Joseppe A

Warning: there are some spoilers in this review.

I took a nearly 2-decade long break from Ayla & Jondalar's adventures after reading Plains of Passage. I had been putting off reading Shelters of the Stone because I was not prepared to invest the time reading an over 800 page book. But finally read it I did, and I have to admit, nothing really exciting happened in the book.

At first, it seems like Ayla was going to have to deal with some serious back-stabbing from the jealous villagers. I mean, who wouldn't be jealous of her being a perfect, blond & blue eyed beauty, her vast medicinal herbal knowledge, her power over animals and professional slingshot-hunter abilities. But surprisingly, these villagers never really get organized or plot anything significant. Pretty much the major events are: a big hunt, moving the camp from the winter to summer grounds, Ayla surgically rescuing some severely injured hunters, Wolf discovering an ancient secret cave, Ayla and Jondalar's mating and finally Ayla and Whinney giving birth.

Alot of commentors in this review blog complain how Ayla and Jondalar repeat things from the previous books, but for me that was not an issue. Since I hadn't picked up the series in over 20 years, I needed a recap to remind me of what happened. I think that is what Jean had in mind when she includes these repeats, she doesn't expect that every reader will finish the entire series in a few weeks! She also can't assume readers started at "Clan of the Cave" bear!

It's true that there is alot of description of their natural surroundings and of herbs and plants, but keep in mind that Jean did alot of research before, and during, her writing of these novels and she probably wants to preserve this knowledge in her texts. For herself and others. I never skimmed through those descriptive sections. The only skimming I did was thru the sex scenes, since they don't advance the story and there was nothing for me to learn there. Plus, Jondalar and Ayla's love-making doesn't get very original after reading Plains of Passage. ;-)

Another issue I had with Shelters of Stone was the vast number of characters! Sadly, I didn't discover the character list at the back of the book until I reached the last 100 pages or so. I really wish the list of characters had of been at the front so that I could have referred to it throughout my reading! Oh well, that was my fault and in the future I'll check the front AND back of books for character lists, maps, etc... Since there are so many characters, there isn't much depth in any of them. You mostly only get to know the Zelandoni woman, Jondalar's mother and father...and that's about it.

Ayla being pressured to join the doni was interesting. I secretly liked the fact that Ayla was standing up for herself, refusing at first and replying that all she wanted was to be mated and have her child. She doesn't need anyone telling her what to do! She doesn't need to learn anything from anyone! She can figure it out for herself (such as how children are made)! But, of course, I knew that she was going to join, it's in her fate and it really would be a waste of her unique talents if she didn't join the Zelandoni. They needed her. I'm glad Jean left that part to the very, very end. It was a good way to end it.

So, it's a good long read, it can be boring at times if you don't need the repetition, don't care about herbal/geological lore or don't want to read through sex scenes, but I think the book progresses Jondalar and Ayla's life well and it certainly leads you to wanting to find out how Ayla does as a Zelandoni and what will Jonayla and Gray turn out to be like?