by Jean Auel
4 out of 5 stars
This series is just a whole bunch of fun if you like long, detailed stories that you can really lose yourself in. Granted, they are a bit like Harlequin Romance meets Jurassic Park (or maybe Land of the Lost), and you might wonder where a Cro-Magnon dude out of the ice age picked up such powers of seduction (this guy is amazing in the...er...wooly mammoth sleeping robes), but Auel’s research still shines, especially when it comes to all the detailed accounts of plants and natural remedies that Ayla is learning from the clan’s medicine woman. Also, from a sociological perspective, the overlap of members from the Neanderthal clan -- ruled by traditions and taboos -- and the physically modern Cro-Magnons is fascinating.
This first book in the series was the best, and things don't get racy until Ayla meets fellow Cro-Magnons in subsequent volumes. I re read this via audio book recently, and I was amazed at how much I had forgotten; it was just as enjoyable the second time around, and the narrator did an OK job.
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