An interesting take on how some things could have come about. As this series went on it became less interesting and more soft porn. ( )

Book 2 in the Earth's Children series picks up directly where Clan of the Cave Bear left off. Ayla is 'dead' to the clan and she begins her journey to find the 'Others'.

As much as I loved the first in the series, The Valley of the Horses was far more enjoyable. Ayla begins to discover the ability to imagine, to learn, to invent, to create.

We're also introduced to the 'Others' as two brothers set out on a Journey. ( )

Pretty much my favorite of the series by Auel. I live in the Pacific NW so actually sort of met her once at a Jazz festival. I really like her last one, The Shelters of Stone, as well. But Valley still made me a true fan. ( )

This second book by Jean Auel about Earth's Children is about Ayla after she leaves the Clan where she was raised. Because she is alone, she must depend on herself to live. Alya raises a horse, Whinney ,and a cub lion named Baby who help and comfort her in her journey. Alya saves the life of Jondalar of`the Zelandonii and they continue her quest to find the Others, of which Alya was born.
I liked this book. The author goes into great detail about the area, rivers, herbs, plants, trees, animals and more. ( )

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best in the series, 2 Sep 2003
By dragondrums "dragondrums" (Ingleby Barwick, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The Valley of Horses is the second book in Jean M Auel's magnificent Earth's Children series. Having been exiled from the clan of neanderthal's that had raised her, Ayla now has to journey alone and find ' the others', cro-magnons like her.
This is an epic and moving story of a young girl's struggle to survive and adapt to the fear of being totally alone in a strange and hostile environment.
Whilst travelling, Ayla discovers a valley that becomes her haven and her home and here she finds longed for companionship with a horse she raises from a foal.
Parallel to the story of Ayla is the tale of cro-magnon brothers who are 'journeying' in search of adventure. Ms Auel manages to handle these two seperate story strands with ease and switching between them never 'jars'. eventually the stories intertwine and become one as Ayla finally comes face to face with one of her own kind.
As rich in detail as the first book in the series this book is an absorbing read and one that is difficult to put down. Highly recommended.

The meeting of two people who knew their was something missing in their lives before. A beautiful and difficult tale ( )

Ayla has left the Clan, and now lives on her own. This is so for most of the book, until she finds Jondalar, a human male, one of her own kind. It is then that she has to decide wether to stay alone, or come out of isolation and interact with her own kind. Also in this book, you get to know Jondalar, as he and his brother's journey is shown before he gets into contact with Ayla.

This book is just as good as the last one, and the only negative thing I have to say about it, is that sometimes a description of a proces (like boat making) was a bit too long. Otherwise, a good follow-up on the first book. ( )

Follows on from Clan of the Cave Bear and is a very good read with a good love interest. Jean Auel's view of prehistoric times seems spot on and her interpretation of how hominids and Neanderthal’s seems amazingly believable. ( )

After Ayla's exile from the Clan, she lives in a valley alone....until she meets wounded Jondalar, which leads to epic hotness. ( )

This was as good as Clan of the Cave bear. I missed the interaction with the Neanderthals but this is still a good story. Well worth reading. ( )

Extremely detailed descriptions of everyday life in the early epochs. One could probably take the book and learn to cook over an open fire, clean hides, and make ancient jewelry. Strong sexual but non-pornographic content. Most of the book switches between the societal life of Jondalar and the secluded life of Ayla during her exile.

godt skrevet, spændende og gode beskrivelser om natur og livet fra dengang for mange mange år siden ( )

This is my favorite in the Clan of the Cave Bear series. The first book I found far far too sad--if you have a small child you will understand. But this one...okay I know it's completely implausible that ONE WOMEN; 1) was the first to make fire with flint 2) domesticated horses 3 )invented the sewing needle and lord know what else. But, but I find it an absolutely terrific fantasy to spend five years alone in a cave weaving baskets and carving wooden bowls. Can you tell I'm an introvert? lol. ( )

Earth's Children is my all time favourite series! ( )

riktig dålig,, lite stenålderporr ( )

I think it´s a great book, and suits the series with it´s content and it´s romance. it might be a bit soap opera drama, but, is it? really? someone has to tell the noncomplicated and happy, simplistic love stories, too. it´s still very touching, I think, and exciting. Auel is a good writer. and for the sex scenes, well, as I said, someone has to tell about basic sexdrives, give tribute to our human bodies and the mystique and the simple life of innocent lustful homidiaes. and it´s so nice with a self-confident woman. I like this book and always gets joyful of it. ( )

Plot: Robinson Crusoe meets the stone age. It's interesting to follow the main character along in her struggle for survival, even though not much happens plot-wise. The second plotline is a travel plot that heralds the bad things to come in later books - snail-speed motion due to soap opera elements, cheap drama and bad pacing. Once the two plots unite, unfortunately, the bad plot wins over and the rest of the book is a combination of romance, boring sex and not much happening.

Characters: Ayla's progress from clan member to solitary individual is interesting to see and fairly well done, but she is the only one who actually develops. The rest of the characters are out-of-the box and often only serve as a template to demonstrate stone age life.

Style: As always with the series, an abundance of information on prehistoric life, flora, fauna, climate patterns, geological phenomena and household techniques. The writing gets tiring pretty quickly since the prose is quite boring. Badly written dialogues, even more badly written sex.

Plus: The depth of research done for the book.

Minus: The need to show off said research. The discovery of the boring sex scenes. Too much soap opera drama.

Summary: It's not as good as Clan of the Cave Bear, but especially the earlier parts are not bad. The cheesiness factor increases dramatically towards the end. ( )

Stoneage Romeos.

With one big difference. The album by the Hoodoo Gurus is brilliant, the book isn't even remotely close to that, in fact several stars out of 5 not so.

This veers well into really, really boring romance novel territory. It may be supposed to be like that, but at that length, it gets really tedious, really, really quickly. Avoid it, unless that is what you are looking for, as smart guy and smart girl lust after each other across Neanderthal territory.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/07... ( )

Best of the series. ( )

A series to enjoy.
( )

The second book in the clan of the cave bear series. Not as engaging as the first, but still a good read. I became attached to the characters and could not wait to see what happened next. This book cronicles Ayla's trials alone in a valley, with no clan to help her. It gets a little heavy on the sex scenes, considering the previous book did not have any, but still the plot makes up for it. ( )

I loved this. I love the emotions conflicts. The way Jondolar and Ayla have to find a way to communicate and how they grow together is simply amazing! ( )

I was severely disappointed in this book. I found the first, Clan of the Cave Bear, to be wonderful and interesting. At some point, this novel, and the rest of the series, turns into a succession of sex scenes - not something I had wanted or expected from a series about prehistorical humans. A true shame. ( )

This is the second book in the "Earth's Children" series, and though it gets off to a slow start, it ends up with some of the steamiest scenes the in genre of ancient historical fiction. Ayla is again our heroine, kicked out of her clan and living on her own. She ends up adopting a horse and a lion, and generally shaping mankind's destiny. In the meantime we're introduced to Jondalar, Ayla's soon-to-be lover, as he travels with his brother through various homo sapians communities. Though it does not stand alone like "Clan of the Cavebear", this is nevertheless an excellent book. ( )

I'll be honest - this whole series is pretty silly. The series basically involves an alpha female meeting an alpha male. Between them they invent most of the key developments of the stone age, have lots of boring sex, and travel across Europe.

Having said that, they're reasonably imaginative, (apart from the repetitive sex scenes) fun to read and at the end of them you'll probably know a little more about the lifestyle of stone age man than you did before. The author obviously did research ancient history before she trampled all over it!

This book is the weakest of the series. ( )