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Dinosaurs in Space

Author: James F. David

I’ve been relieving my childhood dinosaur obsession since Jurassic World Rebirth. I have replaced my bathroom toilet paper holder with a T-Rex (because I’m classy like that), bought (and worn!) three different sets of dinosaur themed pajamas, re-watched every Jurassic Park movie (some multiple times), made a Jurassic Park themed cake (with the T-Rex attacking the car from the first movie), and, of course, hit up ever dinosaur themed book in my library. When I came to Footprints of Thunder, I enjoyed the nod to a traditional Michael Crichton book and the look at a changing world through multiple parallel adventures. The science was shaky (as all time travel science tends to be) and the solution epically silly, but the characterization, the moments caught in time as an old woman fed sugar to an Iguanodon and a family survived on the back of a swimming Apatosaurus, and so much more, captured the imagination and just fed the soul. I needed more, and despite the judgement of all my teetering piles of unread books, I went out and immediately bought Thunder of Time. But, as they say, you can’t step in the same dinosaur infested, time altering river twice. The magic is gone, but the campy is here to stay, sadly.

Thunder of Time picks up ten years later, when the world has supposedly adjusted and the dinosaur problem is a minor nuisance. Since the ill-timed nuclear blast that set everything right (because fighting fire with fire was apparently a good idea?), there have been no further pockets, but scientists continue to try and understand the disruption and the ramifications of the species and structures (including the moon structure) left behind. But then . . . then it starts again in the wilds of Alaska. And this time around it has the potential to be world ending.

We start the book absolutely assaulted by a bevy of characters. The author seems to think we have just finished reading Footprints of Thunder a mere second before launching into the sequel and that we will, of course, remember every small, inconsequential side character from that story. We won’t. We don’t. Who are these people again? We recall a few of them (the major ones), but many only give us the faintest hints of former glory.

On top of this, we add a ton of new characters, including some B-movie cold-war-like Russians, because dinosaur narratives need some old school James Bond tension, right? Apparently, we need some geopolitical politics, some nation against nation tension, and some poorly executed spy stuff. Sigh. Was a velociraptor eating people just too much to ask?

To this, we add the big villains of the piece: a group of extremist environmentalists who think the best way to save the world is end it, open those time pockets, and take us back to the antediluvian Garden of Eden. Humans ruined the world. A new world, started over, with just themselves (the right humans), will be a different story.

We also need some nukes thrown into the mix. Nukes, Russian spies, crazy environmentalists, and about a thousand characters. But that’s apparently still not enough! Let’s add a jungle and some ancient Mayans alongside a human sacrifice sequence and enough time travel to completely unravel any sense of narrative cohesion. And I do mean any sense. We also need to put the main characters in constant danger but make it clear that they are ultimately untouchable as well.

Oh, and throw an occasional T-Rex in. The poor dinos are back burner here, but we do need to do a little fan service.

What a giant, steaming pile of mess. What made the first book great was the vignettes as people found themselves in the time quilts, discovered the dinosaurs, had adventures (and disasters), and revealed their true selves. Here, we get a remix that is distinctly for the late, late show. Elvira needs to introduce this one, not Michael Crichton.

And yes, yes, we do get dinosaurs on the moon. There is no real reason for it (or the moon structure) other than to be all “hey y’all, dinosaurs ON THE MOON,” but whatever. We stopped looking for coherency long before the plot went interstellar. Also, did you know you can learn to fly a spaceship and be an astronaut in a week, because apparently, according to Thunder of Time, you most totally can.

The ending further falls into all the fallacies and confusions to which bad time travel books are subject. Yes, we had some high-octane moments, some cool fights, and the occasional dino rampage that kept us mildly entertained, although still disbelieving, but it’s not good enough to redeem this failed attempt at a sequel. I won’t be continuing with the series sadly, and although this book wasn’t “beyond terrible,” it certainly wasn’t quality either or anywhere near the same atmosphere, focus, and characterization of the first book. Not recommended.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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