Rating: Summary: Evolution of a concept Review: As one would expect from Harrison, Winter in Eden is well-written, and attention-riveting. Its biggest failing is that it follows West of Eden - an incredible novel in all respects. Winter in Eden, while worth reading, seems undeveloped, less focused. Perhaps it is the absence of the Vainte/Kerrick dynamic. Perhaps it is that the Yilane are now familiar and no longer wonderous strange. Or perhaps it is simply that perfection is seldom captured twice.
Rating: Summary: Good, but unsatisfying Review: As one would expect from Harrison, Winter in Eden is well-written, and attention-riveting. Its biggest failing is that it follows West of Eden - an incredible novel in all respects. Winter in Eden, while worth reading, seems undeveloped, less focused. Perhaps it is the absence of the Vainte/Kerrick dynamic. Perhaps it is that the Yilane are now familiar and no longer wonderous strange. Or perhaps it is simply that perfection is seldom captured twice.
Rating: Summary: Evolution of a concept Review: I enjoyed this book better than the first. Maybe it's the development of the story, or just revisiting an incredible alternative world. Harrison is a master storyteller and the concept of dinosaurs not going extinct, and making slaves of humans, is mind-boggling. Like other readers, I wish the series were longer.
Happily, I have found another series that is remarkably similar: the Dinosaur Wars series byThomas Hopp. Written recently, they have one advantage over the Eden books. The intelligent human-sized dinosaurs are feathered and bird-like. This is more realistic according to modern science, but Harrison couldn't have known what would later be discovered in China while he was writing of scaly, almost amphibian dinosaurs in these books. Ah, well, everything evolves, including our view of what an intelligent dinosaur might be like. Also, Hopp writes of dinosaurs returning to the present-day world we live in, not an alternative. So there are some cool tank battles and cruise missile counterattacks. Again, an evolution of Harrison's concept.
Hooray for both authors. Long live the subgenre!
Rating: Summary: An outstanding book. Review: I think the entire series of Eden books are outstanding. Mr. Harrison has done an wonderful job. Very imaginative.
Rating: Summary: Slow-going story after incredible West Of Eden Review: If West Of Eden was a rich story full of events, this one was quite "static" and almost boring. It seems that author did not know really where to go. After 260 pages, it looks like that nothing has yet happen. As another reader said, the Vainte/Kerrick confrontation was absent.
Rating: Summary: My favorite series. Review: It is a real shame that this series is out of print because I fell in love with it. Now all you can get is the first in the series (West of Eden). This story is along the lines of Tarzan with some Battlefield Earth in there, if I had to compare it to anything. I read this series when I was sixteen in hawaii. I couldn't put it down and don't remember anything else about the trip. But I'll never forget these three books. The characters and story were simply gripping. I would encourage anyone interested in an epic alternate world journey to grab a copy of West of Eden then hope you can hunt down the rest of the books. It's worth it!
Rating: Summary: My favorite series. Review: It is a real shame that this series is out of print because I fell in love with it. Now all you can get is the first in the series (West of Eden). This story is along the lines of Tarzan with some Battlefield Earth in there, if I had to compare it to anything. I read this series when I was sixteen in hawaii. I couldn't put it down and don't remember anything else about the trip. But I'll never forget these three books. The characters and story were simply gripping. I would encourage anyone interested in an epic alternate world journey to grab a copy of West of Eden then hope you can hunt down the rest of the books. It's worth it!
Rating: Summary: Good follow-up Review: It is extremely rare that a sequel equals the original for obvious reasons: (1) If the author does not emphasize character then he/she must rely on the novelty of the original work to carry forth of introduce still more novelty or (2) If the author does emphasize character then the reader is usually all too familiar with their lives. Harrison solves this by limiting the material offered to the reader on the humans in the first novel. Throughout the series he has tried to remain factually or scientifically correct such as the idea that huge dinosaurs could have never developed the brain size or build the structures required for their use and that without the devastating asteroid dinosaurs would have remained the rulers of Earth. We continue our adventures of the "human boy" who interacts with the dinosaur culture. The dinosaurs are, in the end, simply prototypes of humans in their emotional and ethical outlook - some are good, others bad. This is a good read.
Rating: Summary: Good follow-up Review: It is extremely rare that a sequel equals the original for obvious reasons: (1) If the author does not emphasize character then he/she must rely on the novelty of the original work to carry forth of introduce still more novelty or (2) If the author does emphasize character then the reader is usually all too familiar with their lives. Harrison solves this by limiting the material offered to the reader on the humans in the first novel. Throughout the series he has tried to remain factually or scientifically correct such as the idea that huge dinosaurs could have never developed the brain size or build the structures required for their use and that without the devastating asteroid dinosaurs would have remained the rulers of Earth. We continue our adventures of the "human boy" who interacts with the dinosaur culture. The dinosaurs are, in the end, simply prototypes of humans in their emotional and ethical outlook - some are good, others bad. This is a good read.
Rating: Summary: It loses it's allure Review: The wonderful world that Harrison creates in East of Eden is continued here. Once the fascinating world was set up though, the story seems to lose some of its shine. A worthy read if you like the alternative history and can find the book.
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