The Wilbur Smith Discussion Forums

Ok, so I've just finished "Clan of the Cave Bear" and was wondering:

1) What's the next book in the series?
2) Does the series continue the story of Clan of the Cave Bear (Ayla in particular)?
3) Does it get any better?

I thought the book was OK, nothing special but worth reading. I found it really hard to get into, a tad predictable and to be honest not much really happens (I could tell you what happens it the whole novel in 2 or 3 sentences). Having said that, the world Auel describes is extremely realistic and that's the only reason I kept on reading it (and why I want to read the next one). The book is more like a text book on the Ice Age, with a story added in to sustain interest.

I can definately see why this book is popular, but I have a major lack of imagination when it comes to things I can't picture (I don't like fantasy or sci-fi books) so I'm probably never going to be a massive fan of this series (even though it is based on a factual period).

What do other people think who have read this?

The next book is Valley of the Horses and it continues Ayla's story. The first time I read them, this one was one of my favorites.

And you're right, they're hard to get into. But I just finished going through them the second time and they somehow got better and I enjoyed them. I also found that after a while the description of the scenery/landscape (though amazing) gets a bit boring and you can skip half the page of scenery descriptions quite easily.

The Valley of the Horses is my favourite of the series. There is a lot of repeatation of past events as you go on in the series and there are some HOT scenes (which I tend to skip over) in the later books.
There is a forum called ECfans.com where you can get some very amusing read throughs of all the books; this might help you decide whether you want to read on. I personally prefer some of the fanfics though I get really p***ed off when stories are abandoned.

As I mentioned somewhere else, I've bought Valley of the Horses and, I have to say that I'm liking it a lot!

I see what you mean about the HOT scenes Betty; this isn't just a text book on the ICE Age!

I've also been thinking about something I wrote earlier in this thread:

I don't like fantasy or sci-fi books

I was talking nonsense! Phillip Pullmans "His Dark Materials" is a Fantasy Trilogy and I loved it (the style and character development is very similar to Earths Children) and I've also read the "Foundation" series by Asimov (the founding father of Sci Fi) and they blew me away. I guess I prefer action/adventure/crime novels but I do like Fantasy and Sci-fi ones!

Matt

I've finished "Valley of the Horses" and I liked it! Much better than "Clan of the Cave Bear".

The middle third of the book was amazingly slow but once I reached the point where Jondular met Ayla I literally didnt put the book down - 6 hours later at 2 in the morning I had finished it!

I would have to agree with WSI that this series is probably more aimed at women (are there more women members at ECfans?) and the sexual content is very substantial, somewhat astonishing - Dr Doolittle meets Deepthroat in places!

I'll definately keep on reading the series and I glad Nefer recommended them too me

Glad you liked it!

That must have been some marathon read!

Keep reading, you'll see that Ms. Auel has detailed descriptions of EVERYTHING to do with daily life, not just the interminable sex scenes!

There are more women at ECfans, but I must say, you're the 1st dude I've managed to convince to read Auel!

I got through all my anth. classes at uni. because of Auel. I barely studied, lol (what else is new?!). I kept wanting to interupt the prof. and say 'well, the Clan vocalised some sounds' when we were discussing some finds in class. Seems that Neandertals did have the bone that vibrates to make sounds.

Let us know when you get in Mammoth Hunters. There's some interesting things she theorised, which has been proven fact AFTER she wrote the book (like Neandertals being able to vocalise. There was no archaeological evidence for that when she wrote & published Clan.)

I must say Valley of the Horses is my all time favorite out of the 5 novels. But enjoy Mammoth Hunters it's actually quite neat.

I'm curious to know how you're getting along in Mammoth Hunters...

Haven't given up on it, have you, Matt?

Haven't bought it yet...it's next on my list, but I'm trying to find it at a bargain price somewhere!

I`ll be sure to write my thoughts when I've finished


EDIT@ 12:45 - Just been out at lunch and bought it after realising I had a 4 day weekend coming up

Ha Ha Ha! Keep us posted!

I finished Mammoth Hunters over the weekend. Didn't like it as much as "Valley" but better than "Clan". Bit too much waffle and not enough happening and I was getting very infuriated with Ayla at points. Still a good read tho

Yeah, its the soap-opera episode of the books.

But it makes you realise what a good writer Auel is when you want to throttle not-real-or-alive characters!

Much like I'd like to give "Lord" Intef a piece of my mind....

Mammoth Hunters does tend to get on your nerves. Try Plains of Passage it's a bit better.

Neferk, love how you turned the convo about River God... :P

I do try!

Just finished Plains of Passage...think it's the weakest so far. The book should of been edited so much better - there's so much unnecessary drivel!

The amount of re-telling of the previous "stories" from the other books in the series really annoyed me...I know it's neccessary to a certain extent for those people who have just randomly picked up the book, but the detail she went into was way overboard AND on at least one occasions she actually re-told the same "story" twice!

The sheer quantity of descriptive waffle also really annoyed me. I ended up skipping paragraphs and paragraphs, only really reading where I could see a character actually "speaking". The extent to which she described the world to start off with (ie books 1 and 2) was good, but in the latter books she just goes on and on about trees, gravel, snow, leather, the weather etc...Ayla and Jondlar? More like Frodo and Samwise.

Except for those two rather large grievances, the interaction of the characters and the story is actually pretty good...thats why I'm just about to pick up the next one!

Plains was the 1st book I ever read, and the constant descriptions actually had me in constant awe. And the veiled references to her past had me salivating for more - so I guess it's all there for something!

I do agree that if you've read the books in order all the extras are really annoying, and I do what you did - I scan till I see conversations & read from there! Every once in a while I'll actually read every word, makes for an enriching descriptive experience

Dunno if you want to hear this, but there's a lot of re-telling in SoS. That was my biggest complaint, that & I was so anxious to read it I may have had too many expectations. So go into the book expecting nothing!

I think Shelter of Stone is my favourite of the series...is that a controversial choice?!

I liked that there's less waffle (no journeys to go OTT on!) and I think I was more prepared for the re-telling so it didnt bother me so much. Lots of loose ends were tied up, and a whole lot more were created! For some reason I also felt more "involved" in the book - not sure if thats my state of mind ATM or a change in writing style (?).

I think it would be quite cool if the next book in the series was set about 5 - 10 years after SoS...probably not gonna happen tho.

And I'm under a different opinion. SoS was frankly kinda boring. But whatever floats your boat. I just found it kinda monotone and I had to kind of drudge through it.

Matbow wrote:I think Shelter of Stone is my favourite of the series...is that a controversial choice?!

Yes indeed! You must be one of a few!

I think it may because you were lucky to not have to wait 12 years for it to come out - I waited 6. That way you didn't have many expectations & you're better able to appreciate the book for what it is.

I was bitterly dissappointed when I finished it the first time, but when I read it the second time, I really enjoyed the amount of detail she put in, describing all the Cave activities.

I didn't feel as involved in the story as you, though. The writing style has definately changed, but IMO it's not that different. Could it be the plot-line...?

Yeah, if you've waited that long you really must of wanted a great book! I can't see how it's possible to spend that long writing a book TBH, ok she had personal stuff to do, take a break etc...but seriously 12 years! I wonder how different her first draft was to the final and whether the "re-writing/reading" of each chapter actually had a negative effect on the book?