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Cretaceous Dawn
A long-extinct beetle appears in a physics lab. Four-and-a-half people and a dog are hurled 65 million years through time, to the Age of the Dinosaurs, and paleontologist Julian Whitney and his companions have only one chance for rescue. Meanwhile in the lab, police chief Sharon Earles must solve the mystery of why half a body remains where five people had just been. Physicists try to determine what went wrong but can they fix the vault in time to retrieve the missing people—and do they want to?
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
October 2, 2010
I picked this up expecting a time-travel romp with rampaging dinosaurs at every turn, and got something better: a well-researched, understated account of what life might be like for a small band of modern humans abruptly transported back to the Cretaceous, the era of Triceratops. Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus Rex.[return][return]It's great to read a book about dinosaurs in which the relative abundance of predators and prey is realistically portrayed, and in which there are actually long periods without predator attacks. As the small band of humans learns, however, just because predators are relatively rare doesn't mean that they are totally absent ...[return][return]The novel has a present-day police procedural element which I didn't find as convincing as the descriptions of life in the Cretaceous, but that's a small part of the book, and doesn't stop me from highly recommending this book to anyone who, like me, still harbours a fascination with the Age of the Dinosaurs.
July 4, 2014
DEAR BOOK, YOU HAD ME AT DINOSAURS.
So like, this is a Jurassic-Park-ophile's wet dream of a book. Nerdy professors (and a dog, for some reason) get sent back in time 65 million years BC and run away from lots of dinosaurs. There's some hokey stuff, but there's also a romance if you wanted it. Me, I just wanted dinosaurs and shenanigans. This is probably a three star book, but I'm grading up because this author is da bomb at doing chapter-ending cliffhangers. Like, every time I was about to put the book down, something O SHIT happened and I had to keep reading to see what happened next.
I APPROVE.
So like, this is a Jurassic-Park-ophile's wet dream of a book. Nerdy professors (and a dog, for some reason) get sent back in time 65 million years BC and run away from lots of dinosaurs. There's some hokey stuff, but there's also a romance if you wanted it. Me, I just wanted dinosaurs and shenanigans. This is probably a three star book, but I'm grading up because this author is da bomb at doing chapter-ending cliffhangers. Like, every time I was about to put the book down, something O SHIT happened and I had to keep reading to see what happened next.
I APPROVE.
August 10, 2009
This book is certainly no War and Peace, in fact the writing style is more than a little cheesy. But sometimes a cheesy adventure novel is great fun and this one falls into that category.
What could be more trite than a sage professor, two unmarried, younger scientists (male and female of course) and a DOG (for heavens sake!) all being caught in an experiment gone awry and transported to the Cretaceous - oh there's a security guard too but he doesn't last long. All the inevitable things happen, and yet, a lot more that's downright surprising happens too. The interesting plot twists and the considerable effort made to recreate the Cretaceous era kept me entertained.
If you're looking for some fun beach reading and like good SciFi do give this a try.
What could be more trite than a sage professor, two unmarried, younger scientists (male and female of course) and a DOG (for heavens sake!) all being caught in an experiment gone awry and transported to the Cretaceous - oh there's a security guard too but he doesn't last long. All the inevitable things happen, and yet, a lot more that's downright surprising happens too. The interesting plot twists and the considerable effort made to recreate the Cretaceous era kept me entertained.
If you're looking for some fun beach reading and like good SciFi do give this a try.
February 27, 2012
One of the finest first drafts of a novel I've read. Needs a good editor, though. Hope they can find one before it's published.
Oops.
That said, the Cretaceous ecology is marvelously fleshed out. Lots of research obviously went into setting and sequence and other details. The Maastrichtian age feels much closer.
The characters are believable, although many are stock. To my own surprise, I was taken in by the 1 or 2 really satisfying twists. There were other twists but... let's not dwell on them. Many small unresolved questions by the end. The Alphadon bones? The body in Roscoe? The fate of the *other* reverter, whomever he was?
I do wish more attention had been put into logical consistency, of closing these loopholes. And spelling. Man, I had no idea 2 PhDs could release a novel with this many typos. Small things like this flag my suspension of disbelief. They're really small, but they're on every page and they add up to a huge distraction. Overcome them and enjoyment is possible.
If you like realistic dinosaur action you ought to read this, no question. The dinosaurs redeem this whole book. Just understand that, as far as quality goes, this is a first draft of what may one day be an excellent book.
Oops.
That said, the Cretaceous ecology is marvelously fleshed out. Lots of research obviously went into setting and sequence and other details. The Maastrichtian age feels much closer.
The characters are believable, although many are stock. To my own surprise, I was taken in by the 1 or 2 really satisfying twists. There were other twists but... let's not dwell on them. Many small unresolved questions by the end. The Alphadon bones? The body in Roscoe? The fate of the *other* reverter, whomever he was?
I do wish more attention had been put into logical consistency, of closing these loopholes. And spelling. Man, I had no idea 2 PhDs could release a novel with this many typos. Small things like this flag my suspension of disbelief. They're really small, but they're on every page and they add up to a huge distraction. Overcome them and enjoyment is possible.
If you like realistic dinosaur action you ought to read this, no question. The dinosaurs redeem this whole book. Just understand that, as far as quality goes, this is a first draft of what may one day be an excellent book.
April 11, 2009
what can i say...i love dinosaurs.
June 9, 2023
Really fun time travel adventure story filled with dinosaurs and timey-wimey science fiction fun, I found it fast pacing and enjoyable to read. The story has at its main character Julian Whitney, a paleontologist specializing in the Cretaceous, a professor at a tiny university in Creekbend, South Dakota. He is called in by a colleague of sorts, a woman he admired from afar but really hasn’t had any reason to have much in the way of any personal interaction with and definitely not any professional association, an experimental physicist named Yariko Miyakara. Yariko with her colleague Dr. Shanker, is working on a spatial translocation device, basically an object that will teleport matter. Yariko and Shanker keep getting odd results, namely beetles no one can identify, and would like some help in knowing how the machine is translocating beetles to their lab, or at least from Julian, where the beetles come from.
In short order one, Julian tells them the beetles are from the Cretaceous and long extinct, two, Yariko and Shanker reveal that the beetles don’t stay that long in the lab, that at some point they “go home” as it were, they revert back to their original time, and three, there is a lab accident sending to the Late Cretaceous Julian, Yariko, Shanker, Shanker’s dog Hilda (who happens to be in the lab), and an unlucky security guard named Frank. An additional person is incompletely translocated to the Cretaceous and half of him is left in the lab (he is instantly killed).
What follows are two plot lines, the main one the people in the Cretaceous who have to come to terms with where they are, survive, figure out a possible path home, and again, survive, surviving storms, floods, finding food and potable water, navigating the terrain, and avoiding the many many predators. Meanwhile, in the present, Chief of Police Sharon Earles and Sergeant Charlie Hann are trying to figure out the mystery in the present, of where the researchers are, first thinking they died, then not so sure.
I enjoyed it. I was surprised there was a plotline in the present, as there were forces at work that could endanger the time travelers from the present. There were some surprising twists and turns in the past too that I liked. Lots and lots of dinosaurs and a good sense of place for the Cretaceous. Published in 2008 and given how many times the twentieth century was mentioned in the text, probably was originally written in the 20th century, it isn’t surprising some of the dinosaur information is a little out of date (such as the topic of feathered dinosaurs) but I didn’t see anything inaccurate for the time. The book gives the reader a wide variety of dinosaurs in different areas and many exciting encounters.
The book is not perfect, as noted by some readers there a few typos, though I only recall one that stuck out (I still understood what was being said though). I do not think there were that many loose ends, one sure, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. The end was surprising and like I said, some nice twists and turns. Pacing was phenomenal and it read fast. Maybe some of the characters were a little one note at times but no one was badly written. It is mostly an adventure story and in that it succeeds.
In short order one, Julian tells them the beetles are from the Cretaceous and long extinct, two, Yariko and Shanker reveal that the beetles don’t stay that long in the lab, that at some point they “go home” as it were, they revert back to their original time, and three, there is a lab accident sending to the Late Cretaceous Julian, Yariko, Shanker, Shanker’s dog Hilda (who happens to be in the lab), and an unlucky security guard named Frank. An additional person is incompletely translocated to the Cretaceous and half of him is left in the lab (he is instantly killed).
What follows are two plot lines, the main one the people in the Cretaceous who have to come to terms with where they are, survive, figure out a possible path home, and again, survive, surviving storms, floods, finding food and potable water, navigating the terrain, and avoiding the many many predators. Meanwhile, in the present, Chief of Police Sharon Earles and Sergeant Charlie Hann are trying to figure out the mystery in the present, of where the researchers are, first thinking they died, then not so sure.
I enjoyed it. I was surprised there was a plotline in the present, as there were forces at work that could endanger the time travelers from the present. There were some surprising twists and turns in the past too that I liked. Lots and lots of dinosaurs and a good sense of place for the Cretaceous. Published in 2008 and given how many times the twentieth century was mentioned in the text, probably was originally written in the 20th century, it isn’t surprising some of the dinosaur information is a little out of date (such as the topic of feathered dinosaurs) but I didn’t see anything inaccurate for the time. The book gives the reader a wide variety of dinosaurs in different areas and many exciting encounters.
The book is not perfect, as noted by some readers there a few typos, though I only recall one that stuck out (I still understood what was being said though). I do not think there were that many loose ends, one sure, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. The end was surprising and like I said, some nice twists and turns. Pacing was phenomenal and it read fast. Maybe some of the characters were a little one note at times but no one was badly written. It is mostly an adventure story and in that it succeeds.
November 9, 2021
Awkwardly written? In places. Thin characterization? Well, yes, often. Far-fetched and mostly implausible? Yep. But I couldn't stop reading, and I ended up enjoying the experience thoroughly. It's an exciting, incident-filled quest narrative with a vividly rendered setting. And dinosaurs! I learned a few things too, especially in the informative chapter headings. Not for everyone certainly, but much better than Michael Crichton in my book, and if you're interested in geological history, wilderness survival narratives, and dinosaurian literature this is worth a read.
April 4, 2018
Midway between
Jurassic Park
and
The Dechronization of Sam Magruder
sits Cretaceous Dawn. A small group of unsuspecting scientists are flung backwards through time and must rely on their plucky spirits and human ingenuity to survive amongst the dinosaurs. In a lot of ways this is a pretty good example of dino fiction, with fairly current findings/speculation to update JP's depiction of dinosaurs in pop culture. We hear about some of the less well-known but far more prevalent, smaller species of dinosaurs along with crocodiles, insects, and small mammals that would have populated the Earth about 65 million years ago—and of course the big stars of Triceratops and T. Rex make appearances, too. In a lot of other ways, though, this is a juvenile take on survival fiction; our band of adventurers seems to escape most dangers with minimal effort. When they need to build a fire, or fashion weapons, or jury-rig a fishing kit, they do so. Presto. They find rather ready sources of food and are able to climb trees and set up shelters without much more than minor inconveniences. More believable would be the band of time travelers completely outclassed by their environment and unable to cope with the physical demands of survival. But who would want to read that? Any tension that we do feel is dissipated almost as soon as it's set up by a deus ex machina of some kind, and any devious sideplots are foiled before they really take off.
2.5 stars out of 5. A long time ago I taught Language Arts and Writing to high schoolers, and tried to impress upon them the importance of showing, not telling. Cretaceous Dawn suffers from a lot of telling, not showing. In the course of many how-to guides to writing descriptively, it was often noted that describing characters by doing more than listing traits of their appearance was the difference between low- and high-quality writing. Well, I quickly learned each character's hair color, eye color, approximate weight, and outfit, but very little about them beyond the single dimension of their job plus one generalized adjective. The hardy lab technician. The survivalist security guard. The shy paleontologist. This isn't a bad book, but it's not especially memorable either. The action scenes are not especially high-energy, the "will-they-won't-they" romantic subplot is not especially melodramatic, and the educational dinosaur trivia factoids are not especially intriguing (or have become outclassed by more recent findings). You could do worse, but you could do a lot better.
2.5 stars out of 5. A long time ago I taught Language Arts and Writing to high schoolers, and tried to impress upon them the importance of showing, not telling. Cretaceous Dawn suffers from a lot of telling, not showing. In the course of many how-to guides to writing descriptively, it was often noted that describing characters by doing more than listing traits of their appearance was the difference between low- and high-quality writing. Well, I quickly learned each character's hair color, eye color, approximate weight, and outfit, but very little about them beyond the single dimension of their job plus one generalized adjective. The hardy lab technician. The survivalist security guard. The shy paleontologist. This isn't a bad book, but it's not especially memorable either. The action scenes are not especially high-energy, the "will-they-won't-they" romantic subplot is not especially melodramatic, and the educational dinosaur trivia factoids are not especially intriguing (or have become outclassed by more recent findings). You could do worse, but you could do a lot better.
January 8, 2020
Sure, there were some errors that should have been caught by the proofreaders; I let them go. The storyline was too good to worry about that.
Scientist in a physics lab in a small University in North Dakota have been flirting with translocation experiments. some beetles that have been extinct for about 65 million years have bewilderingly showed up in their translocation vault. Not only that, but after a few days they disappear From the jars they've been put in. An accident transports three of the scientist back to the end of the Cretaceous era. they are thrown on their own resources, and quickly find daily life a matter of life-and-death struggle. Many dinosaurs are out to make them their meal. The three scientists, along with a dog, have an adventure that makes this a delightful book to read. I was actually sorry when it ended.
Some quotes I liked:
P.122
The Amazon jungle is not well understood. many of the species are either so rare or so remote that they are completely unknown to us. Small plants and insects, the foundation of that immense and complex system, are so numerous and diverse that scientists cannot hope to catalog the half of them; certainly not before the jungle is destroyed by agriculture and everything in it becomes extinct. How, then, can we understand the ecisystem of the late Cretaceous jungle, extinct for 65 million years? One thing we know: large animals would have been rare. You might have walked for days without seeing a single large, photogenic, scary carnivore.
P.263
we humans have developed a comforting, self - centered philosophy that helps to shield us from the dreadful truth. We put a high value on individual life, liberty, and happiness. But in the broad context of the history of the world, life is cheap and death is the only certainty. All species become extinct. Habitats change. Ecosystems develop and then collapse. Our own civilization will be gone soon enough, the way of triceratops horridus, the way of tyrannosaurus Rex.
In one part, where the dog Hilda has wandered off and is searching for her dinner, she gets knocked on the head by the tail of a dinosaur. I had come to love this little doggie so much that I actually started crying.
P.159
He reached out a hand towards Hilda's head and made a gesture of stroking it; but he didn't touch her.
She must have been badly injured, and crawled into the bush to die. As they stared at her it came over Julian that this was The Natural end of every wild animal, including themselves. They were looking at their own future, probably not too distant, and the vision they had of reaching their vague goal was mere idealistic prattle. Dr. Shanker pushed Julian aside. then he gently disentangled Hilda's body and laid her in the open, as if, even in death, she might be more happy in a comfortable position. He squatted and palpated her body to see how she had been injured. The blood came from her mouth, and blood coagulated in the fur of her muzzle and on her chest. It looked as if she'd been struck hard on the head or across the jaw. One side of her face was badly swollen and the flesh around the eye had puffed up and forced the lid closed.
Scientist in a physics lab in a small University in North Dakota have been flirting with translocation experiments. some beetles that have been extinct for about 65 million years have bewilderingly showed up in their translocation vault. Not only that, but after a few days they disappear From the jars they've been put in. An accident transports three of the scientist back to the end of the Cretaceous era. they are thrown on their own resources, and quickly find daily life a matter of life-and-death struggle. Many dinosaurs are out to make them their meal. The three scientists, along with a dog, have an adventure that makes this a delightful book to read. I was actually sorry when it ended.
Some quotes I liked:
P.122
The Amazon jungle is not well understood. many of the species are either so rare or so remote that they are completely unknown to us. Small plants and insects, the foundation of that immense and complex system, are so numerous and diverse that scientists cannot hope to catalog the half of them; certainly not before the jungle is destroyed by agriculture and everything in it becomes extinct. How, then, can we understand the ecisystem of the late Cretaceous jungle, extinct for 65 million years? One thing we know: large animals would have been rare. You might have walked for days without seeing a single large, photogenic, scary carnivore.
P.263
we humans have developed a comforting, self - centered philosophy that helps to shield us from the dreadful truth. We put a high value on individual life, liberty, and happiness. But in the broad context of the history of the world, life is cheap and death is the only certainty. All species become extinct. Habitats change. Ecosystems develop and then collapse. Our own civilization will be gone soon enough, the way of triceratops horridus, the way of tyrannosaurus Rex.
In one part, where the dog Hilda has wandered off and is searching for her dinner, she gets knocked on the head by the tail of a dinosaur. I had come to love this little doggie so much that I actually started crying.
P.159
He reached out a hand towards Hilda's head and made a gesture of stroking it; but he didn't touch her.
She must have been badly injured, and crawled into the bush to die. As they stared at her it came over Julian that this was The Natural end of every wild animal, including themselves. They were looking at their own future, probably not too distant, and the vision they had of reaching their vague goal was mere idealistic prattle. Dr. Shanker pushed Julian aside. then he gently disentangled Hilda's body and laid her in the open, as if, even in death, she might be more happy in a comfortable position. He squatted and palpated her body to see how she had been injured. The blood came from her mouth, and blood coagulated in the fur of her muzzle and on her chest. It looked as if she'd been struck hard on the head or across the jaw. One side of her face was badly swollen and the flesh around the eye had puffed up and forced the lid closed.
July 21, 2020
The authors don't know the difference between poisonous and venomous, but still a fun read!
September 20, 2010
CRETACEOUS DAWN: 65 MILLION YEARS IN THE PAST, THE JOURNEY BEGINS BY L. M. GRAZIANO AND M.S.A. GRAZIANO: The authors of Cretaceous Dawn --Lisa M. Graziano, former professor of Oceanography, writer and researcher; and Michael S. A. Graziano, professor of Neuroscience – are clearly experienced when tackling the subject of what life was like 65 millions years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs. In an adventure style like that of Jurassic Park and Ray Bradbury’s short story “Sound of Thunder,” Cretaceous Dawn is a fun play on what if people existed with dinosaurs.
Julian Whitney is a paleontologist and a college professor who feels his life has little to offer in the way of entertainment, and he spends his days teaching his classes and hoping something will happen between him and the attractive physics professor Yariko. Whitney is surprisingly called to Yariko’s government funded and guarded lab to check on photos of unusual beetles at the start of the book. As he studies the photos that were taken very recently, he can’t believe what he is seeing: the insects appear to be of a species that hasn’t existed since the dinosaurs, which Whitney is used to seeing in fossilized form.
As Yariko and Whitney study the photos, her colleague, Dr. Shanker, starts up the quantum particle accelerator, while the two security guards return from lunch. There is a sudden explosion. Yariko, Whitney, Dr. Shanker and his dog (who was in the lab at the time) and one and a half security guards are miraculously transported back in time and find themselves alive and relatively well living in the world of dinosaurs. Meanwhile police chief Sharon Earles is left with a much destroyed physics lab, a government-funded project gone horribly wrong, and half the body of a guard.
Cretaceous Dawn is a compelling story with plenty of plot and subplot going on. The authors do an excellent job of creating the juxtaposition between the 65 million year old world and the present day police investigation, keeping the reader interested until the end.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
Julian Whitney is a paleontologist and a college professor who feels his life has little to offer in the way of entertainment, and he spends his days teaching his classes and hoping something will happen between him and the attractive physics professor Yariko. Whitney is surprisingly called to Yariko’s government funded and guarded lab to check on photos of unusual beetles at the start of the book. As he studies the photos that were taken very recently, he can’t believe what he is seeing: the insects appear to be of a species that hasn’t existed since the dinosaurs, which Whitney is used to seeing in fossilized form.
As Yariko and Whitney study the photos, her colleague, Dr. Shanker, starts up the quantum particle accelerator, while the two security guards return from lunch. There is a sudden explosion. Yariko, Whitney, Dr. Shanker and his dog (who was in the lab at the time) and one and a half security guards are miraculously transported back in time and find themselves alive and relatively well living in the world of dinosaurs. Meanwhile police chief Sharon Earles is left with a much destroyed physics lab, a government-funded project gone horribly wrong, and half the body of a guard.
Cretaceous Dawn is a compelling story with plenty of plot and subplot going on. The authors do an excellent job of creating the juxtaposition between the 65 million year old world and the present day police investigation, keeping the reader interested until the end.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
May 3, 2014
“Cretaceous Dawn,” by L. M. Graziano and M.S.A. Graziano (Leapfrog, 2008). What a refreshing SF read! Not only is the story interesting and plausible, but the writing is attractive and the characters have more depth than the usual heroic attempts. The Grazianos (don’t know their relationship) are Ph.D. scientists: Lisa once taught oceanography at Woods Hole, Michael teaches neuroscience at Princeton. They posit that a pair of physicists in North Dakota stumble upon a “temporal/spatial translocation” device (that’s “time machine” to you) while doing research and, along with a paleontologist, a security guard and a dog, are accidentally translocated back to the late cretaceous era. While the local police, led by a smart woman similar to the police chief in Fargo, slowly figure out how and why three and a half people just vanished (the fourth was half in and half out of the mysterious chamber), the three-plus-dog must figure out how to survive in a land populated by dinosaurs and tiny mammals, before flowers, bats or poisonous snakes evolved, and trek 1,000 miles to a place where they hope they will be translocated back to South Dakota. The physics makes a sort of sense, and the evocations of the cretaceous landscape, flora and fauna are superb. In a story where you have to buy the premise to buy the plot, there is one burr under the saddle of enjoyment: turns out there had been another group of time travelers---themselves---who had done the same thing about a century before, had lived for a few generations, and there is one survivor who leads them to the right place. Well, the Grazianos needed some way to get their trekkers home. It is fun.
http://www.leapfrogpress.com/availabl...
December 8, 2008
Set in both our time and 65 million years ago, CRETACEOUS DAWN is an exciting adventure story of 3 scientists, a security guard, and a dog, which are accidentally transported back in time. While investigators in our time work to understand what happened to the missing people, the adventurers work to find a way back to the present day.
While the writing is very exciting and informative as to what Earth was like way back then, I found a couple of glaring problems with the plot. First, I could find no answer as to why only 24 hours passed in present time, yet 2 months passed in Cretaceous time. Also, why didn’t the scientists yell for each other after Julian was washed down the river? They certainly used that means to find Hilda when she went missing. Unfortunately, these problems really bothered me and detracted from my overall enjoyment of what otherwise is a terrific book.
~Stephanie
While the writing is very exciting and informative as to what Earth was like way back then, I found a couple of glaring problems with the plot. First, I could find no answer as to why only 24 hours passed in present time, yet 2 months passed in Cretaceous time. Also, why didn’t the scientists yell for each other after Julian was washed down the river? They certainly used that means to find Hilda when she went missing. Unfortunately, these problems really bothered me and detracted from my overall enjoyment of what otherwise is a terrific book.
~Stephanie
October 30, 2016
Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. By the end of the story, I found myself growing quite attached to the main characters and thoroughly enjoyed the survival and ecological aspects of following a band of adventurers through the Cretaceous. The character development was done well. There were some surprising moments in the center of the book that I never saw coming too, and near the halfway point I practically couldn't put the book down.
I decided not to give the book a five star rating, however, for a couple reasons. While I loved the book, I would have liked a bit more closure at the end. Also, while the ecological content of the book was fantastic, I found myself questioning the physics side of the science a bit during the read.
I decided not to give the book a five star rating, however, for a couple reasons. While I loved the book, I would have liked a bit more closure at the end. Also, while the ecological content of the book was fantastic, I found myself questioning the physics side of the science a bit during the read.
November 30, 2008
It was a good first effort, but I think the authors must have spent some time pondering what the movie of their book would be like. complete with an opening at the end of the book for a sequel. It had no change of pace throughout the book, and so was a somewhat relentless page-turner. It would have been nice with some pacing. Anyhoo, I only grabbed it from the "new scifi" shelf because I felt like a bit of a dinosaur jaunt, since my 2-year old son is starting to noticed dinosaurs. that desire was definitely fulfilled, lots of nifty dinosaurs. (so many, I suspect the authors don't give a rat's ass about the physics part of their story.)
August 31, 2009
I couldn't get past the first chapter of this one.
The story sounds exciting and maybe it is, but the writing is pretty bad. This reads like the first attempt at a novel by a freshman in high school. While I think the writers (Lisa's husband, whose name I forget was also an author) could make this book readable, they need to take some writing classes and get lots of practive first. Instead it is one of those books that make me wonder why so many good authors out there had such a hard time getting their first publication.
The story sounds exciting and maybe it is, but the writing is pretty bad. This reads like the first attempt at a novel by a freshman in high school. While I think the writers (Lisa's husband, whose name I forget was also an author) could make this book readable, they need to take some writing classes and get lots of practive first. Instead it is one of those books that make me wonder why so many good authors out there had such a hard time getting their first publication.
December 13, 2011
I enjoyed this book. I found the pacing to be good and the characters engaging. I found the dinosaur quantity/exposure to seem more realistic than movies tend to imply. The character progression and growth was good, and well done in a way that didn't take away from action and turn it into a long-winded dialog. The suspense around the end was good, and threw in some interesting surprises. I would have liked a bit more closure related to their return the finishing of the police investigation. But this didn't impact my enjoyment of the book.
January 6, 2009
This is a thoroughly enjoyable science fiction story about people being accidentally transported back in time to the Cretaceous. I've been reading it voraciously every evening and I'll be sorry when it's over. Some of the action is pretty implausible (too many helpful coincidences and too much good luck for the protagonists) but overall it's suspenseful, educational, and a lot of fun.
March 23, 2009
I loved this time travel adventure book!
A lab accident results in several people (and a dog) getting thrown back in time. Then the adventure begins when they figure out that their only chance of getting home requires them to trek through this alien landscape and deal with the native wildlife.
Kept me guessing if and/or who would survive the journey, a very enjoyable romp.
A lab accident results in several people (and a dog) getting thrown back in time. Then the adventure begins when they figure out that their only chance of getting home requires them to trek through this alien landscape and deal with the native wildlife.
Kept me guessing if and/or who would survive the journey, a very enjoyable romp.
August 7, 2009
I loved the science and natural history, though the plot line is a bit - ehh. Worth reading if you like alternate histories or biology. :)
June 19, 2012
It had a good overall story. It real science in it which was interesting. However, a little weak on the charter development. You didn't really connect with the characters.
August 17, 2017
This book was a great idea poorly executed. I love dinosaurs and survival stories, so I was cautiously excited for this book. Unfortunately, I was mostly disappointed. The authors are not professional authors, and it shows. Here are some of my complaints:
1) The "science" of this time travel sci-fi is of course complete gobblety-gook. Despite this, they go on and on trying to "explain" it like it is realistic. I guess the authors wanted to have some pretension to not being "ridiculous" but since they don't actually have any basis, it just feels like awkward hubris about something silly.
2) The characters are supposed to have overwhelmingly strong emotional responses to their ordeals and to each other. However, this is more just stated than depicted. This leaves it feeling very hollow and hard to really accept. Even simple things like describing the characters being tired or hungry lack any vivid imagery to make it seem believable.
3) The action is not that interesting. I was curious about how the authors would choose to resolve things, but the plot development just wasn't particularly exciting.
Another reviewer said this was a manuscript with lots of potential in need of an editor. I think I would largely agree with that assessment.
1) The "science" of this time travel sci-fi is of course complete gobblety-gook. Despite this, they go on and on trying to "explain" it like it is realistic. I guess the authors wanted to have some pretension to not being "ridiculous" but since they don't actually have any basis, it just feels like awkward hubris about something silly.
2) The characters are supposed to have overwhelmingly strong emotional responses to their ordeals and to each other. However, this is more just stated than depicted. This leaves it feeling very hollow and hard to really accept. Even simple things like describing the characters being tired or hungry lack any vivid imagery to make it seem believable.
3) The action is not that interesting. I was curious about how the authors would choose to resolve things, but the plot development just wasn't particularly exciting.
Another reviewer said this was a manuscript with lots of potential in need of an editor. I think I would largely agree with that assessment.
February 23, 2017
I liked the story. It was exciting and really interesting. Maybe the writing could have had one more round of editing, and I couldn't care less about the Earles subplot that mostly involved rehashing chapter one.
The dino nerd in me loved the paleontological and geological details (the dinosaurs all felt like real animals and I love that they had so many non-dino animals and that the whole book wasn't just a big game of "run from the T. rex"), although I have to say I still have no idea how the characters figured out when and where they needed to be to revert. It sounded totally made up for the plot; if it's based on real scientific ideas, I guess it wasn't explained clearly enough or I didn't understand it. And while I liked the ending (and loved Corla and the entire idea of her), the twist about the people in the cave just didn't feel plausible. Maybe if there'd been hints, people theorizing that such a thing was plausible?
The dino nerd in me loved the paleontological and geological details (the dinosaurs all felt like real animals and I love that they had so many non-dino animals and that the whole book wasn't just a big game of "run from the T. rex"), although I have to say I still have no idea how the characters figured out when and where they needed to be to revert. It sounded totally made up for the plot; if it's based on real scientific ideas, I guess it wasn't explained clearly enough or I didn't understand it. And while I liked the ending (and loved Corla and the entire idea of her), the twist about the people in the cave just didn't feel plausible. Maybe if there'd been hints, people theorizing that such a thing was plausible?
October 7, 2022
A lab accident sends 3 scientists, a guard and a dog back to the Cretaceous age, where they contend with dinosaurs and try to figure out how to get back to the present day. The book is a lot of fun, with what seem to be accurate details about that period of Earth's history. It's hard to believe how the people got to the Cretaceous, harder to believe how they think they will get back, and really hard to believe that the accident could have sent doppelgangers out as well as the original group. And who was the corpse that suddenly appeared in present day, if it wasn't the guard? The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, so perhaps these issues will be resolved in a sequel. Still, as I said before, fun to read.
December 8, 2024
Well, for a ¢99 buy I don’t feel like I lost out. I bought it because I like Jurassic Park and because it sounded fun.
The premise is definitely interesting and very original and I like that. I loved all the species of prehistoric creatures that featured in this novel - from mammals to crocodilians to dinosaurs. I found the characters themselves generally enjoyable.
The love story was a bit weird. It felt shoehorned in - rushed in the beginning, forgotten about in the middle, and then rushed to return in the end.
The freaking dog. Every time a scene with her came around I wanted to skip ahead. She was so annoying and did nothing except endanger the people.
Generally, not my favorite book.
Good for a fun romp, yes?
The premise is definitely interesting and very original and I like that. I loved all the species of prehistoric creatures that featured in this novel - from mammals to crocodilians to dinosaurs. I found the characters themselves generally enjoyable.
The love story was a bit weird. It felt shoehorned in - rushed in the beginning, forgotten about in the middle, and then rushed to return in the end.
The freaking dog. Every time a scene with her came around I wanted to skip ahead. She was so annoying and did nothing except endanger the people.
Generally, not my favorite book.
Good for a fun romp, yes?
July 10, 2024
I would have been disappointed not to love this book, considering it combines two topics I really enjoy reading about: time travel and dinosaurs. The race against the clock added a nice tension to what could have been a basic survival story. Not sure I fully bought into the romance, seems more like trauma-bonding than anything, but it's not overdone and I'm not mad about it either. There are some nice twists and turns, and lots of interesting Cretaceous facts neatly woven in. I actually can't think of any real complaints so going to give this one a full 5 stars.
January 12, 2020
I've loved dinosaurs since the age of five, and I'd rather read about dinosaurs encountered in their natural habitats instead of chasing people through San Diego.
As other reviewers already mentioned, the physics behind the explanation of HOW these scientists traveled to the late Cretaceous were far-fetched and implausible, especially since no explanation is provided AT ALL for the discovery of another unexpected resident whose location conveniently coincided with their route home.
That's the only reason why I'm deducting one star. Otherwise, the description of the late Cretaceous environment was beautifully rendered, and I'm glad they stumbled across my other favorite dinosaurs from that era (besides T-Rex).
I was especially pleased to read about their encounters with the Troodons, dinosaurs with larger brains, binocular vision, and an omnivorous diet (like modern bears) which would've made them far more dangerous than any other Mesozoic predator. Yet I wish their encounter with a Parasaurolophus wasn't so brief.
As other reviewers already mentioned, the physics behind the explanation of HOW these scientists traveled to the late Cretaceous were far-fetched and implausible, especially since no explanation is provided AT ALL for the discovery of another unexpected resident whose location conveniently coincided with their route home.
That's the only reason why I'm deducting one star. Otherwise, the description of the late Cretaceous environment was beautifully rendered, and I'm glad they stumbled across my other favorite dinosaurs from that era (besides T-Rex).
I was especially pleased to read about their encounters with the Troodons, dinosaurs with larger brains, binocular vision, and an omnivorous diet (like modern bears) which would've made them far more dangerous than any other Mesozoic predator. Yet I wish their encounter with a Parasaurolophus wasn't so brief.
July 8, 2017
Started off strong, descended into cheesiness and complete nonsense. I was onboard with translocation through time, really. But it was daft to throw in more complex physics processes at the end with little to no real explanation for the sole purpose of...what? An extra plot device to get our protagonists through the third act? Really disappointed
February 8, 2018
A very enjoyable book.I enjoyed the present day conflict as well as the Cretaceous period. There seemed to be some jumps and gaps in the story. I really wanted to see pictures of the dinosaurs, like technical drawings. The descriptions were good but I would stop reading to go look up what they actually looked like. I kind of wanted more as well.
March 14, 2018
I was looking for a modern adventure with paleontologists and this came up. I got a copy from the used section, a former library book.
The descriptions are good for the animals themselves, but the plot is muddy and poorly developed. I muddled through, only to be a bit disappointed by the ending.
Still, there were some thought provoking scenes that made me want to finish.
The descriptions are good for the animals themselves, but the plot is muddy and poorly developed. I muddled through, only to be a bit disappointed by the ending.
Still, there were some thought provoking scenes that made me want to finish.
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