Review of The Valley of Horses: Earth's Children 2

After being rather roughly ejected from her adoptive Clan of neanderthals, Auel's Cro-Magnon heroine Ayla has to survive on her own in a remote valley. Meanwhile, a tall blue-eyed stranger is traveling cross-country with his brother, on a collision course with unexpected tragedy and romance.
Sounds a bit hokey, does it not?

Add a tamed cave lion and horse as plucky sidekicks, endless overly-detailed descriptions of various tribal customs, and a bunch of Stone Age conjugation (if you know what I mean, wink wink) and it becomes a 600 pg. coagulation of "Meh" moments.

I first read it at age 10, so I was fairly forgiving of its many flaws at the time. I'm not nearly so forgiving after a recent re-read, but I think I'll let it squeak by with 3.5 stars just for old time's sake.