Thirty thousand years in the making and 31 years in the writing, Auel's
overlong and underplotted sixth and final volume in the Earth's Children
series (The Clan of the Cave Bear; etc.) finds Cro-Magnon Ayla; her mate,
Jondalar; and their infant daughter, Jonayla, settling in with the clan
of the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonaii. Animal whisperer and medicine woman
Ayla is an acolyte in training to become a full-fledged Zelandoni (shaman)
of the clan, but all is not rosy in this Ice Age setting; there are wild
animals to face and earthquakes to survive, as well as a hunter named
Balderan, who has targeted Ayla for death, and a potential cave-wrecker
named Marona. While gazing on an elaborate cave painting (presumably,
the Lascaux caverns in France), Ayla has an epiphany and invents the
concept of art appreciation, and after she overdoses on a hallucinogenic
root, Ayla and Jondalar come to understand how much they mean to one
another, thus giving birth to another concept.monogamy. Otherwise, not
much of dramatic interest happens, and Ayla, for all her superwomanish
ways, remains unfortunately flat. Nevertheless, readers who enjoyed the
previous volumes will relish the opportunity to re-enter pre-history one
last time

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