The Valley of Horses - Jean M. Auel

[goodreads]

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.