SOURCE: "Interfacing in the Ice Age," in Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 14, 1990, pp. 2, 15.

In the review below, Bass compares The Plains of Passage to another recent novel set in the Ice Age. Though the novels differ in theme and execution, Bass has praise for both.

"Judge the goodness of a book by the energy of the punches it has given you," wrote Gustave Flaubert, author of "Madame Bovary." According to him, "the greatest characteristic of genius is, above all, force."

Two new novels about prehistoric hunter-gatherers—The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' The Animal Wife—both exemplify the kind of narrative power that Flaubert equated with virtuosity. Nevertheless, these are vastly different renditions of broadly similar themes.

Auel, a superlative raconteur, has crafted a consistently engaging adventure story with a solid historical underpinning. Set in Ice Age Europe, it also incorporates...