This sequel to the prehistoric saga "Clan of the Cave Bear" continues to display author Jean M. Auel's genius at imagining the lives, challenges, and spirituality of our ancient ancestors near the close of an ice age.
In "Valley of the Horses" the story of Ayla continues immediately after her banishment from the Clan that concluded the first book. Now in her middle teenage years, Ayla must seek the Others because she is not of the same kind of people as the Clan that raised her since saving her from a cave lion at the age of five. Ayla is a modern form of human differing from the members of the Clan who are stronger, shorter, with prominent brows, differently organized brains, and limited capacity for speech although they possess a complex language of hand signs and body language. But Ayla never truly fit in despite the love and guidance of her adoptive Clan parents. And the conflicts that arose from her differences eventually caused her to be expelled and cursed by the Clan, and her exile included the painful separation from her young son, Durc. After trekking desperately across ice age steppes, surviving because of all her tremendous skills as a hunter and gatherer, Ayla finds refuge in a green valley occupied by a herd of horses. With winter looming, she decides to make this valley her home despite the fact that she has not found any other people like her. Alone in this place for many seasons, Ayla begins to flourish outside the customs and taboos of the Clan that stifled her natural creativity and ability to innovate. But amid her growing successes, she remains alone and her grief over her lost family and despair for the future are poignantly and skillfully expressed by the author.
Unlike the first novel, Auel branches out the narrative in "Valley of the Horses" to include new characters. The young brothers, Jondalar and Thonolan, are introduced as they begin a journey of exploration away from their home. Through their story as they cross prehistoric Europe, Auel builds a marvelously detailed world filled with rituals, customs, skills, and humanity. Her well-researched imagining of prehistoric peoples offers an insightful and moving contrast to later civilizations. The author's presentation of the original Mother Earth religion with its emphasis on female power is especially compelling. Entering her world in which women are respected, possess sexual freedom, and live alongside men who also enjoy their own freedoms was beautiful to behold and contemplate.
As the novel unfolds, it is readily apparent that Jondalar and Ayla are meant to find each other and become lovers, and my desire to see this happen kept me turning pages. About my only criticism of the novel is that it does drag sometimes as finely detailed descriptions of Stone Age technology are presented, but most of my impatience can be attributed to my longing for the eventual coupling of the hero and heroine. Auel teases her readers with many chapters of sexual frustration and emotional highs and lows, but all is amply alleviated in the novel's conclusion with utterly sweeping romantic joys. The last page of "Valley of the Horses" ends with a great crescendo that left me happy but nervous about the triumphs and conflicts that are certain to arise in subsequent books of the series.
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