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Arrived today. Cheers!

I've wanted to read this series of books for a long time, so imagine my delight when I saw that babykittysmama was organising a bookring for them.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into the first book. I persevered for the first 50 pages. Then I decided that I really ought to give it another 50 pages, but all to no avail. And so, with great disapointment, and a degree of embarrassment, I am passing these three books on to the next reader, almost totally unread.

Sorry babykittysmama, but thank you for the opportunity to give them a whirl.

Received as part of a bookring - will shoot straight to the top of my TBR pile!

02/07/04 - Half way through - will journal again when finished.

Well, I enjoyed this, but I think the series gets weaker the further it goes, which is a shame.
The story (jumping a book from Valley of the Horses) continues with Ayla's & Jondalar's journey back to Jondalar's home. And this was the major problem with the book for me - too long and too repetitive. A lot of their actual journeying could have been edited out, especially the passages where the author described the wildlife and landscape. Interesting, but I felt the story was held up.
My other quibble was that the characters were too simplistic - Ayla seemed to have no character flaws, which was just irritating after a while, and their encounters with other tribes seemed to follow similar patterns, and as such blurred into each other.
As such I found this was the hardest of the three to get through, but overall I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to read these books. Despite my quibbles I've enjoyed the novels, enough to probably pick up the remaining books in the series at some stage!
Thanks again to babykittysmama for organising this!

08/07/04 - waiting for address details

27/07/04 - Due to snowmyst having e-mail/ computer problems, and with babykittysmama's permission, I'm sending these on to ronoren asap. Hopefully snowmyst will be able to recieve them at a later date. :)

30/07/04 Waiting for address details

Released on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 at Sent to a bookcrosser in Royal Mail, City of London, England United Kingdom.

Posted to Ronoren!

Thanks again Babykittysmama for organising!

Got them yesterday in the mail. I started Clan of the Cave Bear immediately and put this one and The Valley of Horses on the top of the TBR pile. Will report when I'm through them.

I got Clan of the Cave Bear as a RABCK from Jamesmum (helped by my darling girlfriend) more or less at the same time as this ring. As I can get the next books in the series too, these copies can now move on in their journey. I'm just waiting for Snowmyst's address...
I'll journal my findings of the books here too, though; it'll just be like I truly read them ;-)

I decided not to read this one, or at least not yet, since The Mammoth Hunters, which is in between The Valley of Horses and this one, wasn't there. Rather than breaking the story line, I figured I'd read the rest of the series later...

As Snowmyst doesn't respond, the books are going to BunnyLady. Hope you'll enjoy them!

Rec'd this book yesterday with 2 of the others for the series I am still looking for the 3rd book in the series. When I find it I'll read these and pass all 4 on as a set. Thanks for sending RonOren and thanks for giving me the time I would need babykittysmama to find and read the whole set.

Releasing series into Bunny Ladys Book Box #4.
I'd LOVE to travel throughout the world. Here are all the places I've been to so far:
Redondo Beach, California USA
Plymouth, Devon United Kingdom
Fetcham, Surrey United Kingdom
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin USA
small town, Kansas USA
Please help me to travel the world by passing me on after you've read me. So I can visit other new places.

I just finished reading the other copy of this book, and I'd say it's back on the level of Clan of the Cave Bear and The Valley of Horses. During the long trek of Ayla and Jondalar back to the West, there are millions of opportunities for descriptions of animals or climate or ways of living in the Ice Age. No soap-like story (as The Mammoth Hunters tended to be every now and then), but a 700-page adventure. I especially loved the part with the Wolf Women; it was a nice break in the slowly moving story and something I never had expected.

I do want to know now if Ayla will be accepted by Jondalar's people. Definitely looking forward to The Shelters of Stone arriving ;-).

I'm keeping this one and its companions out of the bookbox to read. Thanks!

I started this one last night, and I'm enjoying it so far. I do feel, as some of the previous journalers apparently did, that the series is getting less good the further along it goes. Perhaps it's just the fact that by now we are very familiar with the characters, and perhaps it's just that the books are so LONG. I'm still greatly enjoying the detail of these books -- I love reading about the different animals and plants they encounter, the hunting techniques they use, etc. I do wish that they would reach Jondalar's people before I am 90, and I think it may happen. At least I can see the end of these books from here! I will keep on with them because I do like them, I just do think perhaps they could have been shortened a bit without really losing any of the story.