Category: Historical Fiction

book reviews of historical fiction books

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Review: The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel

Review of The Valley of Horses, the second book in the epic Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel of historical fiction set in prehistoric Europe.

The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel cover
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Synopsis

After leaving the group of Neanderthals that raised her, Ayla is unable to find other humans, and settles in a protected valley. She initially plans to stay for the winter but ends up remaining there for three years. During that time, she adopts a foal and raises a baby cave lion.

While Ayla’s in the valley, two brothers journey eastward along the river later called the Danube. They meet many people during their travels, and spend some time living with a group called the Sharamudoi. After the death of the woman he loves, the younger brother, Thonolan, loses his will to live.

Ayla finds the two young men after they have been mauled by her lion. Thonolan is dead, but she takes the other brother, Jondalar, back to her cave and saves his life. From Jondalar, Ayla learns about her own kind of people and the two of them form a relationship.

Review

I liked The Valley of Horses at the beginning, and it got better at the end. I’ve read and re-read the good parts over and over again.

In the first part of the book, I preferred the Ayla parts of the story to the Jondalar parts, but the Jondalar parts are necessary for the pace of the story and for action. Also, without the Jondalar parts, I wouldn’t have had the background that I needed to appreciate the rest of the story.

I loved seeing Ayla develop into her own person after being held back trying to fit in with the Clan. When she was living with the clan, a lot of her personality showed that she was different from everyone else. She had to suppress her smiles and laughter in order to fit in and survive. Living on her own, she could be curious, express her creativity, and follow her own inclinations as much as she liked.

‘She was thinking about naming the horse. I’ve never named anything before, she smiled to herself. Wouldn’t they think I was strange, naming a horse? Not any stranger than living with one. She watched the young animal racing and frisking playfully. I’m so glad she lives with me, Ayla thought, feeling a lump in her throat. It’s not so lonely with her around. I don’t know what I would do if I lost her now.‘

I found the number of innovations that Ayla came up with unrealistic for one person. She domesticates horses, makes fire with stones, and invents the travois to help her carry the animals she hunts. Individually, the circumstances surrounding each invention and discovery are reasonable, however put all together it is just too much for one person to have done.

Jondalar is too perfect; he’s tall, handsome, sensitive, intelligent, and everyone loves him. I usually don’t like characters like that, preferring characters to have a flaw or two and be more relatable. However, Jondalar’s perfection is recognised and we are shown some of the problems that it brings him. This made him much more likeable.

Conclusion

Have you read The Valley of Horses? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments.

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Review: On A Highland Shore by Kathleen Givens

Review of On a Highland Shore, historical fiction set in medieval Scotland by Kathleen Givens

On a Highland Shore by Kathleen Givens cover
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Synopsis

Margaret MacDonald, daughter of the Laird of Somerstrath, has just discovered that the man she is to marry has been unfaithful to her with her best friend. Because of her family’s refusal to cancel the betrothal, she travels to court to ask King Alexander to release her from it.

Returning home, she and her escort find that Norsemen have destroyed Somerstrath and massacred the inhabitants. While cleaning up the bodies, they find that several young boys are missing, including one of Margaret’s younger brothers.

They are joined by several relatives and allies, including Gannon MacMagnus, a young Irish warrior with a Norse father. Together they start recovering from the invasion and track down the attackers.

Review

The beginning seemed to get off to a bit of a slow start. However, once the Norsemen attack Somerstrath the story takes off. As the book continues, it is intense and suspenseful, especially during the battle scenes (warning: they were a bit graphic).

I enjoyed the brief appearances of real historical people, such as King Alexander. This ties the story in to the real historical setting. The book does a great job of showing the beauty of this time along with the brutality.

I struggled to care about Davy, the brother who was abducted. I just hadn’t seen enough of him to become attached to him before he was taken. I was more concerned about whether they would find and stop the Norse invasions or not.

There was a tease about Nell’s story. She meets a man called Liam and it seems obvious that eventually they’ll get together. Apparently the author planned to write another book featuring Nell, but died before she could do so. That’s a shame, because I want to understand that reference.

The author did a really good job of showing Margaret’s emotions; I could really feel her helplessness, loss, and betrayal.

‘Margaret stumbled down the hill behind Rignor. They checked every house. They found no one alive.

Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think.

They stopped before what had once been the gatehouse, staring at the still-smoldering roof of the keep. Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think. The chant ran through her mind, but thought was already very difficult. There was a roaring in her ears, almost like the sea. She no longer even saw the bodies of the men who had died here, simply stepped over the fallen who lay strewn across the stone courtyard and in the storeroom that had been the ground floor.’

The relationship between Margaret and Ganon adds a bit of romance to the story, but not enough to make it a romance novel rather than historical fiction. It also seems a bit shallow; I think the author hasn’t done a very good job of the “show don’t tell” thing with regards to this part of the story.

Margaret and Ganon were both strong people. I liked them much more than weaker characters such as Rignor. While I didn’t want Rignor to die, I was glad that his death allowed Margaret to become the clan leader; she always looked like a better leader than him.

The Norseman (main baddie) is pure evil. Rignor and Lachlan are shown as bad, they certainly do bad things, but they aren’t evil at heart. They are understandable given the setting and context.

Conclusion

Have you read On a Highland Shore? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments.

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Review: Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel

A Prehistoric Epic by Jean M. Auel

Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel
Earth’s Children by Jean M. Auel

Books

Synopsis

An historical epic set in upper paleolithic Europe. This series follows Ayla, an anatomically modern human girl. She is orphaned at a young age, and adopted and raised by a clan of Neanderthals. As hard as she tries to become one of them, she cannot and eventually has to leave.

She spends three years alone, unable to find any other humans and worried by what they will think of her and the animals she’s adopted. Then she meets Jondalar. After falling madly in love with her, Jondalar decides to stay with Ayla or take her with him; either way, they decide to spend their lives together. However, Jondalar almost loses her to another man before they realise the extent of their feelings for each other.

Jondalar takes Ayla and her animals with him to his home. His family quickly accept Ayla, and they are officially mated and have a daughter. Together, they create a great life, complicated only by Ayla’s training in the Zelandonia.

Review

The Earth’s Children series started great but gradually worsened. The first book was great. The last books were drawn out and repeated a lot of stuff that had been said earlier; the story wouldn’t have lost anything if the last bits were condensed into fewer books. I only read right to the end because I wanted to see what happened to the characters.

The characters are very well written. It is difficult not to care for the good characters. Major characters are very gripping; I was well drawn into their stories. The few characters who are not good (Broud, Marona, etc.) are well developed and I found that I understood them, but didn’t like them.

The world that the author creates is very plausible. It easily matches what is known about Europe at this time. I loved learning about the prehistoric world, not just from the books themselves but also from the additional reading that they encouraged me to do. As I learnt more, I saw just how well researched all the little details were.

A major theme in these books is the similarities and differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. These are shown in the first book with Iza and Creb trying to teach Ayla, and their speculations about ‘the Others’ while they’re at it. Through the rest of the books this is mostly shown with Ayla telling others about the clan and comparing them to the people she meets.

I was struck by the parallel between the attitudes people in these books had towards Neanderthal and racism in the modern world. The people in the books saw the Clan people as hated animals, just as people of colour were seen as sub-human up until about 50 years ago. Similar to how we have come to treat coloured people more equally, the Zelandonii and others learn that the Clan are people too and start to treat them better.

I was disappointed to not find out what happens to Durc and the Clan after Ayla leaves. Reading ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ I became really invested in the lives of Uba, Ona, and the rest of the Clan. I want to see what happens to them. While it wasn’t possible for Ayla to return to the clan, a spin-off book about Durc might do the trick.

Conclusion

Have you read the Earth’s Children series? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments. Please also check out my reviews for individual books in the series: The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters and The Land of Painted Caves.