![]() ![]() This sort of "I can't live without a man" behavior needs to stop. She even jokes, "Well, I belong to you, don't I?" What makes me upset is how Ayla falls for the trap so many novels featuring a female protagonist fall for: Ayla gives up EVERYTHING for Jondalar. What makes Ayla more irritating in my book isn't her Mary Sue qualities (although, damn, they were enough to make me want to hit something). Both of them are Mary Sue checkmarks in my book. Or the "I have to save someone no matter the cost" (but don't worry-unlike in "Clan of the Cave Bear" where Ayla wasn't able to save someone, Ayla never has that problem here!). ![]() If Ayla has a flaw, it is the "I don't realize how beautiful I am" curse (yes, even after all this time with Jondalar and the bajillion men saying how gorgeous she is, Ayla still thinks she is "Big and Ugly"). Ayla is perfect in every way every man wants to tumble in the furs with her, she is the most gorgeous woman ANYONE has ever seen (and EVERYONE will let you know it), everything she does is perfect and wonderful, she can win over people who hate the Clan and anyone associated with it, she can heal a rape victim with a few sympathetic words, she can save a village from Femi-Nazis but come out without having shed ANY blood, she teaches people how to sew (a skill that apparently NO ONE ELSE is capable of learning), and she can get ANY tribe to almost immediately want to have her join their clan. At the end of the book, Ayla and Jondalar are the same vapid, 1-Dimensional Mary Sue and Marty Stu they were when they started this book. By the time the character reaches the end of the journey, something should have been learned, characters should grow, knowledge should be gained. A good journey story will have the CHARACTER undergo a change, some sort of trial, in the midst of the external journey. I think a good journey story is more than just Character X has to get to Point B. Journey stories are inherently tough and not everyone is going to like them. That said, this book is something that I definitely couldn't call "Mammoth Hunters" and that is BORING. We don't have any stupid Big Misunderstandings, we get to meet a lot of new peoples and customs, and journey stories are some of my favorites. In some ways, this book is actually an improvement over the (in my opinion) dismal "Mammoth Hunters". The book becomes just a volume of people going here and there, bumping into random tribes for the hell of it, and studying in excruciatingly textbook detail the flora, fauna, and biosphere. This book is a perfect example of what happens when you write a novel and don't have a plot to fill it. ![]() NOTE: I listened to this on audiobook and am a super lazy person, so I am not even bothering with getting all the new names of peoples and places correct. In the meantime, Ayla and Jondalar cross rivers, have lots of sex, chase after their damn animals, and talk about where babies come from (actually, it's Jondalar doing a lot of the wondering where babies come from-Ayla must have FINALLY come to grips with it). They stumble upon Mammoths having sex, the Sharmudoi and the Ramudoi who almost immediately induct Ayla into their clan, a group of Femi-Nazis (aka, what many conservatives think Feminists are), a couple of Clan people, the Losadunai, and Jondalar's sister's people (whoever the hell they are). Summary: Ayla and Jondalar head out to his homeland (because while Ayla is supposed to sacrifice her newfound family, the Mamutoi, Jondalar can whine and complain to get what he wants). Oh, you wanted me to be a bit more specific? Okay. Summary: Ayla and Jondalar travel to his homeland. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |