan of the Cave Bear" and "The Valley of Horses", the huge amount of detail about the climates, landscapes, and plantlife never really bothered me too much, but in this book (and the last book, "Plains of Passage") I found it dwelt on the most trivial little things for ages! Most of the new characters are fairly likable, though none of them truly stand out, except maybe Rydag. Sometimes the author Ms. Auel seems more interested in Ayla's animal friends than in the people. A very large portion of this book is dedicated to the "love triangle" between Ayla, Jondalar, and Ranec, and this is frustrating for a number of reasons. First, it isn't really a love triangle at all; it is a "misunderstanding" between Ayla and Jondalar which causes Ranec to think that Ayla is available. Second, Ranec is an annoying and slightly creepy character, so I was never really interested in what the heck happened to him. Third, it takes over three hundred pages to resolve this issue!! Literally, three hundred pages of Ayla and Jondalar staring longingly at each other when the other one isn't looking, saying awkward things to each other, getting angry with each other, and so on. That doesn't mean that all three hundred pages are monotonous or boring. There are some very sad and touching scenes that will stay with you: Jondalar crying and clutching the wolf puppy at night while Ayla is sleeping with Ranec; Ayla sobbing to Mamut (the old MogUr-like character), asking him why Jondalar doesn't love her anymore; Jondalar losing control of himself when he's alone with Ayla and taking her by force (though she allows it); Ayla panicking and confessing her feelings when Jondalar leaves without her. These, and a few other scenes, are very endearing, though you may want to scream at Jondalar once in a while for not seeing what's so plainly obvious to everyone else. It never really leaves the reader's mind that all this drama and heartache could have been resolved in about two minutes if the two people just spoke to each other. On a side note, there seems to be a lot of people taking issue with the sex scenes in this series and I find it very odd. There is also violence, death, and (in the first book) a brutal rape scene, but no-one seems too concerned about these things. I'd call that a serious misplacement of values. Ayla and Jondalar are both adults and in love, so what's the problem? If you're squeamish about the sex scenes, then just skip them! The explicit descriptions are pretty entertaining, if you ask me! Ms. Auel uses hilarious adjectives for the sex scenes (eg. "Jondalar's large throbbing manhood", "Ayla's pink place of pleasure", ect.) that had me laughing out loud at some points!! In the fourth book, Ayla and Jondalar even "invent" the 69 position! In conclusion, I'll say that this book (and the fourth) is worth reading if you have already read the first two and really enjoyed them. As a stand-alone novel, it doesn't quite work. It's entertaining at times, but nowhere near as brilliant as the first, or as fun as the second.
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by Jean M. Auel
by Jean M. Auel
by Jean M. Auel
by Jean M. Auel
