Product Description

Jean M. Auel’s enthralling Earth’s Children series has become a literary phenomenon, beloved by readers around the world. In a brilliant novel as vividly authentic and entertaining as those that came before, Jean M. Auel returns us to the earliest days of humankind and to the captivating adventures of the courageous woman called Ayla.

With her companion, Jondalar, Ayla sets out on her most dangerous and daring journey--away from the welcoming hearths of the Mammoth Hunters and into the unknown. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but sparsely populated and treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the pair among strangers. Some will be intrigued by Ayla and Jondalar, with their many innovative skills, including the taming of wild horses and a wolf; others will avoid them, threatened by what they cannot understand; and some will threaten them. But Ayla, with no memory of her own people, and Jondalar, with a hunger to return to his, are impelled by their own deep drives to continue their trek across the spectacular heart of an unmapped world to find that place they can both call home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30399 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-25
• Released on: 2002-06-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The long-awaited fourth installment of the Earth's Children series is as warm and inviting as its campfire milieu. sure fire bestseller. Auel again describes her characters' travails, a passionate interest of millions of readers, in impeccably researched detail. The continuous recitation of flora and fauna, coupled with flashbacks to events in the previous books, becomes somewhat tiresome, however. (Would that our "memory" were as instinctual as that of the Clan.) The saga continues the cross-continental journey of Ayla, her mate Jondalar and their menagerie to his homeland. En route, they encounter a variety of problems, yet manage to find panaceas for each. Their enlightened compilation of skills, inventions, therapies and recipes transforms the voyagers into spirit-like personas providing The Others with constant awe. A brief encounter with the Neanderthal Clan rekindles the unique charm of the first (and strongest) book. Such locutions as "out of the cooking skin into the coals" or "Mother's path of milk" for the Milky Way are coyly anachronistic. Nonetheless, this volume is as welcome as letters from a long-lost friend. A novel 1.25 million first printing; major ad/promo; first serial to Ladies' Home Journal; BOMC main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- Auel follows the successful formula of the other books in this series--man's emergence from primitivism to civilization. Ayla and Jondalar continue their journey, accompanied by Whinny, Racer, and Wolf, closely observing the terrain and prudently, even inventively, developing "modern" techniques to deal with danger and evil. Perhaps most interesting is Ayla's triumph over the matriarchal despot Attaroa; the reverberating echoes of the women's movement's attendant strengths and weaknesses lend a nice touch of irony. The love scenes are not quite as steamy as in the other books. The conclusion is too abrupt, coming just as the characters reach their destination, but The Plains of Passage is still satisfying.
- Joan L. Reynolds, West Potomac High School, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Gripping."
--Boston Sunday Herald

"Pure entertainment...exhilarating. "
--Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews

Could have been better
Having read the previous three novels, I was disappointed when I read this one many years ago. It is a very tedious, redundant book with remarkably similar encounters with various tribes along the way.

The good: Auel provides rich scenery (sometimes too rich) for the reader and I like the way that she works artifacts into her novels. In my anthropology, art history and ancient history from college, I was often thrilled to find a "venus" statue that she had described or a mammoth bone dwelling. The tediousness of the book even works for it in a way since you have a huge sense of relief at the end, much as Jondalar and Ayla would have felt, FINALLY!!! There was also a lot of potential with this novel. For characters, I liked S'armuna, Epadoa, Dolando and Joplaya simply because all of them had a chip on their shoulders for one reason or another.

Unfortunately, Auel did not take advantage of it. The conflicts are mild and predictable. There is more telling than showing. Wolf, who is hardly a year old, responds to Ayla with almost perfect obedience. The characters for the most part are eminently suited to their positions. With the exception of Attaroa, there are no leaders who are incompetent or who make mistakes or do anything bad. Ayla in the first three novels made cultural mistakes, got angry and spoke without thinking, and didn't always do things the right way. Now, she always does what is right and Jondalar is there to support her. Her personality has gone.

Also, I find it very incredible that all of these cultures are so similar in their religious beliefs. Auel has put a lot of effort into the Sharamudoi and Mamutoi culture, but hasn't given them any spiritual independence. All worship The Mother, all have First Rites, all accept women leaders in some form or another, it is very incredulous to believe that these people were so similar

Jane M. Auel's Earth Children Series Truly Amazing
Who would believe a mini-series about a woman living in the Stone Age could be so fasinating. I for one would not had not a friend insisted I would enjoy these books. I am now reading the fourth book in the series and my friend was on the money. What a wonderful writer.

This was my favorite of the series
What a mixed group of reviews! This, however, ranked as my favorite in the the series.