Audiobook Review: The Valley of Horses by Jean Auel

 

Series: Earth’s Children #2

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Self-sufficient cave girl meets wandering Ice Age himbo. Horses are tamed. Sparks fly. Everything is described in detail — including the body parts.

My Thoughts:

Look, I didn’t come here to fall for a blond prehistoric himbo with trust issues… but here we are.

This one split its time between two lonely hearts and a lot of long, frozen travel sequences. On one hand: Ayla, abandoned, self-sufficient, learning how to hunt like a beast and raise her own dang horses and cave lion. On the other: Jondalar, pouty and pretty, taking the longest route to personal growth I’ve ever read.

There are moments when this book absolutely thrives — Ayla being an unstoppable force of nature, befriending animals like a Disney princess in fur. But the pacing? Glacial. We get deep into survival, internal monologue, and descriptions of… everything. If Jean Auel could describe a leaf falling from a tree for 3 paragraphs, she would.

But when these two finally meet? Sparks. Miscommunication. Slow tension. And eventually… that one scene. You’ll know it when you get there. Let’s just say it involves a certain body part name that lives in infamy.

Final thoughts: It’s long. It’s slow. It’s occasionally frustrating. But it’s also iconic. Pour a bourbon, lower your tolerance for 1980s male sensitivity, and enjoy the wild ride.

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