I don’t know if it’s ever been mentioned or if anyone has the same thoughts but now as an adult I see their ceremony of First Rites as just pedophilic and rape.

Every single child has been groomed since birth to expect this and prepare for it. These are adult men and women raping children around 12 years old. I can’t look past it. It just disgusts me.

I'm finally out of my reading slump! I reread an old, old favourite, The Kin by Peter Dickenson and am currently reading a brand new book also by him A Bone From A Dry Sea (which has it's own Ayla Mary Sue though not quite as badly!) And am curious if anyone else has similar suggestions?

I was trying to find a link to "The Clan After the Earthquake" to show it to someone, having foolishly not bookmarked it. Can someone put up the link please? Thanks.

Why would Ursus want you to keep him look and take care of him for 3 years only to be brutally and cruelly murdered and eaten? I wouldn't be sending back good things to the spirit world....

I'm just coming to the end of my billionth listen of the entire series on audio book (I really should start keeping track) and I'm curious what your hot takes on the series are, both good and bad! Tell me your thoughts, your pet peeves, historical inaccuracies etc....

Obviously spoilers may abound so proceed with caution if you haven't read the series to completion!

My first one? Zelandoni is responsible for Ayla's miscarriage and was nearly responsible for her death. I also really hate how in the beginning of LoPC Zelandoni is annoyed at Ayla for taking so long to visit with the other young mothers when they go visiting. That is a rite of passage and a normal part of motherhood and community that she was trying to rob Ayla of and she has no one but herself to blame.

Also the counting thing is so dumb to me, that numbers are this sacred special thing that the everyday day person is mystified by and the clan can't do....and yet they all know and understand about the 7 days after the birth of a baby and the 7 years between clan gatherings. Not to mention the comment made at some point about art proceeding practicality...pretty sure that's untrue.

Also Wolf would very likely be dead by part 2 of LoPC, wild wolves only live about ~6 years.

Also I don't think I've ever read a book that mentions people pissing as much as Auel does, it's insane.

I'll probably think of more later...I know I've already got some more errors/inaccuracies to report to Don's Maps (I'll stick a link in the comments, lots of great info there!).

All in all I still love these books and enjoy listening to them and they are my comfort media that I can endlessly listen to over and over on repeat, even with all the pee, the graphic sex on repeat ad nauseam, oh and who could forget the whole mothers song (out of the darkness, the chaos of time the whirlwind gave birth to the mother sublime...whoops sorry...) and that book 6 feels like segments gathered off the cutting room floor and strung together with a few additional details to tidy things up and make them fit, but I'd love to hear people's thoughts!

I first read the books as a kid when I was wayyy too young for some of the topics discussed. Recently, I've been shopping for audiobooks to make long car drives less boring and remembered CotC - however, weirdly enough, I only remembered the first book and then a few blurry, disjointed moments from the later books (I definitely remember that I read at last up to Ayla's and Jondalar's marriage).

So the first book was pretty much as I remembered it and I loved listening to it. Now I'm at the second book and ohhh boy. I've seen people criticise the fact that Ayla can do everything and constantly invents new things but her chapters were the only thing I've liked about the audiobook so far. With every new Jondalar chapter, I'm more tempted to skip forward to Ayla.

He and basically everyone he encounters are so incredibly annoying, arrogant and boring and the tribes just seem like weird sex cults. I was actually shocked at the part where he basically threatens to rape/abuse a woman who played a dumb prank on him - like, I had my finger on the skip button in case he would actually go through with it.

Also, the part where Ayla gets horny while watching Whinny mate - did the descriptions of the animals' genitals etc. have to be so graphic??

From reading other peoples posts, I guess it's going to get worse after Ayla returns with Jondalar? Luckily I just bought the first three audiobooks so I don't have to sit through more caveman drama and caveman sex

It's not a typo...the pains in this book...

The stupid white tunic...just wrap it with your matrimonial tunic, you know, the one he knows about? Weight is fine for horse but running out of space? Make backpack! When Darvo literally just told you he tried your old tunic on that morning don't ask him if he still has it....

I've just finished this...not for the first time either, it's one of my all time favourite books!

But I'm always left wondering what happened to the clan after Ayla left...did they find a new cave? Did broud manage to control himself? Where's Durc?

Pros to being with Jondalar:

• Handsome

• Blue eyes

• Tall

• Big dick

• Magic tongue

• The perfect man

Cons:

• Angsty

• Jealous

• Violent

• Controlling

• Prone to angry outbursts

• Cave Lion totem doesn't approve of him

Conclusion: Jondalar would be an okay one night stand, but girl he is not mate material. Please split and whatever you do, don't have any more babies with the guy.

Edit: Isn't there also a big taboo about getting into a relationship with someone immediately after doing their First Rites? Bad Jondalar!

I watched The Duel with Liam Hemsworth, and he is Jondalar to me forevermore. Imagine him blonde.

When I read, I don't imagine a whole face. I imagine a person's features as they're described, but I don't try to put it all together, if that makes sense. When I watched this movie, I saw Jondalar and now I have a face to imagine.

Does anyone have pdf versions of the series? I’d love to put them on my kindle to have everywhere I go.

https://youtu.be/YeAp1fPt8Eg?feature=shared

Hi! If anyone is interested in what Ayla may have sounded like, please listen to this whole performance. Minus her awesome mouth harp, I can absolutely hear this as part of a performance during the Summer Meetings or other special occasions.

I downloaded the entire series on audible a number of years ago. I love listening the books over and over. I am currently listening to the Plains of Passaged (Last week I finished Shelters of Stone).

Over the weekend all the titles disappeared from my Audible Library. What's worse is I cannot download them any more. They're not available. Has anyone else encountered this? Are there other media where I can listen to the audio versions of the book?

So I'm wondering if they is any fics that bring characters to the past and they must survive in the earths children world.

I have found a few I might read but the only one im actually reading is Ayla's Clan on ao3.

Hi, my wife is a big fan. I was thinking of giving her a gift - any ideas or links, aside from books themselves? It could be jewelry, pictures, whatever crosses your mind. Thanks!

RANT. I have never wanted a fictional character to be trampled by a mammoth more in my life. I would rather lick a toaster than listen to his nonstop emo stream of consciousness. I think the problem is that I'm listening to the audiobook instead of reading the paperback, so my eyes can't just skip all his useless filler like the first time, and so I'm forced to withstand waaaahh my big man penis and lusty loins want her, but I can't have her, but I need her, but I'm just a loser with loser feelings waaaahh. If I hear "oh donii!" ONE MORE TIME. A perfect example of a great concept spoiled by a shit character. I'm still gonna reread (well, re-listen) but I'll probably die mad about it. Thanks for letting me vent!

Tbf I spent a good portion of book 2, and even some of book 3, wondering about whether we would see them again. But at a certain point, I knew it was never gonna happen. I think it made sense and am fine with it. It's sad of course that she never sees him again, but we know she couldn't go back.

I’m currently reading Shelters of Stone and was looking forward to book 6 until I read reviews of it. Is it even worth reading? From what I can tell from reviews, most people pretend it doesn’t exist and feel that Auel crapped on the characters she spent 5 books creating. Thoughts?

I have been listening to the last two audiobooks recently and although it’s mentioned in the earlier books, her accent becomes very apparent in these ones because they are so much farther away. One thing that is bothering me is this: If Jondalar taught Ayla how to speak, wouldn’t she have just learned with his Zelendonii accent? I know her original people taught her how to speak, but if she didn’t remember any of that language, it seems more realistic that she would pick up his accent because she was basically starting from scratch with speech/language.

If someone is born in Japan but they move to Australia as a toddler, they don’t typically have a Japanese accent. They inherit an Australian one.

What am I missing?

For some reasons I thought it was a low-budget, action movie when I first heard of it, but I watched it because the Homo Sapiens/Neandertal interactions fascinate me.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised!

Sure, the blonde supermodel surrounded by cavemen is a little cheesy, and I'm sure the books are way more detailed (I'll have to read them now), but overall I was fascinated for 90 minutes.

I love the landscape and the magic rituals, I love the way the clan communicate, or the theory about their ancestral memory. It really makes you wonder how Neandertal could apprehend the world, where did they travel, how they vanish/fight/mate with HS, etc.

Is there a good way to read the series without re reading each book each time? Like half the volume of the books is repeating everyone's back stories and it'd be a much more pleasant re-reading experience if there were such an edition