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Dinosaur Summer
by
Greg Bear
Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear is an interesting and exciting sequel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic The Lost World, set a generation later, when the public interest in dinosaurs has finally waned and an attempt is made to return a number of captured beasts to their plateau in South America.
Don D'Ammassa
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
July 1st 1999
by Severn House Publishers
(first published January 1st 1998)
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532)
Aug 26, 2010
Jan Strnad
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
young adults
As a major dinosaur/King Kong/Harryhausen fan, I really, really wanted to love this book. It's about a boy's summer with his father, Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien, and the makers of King Kong, as they close down a dinosaur circus and return to The Lost World of Arthur Conan Doyle to free the dinosaurs to the wild.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that it should have pushed all of my buttons, the writing is just too flat to engage me. The style is a rather lackluster, declarative one that I assoc...more
Unfortunately, despite the fact that it should have pushed all of my buttons, the writing is just too flat to engage me. The style is a rather lackluster, declarative one that I assoc...more
This felt a little strange.. I've had this book for a few years.. finally decided to pick it up and start reading.. the next day I hear Ray HarryHausen died.. Having that in the back of my head while reading might have made the book less effective.. or more, I guess.
I actually enjoyed the storyline, the characters were well drawn out for the most part.. (though, I never really got a good read on Anthony..) He does get a little adjective happy, and draws things out that seem like they were unimp...more
I actually enjoyed the storyline, the characters were well drawn out for the most part.. (though, I never really got a good read on Anthony..) He does get a little adjective happy, and draws things out that seem like they were unimp...more
Jul 13, 2010
Carolyn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
YA readers, dinosaur aficionados
A solid adventure yarn, set in 1940, using the events of The Lost World as a jumping off point to create an alternate history in which live dinosaurs are a matter of fact. The main character is a 15 yo boy who accompanies his father in the group of men returning the captive dinos in the last dino circus to the wild.
I especially loved the descriptions of the colors and patterns of the dinosaurs - very vivid!
I especially loved the descriptions of the colors and patterns of the dinosaurs - very vivid!
Unfortunately the first half of this book was extremely slow-going & I had an off-on relationship with it that precluded any real involvement. Remembering all the characters after taking numerous breaks from this book was also a challenge, especially since they were mostly really sketchy, undeveloped and unbelievable (even thought some of them are based on real historical characters). Overall it was somehow too adult for kids, but too childish for adults. The second half developed some actio...more
Set in 1947, this is written as a sequel to Doyle's THE LOST WORLD, and included among the characters are several real-life people famous for bringing dinosaurs to the public eye such as Harryhausen and Cooper. It's a very nicely illustrated book, and written in the style of the day in which it's set. It would probably be labeled as Y.A. if published today; it's a light but fun read.
I think this book gets a bad rap from reviewers here. I read it directly after "The Lost World" and I think that Greg Bear did a spectacular job making it feel like a true sequel, both storywise and stylistically. Wish Professor Challenger could have made at least a cameo, but the use of Ray Harryhausen as a character almost made up for it.
Dec 05, 2011
Sandy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
no one
Shelves:
fantasy
I have ordered up EON from the library as I have to find out how an author of this caliber won the Hugo and Nebula Awards. If you removed half of the adjectives and three quarters of the similes you would cut 75 - 100 pages from the 375 page book. His use of passive tense made the what-were-supposed-to-be exciting parts ho-hum.
I like Greg Bear's books for their big science fiction ideas.... interstellar ecology and justice (The Forge of God/Anvil of Stars), an infinite universe created by humans living in an asteroid starship (Eon/Eternity/Legacy), genomic computers determining the course of evolution (Darwin's Radio), the world being absorbed into a unified mass of self-aware protoplasm (Blood Music), intelligent cities made of living parts (Strength of Stones), technologies that can move a planet across the galaxy (...more
What a fun read. Not the best thing Greg Bear has ever written but it is fun and exciting with interesting characters.
1.5 I kept thinking that this was something written for a middleschooler or highschooler from the 1950s to 1960s. Kept hoping the dinosaurs would take their revenge and eat up all those stupid humans. What was the whole point of this? Waste of my time.
missed me by a mile possibly great but just felt damnably silly to me
Not really my kind of book, had to push myself to finish it.
More like 1.5-Wanted to like this book but just did not like it. Felt as if it was full of cliches, plus did not like the writers flow.
This is a Hardbound edition that seems to share the same ISB as the noted edition
What happened?
Jun 20, 2008
Alvin
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Dinosaur lovers
I picked this book up on a whim. I liked the title and the summary on the jacket. I had never read a book by Greg Bear before, but I will start reading them now.
It is a very nice story about a turn of the century traveling carnival, but their main attraction is dinosaurs. It tells of a man and his son returning the dinosaurs to the plateau where they were captured years ago. Along the way there are mishaps and not everything goes as planned when they decide to release them.
It is a very nice story about a turn of the century traveling carnival, but their main attraction is dinosaurs. It tells of a man and his son returning the dinosaurs to the plateau where they were captured years ago. Along the way there are mishaps and not everything goes as planned when they decide to release them.
I had much more fun reading this book than I expected. The basic plot is dinosaurs exist in a remote area of South America and once discovered, some were captured and displayed in circuses. Now the last dinosaur circus is going out of business and they're going to take the dinosaurs back to their homeland. Ray Harryhausen is a character which was fun for me. This is an entertaining light read.
How many carnivorous dinosaurs can there be without a few herbivores to eat now and then? Are humans seriously the only food around?
Totally unbelievable ecological balance designed to make for endless action scenes where the protagonist has to run from yet another man-eating dino.
Read Jurassic Park for Dinos, and stick to Greg Bear's cyberpunk novels, which are much more enjoyable.
Totally unbelievable ecological balance designed to make for endless action scenes where the protagonist has to run from yet another man-eating dino.
Read Jurassic Park for Dinos, and stick to Greg Bear's cyberpunk novels, which are much more enjoyable.
I read this over the summer of 1998. It draws upon one of Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger stories. The story here was ok, but I think readers are better off going back to the original novel instead of this one. The book's premise is interesting, but it is just an "ok" book.
Nov 07, 2012
Barbara Ghylin
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy-fiction,
fun-to-read
This was a good teenage boy's book about releaseing dinosaurs back into the wild and the advernture that happens when things go wrong. It was very much a fun to read. If you are crazy about dinosaurs, then you will enjoy this one.
Apr 30, 2008
Mark
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Insomniacs
Recommended to Mark by:
Bought it in a library book lot.
Normally I'm a big fan of Greg Bear, but this book put me to sleep, literally. I found it very useful when I was traveling and staying in strange motel beds. I few pages and I was out like a light.
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Greg Bear is one of the world's leading hard SF authors. He sold his first short story, at the age of fifteen, to Robert Lowndes's Famous Science Fiction.
A full-time writer, he lives in Washington State with his family. He is married to Astrid Anderson Bear. He is the son-in-law of Poul Anderson. They are the parents of two children, Erik and Alexandra.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/gregbear
More about Greg Bear...
A full-time writer, he lives in Washington State with his family. He is married to Astrid Anderson Bear. He is the son-in-law of Poul Anderson. They are the parents of two children, Erik and Alexandra.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/gregbear
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08. Januar, 14:01 Uhr