What do you think?
Rate this book
Obsidian Dawn: Book One of Extinction
The soldier fights to prove his worth. The princess journeys to save her people. The captain hunts for vengeance. Above them all, the gods hunger for war.
In the brutal landscape of Extinction, civilizations from Earth's ancient history form psychic bonds with prehistoric creatures to wage war for their conquering gods. Alliances rise and fall. Pantheons rage and burn. Primeval monsters decimate battlefields, fighting with their bonders to protect what they hold dear.
Camaxtli is a low-ranking raptorback of the Tenochca Empire, fighting to prove he's worthy to marry the princess he once served. His quest for her love meets the savagery of war when an army attacks from across the sea, sending the empire into chaos. Gods clash and civilizations collide as Camaxtli struggles to defeat an enemy determined to claim everyone he loves.
In the brutal landscape of Extinction, civilizations from Earth's ancient history form psychic bonds with prehistoric creatures to wage war for their conquering gods. Alliances rise and fall. Pantheons rage and burn. Primeval monsters decimate battlefields, fighting with their bonders to protect what they hold dear.
Camaxtli is a low-ranking raptorback of the Tenochca Empire, fighting to prove he's worthy to marry the princess he once served. His quest for her love meets the savagery of war when an army attacks from across the sea, sending the empire into chaos. Gods clash and civilizations collide as Camaxtli struggles to defeat an enemy determined to claim everyone he loves.
- GenresFantasy
367 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 19, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 10, 2026
I was very excited when I heard that this novel was coming out, as it appeared to contain just the right amount of nerdiness to suit me. Massive congratulations to Isaac Wilson for filling the Mesozoic-shaped gap in the Palaeofantasy sub-genre. The niche must be satisfied! I look forward to more dinosaurs in the next books of the series.
There is perhaps overuse of single-word sentences, which overtime dilutes their dramatic effect, but overall not badly written. Easily readable and fun with a very gratifying ending.
There is perhaps overuse of single-word sentences, which overtime dilutes their dramatic effect, but overall not badly written. Easily readable and fun with a very gratifying ending.
February 14, 2026
This was such a fun read, I wish there were more books like this when I was growing up.
October 31, 2025
Obsidian Dawning of a new series...?
I've been desperately searching for books in recent years in this rare genre - Prehistoric Fantasy.
How is it we all love dinosaurs in our movies and books, but most books about dinosaurs are either fiction like Jurassic Park or in old sci-fi novels or Dinotopia or Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder, just to name a few of the most known novels.
My last memory of a TRUE prehistoric fantasy was the late, great writer Victor Milan, who back around 2016 penned a trilogy called The Dinosaur Lords. Basically it was Spanish knights in Mexico who had tamed dinosaurs for everything from farming to cavalry mounts in battle.
Unfortunately these books were very different and extremely promising, but not the author's best works.
So when I came across something similar, Aztecs riding dinosaurs battling Carthaginians, of course I had to try it.
The overall concept and a lot of the writing is top-rate 5-stars. This YouTuber knows his stuff about dinosaurs and Aztecs. And for a debut novel, it was well researched and written, without a ton of editorial issues.
The Positive: This was a refreshing, one-of-a-kind dinosaur fantasy novel. There was an overall good story here with lots of interesting characters. There was loads of action and adventure, as well as a love story.
Lots of different dinosaurs that are bonded to their human through different types of jewels embedded into their foreheads, enabling them to communicate telepathically.
These dinosaurs are intelligent and have different functions.
The Negatives: The main two protagonists, a young Aztec warrior named Camaxtli, and his Aztec princess girlfriend who wants to wed him, are both Negative Nancy's all throughout the novel. It's fine and understandable in the beginning. For they are young and haven't seen much of their world.
But when they both go on their separate journeys to save their beloved homeland, getting into one scrape or another, they continue beating themselves up each and every time, even though each time they learn and gain mental strength.
But then the author goes right back to the negative Nancy phase, leaving me rolling my eyes in total frustration at the halfway point in the book. And when it happened yet again 3/4 into the book, I wanted to slap these two characters. Enough already!!
Don't get me wrong. When these two characters aren't whining inside their own minds for too many pages, they are likeable. The whining and negative aspects come off too modern. Too Gen Z. Not tough Aztecs living in a savage world dealing with dangerous beasts and humans. Less of this would've easily made this a 5-star book.
This book also felt a bit too YA fantasy for my tastes. Not for just the main two characters being too hard on themselves for too long, but their loving relationship felt too YA sappy. Too clingy towards themselves and their parents. Both parents came off more Brady Bunch than tough Aztecs.
Some of the action scenes were a bit hard to follow and/or envision. Some of the dino maneuvers couldn't have been done with a human saddled on their back. But mostly the action scenes were done extremely well.
I actually liked the main character's best friend better. He's a major player in this novel, and his journey was much more brutal and interesting - and most importantly, he never whined!!!
The ending felt a bit rushed. And the massive injuries the main character sustains is totally frustrating, and then seemingly totally forgotten by the author.
But despite these issues, I still highly recommend this book. Hopefully the author will learn from his mistakes and grow as a writer, bringing us a bigger and better sequel.
I've been desperately searching for books in recent years in this rare genre - Prehistoric Fantasy.
How is it we all love dinosaurs in our movies and books, but most books about dinosaurs are either fiction like Jurassic Park or in old sci-fi novels or Dinotopia or Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder, just to name a few of the most known novels.
My last memory of a TRUE prehistoric fantasy was the late, great writer Victor Milan, who back around 2016 penned a trilogy called The Dinosaur Lords. Basically it was Spanish knights in Mexico who had tamed dinosaurs for everything from farming to cavalry mounts in battle.
Unfortunately these books were very different and extremely promising, but not the author's best works.
So when I came across something similar, Aztecs riding dinosaurs battling Carthaginians, of course I had to try it.
The overall concept and a lot of the writing is top-rate 5-stars. This YouTuber knows his stuff about dinosaurs and Aztecs. And for a debut novel, it was well researched and written, without a ton of editorial issues.
The Positive: This was a refreshing, one-of-a-kind dinosaur fantasy novel. There was an overall good story here with lots of interesting characters. There was loads of action and adventure, as well as a love story.
Lots of different dinosaurs that are bonded to their human through different types of jewels embedded into their foreheads, enabling them to communicate telepathically.
These dinosaurs are intelligent and have different functions.
The Negatives: The main two protagonists, a young Aztec warrior named Camaxtli, and his Aztec princess girlfriend who wants to wed him, are both Negative Nancy's all throughout the novel. It's fine and understandable in the beginning. For they are young and haven't seen much of their world.
But when they both go on their separate journeys to save their beloved homeland, getting into one scrape or another, they continue beating themselves up each and every time, even though each time they learn and gain mental strength.
But then the author goes right back to the negative Nancy phase, leaving me rolling my eyes in total frustration at the halfway point in the book. And when it happened yet again 3/4 into the book, I wanted to slap these two characters. Enough already!!
Don't get me wrong. When these two characters aren't whining inside their own minds for too many pages, they are likeable. The whining and negative aspects come off too modern. Too Gen Z. Not tough Aztecs living in a savage world dealing with dangerous beasts and humans. Less of this would've easily made this a 5-star book.
This book also felt a bit too YA fantasy for my tastes. Not for just the main two characters being too hard on themselves for too long, but their loving relationship felt too YA sappy. Too clingy towards themselves and their parents. Both parents came off more Brady Bunch than tough Aztecs.
Some of the action scenes were a bit hard to follow and/or envision. Some of the dino maneuvers couldn't have been done with a human saddled on their back. But mostly the action scenes were done extremely well.
I actually liked the main character's best friend better. He's a major player in this novel, and his journey was much more brutal and interesting - and most importantly, he never whined!!!
The ending felt a bit rushed. And the massive injuries the main character sustains is totally frustrating, and then seemingly totally forgotten by the author.
But despite these issues, I still highly recommend this book. Hopefully the author will learn from his mistakes and grow as a writer, bringing us a bigger and better sequel.
July 28, 2026
This was a pretty fun romp. I still have a few questions about it, like how the Gods work and what are they exactly. I also am confused about the timeline as it seems to have both Carthage and the Mexica existing at the same time, despite there being over a millennium of distance in time.
I do overall like the world and how it incorporates the Non-Avian Dinosaurs. It is a bit more magical than I was expecting, but that let the story explore new avenues so I'm not complaining.
The Characters were great. Camaxtli was a good protagonist, and I liked the dilemmas he had to deal with. I liked his romance with Azucena as well. Speaking of which, I liked Azucena. She was a nerdy side character that I found enduring. The villain was truly deplorable and Yoatzl was appropriately tragic.
I do overall like the world and how it incorporates the Non-Avian Dinosaurs. It is a bit more magical than I was expecting, but that let the story explore new avenues so I'm not complaining.
The Characters were great. Camaxtli was a good protagonist, and I liked the dilemmas he had to deal with. I liked his romance with Azucena as well. Speaking of which, I liked Azucena. She was a nerdy side character that I found enduring. The villain was truly deplorable and Yoatzl was appropriately tragic.
November 8, 2025
The concept is novel, but my real issue lies in the execution. You have Aztecs VS. Carthage...why? If you wanted to have two dinosaur wielding civilizations at war, fine, but why wouldn't you set it in a completely fictional universe? Aztecs against Carthage just seems so random. The main two protagonists were also a deal breaker for me. They were so incessantly whiny and annoying. I gave slight points for the dinosaur premise, but there's really not much beyond that.
May 13, 2026
A warm paleofantasy that kept me coming back!
A rich story with strong characters, world building, suspense, and plot. I enjoyed it and look forward to the sequels!
A rich story with strong characters, world building, suspense, and plot. I enjoyed it and look forward to the sequels!
August 20, 2026
A very well-woven fantasy epic WITH DINOSAURS!
March 19, 2026
Excellent and Creative!
I have been following Isaac's Youtube channel for awhile and was curious to give this book a try when I saw him advertise it in one of his videos. Couldn't put the book down once I started! The creativity, action, character and world building were all top-notch and the human-dinosaur relationships are, of course, a star of the show! Well done Isaac, I look forward to Book Two!!
I have been following Isaac's Youtube channel for awhile and was curious to give this book a try when I saw him advertise it in one of his videos. Couldn't put the book down once I started! The creativity, action, character and world building were all top-notch and the human-dinosaur relationships are, of course, a star of the show! Well done Isaac, I look forward to Book Two!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews