Review of 'The Plains of Passage'

The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel
4th book in the 'Earth's Children' series

This novel continues the tale of Ayla as she and Jondalar journey across ice age Europe to return to his home. Along the way they, along with their two horses and wolf encounter people both friendly and deadly as well as storms and other threatening acts of nature. Very little in terms of additional character development goes on here except for the on-going tension betweeen Ayla and Jondalar as to why Ayla is not yet pregnant. Ayla's personality and unusual background continues to be a main story point leading to difficult situations though there is an interesting scene where she and Jondalar come face to face with her past. Written in Auel's fairly fluid style I found this novel terribly long and not all that exciting but periodically interesting. Readers will be perhaps pleased to note (if that is what you are interested in) the sex scenes get a bit hotter and more…tactile but other than that one day pretty much blends into another. It was often difficult to pick up this book to read but once you start reading the pages seem to go fairly quickly.

Rating: “A bit better than average”


Genre: General Fiction


Other reviewed books in the 'Earth's Children' series:

Other reviewed books by Jean M. Auel: