The Valley of Horses - Jean M. Auel

Title: The Valley of Horses Author: Jean M. Auel Genre: Historical fiction Rating: 5/5 # pages: 546 Date read: April 2008, August 2022

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.


Probably my favourite in the series. No annoying Broud character like in the first, and it hasn't yet reached the repetitiveness of the third and fourth. I have yet to read the fifth because I couldn't stomach rereading 3 and 4 but am thinking I may just skip those two and go straight to it. I think I remember enough of what happens.

Anyway, I love reading about the interaction between Ayla, Whinney and Baby and how Ayla slowly but surely learns to use her instincts to teach herself new things.

Reread 2022: No longer my favourite in the series - I actually liked the first one a tad more. I found that I didn't care all that much about the chapters focusing on Jondalar and his brother, and kept looking forward to the ones that focused on Ayla instead.

I still really enjoyed it though, and finished it in just a few days.

Down to a Sunless Sea - Mathias B. Freese

Title: Down to a Sunless Sea Author: Mathias B. Freese Genre: Short-stories Rating: 2/5 # pages: 134 Date read: April, 2008

Review: When reading a book you commit to a relationship. You commit to reading the book in the hopes that it in turn will commit to entertain and educate you. The problem or rather the effort in reading a short story collection is that you have to make this commitment again and again and again. Many people are scared off by that as they're afraid the commitment and the time-effort won't be worth it.

And unfortunately in the case of Down to a Sunless Sea, they'd be right. The short stories are dark, disturbing and cynical, which is not a problem in itself, but it seems as if they are dark, disturbing and cynical for the sake of being dark, disturbing and cynical. There's no rhyme or reason behind it.

The common theme that runs through all the stories is growing up, the quest for maturity and the joys and sorrows of coming of age - either slowly through the natural process, or abruptly and harshly through some external influence. While not a unique theme, it is a theme that never grows old and as such is very appropriate for a short story collection. But without explanation one of the stories falls completely outside this category. As a description of Arnold Schwaznegger's childhood and the fact that his father was a Nazi, it reads more like a piece of non-fiction or even propaganda. It is so different from all the other stories that I was forcibly drawn from the flow of the book and back into reality.

Most of the short stories in "Down to a Sunless Sea" would work very well as writing prompts for a longer novelette or even a novel, but when used for short stories they stop too abruptly and some are even inconclusive. While I don't expect all threads to be tied up neatly in any story and especially not a short story, it is rather frustrating when the entire point of the story goes missing because of it.

Fortunately there are exceptions to any rule, and I loved the story Alabaster - the tale of a young boy who meets an ex-concentration camp prisoner, and in his innocence is not ashamed of her tattooed number, but dares read it aloud. Poignant and well-written, I wish all the stories had been like this.

I have no doubt that Mathias Freese is a talented author, as his writing clearly bears witness of this fact. Unfortunately his plot ideas are not really suitable for short stories, and he would be better off sticking to novels.

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