Rating: Summary: On to victory!!!!! Review: Amazingly creative. Although some birdbrains writing reviews might not "get it," this book has something to say. My personal favorite was Vic Suarez, the last surviving tank commander. His worries about the safety of his wife and kids broke my heart. But his devotion to duty and country made him triumph in the end. Cool dinosaurs too!
Rating: Summary: A vivid thriller! Review: Dinosaurs come alive in this novel in amazing detail. I was astonished by the ease with which Hopp, a new author on the science fiction scene, brought the big animals to life. The scenes of tyrannosaurus attacks on a ranch in Montana were among the most vivid and truly frightening I have ever read in a novel of this type.
In addition to huge monsters of the Cretaceous Era, Dinosaur Wars includes a hypothetical intelligent species of dinosaur, and it impressed me as one of the best of such imaginary creations I have encountered. The Kra, as they call themselves, are about the size of humans, but have the features of carnivorous dinosaurs somewhat like the velociraptors of Jurassic Park fame. However, these animals were covered in feathers, not scales. Most impressively, in terms of imagination, the Kra are returning from outer space after a delay of 65 million years to find their lost civilization, destroyed when the fateful asteroid crashed down upon them at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Beneath a geological stratum of rock lies an entire buried city, right under the ranch!
It is a given that the US Military will not let the former owners reclaim their place on earth without a fight, so war is inevitable. Tanks fight laser-armed enemy walking machines in battles that recall the best of HG Wells' War of the Worlds. Hence the appropriate title, Dinosaur Wars. This book is loaded with action and danger, a page turner from start to finish.
None of the above should take away from the fact that this book has a very interesting take on dinosaurs, with wonderful detail about the creatures. Only the Kra are intelligent so a comparison to Dinotopia, with its many intelligent dinosaurs, is not warranted. Instead, Hopp glimpses the fascinating lives of realistic dinosaurs. Some are charming, like tiny, chirping pterodactyls, which fly into one scene. Some are awe inspiring, like the giant, flapping flyer, quetzalcoatlus, the largest pterodactyl. The human heroes of the story get up-close with a huge pair of duckbilled dinosaurs, parasaurolophus. They have a disastrous run-in with a horned dinosaur, pachyrhinosaurus, which destroys their pickup truck and nearly kills them with its long, rhinoceros-like nose horn.
Human characters come in an unusually rich variety as well. I can't imagine where some reviewers got the notion that the characters are a weakness of this book. This is emphatically not true! There are ranchers, soldiers, scientists, a university student and a wildlife biologist, all of whom have been created with wonderfully full and interesting detail. My favorite among them was old Professor Ogilvey, the paleontologist, who reads as a wise old mentor who guides the young heroes on their quest for survival in a world run amok with thundering beasts and dangerous invaders of the dinosaur kind.
Horray for Hopp! This book is not cheap, being from a small publishing house, but it was worth the price. It will not disappoint, if you like action stories, good fiction based on modern science, and a little romance thrown in for good measure. With the outcome of the struggle in doubt from beginning to end, this book is a spellbinding tour-de-force of storytelling.
Rating: Summary: STAR WARS meets JURASSIC PARK Review: If you enjoyed the action, adventure and romance of Star Wars and the thundering footfalls of Jurassic Park, then you will enjoy DINOSAUR WARS. This is the first novel of a series in which intelligent, human-sized dinosaurs return from space to reclaim their home world -- OUR WORLD! The invaders bring with them all the great beasts of the Cretaceous Era. Now humans are the endangered species!
Enter two young heroes, Yellowstone wildlife biologist CHASE ARMSTRONG and Montana rancher's daughter KIT DANIELS. Together with their crusty old mentor, paleontologist Dr. David Ogilvey, they are mankind's last hope. The invaders' lost 65 million year old city lies entombed under a mountain of sandstone on Kit's ranch. As worldwide confrontation moves to its climax in the underground catacombs of the ancient city of Arran-Kra, one of the intelligent dinosaurs, Gar the Kra, joins Kit and Chase in defending humanity.
The heroes must survive attacks by T-rex and deadly megaraptors (the book's science is fully up-to-date, including feathered dinosaurs). The action is fast-paced and sweetened by a budding relationship between Kit and Chase. In the end . . . (well, I'd better stop here). -- the author, Thomas P. Hopp
P.S. I hope you'll enjoy DINOSAUR WARS and check out its sequel, DINOSAUR WARS: COUNTERATTACK.
Rating: Summary: A Not-So-Fresh Pile of Dino-Droppings Review: If you like characters with no character, awful science, inspipid plots, and books even George W. Bush would find below his reading level, then this is indeed the book for you.Likewise, if you need something to keep papers from blowing off your desk or for swatting those fat, slow summer-time flies, then this, likewise, may be the book for you. If so, make sure you get it as a gift. You'll not want to be spending your own money on this wretched book. I did, alas. The fact that it was self-published should have been a warning sign, but I was in an allergic stupor or something, and bought it. Oh well. Summer's on the way. Flies, beware.
Rating: Summary: Hooked From the Start Review: My husband and I loved this book! We were hooked from page 1 and had to keep reading till the end. There are 4 groups of people, and their individual storylines all weave together cleverly. In a lot of books, I dislike one storyline and have to slog through it -- but not here. I loved them all. The women are as cool, smart, and strong as the men. There are heart-stopping dino attacks as well as big laughs. It seemed so plausible! We're hoping for a sequel. Note to Parents: fine for kids, no sex or swearing.
Rating: Summary: Cutting edge sci fi Review: Ripping edge is a better choice of words. Feathered dinosaurs! Now, that's original, as is much of the science behind this book. Hopp has done his homework. In fact, as the jacket notes said, he is a contributing scientist in the field of paleontology. Maybe that's why his dinosaurs seem so real. The image of a T-rex breaking open the kitchen of a house to get at the people inside stays with me. There are other scientific tidbits. Light particles that have been stopped, in time and space, to become a white powder. Could it be possible? A sixty-five million year old civilization. Did it exist? Dr. Ogilvey, the book's wise old professor, constantly offered up such astute observations, piquing my curiosity. After I got into it, I couldn't put Dinosaur Wars down. On his web site, Hopp acknowledges this is his first novel. There are a few rough edges, but for a first work, I say BRAVO!
Rating: Summary: Dino Warriors Review: The book Amazon sent me had a different cover from the one shown on the Amazon page (with a dinosaurian warrior with a gun). However, it was probably a better cover, because it told alot about the story. It had a T-rex, and tanks and helicopters, and a young woman on horseback, and her dog, all the stuff that was in the story.This was a great book. The action starts when Jet Propulsion Labs space scientists find a lost moon base. Send up some astronauts to investigate, and before you know it, an invasion from the past. American tanks and helicopters fight back but the issue is in doubt right up to the "thrilling finish" as they say.This is a really solid military science fiction story, with a romantic sub-plot between the girl on horseback and the Yellowstone Park ranger, who, by the way, is also pictured on the new cover. I also like the dinosaurs the author chose to put in the book. Pachyrhinosaur sounds like a nasty beast from hell. Excuse my French.A stand-out was Diedre Potter (any relation to Harry?) the JPL rocket lady. She and her space probe Clementine started all the trouble, but they also try to be part of the cure. Read it and see what I mean. Another favorite was the tank commander Vic Suarez. How can one man lose so many battles and still come out a winner? I was touched by his warrior heart and fidelity to duty, but his human side too, when he saw good men die.The only thing I would have liked to see was more about the mysterious civilzation of the Kra, who are the dino invaders. Where did they originally come from? Why did they go extinct and then somehow return to fight for their home world? Some of that is explained, but more would be better. Maybe in a sequel?My vote is thumbs up for Dinosaur Wars and for the survival of the human race.
Rating: Summary: Childish. A comic strip story more than a novel Review: The dinosaurs are back, they are intelligent, they have superweapons and destroy earth's armies shooting death rays from the moon. Fortunately one of the dinosaurs becomes our friend and betrays his own people. He puts a few superbombs in a dinosaur's meeting (devoted to eat alive human POW) and mankind is safe. Well, I read much better comic strip stories. If you want to read an alien invasion story as it should be, then read Niven and Pournelle's 'Footfall' !
Rating: Summary: A great book for teens and pre-teens... Review: This book is a fun, clean, novel, that clearly seems to be aimed at the younger audience. This is not a book for the deep intellectually heavy science fiction reader. Nonetheless, it scientifically is meticulous about detail, and will please parents with its educational value; as well as being lots of fun for the kids who are dinosaur freaks. I gave it to my 13 year old niece, who is an avid reader, and she gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Rating: Summary: A great book for teens and pre-teens... Review: This book is a fun, clean, novel, that clearly seems to be aimed at the younger audience. This is not a book for the deep intellectually heavy science fiction reader. Nonetheless, it scientifically is meticulous about detail, and will please parents with its educational value; as well as being lots of fun for the kids who are dinosaur freaks. I gave it to my 13 year old niece, who is an avid reader, and she gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
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