The Lazarus Taxa

by Lindsey Kinsella

67 million years in the past. Deep time. The true final frontier.

But all is not as it seems. Which should be feared most? The dinosaurs... or the people?

The Lazarus Taxa is a time travel, sci-fi thriller which follows the first scientific expedition through time; to the Late Cretaceous.

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2022

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book! But it needs pictures so that you didn't have to stop the story and google an image of the dinosaur

[R.J. Southworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exciting science-fiction thriller that is very much in the Michael Crichton vein. The characters are engaging, and Kinsella does an especially good job portraying the world of the Cretaceous, both utilising up-to-date knowledge and taking advantage of the gaps to be imaginative with the depicted dinosaurs. The book could have used some more proof-reading, however, as there are some grammatical errors scattered throughout.

[Erin Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action-packed thriller, mixing industrial espionage with dinosaur facts. What could be better??

[Ellie Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

~About

The Lazarus Taxa is set mainly between 2020 and 2021, before shifting back in time 68, 000, 000 years to the Cretaceous Period.

Sidney Starley, an ambitious explorer is invited to join Richard Mansa’s team to travel back in time, to explore the world tens of millions of years ago. Sid’s job will be to lead off-site expeditions and see to mechanical maintenance. However, once the six-month expedition to the past has begun, it appears obvious that Genesis (the company funding the expedition) is hiding something. Furthermore, it appears that someone is trying to sabotage their experiment. But who?

Will they safely return to their own time, or be trapped in the past, forever?


~Characters

Of the characters involved, the following four gave off the strongest impressions to me; Mr Richard Mansa, Sidney Starley, Doctor Kiara, and palaeontologist Dian.

Firstly, let’s look at Mr Richard Mansa, owner of the company Genesis. As a very successful and famous man with his own commercial empire, he was – as one might expect – a man who expects to get whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Mr Mansa was an older man who still possessed a strong aura of authority. It was plain to see that he was ambitious, seeking to profit from ‘time tourism’, as it were. Over the course of the story, we see just how shady and deceptive he truly is, with chapters from his past emphasizing these negative traits. As a result, I never warmed to his character.

Secondly, we come to Sidney Starley (Aka: Sid), who has worked hard to become a sound engineer and explorer. He proved to be highly ambitious, seeking to do things no-one-else has ever done before. He is soon recruited to join a scientific expedition with Richard Mansa’s team (to Colarado, in the Cretaceous Period- tens of millions of years in the past), to be their new ‘field engineer.’ Despite his skill at exploring remote locations, Sid proved to be a bit reckless at times. He always felt the need to prove himself to others, to all the people who said he’d never amount to anything. Deep down, Sid has always felt like a disappointment to others, suffering from dyslexia. It was easy to relate to Sid on these points and I truly felt for his character’s constant need to try and prove his worth, something which constantly eats away at your sense of self, never letting up.

Next, we come to Doctor Kiara Maxwell, a very smart and logical woman, who has a troubling history of agoraphobia. She is a core part of the Genesis team, having a knack for analysing situations, to come up with novel solutions to company problems. She proved to be a truly selfless woman in the end, as shown by her final act in the story, which saved the lives of countless others.

Finally, we come to Dian, a noted palaeontologist working for Genesis. It was immediately evident that she had her own way of doing things and was full of a childlike curiosity and sense of wonder. There was a sense of purity about her and her intentions: she never wished to do harm to any creature, human or otherwise. All she was interested in was studying a fascinating past time period and learning all she could about it. She made for a highly adventurous character, taking risks wherever she could, in order to see more of the Cretaceous Period and its lizard-like inhabitants. She also proved to be highly intelligent and analytically-minded, picking apart scientific data with ease, in order to understand the past world around them.


~Positive Aspects

There were many positives regarding The Lazarus Taxa, which I have listed in the following points:

-I liked how the author included brief sections which discussed history and Palaeontology, imparting intriguing knowledge without digressing from the story at large.

-The author has a clear-cut, engaging style of writing which immediately pulled me in.

-I loved how we were shown how the first time-machine was created, and how Richard Mansa became involved with time travel through snippets of backstory throughout the novel.

-The author sets the scene well, creating a rich sensory experience for the reader.

-Tension was built up gradually and came to a peak in such a way that had me glued to the final chapters.

-The story had a very satisfying, gripping ending, with all loose ends being tied up.


~Memorable Quotes

The following four quotes were equally memorable and help to sum up the core themes of The Lazarus Taxa.

1) ‘Time. Each of us experiences the phenomenon every day. We measure time, we record time, we manage time; or at least we try to. The clock is forever ticking and our lives are inexorably chained to it.’

2) ‘Disaster is one of the few constants in the world. Another, however, is life’s ability to adapt. The game of evolution is rarely won by the largest or the strongest, but by those that adapt best to the changing world around them.’

3) ‘We all make choices. They do not always pay off.’

4) ‘Greed makes a man blind and foolish and makes him an easy prey for death.’


~Overview

Overall, The Lazarus Taxa was a gripping science fiction thriller, with an intriguing premise involving time travel and dinosaurs. Themes of greed and deception featured heavily as did a deep-set need to prove one’s worth.

My Rating: 4 stars.
Recommended to: lovers of science fiction thrillers involving time travel and palaeontology.

[DiegoYYC · Rating 5 out of 5]

t’s a book about dinosaurs, do you really need any other reason to read it? Ok, I’m partial about dinosaurs but let me tell you the best things about this book:

The author knows a lot (and I mean a lot!) about Dinosaurs. From accurate physical descriptions to interesting choices about what species to include. It’s a perfect mix between new, exciting dinosaurs and the old comfy types we all like. If you follow the author in social media you already know how much of a dino-nerd he is (in the best way possible).

The author guides you through the world of these magnificent animals with a lot of wit but without making you feel stupid. Like the best sommelier… of… dinosaurs… You know what I mean.

The plot also includes time travel, which we all also love. And this is the great thing about books, you don’t have to wait until somebody decides to make a dinosaur movie different to Jurassic Park. He provides enough pseudo-science to sell the reader the technology with a plausible development.

Syd is a great, relatable lead character. The villain is one of those that I love to hate. And there are enough twists and subplots to keep the reader turning pages.

The author also included some bits that I thought were absolutely genius (Warning: Minor spoilers ahead. Skip this paragraph if you want). I absolutely loved the idea of the large protection barrier to have different intensity levels of electrical current in the lower bars to avoid frying small animals. And the bit about having dinosaurs remains in the moon was absolutely amazing (I would actually like to read more about it).

Very happy to have picked up this book. I will definitely check the authors next novel “The Heart of Pangea” soon. Well done.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was simply PERFECT. I loved it so much, it is definitely under my top 3 books of all time, I NEEDED a book like this.

It is not only incredibly well researched, it fills the gaps with beautiful beautiful creativity.
The characters were easily a 10/10, they're all super likeable and relatable as well as complex enough like real people. Even for the bad guys you can't help but feel empathetic.

The theme of the story is a simple 10/10, never ceases to fascinate me, this is basically Dino Park with a new twist - and I'm saying, this book is definitely on the same level as Dino Park, an absolute classic. If you liked Dino Park, you sure as hell will like The Lazarus Taxa (there's even a reference!) oh and speaking of references, I loved all of the sprinkled in references and jokes; in general, the tone of the novel AND the dialogues never even once missed.

What else is there to say... the writing style is awesome, great descriptions. I just love this book and I am so glad I bought it and can put it in my shelf for a reread.

GREAT work!!

[R.M. Krogman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Lazarus Taxa” by Lindsey Kinsella was a fascinating sci-fi adventure to…Colorado? During the Cretaceous Period, Colorado was a wilder and wetter place, fraught with dangerous but beautiful creatures roaming a vast marshy landscape. Storms were harsher, the earth more fiery, and the fight for survival more intense. Sidney Starley has looked for such a challenge his entire life. Recruited to a mysterious scientific expedition, Sid embarks on an entirely unexpected journey funded by the obscenely rich Mansa. But all is not as it seems, and the expedition must survive the pre-planned duration of their time travel in order to get home intact. On the other ends of time, nefarious powers lurk in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike, for time travel is a valuable commodity. Perhaps the future is just as vicious as the past.

Kinsella is clearly a master of paleontological knowledge with a vivid imagination to back it up, transforming the bone-dry descriptions of textbooks (kidding, I love dinosaurs) into a colorful reality of feathers and scales. His scientifically-informed segues and descriptions make the far-back time seem real, and his storytelling is well-paced and entertaining. His plot and characters are well-rounded and complete, leaving one satisfied. I thoroughly enjoyed “The Lazarus Taxa” and couldn’t put it down once I started!

[Heather Barksdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Lazarus Taxa” introduces Sidney “Sid” Starley, an ambitious explorer who finds himself bailed out by Richard Mansa, owner of the Genesis corporation. Richard proposes Sid join his expedition back to the Cretaceous period. Though a little apprehensive, Sid agrees to join the rest of his team after meeting Lazarus, a Leptoceratops.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It’s a time travel novel involving dinosaurs, so it gets pretty violent at times but is not gratuitous. The time travel element is explained as “Avengers rules rather than Back to the Future rules”, which I thought was perfect for the ease of the story. I wish the tale would have included pictures of the dinosaurs as their descriptions were important and many were less known (at least to me). The first two-thirds of the novel felt intriguing with a little bit of mystery about what exactly was going on, but when the background and answers were revealed I found it a little convoluted and underwhelming. Find the full blog review at heatherlbarksdale.com

I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.

[Jon Zeigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sidney “Sid” Starley is a daredevil, constantly in search of experiences that no one else has ever had, the riskier and more dangerous the better. When we first meet him, he is climbing a Himalayan peak that no human has ever conquered before – partly because the local government has forbidden mountaineers from making the attempt.

After his expedition fails, Sid is bailed out of prison and recruited by the British billionaire Richard Mansa for a new venture. Mansa’s firm has developed the world’s first working time machine. He now plans to prove the new technology with an expedition back to the late Cretaceous era, the time of the dinosaurs.

Sid jumps at the opportunity, and soon finds himself with three teammates in central North America, sixty-eight million years into the past. After six months on station, the time machine will have recharged sufficiently to bring them home to the present. The plan is for them to survey the countryside, examining the flora and fauna, gathering photos and scientific data. They are well-armed, they have plenty of supplies, and their transit vehicle is something of a fortress. They have every confidence that they will be able to survive their sojourn in the Cretaceous. At least at first.

Unfortunately, it soon becomes obvious that Mansa has misled Sid and his colleagues in several respects. They find evidence that their expedition was not the first to venture into the distant past . . . and there may be other humans already there, with an agenda of their own. It soon becomes a race to see if they can solve a few mysteries and still survive the experience.

As far as basic mechanics are concerned, The Lazarus Taxa is at least workmanlike. The copy-editing was a little rough in spots. Characters and plot are unfortunately rather flat and predictable – the story reads like a treatment for a film script, with all the anticipated beats and plot twists. I saw the solution to the mystery well in advance, with the remaining suspense coming almost entirely from wondering which of the characters was going to reach the denouement.

It’s clear that Mr. Kinsella is well-versed in paleontology, and it’s in the passages where he describes a long-ago and alien Earth that the book relaxes enough to shine. He makes a move which I found rather odd at first: every few chapters he breaks up the dramatic action with a short essay in authorial voice, giving the reader some paleontological detail. The technique grew on me after a few iterations. Many inexperienced genre novelists make the mistake of larding their narrative with exposition-dumping and telling-not-showing passages, pulling the reader out of the story every time they succumb to the temptation to show off all their research. By loading most of that into these well-marked interstitial chapters, Mr. Kinsella avoids crippling his dramatic narrative with it. The result reads a little like a “docu-drama,” and it works well once the reader is used to it.

Readers should be aware that the story ends up rather violent and gory in places. It’s a story about dinosaurs meeting humans – of course there will be some scary beats in the plot!

I found The Lazarus Taxa readable and entertaining. Recommended if you’re interested in stories about dinosaurs, or time travel into Earth’s distant past, with a dash of corporate intrigue.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book while listening to the I Know Dino podcast, in which the author of this book was interviewed by the hosts. I have read my fair share of dinosaur time travel novels and I was eager to read this one after that episode. Unfortunately this book didn't stand out from the others as much as I hoped. Here is my list of pros and cons:

Let's start with the negative. Cons:

-One dimensional characters. I think the main character was the only one who had a smidge of development in the book. Sid was obsessed with his accomplishments and marking his name down in history. He learned some humility by the end. But that's more than any other character got.

-Speaking of Sid, the reason he is in this book at all makes no sense to me. This is a top secret mission with highly skilled scientists sent to study dinosaurs and the company just randomly picks Sid for this mission because he has climbed mountains and solo traveled isolated territories. He doesn't know anything about animals or scientific study - he's an extremist who was chosen for his survival skills. And it doesn't even come in handy at any point in the book. The very first expedition the team embarks on Sid pushes them to climb a volcano in a storm when they want to turn back, which causes them to be beaten bloody by large hailstones and almost killed by Troodons.

-The plot was rushed. The author was so eager to get to the conflict that we spent little to no down time without action. The expedition team was supposed to be in the Cretaceous for 6 months but that time FLEW by with large time skips. The volcano trip was literally the only expedition the team went on. They left their camp only a couple other times to check out sights nearby but never went far.

-The volcano erupts about 20 minutes before they are pulled back into modern times and all it does is drop ash on them. The eruption served no purpose to the story.

Let's move onto the nice things! The Pros:

-The author clearly tried to portray dinosaurs as real animals, not movie monsters. For the most part they behaved as real animals would and we had accurately feathered dinosaurs! Yay!

-Of all the dinosaur books I've read (with the exception of Jurassic Park) this book has the best plot of any other. From the beginning there are mysteries to unravel like why the first expedition team abruptly quit a few weeks before launch and why Sid's team keeps finding evidence of other humans in the past when his team is supposed to be the only one there. It was a nice change from the "throw people in the jungle and slowly watch them get picked off by dinosaurs" plot.


All in all, I enjoyed the book and I'm happy I read it. I always like to support small authors.

[cosmic_truthseeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to thank I Know Dino for recommending this one.

This was a decent story, with some imaginative ideas and a clear passion for the subject matter. A very self-aware time travel story, with accessible writing and interesting - if not especially complex - characters.

A six month journey into the past leads to the uncovering of a conspiracy. Like Jurassic Park, this story is a cautionary tale of corporate greed.

Reading it, though, you can tell that the author's true passion was exploring the past and seeing dinosaurs. There is attention to detail when they appear, explaining the science where possible.

Although, I do feel that dinosaurs had a habit of appearing for a chapter and then disappearing from the story, their ambient presence neglected. A few are recurring, but exist as antagonists more than an animal presence in the past. Though these antagonistic dinosaurs are effectively portrayed as actual animals, rather than unstoppable machines.

The story is entertaining, and shows a lot, though the pacing didn't make it feel like they were there for as long as the story claims - that, though, is a minor issue.

I don't want to give too much away, despite marking this review as containing spoilers, but the final act really changes the tone, moving away from scientific wonder to action with dinosaurs.

Unfortunately, this book does commit the sin of "kill your queers"; we're given one gay couple and they both experience a heaping of suffering whilst other characters get a bit of a happy ending, which is unfortunate, but I'm sure the author didn't have any malice in mind.

This is a bit of a messy review. In summary, a good, entertaining story with an interest in the genuine science (at least in regards to the dinosaurs), including intermissions. Easy to read, well-edited, but sometimes dinosaurs felt more like props rather than part of the setting itself, and characters were a little one-dimensional, though there was some meaningful development towards the end and enough to create emotional investment.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compelling read. It was a bit derivative (Michael Crichton would recognize most of the themes, and some scenes) but very entertaining. Well done, though--somebody who knows dinosaur paleontology was clearly involved with the book. I will warn you--the violent scenes are sometimes rendered in graphic, grisly detail.
One downer: the Kindle version I read had more typos than any ebook or print book I've ever read! I reported each one, and I hope they get fixed. I doubt they were the author's or editor's fault, but they still distract from the good aspects of the book.

[Jamie Searle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I downloaded The Lazarus Taxa on Kindle (had to download Kindle again too) and started reading it on Thursday. I finished this evening, five days later and want to share how much I enjoyed it. A fairly fast paced and action packed story of dinosaurs, time travel and corporate espionage. The author Lindsey Kinsella sold the book in to me with clean and simple prose and a constant layering up of the story, I really don’t ‘read’ read very often and this had me turning to it at every chance.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

on the edge of my seat

Absolutely loved it! Felt like I needed to look over my shoulder the entire time. It was interesting how I was attached to the characters, yet I also still questioned their motives. Loved the little history chapters too! Great story and I learned a lot. Thank you!!

[Tuesday Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic! I was legit edge of my seat by the end! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

[Stephen Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

a rather enjoyable story that was fairly scientifically accurate, could make a great movie.

[Travis Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A genuinely fun and thrilling read, with a good balance of science, exploration, and fantasy. I came to this book after hearing an extended podcast interview with the author and still found a few unexpected turns. A worthy addition to the pantheon of dino novels.

[Beadman Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great if you like:
Time Travel
Dinosaurs
Action and Suspense
Great written characters

I really enjoyed the story and the characters, getting very drawn in to each of them. The ending left me a little sad, as I had become somewhat emotionally attached.

I believe this was the initial book by the author, and what a great start.

[Nancy Ashmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an exciting story and very entertaining; I love the setting. But I'm still annoyed with one huge plot hole.

The characters seem a little one-dimensional. There are several people I would recommend this to, but I will be waiting in anticipation of their reaction to the problem I mentioned above.