NOT like the abhorsen series.
357153
I really liked Abhorsen so bought this one and was sorely disappointed.  One of those books where the characters seem to be running around doing a bunch of random disconnected things in order to provide lots of adventure- but it makes very little sense and they barely try to make it.  There on a ship in the air.. then watching a man be tormented by a clock... then they put on temporary wings...  its just stupid.  Go back to writing the abhorsen like series where the characters and plot make sense and have interesting moral dilemmas and complex motivations.  This is so not worth reading.  I usually finish a series no matter how bad because I like to see what happens even in the bad books.  But with this one I just could not care less.
1287662
If you're looking at this book, you've more than likely read the rest of the series. If you haven't, put this book down. It is not a good stand alone book. I honestly don't even think you would miss much if you skipped this book in the series.

First, let me say that as usual, it is well written. I wanted to give it one star, but because Meyer has a way with words, I will keep it at 2. However, the main character and her sister, the other main character, as such horrible characters that at about 30% into the story, I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I finished the book, and I can tell you that it's actually a fast read. It's just very, very frustrating. I know that this book is supposed to make Levana more human. That she is flawed. That she's a product of her upbringing and her family. To me, however, it completely missed the mark. I get it: Levana is cruel and at the same time "naive." BUT she is super unrelatable. Also, most of the pertinent things that happens we already know from the other books.

If you miss this book, don't worry. You are not missing much.
3488986
It is not as good as the rest of the books in the series.
4957016
The story is not as fresh as the past books, same phrases are showing up more often, such as the detailed description of the hangman strength and nose shape and being dishonorable, which I've read in every book and the constant reference to how strong and clever Magdelina is.  It's becoming pretty unbelieveable about how little time it takes to heal after torture, beatings, and starvation.  The books are becoming more of a superhuman tale rather than character development.  Love the first book in the series but gradually become less interested.  I probably won't buy another.
4000556
Like one of the other reviewers, I felt that I was led into expecting several conflicts between characters (which made the other books so interesting), but the conflict fizzled out or was avoided every time.  It is as if Ms. Auel deliberately avoided every conflict.
Also, I felt that Ayla is being pushed into becoming a religious Zelandonii although she has made it clear that she wants a home and family with Jondalar instead.
The original Ayla would refuse to be forced into such a mold.  Remember the sling she taught herself to use when women of the clan never touched weapons.
Remember how in every other place she met people, she told them the whole truth about her past (including her son, Durc) and then dealt with the conflict.  This time she so badly wants to be accepted that she won't acknowledge her son.
In the first four books, I felt there was an in-your-face integrity about Ayla.  When she made mistakes, she dealt with the consequences.  When people didn't like her because the Clan was her family, she didn't try to play it down.  Although she was hurt, frustrated, and angry, she just went about her business and expected them to deal with their own feelings.
Zoelena spends much of the book trying to trick or coerce Ayla into becoming more involved with the Zelandonii.  She emphasizes how difficult it would be to be mated and raising a family while being a Zelandonii.
Ayla is happily mated to Jondalar, finally, and expecting his baby.  WHY would Ayla be tempted to give it up?
It just doesn't make sense.  For 5 long books now, all Ayla has wanted is a family and to belong.  WHY would she give the family up and place herself in such a strictly proscribed religious life?
It is even obvious that Zoelena's concerns aren't about helping Ayla grow.  In the book it clearly states that Zoelena wants to control Ayla's healing gift because it might cause some unnamed trouble to allow her to continue to heal without being a Zelandonnii.
If  Ms. Auel is true to Ayla's original character, I don't think she would make her become a Zelandonii because Ayla would fight against that unnecessary control.
I also felt there was a lot of repetition of things like describing:  how to domesticate a horse and a wolf, the joy of riding Whinny and Racer, how Ayla learned which plants worked for ailments.  Even the big hunt was repetitive.  Jondalar and Ayla have used their horses many times to guide stampeding animals into a trap.  The sex too was repetitive.  I re-read the first 4 books before reading the new one, and the sex scenes and descriptions of their feelings were almost exact repeats.
I felt that many of the descriptions were taken from the previous books and dropped into this one.
I did not hate the book, but I was so disappointed.  Now I don't know whether I even want to buy the next one.
4596005
Let me start out by saying that I have been a fan of Robin Hobb for many years.  I read her Farseer, Live Ship Traders, and Tawny Man Trilogies when I was in junior high and really enjoyed them.  Her Soldier Son Trilogy left much to be desired but I was hoping that with her return to this world she would get back to great writing.  Unfortunately, although it was nice to see what some of the characters had gotten up to and be introduced to new ones these books had problems from volume one.

My main issue is that although the series is four books long it probably should have been three.  Every book in the set seemed to drag quite a bit.  And I am not talking about a scene here and a scene there that could have been trimmed down, but entire chapters and plot lines seemed to take forever to get through.  There were view points that I felt just weren't needed, and really did not add much to the story and felt superfluous.  Had the series been edited down to three books I think it would have made for a much better read overall.  The feeling I got reading it was that this was like a "Directors Cut", instead of it needing to be a theatrical version.

On top of the issues mentioned above, I had problems with many of the characters.  There were too many POV characters for starters, and to be honest I found most of them annoying to some degree or another.  By the end, I knew where the story was going and didn't care, there wasn't much surprising about the plot.  I wasn't rooting for anyone.  Things had dragged on too long and the characters seemed to be treading the same ground again and again.

If you enjoy Robin Hobb and have read her other books, you may enjoy this for the fact that you get to return to the Rain Wilds and find out what happens after the events of Ship of Destiny.  If this series is your first time getting into her, then stop, and pick up The Farseer trilogy, because these books will not make you like her. writing.
2329935
This was my least favorite of the series.  Kite was sadly disappointing - I thought he'd be darker and grittier - instead, he was just angry and introverted.  Savvy was Tubthumping - she got knocked down, but she got up again, nothin's ever gone keep her down - and she was thoroughly good hearted, so she was - boring.  The plot conflict was hard to believe - especially when Savvy got assaulted - no way there was no evidence left at the scene the way it was described.  Last, it's been so long between the books, I only vaguely remembered everyone's stories (there are LOTS of characters in this book)  so I was taken out of the story repeatedly trying to remember things from past reads.  I'd still read it if you read the first 3 books, but I hope this series returns to a little more gritty place than this book drifted.
2906664
Not my favorite of the series. The pace is a bit slow and the new characters are all pretty unlikable--annoying, even. Milo makes a brief appearance by phone, and made me realize how much I enjoy his interactions with Alex. This book takes Alex and his main squeeze to a completely different setting and I didn't really care for it. The writing is of the usual good quality, I just didn't like the plot, setting, or "villains". Only after rereading a newly purchased copy did I remember why I gave away my original copy--wasn't one I thought I'd reread.
54912
Augh. I second the many reviews pointing out how the writing, plot, pacing, and characters of The Valley of Horses are all vastly inferior to the original book The Clan of the Cave Bears. It was a disappointment.

I forced myself through hundreds of pages of the boring and promiscuous Jondalar - the obvious love interest who doesn't even meet Ayla until 2/3 of the way through - for the good tidbits, which include flint knapping, Earth Mother religions, and animal taming. If you want to read about these things, I recommend skimming it. I'm not sure reading the book was worth it, and I won't be continuing with the series.
3140377
I loved the  first 3  books  I  was enthralled by  the main character Arithon.  These books  are  rich in fantasy and imagery .Perils  Gate is  a continutation and Arithon is on the run. He is forced to  chance the trial of Davien Maze.  Davien is a delightfull charcter.

The reason I rated this  at 3 stars  is the ridicous  amount of  emotional angst.  'Cry Mercy" was use every other paragrah by Elaira  which started to make me  dislike her  for  cowardicee. She was so brave, so this disonnace is jarring.  This book needed to be edited to reduce the tiresome  self pity  and sorrow  and destructive guilt. Plus the language  to awe gets overdone..  I hope that  the next book gets better.

 The world is  consistent and very well explained.  I  enjoyed Sulin  and his  expansion of  character. Donot  read this book  before the  first . The books  build on each other.
4148886
I have loved this series since the beginning, I love the interactions between Atticus and Oberon and I love the different mythologies Kevin Hearne uses in all his books.  That being said I really didn't like this as much as the others in the series.  I finished this one in a day and it seemed it was over before it really started I kept waiting for the climactic ending that never came.

The book starts out with Atticus, Oberon and Granuaile trying to outrun the goddesses Diana and Artemis across Europe and I mean literally outrun.  All the options of shifting planes have been blocked to them and if they use modern transportation their lives are forfeit so run they must.  Loki shows up here and their trying to burn down everything in his path especially Atticus.

A couple of chapters were written from Granuaile's point of view and I would have enjoyed them more had they been better written.  Kevin Hearne writes exceptionally well, but from a male point of view.  Writing from her point of view didn't do anything for the story nor did it really reveal much about her character that we haven't all ready seen.  It just seemed a waste of time.

Oberon as always made the book, best sidekick EVER!  There were some changes with a couple of characters that were completely unexpected and I still can't believe it happened.  Parts of the story were left unresolved and that was disappointing, so hopefully in the next one.  This  would normally be a 2.5 star book but it gets the extra half star because of Oberon.
223195
I've loved Abbi Glines up to this point and silly me, I bough all three of this series thinking they would be as good as her other books.  I'm not sure who told her to try a different genre for her subjects of this series but it was one of the worst set of books I've read.  Very disappointed in her this time.(times 3)
4074430
I bought the three books in this series because of a recommendation.

I'm not saying the books were poorly written.  I simply do not like the style of writing, character development, etc.  It was hard to identify with any part of the stories.

This isn't typical sci-fi or fantasy writing.

Some people consider these books classics.  I don't.
2161532
The Black Dagger Brotherhood series is one of my guilty pleasures. Sadly, this installment did not measure up to many of the others. The Bitty storyline was predictable and slow. Plus, this is the second book in a row where there is too much tenderness for these characters. These are not warm, fuzzy stories and I don't enjoy it when the author tries to make these warriors, immortals, vampires, ghosts, and other fantastical beasts deal with regular human-like issues. That is not why I read these novels. Im hopeful that the next book will bring Marisol back and then I would really love for this series to end.
3376600
I really hate to do this because I have always been a HUGE fan of all of Abbi Glines books and have loved almost every series but this one was not the typical writing that I am used to seeing from Abbi Glines.  I loved the previous two Field Party books but this one came up short. It was difficult to connect with the characters and the ending was just blah.  I usually reread Abbi's books over and over again but I will definitely not be reading this one again and wish I never purchased it.
4659689
I as most of the other reviewers absolutely loved the rest of this series.  They were absolute page turners.  That being said this book is almost entirely lacking in a plot.  Instead of one story told from 3 or 4 perspectives as is the case with the first few books, this is 7+ stories told from even more perspectives.  None of the "plots" of these stories interact with each other and what's worse is that {SPOILER ALERT STORM OF SWORDS) all of the characters that are left after the mass killing in a storm of swords are to be blunt boring with the notable exceptions of Arya, Sam, and John Snow whom the book hardly ever visits.  I listened to the entire series as audio books while I work and drive.  With this book, I found myself re-listening to as much as an hour of the book before I even noticed because my attention wanders so dramatically.  Finishing it was a chore that I felt i had to get through in anticipation of the next book and resolution of some of the story lines hanging from ASOS.  Now that I find that the next book isn't scheduled to be released to fall of '09 and many people expect it to push (ridiculously) beyond that I feel perhaps I have wasted my time.
4387336
Nothing like the other books in this series almost as if was written be a different aurhor.