Lost City

Dinotopia: Complete #2

by Scott Ciencin

Andrew, the son of a Dinotopian innkeeper, makes a strange discovery one night when a hooded dinosaur leads him and two friends to a remote, sealed-off city. When they begin to explore the forbidden area, the trio are thrust into a dangerous adventure--one they can survive only if they can put aside their chronic rivalries and come to understand the lost race of TroÜdons, who have existed there in seclusion for centuries.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Middle Grade, Adventure

143 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Scott Ciencin was a New York Times best-selling novelist of 90+ books. He wrote adult and children's fiction and worked in a variety of mediums including comic books. He created programs for Scholastic Books, designed trading cards, consulted on video games, directed and produced audio programs & TV commercials, and wrote in the medical field about neurosurgery and neurology. He first worked in TV production as a writer, producer and director. He lived in Sarasota, Florida with his wife (and sometimes co-author) Denise.

(Also wrote under the pseudonyms Nick Baron and L.J. Oliver)

Reviews

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big thing about this book I didn't like was the Troodons of Halcyon coerced/pressured the children to serve out time in the city over a nothing issue. It kinda gave me cult vibes.

Aside from that, though, I liked the book a lot. The Troodons were interesting (and sometimes cute (looking at you, Arri)) and the Halcyon culture is a good representation of what a warrior culture would look like if turned peaceful.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good story about friendship and growing up.

[Megan Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent tale, though the copy I read appears to be missing it's last page 😔.

[Chance Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Completely fine story on the surface, just don't look any deeper and the entire story falls like a Jenga tower.

Cover.
I love this cover. You really don't know what to expect from this image. IT's very open to interpretation. Especially with Ned in a brace and the Troodon holding a, Shofar? Horn? It's a little strange since it's a city of warriors but I'm sure a sword would have sent the wrong impression.

The back cover description is a complete fail! If is actually forbidden? No. Are they trapped? No. Is there a chance they will be citizens for life? No. Will they try to protect their secrets? What secrets? Is it a dangerous adventure? Maybe as dangerous as a carousel.


Interior
I just didn't get it.
Throughout the book I kept going but didn't I read earlier... For example. I never would have assumed the Dinosaur Olympics are recent But since Grizzardle never heard of it it had me scratching my head.
One of the most interesting things about the story is this underlining cult like devotion Halyon has. They toy with the idea saying no one ever leaves even after we KNOW Arri has snuck out before for no apparent reason. The weight of the idea really hits you when they decide to separate our three. Unfortunately this leads no where apart from teaching each one a different philosophy.
There is a lot of philosophy in this book and while it really builds a good foundation for the town I think there is too much for the age of the readers it's directed to.
The have philosophy over why they have swords, how they use swords, the consequences for not using swords, the code of honor in war, as a soldier, and of mercy over sacrifice. It's written comprehensively but there is a lot of it.

I also said if you look into this story it falls apart. Well we know Arri has figured out a way to leave but at the end Botolf admits to knowing a sacred way to leave the city. Granted this is covered with it's philosophical stories but it's still odd we don't know why Arri left to being with.
Lian and Andrew is was a quite a cringing eyeroll. Andrew said goal was that all Lucius cared about was winning and power. Granted she disagreed but then was told by N'adra before that all Lucius cared about was winning. This felt a little messy and confusing.
Lian's order to throw the competition really confused me. Both were fighting for Lucius honor. How did losing ruin is reputation?

N'adra and Lian response for rejecting to follow Lucius somewhat confused me.Since all his soldiers were swept away does that mean he lost all his servants in his house? Is this an "Andrew" Loophole N'adra found? Does this mean this imaginary war has perma-death consequences in reality. What does it mean?

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far my favorite of the Dinotopia books as it does change a lot of the usual dinotopia cliches as it shows that even in a 'utopia' like Dinotopia there are some severe differences and there are those dinosaurs that embrace the more violent parts of humanity like learning how to use weapons which I like.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

When my ten-year-old picked this out to read together, I thought he would enjoy an adventure with dinosaurs, but he abandoned it pretty quickly--moved on to other, more advanced characters and plots. I decided to finish it just because I'm that kind of reader.

Meh. (Won't be reading any others in the series.)

[Nicole Mosley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these as a child. Beautifully imagined world, swashbuckling adventure. Multiple authors for refreshing different writing styles. Scott Ciencin was one of my favorite of the multiple authors.

[Eleanor Eckert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost City
By Scott Ciencin
this in my first Dinotopia book I have read and I really liked it, I growled up watching the movie so it was great to get to read it too. :)

[bermudianabroad]

Hahaha this is the book I embarrassed my childhood book club with.

[Aaron Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read with both dinosaurs and people in their adventures together. It would have been good to have some pictures of the dinosaurs and our heroes, but the story was good.

[Evergreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't help but laugh about the second to last chapter in Lost City. It felt like a combination of Game of Thrones and Beowulf.

[Joshua Gerbers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book through a local library a couple decades ago and enjoyed the story so much I tracked down a copy to buy. A great entry in the Dinotopia series of books.

[PandaFan88 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful coming of age story, with the nice elements of classic adventure literature sure to keep children engaged.

[King Haddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the different authors who contribute to the children's Dinotopia Series, Scott Ciencin has to be my favorite, especially his two books Windchaser and Lost City. One of my friends actually calls this their least favorite, and we have had many discussions about whether or not the novel was a positive addition to the culture of Dinotopia.

I, obviously, love it.

The dominant culture of Dinotopia itself I found rather dull and uniteresting. Sure, for a few novels, an author can get away writing about a utopia. After a while, though, it gets repetitive... as cliche as it may be, a society in chaos is much more interesting. Duh. So the addition of a mysterious city of warriors - even if they are not true violent warriors - is rather appealing. The ominous approach is kept throughout this novel, and it had many interesting scenes within it - the obstacle courses and their rules, the maze, and other tests.

The other two books in the Lost City were the ones I did not care for. The second had a great idea, but was executed poorly; the third was just trying to relive this book and did not precisely work.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a land of humans and dinosaurs, nothing is expected to be normal. One night, A boy named Andrew from a small dinosaur village, spots a carnivore wearing armor and carrying steel weapons. Andrew's curiosity overwhelms his fear and he is set on an adventure with his two friends to the Lost City. They thought that they were vicious creatures who only thought of war and slaughter but as they travel deeper into the city, they realize that they were just protecting their ways of life from dying out.

I think the theme of this book is "Don't judge a book by it's cover" because the herbivores think that the carnivores only think about killing and war but they wield swords and armor because it is their way of life and their art. Weapons were banned in Andrew's village but in Halcyon (The real name of The Lost City) swords and armor are almost necessary to be a part of the people and especially if you want to be the best. Will Andrew and his friends succeed in it too?

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was introduced to these books by a tv movie that I saw while I was recovering from one of my Orthopedic surgies and I was very into it and did a google search and have all the books. They are a wonderful series and an easy read. Enjoy

[Tristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok

[Molly]

A wonderful, fantastic series. The authors do a good job to keep their writing and voice congruous throughout the various books.

[Beka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun story with a twist on the typical, peaceful world of Dinotopia.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through this series of books on dinotopia as an interest in a lesson plan extension for higher elementary school grades, this was expanding the thematic unit i created for kindergarten...

[Daniel Domenech · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but I really don't look forward to reading more of these.

[Snail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the only Dinotopia book I had as a kid and I probably read it 50 times.

[A. Mickey Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and cute. If I find more of these around I'll definitely read them.