content: I was a big fan of Auel, right until this book arrived. It's approximately 700 pages long and it took nearly 500 pages before it starts to get interesting. I skipped chunks of pages because they are pure repitition from earlier in the book. I'll probably buy the next one but only because of the first three and to see how it ends. Hopefully Auel won't let us down. If this book was half the length it would potentially have been great. I was disappointed.