You know the drill by now. I didn't like most of the books after the first, but there's still hope that this book changes things. Spoilers ahead.
Now having arrived at the Zelandani, both Jondalar and Ayla have to find a way to fit (back) in with these people. Jondalar is generally welcomed, but most of the people consider Ayla to be odd. The Zelandoni of the people wants to adopt Ayla as her apprentice, though the young woman is reluctant. She also happens to be with child from Jondalar.
Unfortunately, this was yet another frustrating installment in the series. We have the general pitfalls Auel has been falling into in past books: repetition, unlikable characters, stupid caveman drama, needless sex scenes, the like.
This book was also very dull and uneventful, much like the last book. I really hoped for more to happen in this, but after Ayla is accepted relatively soon into the book. So, yeah, the main conflict of her being accepted by the Zelandani isn't even that major.
There's also just some flat out dumb moments in this. Ayla is given boys underwear as a gift by Jondalar's ex to mock her, yet somehow she ends up rocking it. Ayla genuinely claims that gray-coated wolves can be "racist" against black/white-coated wolves.
And then there's her child which is born. It's a girl. The name? Jonayla. I'm not kidding. This is Renesmee levels of bad naming. Jonayla is a ship name, not a name for the poor child. Whinney also gives birth to another foal. The genuis name that animal gets? Gray. Because it has a gray coat. Well then.
This is just such a boring installment that all of it starts to blend together. The only redeeming quality of it is some sweet scenes between Ayla and a minor character (a boy with a deformed arm who grows more confident as he is allowed to take care of her horses).
But I definitely don't recommend this one. One book left, though. I doubt we'll get any improvement by now, but I want this series done with.
Rating: 2/5
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