Extinction Event

Primeval #7

by Dan Abnett

When an Entelodon goes on the rampage down Oxford Street, causing untold damage and loss of life, Cutter decides a new approach to tackling the anomalies is needed. However, his investigations expose him and the team to a violent encounter with a mysterious Russian scientist and a situation more catastrophic and frightening than they've ever faced before...

When Cutter, Abby and Connor disappear without a trace, Lester and Jenny must use every trick in the book to try and track them down...

Genres: Science Fiction, Dinosaurs, Time Travel, Fiction, 21st Century, Media Tie In

283 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2009

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primeval a tv series created to compete with the succes of BBC Doctor Who. And to be honest it is quite a formula with holes in time through which Dinosaurs enter our timeline. What is more fun than a scifi tv show with dino's and other scary critters. Enter some beautiful and wicked people in the matrix and you've got a decent monster show which is quite good in the ratings. And as a TV show it was good fun till the networks actually messed it up and show went out like a candle way before its time.

Anyhow I found a decent epub edition of this e-book and decided that it would be good reading in the breaks on my work as it is not a book that really asks a lot of brainpower. In this story the three main characters from the show professor Cutter, Abby & Connor get kidnapped and find themselves in Russia, Tunguska Siberia to be exact. The Russian are not sure what is happening but believe their nightmares and fairy tales like Baba Yaga have come true. Even when offered the the explanation they tend to see it as a western plot to obtain information. (very cliche) The title is kind of spoiler what the main story is about.

If you are a fan of the TV show a nice read with loads of AHA moments if not you have no great challenge to figure out what is going and any enjoyment will then lead to wanting to watch the show.

A fun book to pass some leisure time with.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another find at a charity shop, so this only cost £1 .
Dan Abnett is one of my favourite Warhammer 40K authors, and I was in the middle of his Eisenhorn trilogy when I saw this - I used to enjoy watching the series this book is based on so didn't have much to lose by giving it a try.

Based around the Primeval TV series (probably around the 2nd series going by the characters), this sees various anomalies in time opening up, and dinosaurs managing to walk through them into the present day. Professor Cutter and his team from the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) have been investigating them and trying to keep it from the public.

As it transpires, it's not just the UK seeing these anomalies, and the Russians kidnap the team to help them with their own incursions.

There's lots of action, some tense moments, plenty of dinosaur action and a possibly world ending event to try and resolve. The characters are well written and seem to match with their TV counterparts.

[Martasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paráda!
Okolo knížky jsem dlouho chodila a díky letošní výzvě jsem se k ní konečně dostala. Když jsem to četla, mám pocit, jako kdybych se na to dívala, jak skvěle je to napsané.
Bohužel, jak tu už někteří napsali, jsou přeloženy pouze 2 díly. A na Goodreads je tento díl až 7. !!! Takže tichá závist těm, kteří mají k dalším dílům přístup. A já se vrhám na druhý přeložený.

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I was interested to see how an author would tackle writing a Primeval book. Like the X-Files, it's something which I feel is way more of a visual spectacle, so I wanted to see how an author would rise to the challenge of transposing the Primeval spirit to prose.

As such, I was delighted to find Dan Abnett had written a Primeval book, since I'd dabbled with some of his Doctor Who books and Big Finish audios before.

What I loved most about this book is how it delves into some of the less addressed yet abundantly obvious questions about Primeval which aren't ever explored on screen. Namely, if there are other teams facing anomalies in other countries, the contingency of anomalies, a glimpse into Cutter's backstory, etc.

And also, without the budget constraints of the mid-2000s, we finally actually get to spend a significant amount of time in the prehistoric past with Cutter and Abby. Time spent in the anomalies was often fleeting or fairly basic on-screen, but here, it's expansive and actually woven into the story so that we can be there for a while.

The characterisation here is fantastic too. Lester is the clearest example of this. He's every bit as witty and sarcastic in text as he is on-screen. The same can be said for our holy trinity of Cutter, Abby and Connor too. Helen as well is surprisingly even more ruthless, but still cunning and clever and, to some extent, actually very sensible, than she is in the show.

I'm also amazed at Abnett's ability to make a T-rex, probably the most overused dinosaur in all of fiction, actually scary again. Even without visuals, the way how it is just THERE in plain sight, possibly at times when we the reader aren't even aware, is absolutely terrifying and brilliant.

There are a few silly goofs which, unfortunately, did take me out of it. There's a scene where Jenny catches up with the soldier Hemple in the university car park, but further down that same page, it's said that Hemple looked "out of the office windows and into the car park" - So which is it? Are they in the car park or the office? Or when Connor is "standing up if the rear of the 4x4; yes, "If", not "in".

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third adult Primeval novel is easily the best so far, but then with Dan Abnett at the helm that's not really a surprise. Anomalies have been opening up in Siberia and Cutter, Connor & Abby get kidnapped by Russian military to solve the issue.

I really like the plot of this one - Following the previous novels it widens the Primeval premise to look at anomalies outside the UK. The Russians behave just how you imagine they would if the operation were run by the military. I liked the extinction event idea and the threat of what would happen in our universe if an anomaly was open when the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs hit....

This is the first of the books to feature Helen Cutter and I thought her portrayal here was spot on. Everyone else was on point as well. Despite being the main focus of the cover Abby never seems to get much of a chance to shine which was a bit of a missed opportunity, but she doesn't act out of character and is there doing her job. I thought Helen, Connor and Jenny were the stand outs in this one.

There's a variety of dinosaurs here, T-Rex, Ankylosaurus, Torosaurus, Dimetrodon, Anatotitians, Troodons - If you like dinosaurs, this one's a treat. Its also got a believable military set up with a variety of guns and some really cool villains and Russian scientists & soldiers.

Good pacing and exciting story make this one a real page turner. I nearly gave it 4 stars, but the ending is rushed and really fizzles. Also other than the Siberian anomalies it doesn't really add much to the Primeval universe.

Still as TV tie ins go this one's pretty good and if you've run out of episodes to watch, this is like a bonus feature length.

[Tessie Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knížka napsaná podle známého britského seriálu Pravěk útočí se svým vlastním příběhem, který se odehrává po skončení 2. série. Byla jsem hodně zvědavá, jak si s tím autor poradí, jestli to bude mít tu správnou ''Primeval'' atmosféru a realistické vykreslení postav. A rozhodně jsem byla překvapena! Sice tam bylo pár nudnějších chvilek, ale to se dá přehlédnout vzhledem k tomu, co následovala za skvělé, akční a ano i děsivé scény. Atmosféra byla docela strašidelná, trochu ve stylu Jurského parku, za což se mi knížka líbila ještě více. Taky změna prostředí byla rozhodně bodem navíc. Pro fanoušky seriálu je knížka povinností, vřele doporučuju a těším se na další vydání série. ;)

[Anthony Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the Tv series this book didn’t disappoint, brilliant story, it kept moving didn’t lack or get boring at any point kept you wanting more after each chapter!

Plus without giving any spoilers a catastrophic disaster which could end the world so that’s always exciting in a book 👌

Overall the characters were spot on and there was most definitely plenty of dinosaur action, would definitely recommend to any other Primeval fans out there 😀

[Can`t_Stop.Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and it definetly exceeded my expectations. It felt just like I was sat watching an episode of Primeval. It was a tad slow to begin with but the pace picked up as the book went on . The ending was a bit meh hence why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. Will be keeping my out of for more Primeval books now ^_^

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so lovely to be back in the story of Primeval.

Dan Abnett was able to write the characters and adventure as well as the other two authors so far. Storylines add up. Plus, that epilogue was a brilliant idea - short and magnificent.

The book is set between the end of season 2 and the beginning of season 3.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very true to the series

I enjoyed this book when I was younger and then decided to see if I still liked it ten + years later; and it still held up. The characters were very true to the ones in the show. It seemed like a storyline that could have been part of the show and it was clear that the author had done their research!

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

see Shadow of the Jaguar review

[Chance · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was just so complicated that I lost interest.

[Meghan Mallard · Rating 5 out of 5]

reliving my childhood by rereading the primeval books

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primeval: Exinction Event is a book based on the popular ITV television series of the same name about anomalies in time that occur, allowing beasts from prehistoric (and apparently also futuristic) times to slip through into the present day and cause havoc. In this particular installment, following an encounter with an entelodon on Oxford Street, Professor Nick Cutter, paleozoologist for the Anomaly Research Centre, is kidnapped along with his teammates zookeeper Abby and computer whizz Connor. They are taken to Siberia where they discover that the Russians have a much bigger problem than they do in England, in the form of a forest full of dinosaurs and the terrifying Baba Yaga. Somehow they must convince the Russians of what is happening and keep themselves alive long enough to sort it out and get home safely, all while time is swiftly running out.

Unlike a lot of people in the UK (including my parents, who were very intrigued when I showed them this book) I have never seen Primeval before; I think it aired while I was at university and without a television, so I never got around to watching it. Consequently, I came to this book without any prior knowledge of the characters or their situation which isn’t something that I expect will happen with many readers as television spin-off books aren’t something you tend to pick up unless you’ve already watched and enjoyed the series. However, had I taken that view, I would have missed out on what turned out to be a really good, fun piece of light entertainment.

Primeval: Extinction Event is a lively, fast-paced adventure which easily carries the reader along through a series of unlikely occurrences and their equally unlikely situations. The book reads exactly how you would expect a television episode to read if it were turned into a book, alternating between action scenes and lots of dialogue. Abnett writes these conversations in a way that is snappy, witty and that manages to convey large amounts of information without it seeming contrived or intrusive. I was impressed that the author managed to provide enough detail and backstory for me, a newbie, to be able to grasp what was going on and why without it being painfully obvious that he was doing so. There were a few small things which I found confusing at first (like the Russians in the book, I also thought that the term ‘anomaly’ referred to the dinosaurs themselves) but as the plot moves so quickly these misunderstandings were soon cleared up.

As this book assumes that readers will already be familiar with the characters from the television series, characterisation is understandably a bit sparse (I wouldn’t expect character studies if I were to read a Doctor Who novel, for example), but this isn’t the sort of novel in which you would expect it anyway, focusing as it does on action over contemplation. Nonetheless, there was enough differentiation between them for me to feel that I got to know the main cast a little bit and to make them interesting to read about. I found the inclusion of Cutter’s wife particularly intriguing as I know no back story for it, and I’d like to find out more about what happened with the two of them. I do think that there were a few too many secondary characters though, many of which were little more than names and so impossible to keep track of. I can see how this would work on television as you can actually see the characters and they are visibly different, but it didn’t translate well into book form.

My only other criticism is a rather minor one, but it was a constant niggle throughout the book: every time a weapon is mentioned, we must know what model it is. I fail to see why this is necessary or how it adds to the reading experience. I highly doubt that the average reader will be able to visualise a specific gun by being given its model number; on television, all we would have seen is an array of different guns and I could quite happily have been told that the team use an array of different guns without knowing what every single one of them was. I quickly grasped that mechanical things wouldn’t work properly because of the anomalies without knowing the difference between and M-64 and an A-30. Frankly they all sound like road names to me anyway.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book to someone who hasn’t seen the television show. What I would recommend is that you sit down and watch the show and then read this book. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.

(I received a free review copy of this book)

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

I really liked this adventure.

First there's an Entolodon encounter on Oxford Street. Connor proves he's awesome, the new Special Forces leader Jake Hemple is introduced, and Jenny once again proves she is a magnet for danger. Seriously, that's one thing I'm noticing and hating about these novels. It seems every time Jenny does anything, under orders or simply deciding to help, she just ends up getting in danger and causing more problems that the team has to fix.

Anyway, the encounter makes the news. Jenny covers it up. Blah blah. Business as usual. Except someone saw the news before it was covered: the Russians. Thus the basis for this novel. Cutter, Connor, and Abby are kidnapped by two Russian spies and rendited to Siberia.

Several characters are introduced. Some you love, like Vols, and some you hate, like Koshkin. Perhaps the novel gave a bad representation of the Russian military, perhaps it didn't. I don't know. But the team's biggest problem in this book isn't the numerous numerous numerous dinosaurs roaming the vast uncharted lands of Siberia. It's the fact that none of the Russians, except three scientists, will listen to them at all about the anomalies.

Connor proves he's the king of all things technologic, then shows a bit of badassery by refusing to stay down while wounded (won't tell you how he's wounded, though), asserts his place by commanding the Russians at a few points, and at the end the last hope for humanity is passed into Connor's possibly capable hands. Can he pull it off? :D Read to see what happens.

Off of my Connor loving and onto the rest of the book. Cutter behaved perfectly. He was in character the whole way through. He is every bit as stubborn and pig headed as any of the Russian soldiers, except we know he's right and the soldiers are wrong.

Many times in this novel the characters are all split from each other. So you get what happens on Connor's end, and on Cutter's end, and on Abby's end, and they are all totally different. Then you have Jenny's end, where even Helen Cutter makes an appearance (the first she's appeared in the novels). This novel also contains the least known character death. That is, characters the reader was actually introduced to. Lots of people die, but not so many that we know as people as in the other novels. Not saying people we know the names of don't die, cause they do, it wouldn't be a Primeval novel if they didn't, but I was surprised by how many of them lived. And pleased.

My main issues with this novel are as follows: 1) a great giant super predator is left roaming Siberia and no one does anything about it. And, 2) at the end, Cutter is brooding and Jenny asks 'What are you thinking about?' and it just cuts off. Part of me hopes it's just that my Nook copy is bad, but I think it's just the book.

One of my favorite things in this novel was Connor's talk downs with the Russians and the way he kept calling Koshkin "Comrade."

[Chadwick Saxelid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dan Abnett’s Primeval tie-in novel Extinction Event is a guilty pleasure that I knew I would enjoy. Although I purchased this particular book while the BBC dinosaurs-rampaging-across-the-United-Kingdom series was still in active production, my life long habit of buying far more books than I can ever possibly get around to reading kept it sitting around, waiting to be read, for several years. So it goes.

Extinction Event starts off like every other episode of the series. A bunch of dinosaurs, this time it’s a herd of Entelodons, comes crashing through a “time anomaly” (these anomalies are doorways into worlds both distant past and near future) and go on the rampage in contemporary England.

After the rampaging creatures are corralled and sent back to their time, the primary characters from the series are captured by some Russians and then taken to Siberia, where there is an anomaly that needs dealing with.

Yes, the book is as silly as my synopsis makes it sound, but Abnett keeps the pace brisk and the monster action frequent. It was great reminder of why Primeval was such an addictive viewing guilty pleasure for me.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book in the Primeval series and it's a really good one. Cutter, Connor and Abby are kidnapped by Russians and taken to Siberia. The Russians have a major problem; anomalies of their own and lots and lots of animals that have come through. Big animals. Mean animals. Soldier-killing animals.

Things are tied in to the Tunguska explosion (which some people believe was a UFO, but scientists say it was a comet, probably, that exploded before it hit the ground), in an interesting manner.

The way the story is told is very good; lots of action but also lots of politics and lots of emphasis on the characters. It would have made a fantastic couple of episodes, too.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as the T.V. series

I am a fan of the T.V. series, Primeval, so when I saw this book figured to give it a read. The characters were true to the series as I read the appeared in my head like in the T.V. episodes. Some may feel that the book was too melodramatic, but for me it was pure escapism and that is what counts for me. I like story that have dinosaurs or some creature on the loose where it shouldn't be. Also ones that have the heroes of the story having to play it by ear to save the day. If you were a fan of the series then get this book and read it and enjoy. If you aren't a fan get and find out what you missed.

[Toe · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the television series and i was gutted when i found out that ITV had axed it - then happy again when they changed their minds - then gutted again because it's not coming on 'til 2011. so after all the emotional turmoil (lol =P) i was so elated when i discovered they had made a series of primeval books. they are really amazing.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot! A lot better than "The Lost Island" which I read first.
The characters all felt real, and the action was non-stop. Connor's nerdiness and Abby's spunkiness felt spot on, and the supporting characters were fleshed out in a way that I felt really surprassed LOSt Island.
Well done!

[Shayna S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with an online book club. I was surprised at how well-researched the science and military aspects were and how vivid the sensory imagery was in situations the author could only have imagined. (For instance, no research could have told Abnett what a tyrannosaur might have smelled like or the colors and skin texture of a dimetrodon.) An enjoyable read for someone who has watched the TV show.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was an great book!! a must read!! even if you have never watched primeval i think you'll enjoy this book.
action packed!
sad to say that stephen isn't in this book:( it's set after he died:(

[Samuel Paul]

good

[Andrew Beet]

absolutely brilliant book the author has got the characters spot on the story was action packed every fan of primeval should read this book.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wan't bad. The characters were true to form. Missed having Becker as Alpha team leader.

[Jutta · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this one best so far of the primeval books.

[Cherilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this novel - Dan Abnett really knows how to keep you interested. So far my favourite Primeval tie-in novel.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read very much like an episode of the show. Unlike a lot of media tie-ins this felt like it was written by someone who watched the show faithfully & knew the characters well.

[Jamie Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been a fair few years since I last read the primeval books, but this one still remains my favorite

[Mr Gordon Parmenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very unique

I prefer this to lost island and shadow of the jaguar because it seems a much deeper, much more thought out story.