content: If "Clan of the Cave Bear" was as mediocre as this book, its likely that the series would have ended right there. "Clan" was an excellent book -- and the others in the series were also very good -- but this book is very lacking in drama and repetitious to the point of boredom. The detailed research, which was skillfully woven into the story in earlier books and gave life and dimension to the characters and events, appeared in this book as lengthy descriptions which interrupted the story. As an Auel fan, I've eagerly read all of the previous books in this series, and was hoping that the negative reviews on "Shelters" were exaggerated. Sad to say, they're not. The only positive thing about this book is that Auel fans will have a chance to re-enter Ayla's world again after a long wait. I'm hoping that the next book will be better...