Rating: 
Summary: A mind-bending adventure
Review: Not another time-travel-dinosaur book? Ever since Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," fifty years ago, and doubtless even before that, time travelers have been going back to the Mesozoic to mingle with dinosaurs. Well, yes, but this tale is told by Michael Swanwick, and that makes all the difference in the world, any world. Swanwick is a virtuoso writer, equal to any in the genre. He has taken that hackneyed old theme and crafted something magical and compelling from it. His prose is as clear and prismatic as crystal, his characters are maddeningly complex. As for the paradoxes that bedevil time travel, which most dabblers in the Mesozoic sweep under the moss, Swanwick rolls them all up in a ball and clobbers us with them. He revels in them. He skirts the edge of farce with them, yet he spins us along in a rollicking page-turner of a yarn that ultimately comes to a poignant and deeply logical ending. He is up to date with all the latest thoughts on dinosaurs and throws in some marvelous ecological speculations for good measure. Go there and breathe the air of the Mesozoic; hear it, feel it, smell it. After one career as a geologist and another as a professional writer, I do feel competent to review this particular book. I found it extremely satisfying. I cannot recommend it more highly.
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: Not up to the literary standards of "Iron Dragon's Daughter." Was really excited after reading the latter to discover a newish book by Swanwick with what I consider interesting subject matter. Reads more like a sloppy Michael Crichton without the suspense. Poorly plotted and full of inconsistencies, without a single character that I could care about.
Rating: 
Summary: An Average Read
Review: Okay, first off, this is not prejudiced against your average creationist. That is akin to saying that any book with an Islamic fundamentalist who commits an act of terrorism is trashing all of the Moslems in the world. That is not true and it is a blatant misrepresentation. Rather, Swanwick needed to inject some conflict (other than the obvious in a book about time travel) into his novel, and (since evolution is a major theme) Christian fundamentalists seem like a good idea. I support this, because it is not, NOT, saying that all Christians are terrorists. I don't particularly like some of the followers of that faith, but even I would be against that assertion. Rather, he is saying that it is possible that misguided people may do anything. As far as the book itself goes, it was disappointingly average. The plot was unoriginal, which isn't all bad, but the storytelling was less than inspired, which combines poorly. Instead, the author should have focused more on character development. We get to see some evolving in the characters, but we never really get to see why they change. They seem to make snap decisions out of the blue with no reason. Kind of disappointing. One other note, slamming on Michael Chrichton's work, while not scientifically pure, is not the right way to go. He had a condescending tone for the author who basically started the genre of "Let's bring the dinosaurs back!" Have some respect. Please. Especially if you are going to advocate that using time travel is a good way to study dinosaurs. Overall, a good book, but a loaner, not a buyer.
Harkius
Rating: 
Summary: It was all a dream
Review: Overall, a pretty good read--but the ending comes dangerously close to a "it was all a dream" finish. How much can you care about a story if what happens is all erased?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and worthwhile dino-SF
Review: PERSPECTIVE: sci-fi/fantasy fan, new to Swanwick's work While "time travel" and "dinosaurs" are two themes often in sci-fi circles, Bones of the Earth is a skillful, intelligent, and refreshing adventure. To expound on the plot would give too much away, but in summation Swanwick has developed an interesting take on time travel that gives a tight, internally consistent order to the story. His dinosaurs represent the forefront of current paleontological thinking, with a few added conjectures of his own, that gives a new and exciting view of both individual dinos and their social interactions. In addition, Swanwick's environmental descriptions bring to life both the modern era and the distant past with economical vibrancy. For the most part, the main characters are interesting because their growth and change is followed throughout time travel, providing a greater contrast in how each is change by pivotal events of the story. However, he introduces a team of grad students in the tale, only a few of whom (Tamara, Lao-tsz, Jamal) I feel like I actually get to know. While I understand that to expound upon their characters would have resulted in a significant increase in book length, as well as unnecessarily overburdening the story, it still would have given me more of an immersion during some crucial moments. Also, the ending is a bit anti-climatic with regards to "wrapping" up the fate of the main characters, although for reasons I cannot spoil, this is appropriate, given the finale. An interesting point to me is that apparently, some feel that Swanwick is at least intolerant of, if not outright hostile towards, both Christianity and creationism in this book, likely secondary to the fact that he includes a "villainous" creationist character. This I can't understand, given that fact that he goes to great pains to separate his villain (and motives) from all but a radical sect of creationism, resulting in a logical and suitable antagonist given the plot. And, any sort of anti-Christian or religious bias is just not present in this novel; Swanwick deals with religion in a balanced and peripheral manner, insomuch as it isn't central to the tale he is telling. Overall, this was great novel! Despite a few minor quibbles as noted above, Bones of the Earth is smart, engaging, and a great way the spend a chunk of your time. FINAL WORD: Read this book! Buy it, check it out from the library, or buy it and donate it to your local library.
Rating:
Summary: A Time-Twisting Ride
Review: Some reviewers have enjoyed the chapters of this book dealing with dinosaurs, but not the book as a whole. I have to say that felt very differently reading it myself. In fact, there were times when I felt that the book was a bit more about biology than I would like, and not enough about time travel. Be that as it may, I can honestly say that I enjoyed Swanwick's weaving together of these two subjects. There are definitely some points in the book where the nonlinear flow of events is a bit disorienting, but this quickly passes and only makes the time-travel aspect of the story more interesting. In fact, without these twists and turns, Bones of the Earth would have been just a story about biologists studying exotic wildlife - perhaps worth reading, but perhaps not. Finally, I simply do not buy the complaints about this story's ending (which I will not describe here). It's not as if it invalidates the time and effort the reader invests in Bones. Rather, I think that Swanwick has taken a legitimate approach to illustrating the consequences of using (and misusing) time travel. Bones of the Earth is fun and interesting. Give it a try!
Rating:
Summary: Worth engaging the complexity
Review: Swanwick is one of my favorite writers working in science fiction/fantasy-- I've been a fan since I read the Iron Dragon's Daughter. His novels often don't cross over into being more popular successes, largely (I believe) due to the complexity of his plots and characters. I agree with the reviewer who said that Bones of the Earth is the most accessible Swanwick novel to date. However, it still requires some attention and careful reading to get the full rewards of the book, particularly as it relates to the time travel aspects. This is not a bad thing, however, as Swanwick's ability to handle complexity allows him to create one of the best imaginings of time travel available to date in speculative fiction. Well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank God for refunds!
Review: Swanwick's latest drivel is nothing more than a book of blantant attacks on creatonism thinly disguised as a fictional novel. Here, he portrays Christians as dangerous radicals who will stop at nothing to prove themselves right. Frankly, I found the book offensive. Like most evolutionists, Swanwick asks us to unquestioningly believe that evolution has all the answers. He offers no new scientific evidence to back up any of the character claims in his story. Instead, he writes up the creation-believing characters as little more than childish caricatures who plant evidence and even endanger lives all in the name of God. Funny how he never mentions how evolutionists have done the exact same thing in the real world. My closest friend is a college educated beleiver in creationism. Rather than being a deranged zealot, I find his arguments well thought out and pursuasive. From what I can see, he uses the same facts as evolutionists, but interprets those facts differantly. Swanwick would have us believe that there is no room in this world for differant viewpoints. If the majority of scientists insist that evolution is true, then the rest of us are supposed to accept thier findings as fact instead of asking difficult questions they can't answer. If you want to read a really good book of dinosaurs, then I recommend Robert Bakker's "Raptor Red" or Robert J. Sawyer's dino trilogy, "Far-Seer," "Fossil Hunter" and "Foreigner." Both your time and your money will be better spent.
Rating:
Summary: T. Rex communicates through corporate memos! Who knew?
Review: The challenge for dinosaur fiction is that a human perspective usually provides the best means for communicating the awe that the author feels for the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, to facilitate this perspective, you have to bring the dinosaurs to the present (a la JURASSIC PARK), or you have to travel back in time (i.e., LAND OF THE LOST). In science fiction, time travel is a tricky business. Many writers simply avoid it because it seems so far removed from today's technology. Other authors write time travel stories because time travel paradoxes make for an amusing gimmick. In BONES OF THE EARTH, Michael Swanwick has handled the time issue deftly. The acquisition and management of time travel is an important part of the story, while still allowing for back-and-forth shenanigans and a survival-in-the-Mesozoic scenario that provides much of the books "action." Unfortunately, Swanwick hasn't handled his characters so deftly. There's the earnest academic, the cigarette-smoking-man with access to profound secrets, the wambitious woman not above using sex to meet her goals. Swanwick errs further by creating a villain in the form of a ridiculously extremist Bible-thumper, which he than tries to counterbalance by allowing other characters token religious affiliations that turn out to be only relevant in the matter of determining appropriate burial rites. Though his plot structure rather elegantly handles the many different time settings, it helps that every chapter has a date stamp, especially since several characters appear in each of the major time settings. Still, Swanwick's detectable satisfaction in how he's organized the story lines is irritating in the face of his uninspired characterization. He does make a couple of amusing jabs at scientist culture and academic hierarchies, while also offering up a discussion of leadership and group dynamics that is extremely interesting, even if it does devolve into male fantasy. Finally, Swanwick does a decent job with the dinosaur action sequences -- the "money shots" for a book like this -- making the prehistoric monsters interesting, even if the humans characters observing them are not.
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Christian bias ruined it for me
Review: The opening chapters of The Bones of the Earth are quite promising as a mysterious man gives a scientist a cooler containing the head of a dinosaur and offers him a chance to see them in person. What follows is a combination of time-travel adventure and speculation on the nature of dinosaurs. The time-travel parts of the novel are intriguing but unfortunately the novel is undermined by its anti-creation bias and an ignorant portrayal of Christians. The villains in the story are one-dimensional, murderous zealots whose behavior and actions do not even remotely resemble orthodox Christianity. Nor is the debate between old-earth and young-earth creationists mentioned. Swanwick's heroes simply assume their pro-evolution stance is the only logical choice as they sneer at the Christian characters. Swanwick sets up straw man arguments and presents the strictly young-earth creationists in a negative fashion. I found it difficult to care about many of the characters. However, two people, Griffin, the man "in charge" of the time-travel experiment and Salley, a scientist, were interesting because of their cryptic motivations. Overall, I found the time-travel paradoxes fun, albeit a little confusing. Still, a bias against Christians and less than interesting characters left me disappointed with the novel.
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