The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, Book 2)
This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman.
Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship.
One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don’t fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her hope of living with her own kind.
Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship.
One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don’t fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her hope of living with her own kind.
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Community Reviews
A continuation of the amazing world the author created for us. I was amazed how I was introduced to animals for the first time for this human. For a species that always looked at animals as only food, Ayla finds other uses for them. She finds companionship and joy from horses and wild animals, and learns how convenient they can be at getting places quicker and killing supper.
The author continues to keep me reading and teaching me things at the same time.
I really enjoyed the first book, and I thought the sequel should be pretty good too. Eventually about 320 pages in, the book picked up. I was super excited for this one and it fell flat. I didn’t love the unnecessary ramblings about inconsequential events and people and tribes. I’m fine with a little survival stuff, but not the amount that was in this book. The last 150-200 pages really saved it for me, Bc before that I was dragging so much. Imo if it takes 300 pages to have the characters meet do you really need all the unnecessary details along the way? I do plan to pick up the 3rd one, but it won’t be for a few months, thankfully.
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