Jean M Auel 6 Books Earths Children Collection Pack Set (The Valley of Horses... Paperback – January 1, 2018

An incredible journey through six books that you cannot put down! This series was recommended by a friend and I’ll be forever grateful. A true glimpse into life 30,000 years ago but told with vivid characters , customs, and riveting moments. Moments of pain, sadness, love, and friendships that compels the reader to want more! This should be a must read for anyone who is looking for a “good read”!

I was engaged in this series for about 9 months. I don't have a lot of time to read, so it took a while to finish, but when I got to the end, I was sad it was over. I will say it started to lose momentum toward the end which is kind of like life -- we grow old and feeble and then don't mind dying quite so much. I gave it 5 stars, but I'm going to check other reviews after writing this to see if anyone else was disappointed that the story was more linear than circular. By that I mean, I expected that the life and child left behind in the first book would come together as part of the plot by the end of the story. And that the main character's lineage or identity would be discovered. I hate loose ends even if it serves reality better. I learned a great deal about a time in history I knew nothing about -- the ice age. I realize much was conjecture, but the author did her homework and bought to life a time that most of us don't much think about. I found interesting even the descriptions of herbs used for medicines and landscapes and animals -- none of it got boring. The only page skipping I did was the sex scenes that went on and on with an explicitness that I could have done without. Not a good book for young people only because of this. There is some serious brutality, including rape of a child that is pretty upsetting, but this fell within the description of a culture that was very different from ours. To have avoided it would not have made sense. Yet, the book brought out the commonality of human beings of all ages. We see what the need for acceptance does to people, we see the givers and takers and those who have the courage to be different. We see jealousy, power mongers, and the timeless values of compassion, strength, and character. I will read it again at some point, minus the explicit sex.

The author is so descriptive with her words, that I feel I am actually bring absorbed into the scene. I have read this series twice and should I live long enough, I will likely read it again. At age 90, I can only hope so.

I read each of the books as they came out, and like having it on kindle to read in a lighter book (although I skip the scenery and sex scenes now). I remember liking the adventure in the Clan book; the 2nd, Valley of Horses, was a wonderful expression of how cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings. In Mammoth Hunters, the 3rd, I thought it was great to see how we don't just fix miscommunication once and it's done, but have to keep working on communication, and I admired it. The adventures in the 4th and 5th were exciting, and showed how the series had been planned from the start. Sadly, by the 6th book, I was frustrated by the continued communication problems. Yes, we have to keep working on it, but at the same time, Jondalar should have gotten more mature than when he was 15 by his thirties. It was nice to see Danug and hear about the others from earlier books (I was shocked that Latie had not gotten herself a horse by then.) I would like to see a book or at least short story about Jondalar's family in their old age, but doubt it'll happen now. I would have liked to have seen Madroman get eaten by a bear, but I suppose that's what day dreams are for.

The Clan of the Cave Bear was originally published in 1980. I was 3. This book was on the family bookshelf my entire life. Along with the next 5 books as they came out until the final one in 2011. My mom has always claimed this as her favorite book. I was never interested until the family home burnt down in 2022 and i had to start replacing all her stuff. Bought found this collection of all 6 books on kindle and purchased it for her. 6 months go by and she found them all in hardback at a used bookstore. I flipped through and Ayla caught my attention.I generally read a book a day. These 6 books took me over almost 2 months to read. The research the author did for this must have been SO extensive. She made me learn things while entertaining me at the same time. That’s hard to do.The journey of Ayla and then Jondalar was truly epic. Their love story is what kept me coming back for more. I did have to take a break during the Mammoth Hunters. Jondalar had to pull his head out of his a$$ and it was giving me slight anxiety. Then again in the Land of the Painted Caves. While I didn’t care for the ending, I’m hoping that the author will surprise us with another book. It took her 30 years to write 6 of them. Maybe she’s been in hiding the last 15 writing the last installment? We can only hope.

Great reading for every one..no exceptions is the greatest research author ever..perfect historical research. Always accurate and factual j in all cases