The Dinosaur Knights

The Dinosaur Lords #2

by Victor Milán

THE DINOSAUR KNIGHTS is the second in Victor Milan's lush, exotic tale about knights. Knights riding dinosaurs.

Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.

Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn't help him one bit.

Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.

And they have come to rid the world of sin...including all the humans who manifest those vices.

The Dinosaur Lords Series
#1 The Dinosaur Lords
#2 The Dinosaur Knights
#3 The Dinosaur Princess

Genres: Fantasy, Dinosaurs, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Adult

612 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 5, 2016

About the author

Victor Woodward Milán was an American writer known for libertarian science fiction and an interest in cybernetics. In 1986 he won the Prometheus Award for Cybernetic Samurai. He has also written several shared universe works for the Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, and Wild Cards Universes. He has also written books under the pseudonyms Keith Jarrod, Richard Austin (Jove Books The Guardians series), Robert Baron (Jove Books Stormrider series), and S. L. Hunter (Steele series with Simon Hawke, who used the pen name J. D. Masters). He also wrote at least 9 novels under the "house name" of James Axler for the Harlequin Press/Gold Eagle Books Deathlands series & Outlanders series.

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

My rating is 3.5 stars.

While The Dinosaur Lords had a few problems, overall, I felt Victor Milán did a very competent job of introducing readers to his creation, the world of Paradise, with its dinosaur knights, political intrigues, and shadowy origins, so I couldn’t wait to read book two. And, now that I have, I can honestly say two things. One, The Dinosaur Knights is a fitting sequel, filled with more action, more deaths, and more shocking moments. And, two, it isn’t quite as enjoyable as book one.

Continuing where the first book left off, the Empire of Neuvaropa is now in a growing state of chaos; rumors of a Grey Angel Crusade crisscross the land, unnerving peasants and nobility alike. No one able to avoid the growing turmoil.

In the township of Providence, the adherents of the pacifist teachings of The Garden of Truth and Beauty are busy putting their only martial leaders, Rob Korrigan and the famous Karyl Bogomirskiy, on trial for flimsy crimes against the faithful. This spectacle soon revealing more vile goings on in the Garden, even as the Grey Angels’ Crusade begins to erupt around them.

Meanwhile, the Princess Melodía and her maidservant Pilar having escaped imprisonment in the palace, flee the clutches of Duke Falk von Hornberg; their path eventually leading them to Providence, where their stories mix and mingle with those of Rob and Karyl.

Across the kingdom, Melodía’s lover, Count Jaume dels Flors, finds himself once again in favor with Emperor Felipe, helping the seemingly befuddled ruler plan and implement a desperate plan to stop the Grey Angels Crusade from sweeping across the Empire. The scheming Duke Falk von Hornberg constantly in the background determined to undermine and usurp Jaume’s honored status with the Emperor.

As the game pieces are moved across the board of Neuvaropa and war erupts, bringing unlooked for horrors and sweeping all into its maelstrom, our familiar characters are caught up in a mythical conflict to exterminate all of humankind. No one certain if the Grey Angels’ power can even be stopped!

Naturally, the most entertaining aspect of this novel was the dinosaurs. (Duh, right?) Victor Milán continuing to do a masterful job of integrating these majestic animals into the world, showing them in unique ways (The dangerous but adorable Shiraa the Allosaurus’ quest to find her “mother” told through her personal perspectives.) as well as highlighting them as the mightiest weapons of war on Paradise. Those sections of the narrative where huge battles occur my personal favorites, as the dinosaur knights took their place at the center of the action, showcasing their true bestial glory. The author able to capture the horror and magnificence of these conflicts with his wonderful prose.

Coming in a close second to the dinos is the worldbuilding. This narrative succeeding in deepening the mystery of Paradise, as the many tantalizing questions from book one are only partially answered and the Grey Angels take a larger role, adding a wonderful, mythical element to the growing epic; these beings hinting at, even partially revealing the truth about the world, its Creators, and their role in its continued existence. All of this making me curious to see where the author intends to go with all this in the books to come.

And what an ending! The climax of The Dinosaur Knights amazingly well done, as the penultimate clash of humankind and Grey Angels’ lived up to its hype. The last sections of the narrative filled with battle, mystery, personal bravery, and more than a few shocking moments.

But The Dinosaur Knights did have its share of problems. The most glaring of which was the characters themselves, who I continued to struggle to empathizing with. Pick any one of these people, and there were issues. Whether it be cultured Jaume or irritating Rob or overpowered Karyl, they each seemed to stagnate instead of grow throughout this tale, turning into mere caricatures of the “type” of person they were meant to represent. The worst of them all Princess Melodía, who was arguably the star of the show. This pompous, spoiled royal taking a larger role yet seeming to backslide from her bitterly won maturity from book one, reverting to making poor decisions, then not learning from them before making even more ridiculous ones. Her later transformation from emotionally torn youth to competent warrior quite unrealistic and head scratching in the extreme.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the glacial pace of the middle of the narrative. Nothing much of real importance happening. Certainly, Victor Milán moved the chess pieces around the board, preparing them for the huge conclusion, but other than that transpiring, the story felt sluggish, as if it was being held in place until the author choose to unleash all that pent-up energy in a grand finale.

Even with its problems, I did enjoy The Dinosaur Knights, just not as much as The Dinosaur Lords, and without a doubt, I do intend to read book three of the series. Mainly, because I can’t resist those already mentioned dinosaur knights. But, honestly, that isn’t the only reason. There was enough action and tantalizing foreshadowing of mysterious conflicts here to make me want to see where it all goes. However, I will be expecting more from The Dinosaur Princess; a hope that Victor Milan builds on this fabulous ending, picks up the narrative pacing a bit, and makes a concerted effort to develop the main characters (especially Princess Melodía) into more than mere caricatures. If those things happen, I will be with this series until the end. If not . . .

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first volume, The Dinosaur Lords, but the second volume The Dinosaur Knights is better. The world is already established, the reader knows the main characters, and the action is already underway. The dinosaurs continue to be awesome and the “rules” of their behaviour in Paradise (our non-Earth setting) are refined a bit. Now it is clear to me why the Tyrannosaurs don’t run amok. What is less clear (and may be fodder for future installments) is who exactly the Creators are and what their aims may be.

There are an awful lot of gritty battle scenes in both books, which generally are not my thing. However, to counter-act that, we have Imperial Princess Melodía joining the rebels and learning to be something besides an imperial princess. This book continues to honour the Bechdel test, as Melodía discovers unexpected female friends along the way. My only reservation is that these amigas seem to be very expendable and Milan eliminates them almost as quickly as he introduces them and never gently. There are fewer sex scenes, which is a blessing, as I don’t care for Milan’s execution of them.

I think the trick to enjoying these books is to go into them with an open mind. Probably it helps for me that I have never read any of George R.R. Martin’s books, to which Milan’s books are compared, most notably on the dust jacket. Milan shares Martin’s willingness to dispose of characters, and a certain gritty, somewhat medieval-like setting. Empty yourself of any other expectations before entering the world of Paradise, and you will be free to enjoy what Milan is offering.

There are a certain number of editing errors which bugged me along the way (‘our’ instead of ‘your’ and similar little glitches that would require re-reading of sentences to figure out what was meant). But over all, these small snafus didn’t ruin the reading experience.

[Mogsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/08/18/...

After my wonderful time with Victor Milán’s The Dinosaur Lords last year, I was understandably quite anxious to take on the sequel The Dinosaur Knights. However, there were some aspects with this follow-up that made me think the honeymoon period might be coming to an end. While I still love the epic-fantasy-meets-dinosaurs premise behind this series, admittedly the magic has faded somewhat due to this book’s uneven pacing and my growing dissatisfaction with a couple key characters.

The Dinosaur Knights continues the narrative from the first novel, following more or less the same handful of characters. In the Empire of Neuvaropa, a fictional land reminiscent of 14th century Europe, everything is in turmoil as rumors of a Grey Angel Crusade lead desperate men to form the most unlikely of alliances. We pick up Rob Korrigan’s story in the pacifist town of Providence, where the dinosaur master and his friend the famed noble captain Karyl Bogomirskiy are on trial for their perceived crimes against the adherents of the Garden of Truth and Beauty. At the same time, Princess Melodía and her maidservant Pilar are on the run after escaping imprisonment in the palace from the traitor Duke Falk von Hornberg. Eventually, their search for a safe haven leads them to Providence, where the fates of our major characters finally converge.

Meanwhile, Melodía’s lover and Karyl’s rival the Count Jaume dels Flors has joined forces with Emperor Felipe, hatching up an insane plan in the hopes of stopping the Creators’ Grey Angels from returning to Paradise. As war erupts across Neuvaropa, even those who just want to withdraw into peace and isolation are swept up in the rising wave of fear and madness. Worst of all, despite the extreme efforts by the Empire, there’s no telling whether the weapons of the Gods can even be stopped.

First, the good news: All this will ultimately culminate into one hell of a climax and ending. The bad news? I felt like I had to plod through more than 200 pages just to reach the point where things start getting interesting. I experienced little to no emotional engagement or suspense for the first half of the book, because it was impossible to shake the pesky feeling that the author was simply biding his time until he could maneuver all his characters into place, after which he can finally usher in the real action.

I was also disappointed with the characters, especially Princess Melodía, the only female POV in a cast dominated by men. She was my favorite from The Dinosaur Lords, and my one regret was not seeing her play a more significant role compared to Rob or Jaume. In a way, I got my wish granted, since Melodía received a lot more page time in The Dinosaur Knights, though I remain unconvinced this was actually an improvement. I didn’t like the way her character was repeatedly set up to be duped or to make mind-bogglingly bad decisions, undermining the hard won admiration she earned from the previous book. Then there was Rob, who frequently displays more respect and compassion towards his dinosaurs than his fellow human beings, which is especially apparent when it comes to his sexual objectification of women. I don’t usually let this kind of stuff get to me, but there were so many unnecessary allusions in this vein that even I couldn’t help but notice. With Melodía being almost useless for the first half of this novel, and Rob going from passably charming to downright insufferable, it was harder to engage with the characters this time around.

Happily, the dinosaurs are still amazing. For one thing, I just love the smattering of chapters we get from Shiraa the Allosaurus’ point of view. These brief glimpses into the dinosaur’s head can be a bit incongruous, but I can’t help but appreciate them for being one of the series’ cooler idiosyncrasies. Furthermore, Milán continues to excel at writing fantastic dino-battle scenes. They’re the real highlights of this novel, with the largescale combat sequences in the final section going a long way in making up for a humdrum first half.

This sequel also delves deeper into the lore of the Creators and their Grey Angels. With dinosaurs and angels, this series is really starting to build into something a lot more complex than I had anticipated when I first picked up The Dinosaur Lords. And while world-building continues to be a work-in-progress and we still don’t have all the answers, I admit I’m curious to see how all the puzzle pieces will fall into place.

It should come as no surprise then, that I still have plans on continuing this series. It’s true that I felt the second book slump with this one, but several promising developments in the last half of the book also give me hope that the third installment will pick things up again. Plus, there’s no dismissing those final climactic chapters, and with the book ending with the Empire of Neuvaropa in even more of a mess than when we started, I’m definitely keen on finding out where our characters will go from here.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for The Dinosaur Lords here

This book was a marked improvement over the first on the series. I think the reason for this is two fold. First, we just know more about the world this takes place in now, so less of the text has to be dedicated to explaining the world and cultures. Not that it doesn't take time to further expand on it, just that these passages are a bit less forced:

All the Towers of Nuevaropa, Mayor y Menor, were equal before Imperial law. But the Spañoles were, as the saying went, more equal than the others, and appearances must be preserved.

Secondly I noticed Milan wisely decided to cut back on the forced dinosaur metaphors/similes and stick to more traditional prose:

Her thoughts were simple as a blade and direct as an arrow’s flight.

So with both of those issues squared away the story flow was much smoother and the reading experience was improved.

The story itself was also a nice improvement. The first book, in retrospect, was mostly about setting the stage and furnishing a context for everything that follows. In this one we get a much deeper dive on Imperial politics (and their version of the Pope!) and, much more to my liking, the greater conspiracy involving the supernatural creatures that appear to hold the fate of humanity in their hands. Because this isn't earth we are dealing with, but some other strange world/construct:

Hogar, Home, Old Home—When they were done making Paradise, and found it good, the Creators brought humans, their Five Friends, and certain useful crops and herbs here from the world we call Home. Ancient accounts teach us it is a strange place. It is cold, and we would feel heavier there, and find the air much thinner. The year is 1.6 times as long as ours. We must admire the fortitude of our ancestors in dwelling on such an inhospitable world, and always praise the Creators for bringing us to our true Paradise!

But all that world building and grand conspiracies aside, books are made or broken on their characters. Just like last book Rob and Karyl were the heart and soul of this book. Mostly because Karyl was a badass and Rob was a cycnical son of a bitch who got stuff done:

“Why do you put up that treacherous, fat fuck Melchor?” he asked Karyl. The other surviving town lord, Yannic, still sulked in his manor, claiming incapacity from the wounds he’d had at Blueflowers. Rob reckoned he was malingering, and good riddance.

“Better to have him where we can keep an eye on him.”

“Which presupposes a man can stand the sight of him.”

Karyl shrugged. “I told him that if he showed any sign of getting out of line, I’d kill him.”

Rob laughed. Not because he thought Karyl was joking. But precisely because he wasn’t.

I loved it every time they were on page together and I think their relationship is the best one in the book.

The others were, sadly, not as strong. Melodia was the most problematic because it just seemed like the only way she could develop as a character was by climbing over a pile of corpses. I liked where she ended up but it was a bit painful to see her getting there (plus, you know, the corpses). Jaume was alright and gave us a good view into the Imperial affairs, plus he had to make some pretty heavy moral decisions. Even Falk was sort of interesting as a character and I liked that we got more time with the Emperor. Overall the characters were better than the first book and more enjoyable to read about.

I also really liked the action in this book. Milan, in my opinion, did a nice job setting up and explaining the dino battles and made them rather exciting. The showdown at the end of this book was quite excellent, but Milan didn't sacrifice the pacing of the story to talk about battles.

I also liked that this book retained the chapter header art and the little segments of world building that prefaced all the chapters. It gave a nice, non-forced, bit of world-building for the reader like this one, which also sets the tone for why the changes in the Church were such a big deal:

Los Libros de la Ley, THE BOOKS OF THE LAW—The Creators’ Own Law. Popularly attributed to Torrey, the Youngest Son, who stands for Order. They are largely filled with explanation and annotation, since the actual laws are few and simple: for example, establishing worship of the Creators as the worldwide faith, although allowing it to take many forms; enjoining people to actively enjoy life; abjuring eternal punishment; mandating proper hygiene; and forbidding slavery and torture.

So while this isn't high literature, I did find it to be an enjoyable read and the hook at the end made me eager to continue the story.

[The Shayne-Train · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aye Dios mio, this was such a rollicking and epic book! And not 'epic' in the dumb, ubiquitously thrown around frat-boy way. No. No no no. Look up the definition. THAT. That right there.

I was worried it would take me a while to remember characters and their arcs, since it had been a while since I read the first book. Nope. Came right back. Huzzah.

There isn't a POV character in this amazing and dinosaur-filled book that I wasn't glad to spend time with. Even the "villain," as it were, was too busy fighting the good fight to be truly hated for the reprehensible shit he had done previously to make him said "villain."

The plots builds and builds, climaxing in the most thrilling battle sequence I might have ever read. Like seriously, it went on for many, many pages. I was exhausted after reading it; not like "that was too much reading" exhausted, but like I felt I was there with them, swinging a sword from the back of an Allosaur.

On an off-note, and touching on a particular rant of mine, I've noticed many people comparing this series to GRR Martin's Song of Tits and Midgets. (Heh heh, cracked myself up, there.) I don't have a problem with that. I get the comparison. But many I've seen state it's a flat-out ripoff. That shit gets my goat. My goat is GoT. What makes this a ripoff? The fact that it's realistically written grimdark fantasy? That there are wars in it that have people fighting with, like, swords 'n' crap? That people say 'fuck' and use crossbows? I say that ALL fantasy stems from what comes before, inspired by and road-paved-by. This is no more a ripoff of SoIaF than that series is a ripoff of The Black Company, and so on and so forth, back through the printed history, over all the brain-candy TSR novels of my youth, and the Lewis and Tolkien, the Howard and Lovecraft, back to the goddamn 1800's with that mad Scot, MacDonald.

Ok, bitchy rant full of run-on sentences over. Final thoughts time:

Read this book. If you haven't read the first one, read that book, and then this book. There are fucking knights on dinosaurs, man. It's not brain rocket surgery science.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

after a long introduction in the Dinosaur Lords (see my two reviews of that one, on publication and now - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -) and until about half way here, the book gets really, really good and makes it worth getting there; don't want to spoil too much as the "real" story only starts around page 200 of this one, but when it does the series goes up a notch to top level in today's fantasy, the book is impossible to put down, dinosaurs finally become really important and not mostly a prop as before and the ending (while somewhat predictable from a point on) is still stunning and offers huge promise for book 3 which now became a real asap for me

highly, highly recommended and a top 10 novel of the year for me

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this one far less than the first. Have no fear, I intend to read the third book, and there are parts of this book that are great.

As many other reviewers have pointed, this book does pass the Bechel test. When the women talk to each other, they do not talk about men.

And yet, there is something off about the women in the book. We are given several characters to follow, of those, the only woman is Melodia, who was wonderful in the first book but seems to have been dosed with stupid pills in this one. And yes, considering the rape and imprisonment she underwent in the first book, some mental issues are not surprising. But this stupid? Additionally, it is strange that the male buddies tend to survive bu Melodia's women friends don't. In particular the death of Pilar came across very badly for several reasons. It felt overly violent with the description of the raptor juggling her breast. It felt like too much titataltion. It also felt like fridging because it was used to show angst for Rob and Melodia. Both of whom seemed to recover rather quickly.

Additionally, some of the plot points felt off - like where Melodia decides to go.

Yet, I loved the ending battle.

[Kaora · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book lost me.

Having the only female character in a male dominated world make stupid foolish decision after decision completely ruining her character for me was frustrating. But once it started getting into angel cocks and horrible sex scenes from the female POV I was done.

I've never abandoned a series in the middle before. I guess there's a first for everything.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still really torn on this.

1) I love dinosaurs. Always have. As a kid I could name anything you could point at. While my skills are greatly diminished these days, I will always love them. Apatasaurs will always be Brontosaurs in my heart.

2) I love fantasy books, particularly ones that include a nice big epic battle sequence that isn't just blown off. I love the magic, the monsters, the bravery and heroism, the strength of will and sense of wonder. I really like when there is no chosen one crap and the plot can develop more sensibly. I am all for The Lord of the Rings or Dragonlance, but I have a special place reserved for the heroes of the Doomfarers of Coramonde or The Rose Sea.

3) The problem, then, lies in the characters. Lots of fantasy is populated by thin characters. World-building and plotting are always throwing their weight around and it makes it hard for characters to stand out, particularly when so many are ciphers of hairy-footed reluctants (yes, I made that word up, welcome to the use and abuse of English) or pig-keeping orphans.

The men are idealized warriors of slightly different flavors. The superhuman, the rowdy, the noble beauty. Their capability and ability to make the right decision in spite of appearances is never in doubt, even if they are wracked with it.

The women...well, let's be frank, there is A woman. Smurfette if you will, because there is a virtually gynocidal narrative at work here that seems to touch nearly every woman but her. So, Smurfette is a princess, but unlike the men-folk protagonists, she makes decisions that the author wants to make sure we understand are stupid, and uses her friends as object lessons.

Speaking of her friends, one of them has a particularly horrible and pointedly pointless death which turns into a bizarre sideshow of gratuitously anthropomorphized obscenity. While she mourns this person off and on, a male character with a decided attachment of his own is first horrified and grieving...until the end of the scene. 20 minutes later in the narrative, he acts as if she never existed. There is lip service later, but nothing that feels real. Mostly he's back to ogling women and commenting on their sexiness in his head with nary a thought for someone that we are supposed to believe he cared about.

I think it's this lack of narrative respect for the females populating the story that bothers me. I get that Rob is a misogynist chauvinist. It's impossible to miss. But the narrative itself doesn't seem to like the women it shows us much, either.

In the end, it is this one element that makes me hesitant to keep rolling with this series, but...dinosaurs...the siren call of dinosaurs and riding them into battle and...argh...this one has TRICERATOPS WAR HOWDAHS!!!! How badass is that?

Anyway, there you have it. I enjoyed this one a little more than the first but for the death of [SPOILER THAT YOU CANNOT UNHIDE], who I was hoping would be an ongoing character. I'm still angry about that part. Angry like I was when Oberyn died so stupidly in another series that shall go nameless and nearly caused me to throw my book across the room.

Well, nothing more to see here. Carry on.

[Lara]

Okay, so I'm lying a little, I have not actually read this book. I was reading the first one while my husband read this one, and while I was more or less enjoying The Dinosaur Lords (aside from my issues as stated in my review of TDL), he kept setting this book down, sighing dolefully, and saying things like "I don't know how much longer I can do this." He's about halfway through it right now, and here are some tidbits he has passed along to me:

--A character from the first book is given the delightful backstory of having watched his sister get raped to death.

--A female character who got to be heroic in the first book and looked to be well on her way towards becoming cool gets eaten by dinosaurs in front of Sole Female Protagonist. It's especially mentioned how the dinosaurs gnaw on her breasts. Also, she dies literally seconds before rescue arrives.

--Sole Female Protagonist is seduced by a woman and a man. At the same time. This is the same female protagonist who got violently raped in the last book and who just watched her friend get devoured by dinosaurs, and who has (according to my husband) been explicitly thinking that she's not interested in sex anymore and is definitely not interested in women. In addition, the reader learns (but not her) that she is being magically manipulated into this sexual encounter.

--The following two sentences exist.
"(his penis was) dominating her field of vision like a pink obelisk"
"Love and authority seemed to resonate from his penis."

To sum up--backstory rape, a nonconsensual threesome, and the messy death of a secondary character solely for the shock factor and guilt factor. Nope-nope-NOPE, there is nothing dinosaurs can do that would make me read this book now. My husband plans to finish it just to see if the prose can in fact get worse, and I have already thanked him for doing so so that I don't have to.

[booksforscee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel like I can let a single quote, a single sentence speak for itself, as it says more about this absolute disaster than I ever could. Enjoy

(NSFW)

⚠️

“Love and Authority seemed to resonate from his penis”

[Kyle Cormican · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun book to read in a fun universe. The majority of the book I would rate as a 3.5, but there was a turn that I personally don’t enjoy in books. I’m still excited to read the third installment and would recommend this trilogy to other fans of fantasy.

[Shallan Davar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moim skromnym zdaniem za mało dinozaurów a za dużo kutasów. Zwłaszcza ten Anioła spowodował z lekka zniesmaczenie.

[THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dinosaur Knights is a strong sequel to its predecessor, and many of the issues like pacing, world-building, and character development has some improvement. I enjoyed this more than The Dinosaur Lords. There is sufficient action and a delayed amount of suspense running through the story.

The novel begins right after Princess Melodia's escape, and Karyl and Rob going to Providence. Here, we get a detailed view of the Garden of Beauty and Truth, and its philosophy which so much upsets the Pope and the Emperor of Neuvaropa. The looming threat of the Grey Angel crusade is the primary plot stirrer along with the subtle politics of the humans. Victor Milan here elaborates more about the world of Paradise, its kingdoms, and the lore and history surrounding the myths.

The characters in the story are the same as the first book, although a few new characters makes their appearance. Karyl, the legendary ex-mercenary is my favored. Milan gives some valuable insight into his personality, yet he remains the same rogue-hero stereotype. His purpose still remains vague, but as a military leader and a fighter he is shown in the supreme calibre. Princess Melodia is given more space in this story. Yet, she is the one character I'm always frustrated with. I don't know why she makes stupid decisions and act like a spoiled child. She elevates herself as a warrior, both strong in war and spirit under Rob and Kary's tutelage, but when she reunites with her father she loses her individuality and confidence. She becomes the Princess again! The other characters like Rob, Jaume, Bogardus the leader of the Garden, and Violette the sly woman have their own moments in the story. They are charming in their own ways, making their own moves and playing their games in the greater game.

The Dinosaur Knights is brutal in action. The last 200 pages was a boom, where Dinosaurs and Men ride into battle with gire splattered in every page. The book almost verges on the grim-dark side when we are given a view of the bodies and violence that is being inflicted. And, more so we get to see the mysterious and feared grey Angel Raguel in the battlefield. He and his horde who burns and ravages everything on their way seemed like an army of the undead with murderous intent. The most shining part of the action where I did hold my breath was when Karyl crossed blades with Raguel. Believe me, it was a sight that became the stuff of legend instantaneously. And, the readers who are worried about dinosaurs...here there are plenty. Karyl obtains three Triceratops and other hornfaces, and at the climax he is reunited with Shirra, his feared Allosaurus. And, one of the most peculiar aspect is that we are given a brief insight into Shiraa's mind through her own brief chapters, which were amusing to read.

The Dinosaur Knights maintained its standard as a good action-packed sequel which delivers an epic punch with the introduction of the fabled Grey Angel into the story. I have already finished reading the third book, and waiting for the fourth. I believe, we would be getting more of the mythical elements of Paradise into the play along with other supernatural factors entering the field. Victor Milan has ingeniously written the climax apart from the slow-burning plot, which alone deserves the stars I'm about to give.

[Imara]

George R. R. Martin succeeded where Victor Milán failed. Introducing families/houses and their relationship/conflict with one and another isn't that easy and it shows in Milán's writing.When he introduces a character through the eyes of one of his MC's he'll go way overboard with the information drop.
Same goes for the description of his "artillery" and army. When he doesn't go into the teeny-tiniest detail, he falls into repetitiveness to show said character's pride in his or her accomplishments or knowledge. Its effect (in my opinion at least) is that it becomes redundant.

I like explanations and a broad world building with rich characters, I actually love those kind of stories. But he took the wrong road to bring such a story. Its richness disappeared by the focus on things that did not matter to the story. It didn't contribute to the whole reading experience and that's just a pity.

The attention to the core of our story is overshadowed and it was even not that bad when you strip away the lengthy descriptions. Epic fantasies with a lot of history woven into it like that, mostly only work with books with a high page count and even then it's almost bound to fail if the author doesn't have a compelling writing style and an interesting way to introduce everything he created for his world and story.

I'm a bit saddened that I'm so disappointed by this book, I was so looking forward to it but it just fell flat and kept on dragging. I really liked the first book, although it had its pacing issues, I hoped this one would trump it. Maybe I'll give it another try in the future, who knows.

[Cassandra L. Manna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Somehow this book was worse than the first. Don’t bother reading it. It’s confusing. There are paragraphs that contradict themselves from beginning to end and huge parts of the plot line are to be assumed apparently: girl hates old man leader, three chapters about other people later, girl idolizes old man leader because he’s so great right? WHEN did that happen? HOW did that happen? That’s against human nature without a catalyst for change in opinion that was never written about. Don’t read it.

Favorite Quote(s):

None.

Rate Procedure:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved the book so much I would reread it again and would recommend to a friend.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Thoroughly enjoyed the book, could not put it down, would recommend to a friend, but do not need to read again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Probably a good book that I enjoyed but there was something about it I did not love (e.g. The writing style, the POV, etc.). I would only recommend to a friend if it was their "type" of book.
⭐️⭐️ - A book I have below average feelings for and it would not come with a recommendation from me but I would mention it in conversation if related to the book topic at issue.
⭐️ - I finished the book but I hated every second of it.

[Caitlin]

DNF’ed at 33%. This really underwhelmed me after The Dinosaur Lords. While TDL also had a slow first half and notable Male Fantasy Writer issues vis á vis the female characters, it still kept me engaged and I finished the book.

In TDK, the pacing and male gaze and characterization issues were so bad I put the book down. The characters were my breaking point. Most remain aggressively static or even go backward. Melodía is still a whiny teenager despite the potential for growth we saw in the last book, and Rob goes from merely roguish to a perverted creep. His interior monologue has some comment about women’s bodies multiple times in every scene he’s in. And I’m supposed to care about these people for 600 pages!?

I really wanted to like this, because knights riding dinosaurs is such an amazing concept. In the hands of a better author, this series could have been fantastic.

[Chris]

Because duh. This author better not have screwed up the idea though. Gotta read the first one first.

[Mike Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bad. Couldn't get through it

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

" - To mu się nie uda - mruknął Falk, ściskając poręcz w miejscu między dwoma zdobnymi, zielonymi kolcami. - Ledwo może się utrzymać na nogach bez pomocy, ma głos śmiertelnie chorej żaby i charyzmę miski owsianki, którą zjadł na śniadanie."

Po przeczytaniu drugiego tomu, który na głowę przebił pierwszy doszłam do wniosku, że poprzednia część była jedynie wprowadzeniem do świata zwanego Rajem. Kraina pełna intryg, wojen, piękna w postaci dinozaurów w kontynuacji staje się bardzo brutalna. Na Raj stępuje Szary Anioł, który ma na celu uwolnienie świata od grzechu. Tak rozpoczyna się Krucjata Szarego Anioła, w której uczestniczą ludzie z silną chęcią mordu.

Autor po walkach, które ukazuje nam w Providence, w końcu zrzuca nam bombę w postaci Krucjaty Szarego Anioła. Szczerze powiem, że jeszcze nigdy nie spotkałam się w fantastyce z połączeniem dinozaurów, ludzi- zombie i aniołami, co przemawia na ogromny plus!

(cała opinia znajduje się na blogu: http://recenzjezlegowiskaalphy.blogsp...)

[Cam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish; The way the women characters are written is too disgusting.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book; at least a 3-star. It is just that I do not remember ever feeling defiled, debased, or dirty while reading a book in the past. This book has good moments; it has "incredible" moments in it, but the amount of sewage one has to wade through to find the "good moments" is crazy. There are moments when I thought it had good/decent character development. Some of the "action scenes" were pretty good. I loved the Triceratopses and how they were utilized in the book (after the first book's "failure" to show how powerful these creatures could be). However, the bad (utter depravity) outweighed the good and I do not know if I shall ever read this book again. Truly, the "best part" of the book had to be found between pages 395 and 425, in my opinion.

This book has its share of errors, as well (mostly misplaced quotation marks, but also misspelled words in some places and sentences that were missing "important" words to better understand what was being said; sometimes a verb or a noun, sometimes a pronoun). For example, the author clearly is trying to make some kind of distinction when he says, “While they weren’t yet followed by what the army had generally started calling hordelings or hordelings . . .” (298), but I cannot figure out what it is as the two words are spelled exactly the same. I can only assume they should have been spelled differently (maybe one or two letters off?) while sounding similar? Most of the errors occur in the latter half or so of the book; I did not notice that many errors in the first half of the book.

The author does reveal tidbits about Paradise over the course of the book (just as he did in the first novel). One of the "tidbits" is that the sun sets in the east as opposed to the west (173). I was pretty shocked when I read that, hahahah! It threw me, because I was looking for something Karyl had said and reread that line about the setting sun and was surprised I had missed it the first time around.

There are what I thought were some interesting discussions between Karyl and Rob (leaders of the "Fugitive Army") throughout the book; I also thought there was a moment between Melodía and Karyl that was actually well written. Melodía does seem to grow as a character over the course of the novel (mostly the latter half of the novel), which was something I did not really expect to happen. I think the thing I liked most about this book was how much the reader learns about Karyl over the course of the book. He is probably my favorite character although he is apparently shorter than I realized, which means that Rob must be even shorter. There was a moment where it was described how Melodía was "looking down at him" and realized how short Karyl truly was. I always had the impression he was over 6 feet tall; Rob is said to "look up at him" from time-to-time. Bad assumption on my part, I guess. Or, the author forgot how tall Karyl was supposed to be and shrunk him down for this book? I don't know; it'd've been nice if the author would have said how tall he actually was.

Shiraa's "moments" throughout the book were fun to read. I enjoyed "her diversions" as the author described her "adventure" while looking for her lost "mommy." The best moment involving Shiraa was when she watched her “mother” take on the Grey Angel and fight it to a standstill, and then the Grey Angel wounded her “mother.” Shiraa attacked the Grey Angel, catching it unawares and bit it in half (423-425).

This is such a weird book. It was interesting and boring at the same time throughout most of the book. It felt like the plot was waiting for something to happen, like the book could have been cut down one hundred pages or so without missing a beat. Most of the character development is meh. I got tired of various justifications being made as to why certain nobles and knights could not be held responsible for their reprehensible behavior over the course of the novel. Various characters are described as "being powerful" yet seemed powerless. I felt like the author was trying to write something "epic" but fell far short of his goal, which is sad, because he does write some compelling moments (conversations) between some of the characters (again, mostly involving Karyl and somebody else).

There are moments in the book where it felt like the author was just trying to shock the reader instead of telling a story. For example, poor Pilar is killed by a pack of "horrors" that are hunting her and Princess Melodía after they escape from Count Guilli’s camp. The author did not need to describe one of the horror’s “playing” with Pilar's severed breast before eating it (155). I can only assume the author described it like he did for the “horror” of the moment (no pun intended), or some kind of bizarre "titillation factor," as Melodía watched in shock, but it was still disturbing to read. I was really wishing Melodía had died instead of Pilar, to be honest. Melodía stood and watched her friend give her life so that Melodía could escape; instead of fleeing for safety, Melodía stands there and watches her friend die a horrific death.

Later in the book, the author describes a graphic ménage-a-trois between Violette, Melodía, and Bogardus (215-216). Melodía is upset and allows herself to be “seduced” by Violette, who begins by kissing Melodía before performing oral sex on her. After Melodía comes in Violette's mouth, Bogardus comes down upon Melodía and she takes him in her mouth. There was something so nasty about that "image" I don’t know how long it will take before it is removed from my brain. It was just gritty and dirty and nasty.

There is a stretch (where I forgot to mark down the pages) where the author describes the surroundings through which Jaume and his Companions are traveling to meet up with Emperor Felipe and the rest of the army. The inhabitants of the countryside have been tortured, debased, defiled, desecrated, and butchered by the "nobles and lords" of the Imperial Army. It was disturbing, gross, and unnecessary.

Finally, a Grey Angel appears appears in the midst of a town council meeting and the townspeople clamor to have sex with it (272-273). Violette sits astride it and practically begs for this "supernatural being" to rape her. Before Melodía flees the meeting hall for her life, she sees Bogardus taking its nasty, defiled penis into his mouth; it’s a horrifically disgusting scene and nearly made me throw up. I’m not sure what that says about me that I finished the book. It still churns my stomach to write about it, but if my writing about it spares somebody else the degradation of reading it, than some good will come of it.

I know I usually try and share "the good moments" in the book, the parts that I liked. I just don't know that I can at the moment (other than what I mentioned earlier in my review). Like, how Rob Corrigan is supposed to be a "hero," yet he treats women like garbage. He sleeps with multiple women over the course of these two novels, and if a woman will not have him, he finds some reason to dismiss her and salve his wounded ego by trying to convince himself why their copulation would not have worked out, anyway. I realize he is probably "normal" in some sense, but he comes across as a complete jerk and a bit of a crass @$$ when talking about women.

I actually almost started "feeling sorry" for Melodía because it seems like everybody with whom she becomes "close friends" dies. Not only that, but they usually die a horribly painful death. Pilar is killed and eaten by a pack of "horrors." Another friend is killed by Melodía to avoid being eaten alive by members of the Grey Angel's Crusader horde. Violette (former friend and lover) is eaten by an Allosaurus. Melodía ends up having to kill Bogardus (her former lover) to avoid being killed by him. At one point, even she muses that everybody who befriends her dies a horrible death. Granted, my pitying her did not occur until well after Pilar was killed, but the author did seem to take great delight in "torturing" this character throughout the rest of the book.

I swear, this book (and the first one) is a "rip-off" of David Drake's The General series of books. That is what this series feels like, except the humans "are stuck in medieval times" as opposed to having "more modern technology" or "modern-day" levels of technology and society, and the author has decided to transcend any level of "grittiness" that was in David Drake's series. David Drake definitely "did it better" in his series, in my opinion. (I do realize there is a "difference" in that the human worlds of Drake's series were a part of a "human empire" that collapsed and regressed to barbaric times. However, there is a super-smart A.I. called "Center" that seeks to maintain an equilibrium that will allow humanity to regain its place amongst the stars instead of falling into extinction; Jaume and others talk about maintaining some kind of equilibrium. A version of Spanish is the primary language of the most powerful government in the first five General books just as a version of Spanish is the primary language of the most powerful government on Paradise. Drake's "hero" exacts justice against the "nobility" by executing some of them as well as members of their entourage for crimes committed against the common folk, which Jaume and his companions do as well. The leaders of both armies decry waging war against their own people before even reaching the enemy "just to support the army" lest they find the land breaking out in open rebellion against them.)

Also, I have no idea what counts as "sin" in their "religious beliefs." Is it "just" whether or not somebody is physically dirty or not? Whether or not they practice good hygiene? What kinds of sins of wickedness and depravity are the Grey Angels supposedly punishing humanity for when they have their Crusades? The knights and nobles are horrifically depraved throughout the course of the book, loot and raping and stealing and killing because they enjoy it and believe they have that "right" to do so. Yet many of them are not truly "brought to justice" before a court of law to be punished for their crimes (and it is admitted they are committing crimes). The "fact" many of the offenders die in battle does not expiate their "sins" and crimes; it just means they escaped being brought to justice and being punished for what they did. It is a bizarre society to be found on this planet called "Paradise" by its inhabitants, especially since their own "legends" have it that humanity was transplanted onto this planet for some reason "hundreds of years ago," with no reason given for that "mass migration" that occurred, either. The actions of most of the people "in power" really remind me of when it was said that "each person did what was right in their own eye(s)" without considering the long-term consequences of their actions.

I will take a chance on the third book; however, if it turns out to be "just as bad, if not worse" than this one, I will not finish it. This was a truly disappointing book, because it could have been "great" but the author settled for dirty, disturbing, and pitiful. I would probably rate it 1.5 stars, rounded down.

[The Critiquing Chemist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in May when I was reading Milan’s first book in this series, The Dinosaur Lords, I had lamented that through the first half of the story it felt as though I had found myself mid series in a complex world, in which I didn’t know enough of the finer details to fully immerse as a reader. Regardless, this grievance was alleviated by the end of this inaugural book in the series, resulting in an eager and curious anticipation for the release of the follow-up novel, The Dinosaur Knights. Having the detailed world and characters thoroughly established, Milan progressed the storyline at a furious pace that keeps the reader’s rapt attention. As in comparison to A Song of Ice and Fire, the battles are intense, meticulous affairs that keep the reader in a perpetual state that is most aptly termed as ‘edge-of-your seat,’ especially knowing that no character is safe from potentially brutal deaths. Overall, The Dinosaur Knights was a highly entertaining follow up novel, in which dinosaurs, magic, knights and gory battles all intermingled and weaved together.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this second installment, things are as confusing as ever. I was a bit disappointing because the pacing is frankly weird, and there’s a lot of boring long battles. I feel like Victor Milan tried a bit too hard to be Game of Thrones with Dinosaurs instead of focusing on stuff he’s actually good at, and that’s a shame. Overall I still liked the book, because Melodia’s character gets more fleshed out and increasingly more badass, and because the ending was great and left me wanting for the third book. The conclusion to the series will make it or break it for me.

[Ashlen · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Love and authority seemed to resonate from his penis."

Laughable.
Absolutely pathetic.

[Soren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.6 Stars

Alright, I finished this book a bit ago and I haven't been working on a stable review, so this is gonna be messy. I had more things I liked about this book than things I disliked, so I'll start with the things I liked.


Things I Liked:
Melodia's character development. At first, she was a whiny princess who couldn't do anything on her own. Now she's stable, intelligent (street-smart wise), and understandable. I was a bit frustrated when Melodia started to become the overall 'main character' but that I quickly got over due to the development. There are many, many ways someone can mess up a character, especially female ones, but Victor did an amazing job with Melodia!
Karyl being, well, Karyl. I do wish there were more chapters in Karyl's POV, but I felt like I learned a lot more about Karyl in this book! I'm glad that we got a more clear description on what both Karyl and Rob look like in this book, too. Descriptions are something I love to death, and when a book is lacking description, I get really frustrated.
When the horde came in at first I didn't like the idea. I thought this book was going to turn into a 'fighting zombies' type of book, and I'm out of zombies for right now. Just when I thought it was going to be a typical 'plot twist' Victor changed it! I know a lot of people do not like his books as much as I do, which I don't know why, but this was really redemptive. I'm glad about how the book ended, I think it was wrapped up wonderfully. I normally don't read epilogues, but this one wasn't too bad.
Page 328, "What mattered most was that being male he was stronger than she was." This like matters. This line matters SO much. In most of the books, I read the authors seem to totally toss biological differences between the genders/sexes out the window. 'A 16-year-old girl can somehow beat up 3 well aged, muscular, trained men without breaking a sweat'. That would be possible if she made a tactful plan of how to get them, was really flexible and strong, also quick. If she had some superhuman strength power magic thing, yeah that'd make sense, but most don't. Anyways, It's just so refreshing to see someone notice the differences between males and females and not make it a 'bad thing'. I just thought of adding this into the review would be fun. I like to write stuff about my pet peeves. (Yes, a pet peeve of mine is when still-developing females are somehow stronger than fully developed, trained, men. **Reme ber the magic thing, that's different.)
I liked the last battle scene. I was jumping with excitement, waiting for my homeboy Karyl to pop in there and be all like **woosh** and BOOM, they win. That's basically what happened, and I was so pleased. Also, Shiraa's return was so amazing! I love the little she-Dino so much. Her chapters always made me feel very empathetic for her, and when she saw her midget of a 'mom' get tossed around she was ready to protect. It made my heart warm.
"Jaume Orange-Hair and his pretty pals," --Rob. Best line, to be honest.

Things I Disliked:
Melodia's stupid interaction with that one Baron at the beginning of the book. Pilar didn't need to die. I felt so frustrated when she did that, but I guess it did give for great development. Oh boy, I hated the Violette + Bogardus + Melodia scenes. And for good reason, too. It makes me feel all weird. I mean they're both old asf and sort of evil. Plus she was basically cheating on Jaumet.
I hated how Victor made me like Falk. I honestly loved his chapters. If Falk hadn't raped Melodia I think they'd be an amazing couple. That sounds so weird to say, but it's just how I feel. I love his little Dino, Snowflake, and their relationship, too. It's kind of like Shiraa and Karyl's relationship. I don't know, I like aggressive male characters. If only Falk wasnt 'bad'.

There's my short review :)

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Significantly better than the first volume. The comparison I see all the time is "Game of Thrones meets Jurassic Park!" but the only thing it has in common with Jurassic Park is the presence of dinosaurs; there's no actual, significant content or subtext similarities. (Its almost like people don't analyze any deeper than OMG THERE'S A T-REX.) To me, its more similar to Pern meets Westeros - what seems to be a low-fantasy setting is actually a futuristic sci-fi setting, with an alien outside force (Thread/Others/Angels) threatening all, hopefuly bringing the fractured and conspiratorial populace together in time to save the world. Dinosaur Lords is an entertaining series but there's no hiding that its horribly, horribly derivative.

What was done well:
-The battles were exciting and well-written. Easily the highlight of the book.
-Shiraa was entertaining the entire little bit of time we spend with her.
-Plot moved more quickly compared to book one.
-Book managed to pass the Bechdel Test, to my pleasant surprise.
-The world-building and exposition was better done, with less massive info-dumps.
-Melodia's reaction to her rape in book one, at least in some respects, was handled realistically. I liked that there were some PTSD symptoms, I liked that she shied away from sex for a while, I liked that she had flashbacks...and despite these symptoms, wasn't presented as fundamentally broken for having been raped. She's an idiot, yes, but that is an unrelated matter.
-The angel is legit terrifying.

What sucked:
-The text can get repetitive at times - we don't need to have ballista explained to us over and over.
-Melodia's characterization felt like it took one big step back before moving forward, and the moving forward was super sudden. Her motivations also seemed to shift haphazardly leaving me, the reader, wondering why she changed her mind out of nowhere.
-Pilar was fridged and the fridging was weirdly sexualized. Do we need to spend ages on a raptor playing with a breast? It felt like it was only done to prove anyone can die and to spur Melodia's development...as if she needed additional motivation for that.
-There's a lot of really weird sex stuff in general. People talk about sex constantly, sex and genitals are brought up at weird times, murders are sexualized, there's a giant zombie dick and I'm not sure I needed to know about that. I'm not scandalized by sex, I'm not opposed to it being in a book....but its so badly done here. As if the author knew sex HAD to be there (because how else would you know this is a dark and gritty and edgy and realistic fantasy?!?!) but he didn't know when or where or how to put the sex in so we got....this.

I doubt I'll move on to book 3. Feels like there's no point since book 3 was only the mid-point in the planned series of 6, and the story will never be finished.

[Kirsten Simkiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found out mid-book that the author to this book series died after finishing the third book in a planned six book series. RIP Victor Milán.

Still, this is going to be my take on the book as it stands now. And, to be honest, I liked the first book more. In the first book of any series, you can rely more on world building as it's an entirely new world to show your readers. In the second book, a lot of that novelty of new things goes away. And, honestly, what was left in this book just wasn't that entertaining. I can say that fortunately, Milán toned down his idiotic shock factor scenes somewhat. They were still there, but I didn't think they were as glaringly stupid in this book. There were no rape scenes in this book and the main characters stayed very true to form. So, if you really liked a character in the first book, you'll probably still really like them in the second book.

Unfortunately, I found that the characters did little to no growing. If they did grow, it was suddenly rather than gradually, and only ever to suit the plot. Mostly, it seems his characters only grow as the result of the death of someone they love. It's not something I particularly admired about the plot as I was really hoping the characters might develop a little more on their own and grow in more unexpected directions. I didn't get anything of the sort sadly. Melodía's "growth" in particular irked me as being unrealistic and irritating, seeing as she's still just as naive and proud at the end of the book as she is at the beginning. And Rob? He's still the same character he started out with in book one. Karyl's growth, apparently, might all be due to "magic" which is irritating.

I was just really not impressed with how the characters grew and changed. It was almost like the characters were an afterthought to the plot and then just pigeonholed into them after the fact with no real build-up. I want characters to grow because they're learning from those around them, not just all at once because it's convenient to the story line.

I again found the action sequences to be a bit muddled. In all honesty, it took actual willpower for me to read through them and not simply skip over paragraphs and pages of battle content. And you can, especially in the climax. I loved that they introduced a new enemy to the world in the form of the Grey Angels, but I also felt that the ending is a little bit of a cop out, putting almost all previous dramas to rest. I did enjoy the horde that the Grey Angel commanded, as it was really interesting to see how it all began and how it snowballed exponentially as the story went.

There was enough in the book to make me want to read the third book, but it's not likely to be high on my priority list seeing as the character simply do not change from start of book to finish. It's really kind of sad to read these stagnant characters. This book is still recommended for adult readers and only for those who have read the first book.

[M. P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's worth mentioning that this series was supposed to be six books long, but due to the author's untimely death due to cancer, only three were published. The next part after this is, hence, the last, and only wraps up the first half of the intended storyline.

Despite there being a lot more going on, I actually didn't like this book as much as I liked the first part. Granted, I read the first part five years ago, and knights riding dinosaurs hit the dinosaur and knight loving three year old that still dwells within me hard at the time, but the honeymoon phase is over.

I can't look past how static the characters of the book are anymore, and how the development (or regression) of the characters felt very much like plot convenience - ie, it rarely lasted for long. Melodia's IQ drops by 30 points all of a sudden just so we can get a traumatizing death scene with her friend as Melodia does some startlingly idiotic decisions. Rob was suddenly way more insufferable than he used to be (or so I assume - I honestly didn't even remember the character, but if he thought this much with his dick the entire time in the last book, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered it, since I always remember the things I hate with particular clarity). He would assess every female in sight like "that one's got pretty booty buttcheeks, but she is too tall for me, so would not fuck her". Cool. And he keeps doing this even right after the violent death of Pilar, the woman he supposedly had a deeper connection with and genuinely loved. Super geil.

Safe to say, I didn't feel invested in any of the characters - with the exception of Shiraa the allosaurus. I loved the chapters told from her point of view. However, now that she got reunited with her "mommy", Karyl, at the end of the book, I fear there will be no more Shiraa goodness like that in the third book. I also quite enjoyed the pacing of the fighting scenes, not too long, not too short, with the right amount of intensity. Outside the battle scenes, the author did have some pacing issues, especially in the beginning of the book. The constant viewpoint jumping every ten pages or so was completely unnecessary, especially considering that there was simply no way any of what happened overlapped time-wise. I'm glad this stopped being so much of an issue once the characters reached the positions the author wanted them in in order to continue the story.

Outside the battle scenes and the short little peeks into Shiraa's mind, however, I found myself not once thinking I like the book. It's not horrible, but it's pretty mediocre, and doesn't offer much outside of putting the dinosaurs into good use.

[Micaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought these books because the premise (medieval warfare + dinosaurs) was too ridiculous not to read. The problem is that the author focuses too much on the human and too little on the dinosaur. The dinosaur-heavy chapters were fairly good and kept me reading. But I was sorely tempted to stop reading at certain points when various human characters embarked on particularly stupid or else particularly distasteful, brutal, and at times gruesome deeds. A lot of the sexual content in particular was not to my taste--it's a deliberate part of the worldbuilding, I guess, but rather...much. And sexual abuse is almost never a good plot point, even if that aspect is addressed (sort of) appropriately by the characters involved.

The author also has a peculiar (and at times annoying) habit of setting certain plot-points up with characters thinking they're doing something clever, or just, or beautiful, and then twist it around in a jarring about-face that can be perplexing to both the characters in the story and the reader. I think it was supposed to be a "complicated Game of Thrones-esque" plot, but it just...wasn't. And I'm not a Game of Thrones fan. Milan does follow in GRR Martin's footsteps in ruining or torturing or killing all of his potentially good female characters, and reducing the rest of them to sexual objects. DO NOT look to this book for a well-written woman.

The tone, prose, and pacing were just as uneven. There were random swings from lofty language with a philosophical bent cutting away to rough language and crudest metaphor. Chapters beginnings and endings were hacked into the book almost randomly, with numerous cuts between different POV characters in a single chapter, including cuts disrupting both action and exposition sequences for reasons unknown.