Danna’s Reviews > The Mammoth Hunters > Status Update

Jondalar and Ayla's departure from the Mamutoi and the sad look in Ranec's eyes when Ayla breaks her promise and leaves him is heartbreaking.

Apparently this book really got into me if I'm crying at Rydag's death and preparation of burial. Rydag signing through his last breaths that he's not an animal and asks to be buried was heartbreaking. Him wishing to be buried the Mamutoi way even though they never named him and thus doesn't deserve to be buried. So Ayla is preparing to bury him the Clan way and it's such an emotional moment.

I already love the summer meeting and the sun hasn't even set on the first day! The scene where Rydag, Ayla and Frebec team up to scare the man who skeptic about Wolf utilizing the clan's sign language was brilliant! Deegie acknowledging Frebec's natural tendency to argue and how it has subsided highlights how round this character is. He bettering himself is applaudable.

Ayla planning to experiment with a Clan root to reach the spirit world on the next summer meeting is an occasion I want to attend.

Fralie's birth scene nearly brought me to tears, you really learn to care about the people of the Mamutoi once you spend an entire winter with them. This novel is ripe with possibilities for Ayla - staying with the Mamutoi and starting a family with Ranec, following Jonadalar back to the Zelandonii, going to the Clan summer gathering and fetching Durc - all the while still functioning as an encyclopedia for the time.