The Plains of Passage: Ayla Ascends
Though Jean Auel's fourth installment of the Earth's Children series is widely regarded as the weakest of the first four, it is looked upon more favorably in comparison to the final two installments. The Plains of Passage is still "early Auel," part of a remarkable 10-year bout of productivity that produced four giant, detailed novels. Whatever its faults, it still maintains the tone and characterization of previous novels, and it still seems to harbor some ambitions for its characters. That said, I found The Plains of Passage to be a grind after The Mammoth Hunters . Unlike the latter book which -- whatever its faults -- had one tense plot line throughout, the plot of The Plains of Passage is "Ayla and Jondalar travel to Jondalar's home." That means a lot of lengthy travel sequences of variable interest, intercut with sometimes interesting interaction with other tribes. I would have found The Plains of Passage to be a lot fresher if we h