Rampage at Waterloo

Battlesaurus #1

by Brian Falkner

* WINNER of the Young Adult section of the New Zealand Book Children and Young Adults Book Awards
* Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards
* A Junior Library Guild Selection

Fifteen year old Willem lives in hiding in a small Belgian village on the edge of the great Sonian Forest. Willem and his mother have been living in secret for most of his life, since his father, a famous magician, fell out of favour with the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

It is a world not much different from our own, in which small 'saurs' are a part of everyday life. Some are farmed, some are pets, others, more dangerous are avoided. There are rumours of even greater 'saurs' roaming the uncharted islands of the Americas.

When a girl from the village is killed, it becomes obvious that there are hidden terrors in the forest and that they are connected with Napoleon's plans to conquer Europe.

But Willem has a secret that could interfere with the emperor's plans and Napoléon will stop at nothing to find him.

War is coming, and young Willem is no longer safe, for Gaillemarde is just a stone's throw from the fields of Waterloo -- fields which will soon run red with blood.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction, Teen, Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2015

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can personally say nothing about this book, as it was snagged by my sons moments after it entered my house. Milo, who is 13, read it in an afternoon, giggling like mad. Then Ezra, who is 12, started it in the car on the way back from IKEA, and immediately began reading passages aloud to the rest of the family.

Given that kind of enthusiasm, I am willing to recommend it to other young people without even reading it myself. And I was told "5 stars!" by my frequently picky sons.

[Audrey Laurey · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I was hesitant, but this book is fabulous!! The combination of "saurs" and historical fiction was done in an awesome and not campy way.... which is probably hard to believe. I really liked the characters, adventure, danger, and suspense. I can see a lot of people getting behind this series, and now I want dinosaurs in all of my fiction.

[Carol Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Andrew Lane's horrifically bad young Sherlock Holmes novels, I thought I was through with YA fiction for a long time. But this book has really restored my faith! Brian Falkner takes a six year old boy's premise -- gigantic dinosaurs turned into deadly weapons at the Battle of Waterloo -- and turns it into an incredibly complex and fascinating story of loyalty, courage, and coming of age.

The thing is, this book was very hard to rate. The dinosaur action really isn't all that powerful, and there isn't that much of it. The main character, Willem, is a typical Luke Skywalker type hero. A village outsider who suddenly reveals a magic power (he can hypnotize dinosaurs) and is immediately thrust into the middle of Great Events. Much of the early part of the book is actually very dull. There's so much village intrigue, petty gossip, and a lot of ooh-la-la French misbehavior as the village mayor is quite the local playboy! All of this would probably bore most middle readers to tears, and even most teenagers.

So why did I love this book so much? Because there's such a great cast. Willem himself is not so interesting, but like a lot of teen heroes he finds himself by collecting a special group of friends. And all of them were much more interesting than Willem! My favorite was Heloise, the wild girl who's lived in the woods ever since her mother was eaten by a dinosaur. But I also liked Francois, the religious boy who may not be what he seems! And I loved the two British soldiers, Jack the rugged private and Lieutenant Frost, the very young but surprisingly shrewd and sensible commander. The two of them were just like the characters in a Sharpe novel, only better. They also reminded me of the naval officers my friend Katie writes about on Wattpad. (Check out her story LEEWARD!)

Anyway, it was a four star read because I loved the characters, and there was some surprisingly adult research about little-known nationalities within France, like the Flemings and the Walloons. The reason I couldn't give it five stars is that the dinosaur action just wasn't all that great and there wasn't enough of it. And the many adult themes of the book slowed it down in a way I think most teens would find boring. Still it's worth a look if you like dinosaurs, or the Sharpe novels!

[Sean Smart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read about a world where dinosaurs still roam the planet and how the French used them to win the battle of Waterloo. Not to be taken too seriously but well written and enjoyable

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every so often, I am pleasantly surprised by a book.

Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo had all the indicators of a beautiful train wreck. The cover image of a Napoleonic soldier riding a screaming T-Rex. The vaguely creepy red font used for the title. Heck, the title itself. It came across my desk at work as part of a crate of brand new books for high schoolers, and I didn’t even let it make it to the shelf. This was going to be too much fun.

And it was…just in a different way than I expected.

It starts off slowly. The dialogue is stilted, since the author is trying to give the characters speech patterns appropriate for the time period. There’s a weird “women cry to manipulate men” moment that comes out of nowhere. And the world makes no sense, but you just kind of have to go with it.

But the dinosaurs. Oh yes, the dinosaurs. There are little raptors all over Europe, apparently, but the big nasties live in America, which is entirely unsettled. (Because of the huge dinosaurs.) Except, for the plot of this book, somehow Napoleon has gotten his hands on a couple of them, and intends to use them to conquer the world. There’s a night-time encounter with one of these monsters, and it took me back to the first time I watched Jurassic Park as a kid, peeking out from behind the sofa.

Brian Falkner is very good at building tension. Midway through the book, there’s so much tension you feel like you want to burst – the Battle of Waterloo has come and gone (with dinosaurs!), our hero has a traitor in his circle of friends, the prisoners are in grave danger, and someone has to warn the English. He masterfully gets the characters into terrible scrapes and then somehow gets them out again without it feeling contrived. Even at the end of the book – only a handful of pages from the end – the group is in a real scrape and it’s going to take a miracle to escape… Well, let’s just say that I’ll be reading the sequel, once it comes out.

Battlesaurus has something for everybody. You’ve got dinosaurs at the Battle of Waterloo. You’ve got stage magic and illusions. You’ve got daring escapes while being hunted by terrifying creatures. You’ve got murder, you’ve got treachery, and you’ve even got a little bit of romance if you squint. Overall, it’s a fun read, so long as you don’t want to take anything too seriously.

Things to know: Being a book with dinosaurs, there are definitely dino-related deaths. They are, thus, messy. There are other deaths as well – some are close-up, and some happen offscreen (though one particular instance of offscreen death is more horrifying than all the on-screen ones). There is marital infidelity, though there are no details. It’s implied that one character is a prostitute, though her sister later says it wasn’t true. There’s also a few very suspenseful moments, so be prepared for a bit of “just one more chapter!” if this is a bedtime read.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was entirely too slow moving for my taste and also for a book with a MAN RIDING A DINOSAUR ON THE COVER. It's a very interesting premise, but I wasn't really engaged with the story until the last third, when the action picked up and there were barely any dinosaurs at all. Honestly, I'm mostly irritated that there's this fascinating story idea and most of the story focuses on the rather ordinary, if well depicted, military action and maneuvering. I'd give this to a reader who likes military historical fiction, but not someone looking for what the cover seems to be offering. It has suspense, betrayals, a hint of romance, and some gruesome wartime injuries, so if that's your cup of tea it could be a good choice. If you want a book with rampaging dinosaurs thwarting man, read Jurassic Park.

PS. Heloise is the best thing about this book, and if it had been her story instead of weinery Willem's I would have been on board immediately.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm disappointed, I was hoping for either awesome (Temeraire with dinos instead of dragons) or awesomely bad (can't look away from the disaster type horrible) and really this book landed somewhere in the middle. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the narrative, but still found myself disconnected from the characters and wishing the plot a bit more quickly paced. Decent alternative history, and a great premise that played out unexpectedly, but I don't think I'll be picking up the next.

If it interests you, I say give it a shot! I think this will work better for many than it did for me.

[BB Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for having a premise that's the only reason I picked up this book (dinosaurs at Waterloo!), and then pleasantly surprising me with the narrative, even if the dialogue is cringe-inducing. It might have earned more stars had the author not felt the need to sprinkle bizarrely sexist bon mots throughout, like, "She begins to cry, a woman’s trick to get her way when reason and logic has prevailed." Maybe the author stops doing this after awhile, but I won't be sticking around to find out. A premise that makes one smile because of its absurdity can only do so much.

[Ksenia]

This was a genuinely exciting read for me. I loved the politics involved, as well as the various characters, plus all the mystery surrounding a few of them. I really got into it. Adding dinosaurs to the mix just makes everything that much more brutal and scary. I'm curious to know how everything unfolds in the next installment. Seriously, give this one a chance! It might surprise you.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

This is the second book I read for Dinovember, and it was definitely my favorite of the two (I had too many issues with The Lost World). After I finished it I was like, I don’t know if I have a good template for rating this book. The title is awesome. The cover is kiiind of amazing. Also, Napoleon’s been breeding dinosaurs and he brought them to the Battle of Waterloo??? So I feel like this book had a lot to live up to. At the same time I feel like my expectations were on the lower side of things. I mean, the premise…it makes everyone laugh when I tell them about it.

The dialog was probably the weakest part, especially in the beginning. Maybe it actually got better as the book went on, maybe I just got used to it. The writing is nothing to call home about, but it is a young adult book and I think I (like most people who pick up this book) was in it for the concept; I wasn’t exactly expecting Donna Tartt, you know? And I think it was really well executed for what it was.

I thought that the way the author handles gender was fairly good. I was a little worried; taking a glance at a low rating before I read the book, the reviewer had said the author drops “sexist bon mots” and another reviewer mentioned the same line in the book—“She begins to cry, a woman’s trick to get her way when reason and logic prevailed.” And yeah, I agree, that sentiment is definitely objectionable; however, this is from the point of view of a teenage son whose crying mother is trying to keep him safe by telling him what to do, and a couple short paragraphs later we end the chapter with “It only occurs to him much later that maybe he has misunderstood the tears.” I get the feeling the author wasn’t endorsing the “women are crying manipulators” viewpoint, but rather that’s what this male teen from 1815 thought, and even he eventually comes around to realizing he was wrong to do so.

Unfortunately the book is very male-centric. Almost all the characters are male, including the two main anchors of the story. The story is a boy’s story from a boy’s point of view in a boy’s world and at times it does not really seem to give female characters full personhood; however, it is a little more complex than that too. There is a female character who is a bit more developed, and she’s clever, good in a pinch, honest, can be kind as well as standoffish, and the hero of the book considers her to be braver than he is—and we get to see her being pretty rad, making a seemingly hopeless charge at a huge dinosaur, scuffling with a smaller one, and what’s especially good to see in a young adult novel, standing up to her shady love interest. The book also implies one of its female characters in engaged in sex work and says that “there was no shame in what she was doing” and has the main character verbally assert this belief as well. So all in all, yeah it’s not super feminist or anything, but it’s so easy to find a book I think is worse.

I am often disappointed by books that are in a series; this time, though, I was happy because it’ll give me something to look forward to for next Dinovember.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This alternate history story has the French winning the Battle of Waterloo because of their secret weapons - dinosaurs. Willem and his mother have been hiding in a small village since Willem's magician father angered Napoleon. Willem had learned a lot from his father and wants to be a magician too. He has a unique talent for taming the smaller saurs that inhabit the area and has used his talent on some of the larger more dangerous creatures too.

His talent has made him a special target for the French commander of the the dinosaurs. He doesn't want Willem to escape his control and share his knowledge with the British. Along with a blinded British officer and a British artilleryman who is caring for him, they need to get to the sea and find a way to get to England.

This story was filled with adventure and the sheer horror of war. The descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo and the horrific effects on the wounded soldiers was vivid and harrowing. Willem and crews flight from the French was packed with action.

We also get to see what it is like for ordinary people when their country becomes a battleground the the rulers keep switching sides. The Mayor of their small town was a great example of someone whose loyalties shifted with every breeze.

I felt that the pacing of the beginning of this book was quite slow. There was a lot of setup before the action of the story really began. Once it did, though, the pacing got fast and furious. Fans of war stories would be a good audience for this one.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

5th grade booktalk
Napoleon Bonaparte is quite possibly history’s most famous short person. He famously conquered a lot of Europe, waged a lot of war, and lost pretty badly. In 1815, at the famous Battle of Waterloo, Emperor Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat – it was a turning point for his entire campaign. His defeat at the battle marked the end of his rule as Emperor of the French, and the end of his return from exile. The Napoleonic wars are an interesting piece of world history. But this isn’t a world history booktalk is it?

This is a science fiction booktalk. So why am I talking about nineteenth century French history and Napoleon? Because. Because dinosaurs.

In this novel, Battlesaurus, the Napoleonic wars – specifically the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon has a secret weapon. A giant secret weapon. Dinosaurs.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I really don’t want you to judge this book by its dinosaur. This book feels much more like a piece of historical fiction than it does science fiction – and were there not giant dinosaurs running around being controlled by Napoleon’s troops and stomping on everything and eating people… it would. But this alternate history (a subgenre of science fiction and one of my favorite types) is definitely scifi – and it’s definitely way cooler than the actual history. Because, DINOSAURS.

[James Tullos · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thoughts on this book can be summed up in one sentence: It made promises that it didn't keep.

Look at the cover, it's utterly insane in the coolest way imaginable. I was expecting a tongue-in-cheek, hilarious exploitation action story. Instead I got a teenage boy angsting about for 60% of the book and characters I didn't care about arguing for 30%. The last 10% had some cool dino action and even some horror aspects. Seriously, the sequence with the tyrannosaur in the village is one of the most intense I've read in awhile, and that alone elevates this book up a star. But most of the book is just boring. Not offensively bad, just boring.

While this book might seem like an opportunity to relive the battles you created between your toy soldiers and plastic T-Rexes, it's more like watching a bad Lifetime movie.


Hear all of my thoughts here: https://youtu.be/oLR5ozg2kIY

[Dr. T Loves Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Willem is on the verge of manhood in a small village in the 1800s in Wallonia, a small region bordering France. Willem himself is an outsider, as he and his mother fled the court of Napoleon years ago. But he and his mother have managed to find a place in the village.

In Willem's world, dinosaurs continue to roam the Earth. In Europe, they have mostly been kept under control. Smaller creatures abound, but man-sized dinos are fairly rare. But there are rumors of larger creatures in the uninhabited Amerigo Islands across the ocean.

Thus, Willem's village is not prepared for an attack by a Dino larger than anything they've ever seen. And they discover clues that suggest this is not some wild beast, but an animal trained for war and belonging to Napoleon, the French general who recently escaped his confinement and is waging war across Europe.

Before he was lost, Willem's father taught him a method of mesmerizing small saurs. Willem's father used this as part of his stage magician act that he would regularly perform for Emperor Napoleon, until the day when the Emperor tried to prise the secret from the magician. Willem used it to turn a small saur into a pet. And he used it once, long ago, to save a girl being attacked by a dangerous saur.

When Willem performs a stage magic act for his village, following in his father's footsteps, he sets in motion a series of events that will catapult him to the attention of Napoleon himself. Willem and those around him will have to make very difficult choices as they weigh their own desires against the fate of the known world.




I felt like this book promised one thing and delivered a knock-off version of that thing. The title, Battlesaurus, implies that it's going to be about a dinosaur that goes into and/or loves battle. The cover image implies that Napoleon or some other character rides this Dino into battle. Instead, this is a coming-of-age story set during Napoleon's escape from exile. Oh, and there are dinosaurs. But while they are integral to the plot of the story, they almost feel like an afterthought. One must read a third of the book before anything resembling a Battlesaur shows up.

The writing feels mechanical. It's focused very much on advancing a semi-intricate plot, and very little on developing the characters. They are all two dimensional sketches, rather than fully realized people. If not for the publication date of this book, I would suspect it of being an AI product - it feels like a paint-by-numbers assembly of pieces. The story is original, and at the 3/4 mark, I was pulled into the mechanics of how things would unfold, but I was most engaged by a couple of side characters who never get fully fleshed out, but who are interesting. But reading this book felt more like a chore than a pleasure (which it kind of was - I am trying to read my way through my school library).

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, basically I picked this book up as a half-joke, as a mindless bit of beach reading. There was the other riding-dinos-into-battle book that turned out to suck hard, so I thought – let’s see what this fellow can do with this brutally cool concept. However, with a name like “Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo”, the wacky title font and nutty cover illustration, it may be an understatement to say that my expectations weren’t really through the roof.

Well, now.

So first things first – yes, there are dinosaurs, yes, they are monstrous, yes, they get to be ridden into battle, yes, they rampage at Waterloo, and yes, it is as magnificent as it sounds.

However, the focus of the book, curiously, is not on that, but on a small Walloon village and its residents, perched precariously between a number of grand warring nations, and how the lives of its residents are transformed by both the fact that they share their living space with actual dinosaurs and the fact that they live in spitting distance from the famous battleground. This in itself may sound like a cop-out, like the author did not know how to fill a whole novel-length book with dino-on-dino action and so decided to write a different book instead and shoehorn the dinosaurs in as a side note, but I’d say that this is in fact a beautifully written and highly exciting adventure book that was given an unfortunate title that sells it quite short and quite… sideways – which is likely the reason for so many “pleasantly surprised” reactions in the reviews here (and probably quite a few of the “unpleasantly surprised” ones as well). This was, however, one of the rare times when I was quite happy to be cheated by the marketing team.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a small village that can't decide whether it is Dutch or French, a mother and son have made their home for several years. They have changed their names and hidden their relationship to the famous conjurer Geert, because Geert made Napoleon rather angry a few years ago. Willem has grown up in the village, best friends with two cousins, Francois and Jean, who like adventure and a little danger. They do things like venture into the saur occupied forest to hunt raptor eggs. Willem has had a few brushes with the most dangerous of saurs, the firebird, and lived to tell about it thanks to conjurer tricks his father taught him that can mesmerize saurs. But then something new starts to pick off villagers. It's obviously bigger than a raptor and can climb so it isn't a firebird...what is hunting their village and where did it come from? Meanwhile, Napoleon has been sprung from his prison and is rallying his troops again, and the British troops have heard of this and are also gathering. And Willem will have to risk giving away his true identity if he wants to help save his village from the saur hunting it.

For some reason, I was under the impression this was a middle grade series. It isn't. The not so subtle hints that the mayor is sleeping around town with several wives other than his own, and the level of violence (think Jurassic Park + French Revolution scenes) make this definitely YA. I really liked the first half of the book which felt like a Jurassic Park set in the 1800s. The town residents have to deal with saurs as a normal part of life and figure out how to survive with them nearby. It was very fun. But halfway through there's a sudden major betrayal that came out of nowhere and that traitor continues to quietly hunt others they deem not worthy of living for the greater good. I would have been ok with this if there were some hints prior to that that this person had such fanatical political leanings. But nope. And so it felt like the author suddenly decided to throw it in with no build up and it was jarring, and it didn't feel necessary to the plot. There was plenty of danger and excitement without this. At that point we also spend more time with French and British troops, and there was a very weird 2 page description of the beginning of a battle as art-like which was weird and a bit sick (perhaps the author was trying to make a point of the skewed perspective of some crazy soldiers???). The story then goes on to have the village turned into a temporary war hospital so readers do get to see how ugly war is through Willem's eyes and survivors of a battle. Overall, I did like Falkner imagining what if dinosaurs were still around and were used in war, and the main character Willem is likable and noble (I also liked two of the British soldiers Willem befriends in the hospital, Lt. Frost and Jack), but I could have done without some of the unnecessary twists and turns. Trying to decide whether or not I'll read book two. Probably, but I feel no need to snatch it up right away.

Notes on content: About 4-5 minor swear words. No sex scenes, but as mentioned it is all but spelled out that the mayor is sleeping around with multiple women. It's also hinted that some of the girls go to other towns to make money in certain ways (though one is clarified that she "just" went to pose for artists naked). One brutal unforseen stabbing by the traitor that comes out of nowhere. At least 5 different saur attacks result in deaths and some of those deaths are a bit graphically described. There's also a few battle scenes, with deaths described there. And then there's Willem helping the doctors remove arms, legs and such that are beyond saving after battles, which is somewhat described. Not for the faint of heart.

[Trevion Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I over all enjoyed this novel it was a good book very interesting and had many scenes where u were scared and the suspense was insane so many pages I read where i could not wait to finish reading the rest of what the author wrote.
Willem and his mother live in a village hiding from napoleon because Willems father showed him a magic trick and was killed cause of it so him and his mom went into hiding.This was in the start of the book with a mystery and how no one really knows about Willem and his mom since this his mom does not want him to use magic on saurs/ which are like there types of dinosaurs or creatures that are dangerous but some are not.
Like Willem was in a tree and a mom and a baby where in the woods and Willem saved the baby but the mom died he saved the baby bye coming out of the tree and using a trick bye blowing pepper into its eyes and then he took the baby and ran he feels like it was his fault the mom died.
The main attributes about this book was how some people where devoted to god and being honest which in the end did not really help. But this caused many sad scenes and when the war happened it mad it sadder reading about all the injured people that where going to die. So it is a good book.
I recommend it for people who like suspense and sad scenes war death and a fighting and good people trying to help out. Also many weird and scary creatures that they describe and u can just imagine what you would do if u saw this.

[Xander Cassel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, not gonna lie, I picked up Battlesaurus at my library solely for the name and cover. I mean, come ON! It´s Napoleon Bonaparte. . .RIDING A T-REX. I picked it up, thinking it´d be the book equivalent of Pacific Rim--a silly, maybe-self-serious book that delighted my inner child.

Boy oh boy, was I wrong.

I did not like the main character, Willem. I found him hard to connect with at best, and obnoxious at worst. Maybe because I was flipping through his lame sections of the book, trying to find the bits with dinosaurs and wars and Napoleon. There was some connection hinted at early on, but I put the book down in disgust after a quarter of it, so I´ve no clue what that may be. The best parts of the book were the parts where the story left Willem and his boring village behind and ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING RELATED TO THE PLOT! SERIOUSLY, BRIAN FAULKNER, YOU MAKE A WORLD WHERE NAPOLEON RIDES. A. T-REX. AND YOU DECIDE TO STAGE THIS AROUND SOME BORING BOY IN A BORING VILLAGE AND JUST HAVE A FRENCH MAGIC SHOW BE A MAJOR SUBPLOT!? I FEEL LIKE I´M TAKING CRAZY PILLS HERE!

Ahem.

Anyway, this book is a boring disappointment. I´d recommend it for people who hate not only themselves, but the concept of a fun book. And the French, if you hate them this book is for you.

[Raewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Falkner has brought to life a great cast of characters and in the fine tradition of Philip Reeve, he doesn't hold back from killing a few of your favourites off. I can't comment on how well researched the Napoleonic war scenes are but they read very well, and I didn't care two bits whether dinosaurs could physically survive in this period of earth's history. For those of you who do, Falkner offers you an olive branch in the author's note at the end.
Believable characters, realistic settings, adventure, conflict, ethics, and immensely readable. Typical audience - voracious 12 year old readers to 16ish (and the adult that likes a great PG read).

Reminded me of Cowboys vs Aliens in that Dinosaurs and Napoleonic War has to mean - exiting!

[Katie Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding Historical Fiction books for guys before they hit the adult shelves has been a bit of a struggle but fear not! Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo is stomping onto the scene to solve that little problem.

Dinosaurs and warfare seems like a winning combo to me, and I'm sure some kids out there will agree.

The pace of this book is a bit slower than I would have liked. For that reason, this is not a good match for reluctant readers. That said, there's an audience of avid readers that love history and dinosaurs and they are going to eat this up and still come back for more.

Thanks to NetGalley, Brian Falkner and Farrar Straus and Giroux for the free e-Arc.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never been so disappointed in a book before.
The cover says Rampage at Waterloo and shows a guy riding a dinosaur. How can you go wrong with that? I'm expecting either battle history with dinosaurs, or campy absurdity, but I got neither. It's a story about a 15 year old kid, a philandering mayor and some small dinosaurs, around the time of Waterloo. Napoleon gets very little time. Waterloo itself gets exactly 3 pages. You never actually see a guy riding a dinosaur. This was sooo not what I expected and not really worth my time.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, unique, and a great deal of fun! Alternative history isn't really one of my preferred genres, but the premise here is fabulous and convinced me to give the series a try. Rampage at Waterloo starts a bit slowly, but the pace picks up as the author weaves his tale of treachery and plots from multiple points of view. The characters are well-developed and interesting, the story is clever and engaging, and the cliffhanger ending makes me glad I have book 2 waiting on my to-read shelf. Definitely recommended.

[Liz Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book after being told by someone that he really enjoyed it, but not only were there random bits of sexism, but the dinosaurs were renamed (which was unnecessary), and most of the story was actually quite boring. Far too much of the story took place too far toward the end. I'm not really sure what I expected from this story, but it wasn't what I got.

[Clare Doornbos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fan-bloody-tastic. The premise is innovative which left me fearful for the execution, but it's actually well written and cleverly styled. Do American teens have enough historical context for this book? Maybe not, but as an action packed adventure Battlesaurus does stand on it's own.

[Jennifer Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun and awesome read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome. It blends history, adventure, betrayal, love, and oh yeah DINOSAURS!

[Julia Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Connor Huntley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fantasy novel Battlesaurus Rampage at Waterloo by Brian Falkner is surprisingly good. This book reimagines Napoleon Bonaparte’s battle at Waterloo which took place in 1815. However this book alters that battle by including dinosaurs in it. Some other works by Brian Falkner are, The Tomorrow Code, Ice War, and The Super Freak. The theme of this book is no matter who you are you can make a big impact.
In Europe small dinosaurs are an everyday danger especially outside the town of Gaillemarde. However the biggest danger they have is something called a Firebird which is a flightless pterodactyl until they find out what lies in the Americas. Willem Verheyen is the magician’s son and he always wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. One time Willem saw a girl and her mother being attacked by a firebird, he went to help and was able to scare off the dinosaur and save the girl. Willem however did not want to tell anybody about the encounter so he stayed quiet for many years to hide the fact he was able to scare off a dinosaur however that all ended when something bigger threatened the city. One night a girl was mysteriously taken from the city and killed but no one knew the cause for the death so people started searching. This same style of attack happened again and that put the city on high alert. They realized that the attacks happened at night so everybody in the city stayed awake through the night. It was then that a giant dinosaur walked into the city to reke havoc. Willem than realized that he could no longer hide his secret. The word spread very quickly that there was a boy able to kill dinosaurs. It even spread to the person who initially brought the giant monsters to Europe, Napoleon. Napoleon could not believe it so he began his search for Willem and the emperor would stop at nothing till he found him. Willem realized that Napoleon would continue to use dinosaurs as weapons and he knew he would not be able to stop Napoleon himself so he goes deeper into Europe to try to teach people his skill.
This book was surprisingly good. It was one of those books with well written cliff-hangers to keep you reading. I was skeptical about it at first because I thought it was going to be childish but luckily it was not. This book was very memorable and entertaining because there was a surprise on every page you turned. I agree with Brian Falkner’s idea of twisting history because it informs the reader of the general idea of the time period but it adds elements that make it more entertaining. For example dinosaurs. This book deserves 4.5 stars out of 5 because it was extremely entertaining and suspenseful.
Battlesaurus Rampage at Waterloo by Brian Falkner was a very good book that I would gladly read again. It did a good job of achieving its goal of being entertaining. It also did a good job of sending out the theme of no matter who you are you can make a big difference. This book reminds me of the Land of Stories series because both of the books alter things people know a lot about for example fairy tales or the Battle Of Waterloo. This book would be great for anybody 12 and up that likes altered history books because parts of it can be a little graphic and have content that is a little more mature.

[Peter Deslauriers · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Rampage at Waterloo" is a historical fiction, and science fiction novel written by Brian Falkner. In this novel Brian falkner shows us no matter what the obstacle or challenge there is always a way to reach the light at the end. This book is told from the perspective of a 15 year old boy named Willem who has grown up in a small village in Belgium hiding his whole life because his father a great magician ran into bad circumstances with the French Emperor Napoleon.

Willem Verheyen is a boy living in a small town in Belgium who has been hiding from Napoleon with his whole life. Willem has learned secrets from his father's old chest he left for Willem. When a giant saur attacks Willem's town he most reveal his secrets to protect the town and the people he loves. Word quickly spreads of the boy who defeated Napoleon's giant saur until everyone knows of the boy including Napoleon himself. Willem is no longer safe can he help defeat Napoleon's saur army or will Napoleon conquered Europe.

This story was very entertaining and kept me engaged the whole time while I was reading. I enjoyed this book so much that I purchased the second book to this series "Clash of Empires". I would rate this book a 4/5 stars. anyone looking for a book with a suspenseful plot and an interest in dinosaurs this is a book for you.

[Brandi Rae Fong · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars...

This was an interesting mix of alternate history, survival, and...science fiction? It almost sort of defies labeling as Falkner balances war and dinosaurs in a way that mostly works. The characters were interesting and resourceful, each with their faults.

Where the book faltered a bit was the history aspect--I'm not sure how familiar students are with this time period in Europe, and I'm not sure the author did the best job laying out the background of the Battle of Waterloo and the surrounding politics and issues...it's a big thing to tackle, and there was a large cast of characters/soldiers...developing both of these in a sufficient way didn't always work. I'm not sure it could without making the book overly dense and long.

However that being said, the main characters of Willem, Jean, Francois, Heloise--they were well developed, and their fates and trials will hook readers who will find themselves just HAVING to know what was going to happen next. Overall and exciting and inventive story of history, survival, adventure, and intrigue.