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

A Prehistoric Epic by Jean M. Auel

Books

• The Clan of the Cave Bear
• The Valley of Horses
• The Mammoth Hunters
• The Plains of Passage
• The Shelters of Stone
• The Land of Painted Caves

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, and The Land of Painted Caves.