A small team of paleontologists has just laid eyes upon an impossible discovery. Now, at the behest of a mysterious stranger and his robotic companion, the team is being drawn into a desperate quest: to rescue a child trapped in the most dangerous environment the earth has ever seen.
For former paleontologist Tess Creegan, the stakes couldn't be higher. Finding the boy will mean more than seeing a world ruled by dinosaurs – it could also be a chance to set right one of the greatest wrongs a mother could ever know.
Fans of Michael Crichton's fast-paced techno-thrillers won't want to miss Future Remains.
Robert Jack is an artist and illustrator who specializes in paleontological art. He has been writing fiction for years and recently began publishing his stories. He lives in Michigan with his wife, children, and a variety of ill-advised pet choices.
Future Remains by Robert Jack is an action, adventure, time travel, terrifying fun book to read! I don't like many time travel books because they often forget certain aspects of time travel but this was so spot on. I loved this book for the varied people, the times (robot era and dinosaurs), the danger, and the exact time period he places them in. Wonderful! This is a non-stop pulse pounding book! It was great, I love dinosaurs, I just never grew up!
It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)R.E.M.
A boy and his robot steal a time machine and go back 66 million years to see a dinosaur. What could possibly go wrong? I loved this time travel, action adventure story. The time travel component didn't twist my brain, and seemed quite plausible...well sort of. The dinosaur component was accurate and up-to-date. The author has done his research and is obviously a fellow dinomaniac.
Yes there were scientific mistakes (nobody is sure if the end of The Cretaceous was from a asteroid or a comet...and the asteroid would not have been seen in the sky until just before impact). I just ignored those little errors, as well as the few typos, and concentrated on the story. It's not too taxing, mind-twisting or complex; it's just plain fun and excitement with a bit of gory terror. I gobbled it all down like plateful of fresh trifle.
The ending was nicely tied up and left me wanting more. Hey - it's interesting to have a squiz at the list of this author's other books. Talk about eclectic!
Highly recommended for an entertain read, and I hope there's more from this bloke.
Reading Future Remains was a little out of my usual genre—dinosaurs aren't really my thing, but right from the start I was drawn in by Robert Jack's writing. His prose is lively and vivid, and his characters grabbed me right from the start—sympathetic, but not mawkish. They were well drawn—deep enough to make me care, but not too heavy with backstory—in fact, the backstory, skillfully woven into the narrative, always left me anticipating new bits of information. I also have to say that his villain was perfectly evil!
I finished reading Future Remains in two sittings—could not put it down. It didn't hurt that I love stories with time travel. For a first novel, this work was impressive. I am already a Robert Jack fan, and I look forward to reading anything else he publishes.
I took this book with me on a 2-day business trip & finished it! I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel & read further. I've read Michael Chrichton & Dean Koontz novels, this rates right up there with there's! It's one of those books that you think about later, it was put together really well & beautifully written. I will be looking for future books by this author, the way he writes has a way of allowing the reader to "see" what you're reading! I don't think you have to enjoy a certain genre to enjoy this book, it has a wide audience appeal.
This book rocks and no profanity. Lots of action and suspense. Believable characters and a rolling plot. Time travel at its best. Definitely recommend. Running action to the end.
When we think of time travel stories quite a lot of times the characters in the story want to jump straight to the age of the dinosaurs. So typically there would be one group of well meaning and nice people and a second group of nasty and arrogant folks. Both get hunted, poetic justice is served and so on proceeds the story. This has repeated time and again in books, movies and other media avatars that originality has long since departed from these shores .
Robert Jack walks the same path and while he does not explain the science behind his time travel, he does cover the dinosaur action extensively.He essentially marries the concepts of advanced and sentient robots with the age of the dinosaurs in the story. The dinosaur action is brutal with the Dakotaraptors stealing the show as a ruthlessly efficient killing machine.
A breezy read and pretty good at delivering what it promised.
Thrilling and fast paced, the breakneck read almost renders the adventure too slight. More detail and a little more time with some of the characters would not have been to the book's detriment. That said, the book is well thought out, adventurous and compelling. An exciting, if well-worn premise, presented with aplomb and directness. The villain of the piece turns a little too short sighted, pig headed and mustache-twirly for my sake. As is his comeuppance; while well deserved, it seems a little slight, but gracefully unpredictable. An entertaining read, a little more depth in the world building would have been helpful. The prehistoric sections shine the best. Well drawn, exciting and deadly. Highly recommended. And definitely awaiting the author’s next endeavor.
Dinosaur-based fiction seems so sparse these days, so I was really grateful for this particular installment, taken with a lot of enthusiasm, to construct a prehistoric adventure-style story which also felt original and creative. The depiction of the world and some of the speculative behaviours of the animals (I was particularly delighted by the author's new take on raptors, differing from their Jurassic Park portrayal, but using informed speculation to make them possibly even more terrifying). This book must be lauded for that.
I was less impressed by the story's characters - they weren't bad by any means, but they aren't ones that are going to stick in my mind for very long. Any distinct intrigue created by some of the supporting characters and their personalities were unceremoniously abandoned for focus on our generic leads, who's story arc I feel I've seen repackaged countless times, especially in dinosaur and survival media! This story is definitely better for its speculative and world-building elements than it is for character, and indeed unique storytelling.
One other thing I feel I definitely need to say about this book, which permanently dented any enjoyment I got out of it, is the extremely bizarre scene near the halfway point, where the story's residents from the late 22nd-century inform one of the 21st-century travellers that the theory of evolution is no longer accepted in their time...and then this is never followed up on. A bombshell like the foundation of modern biology being debunked should be a subject for a SF book all on its own, but it's brushed aside with the blithe kind of disregard and inference of ignorance you'd expect from a creationist - indeed, the woefully poor (and relatively few) examples of 'counters' given by the 22nd-century characters showcase a deep misunderstanding of the concept, and the 21st-century character's replies show he knows no better than he should as a paleontologist. This is despite the fact that feathered dinosaurs are resolutely present, immunology is briefly discussed (the author also seems to have worked on a paper regarding immunology?), neither of which make any sense except in light of evolution. We're not even given an insight into what theory of biodiversity supposedly replaced it in the 22nd-century, be it creationism, Lamarckism, or something else entirely.
I have no idea what the author intended with this, and I was half-expecting it to be related to a plot point about how by the 22nd-century, things have been dumbed down due to everyone relying on robots to power everything, but as I said, it was never brought up again, so I haven't a clue what was on his mind. True, an author's note at the back did acknowledge that any scientific errors were on him, but it was done in the context of artistic licence. I cannot see any in-universe justification for this little scene, and it just felt like an Author Tract. Some might think I'm overreacting, but public ignorance of important scientific concepts is not to be taken lightly.
Anyway, besides this rather grave flaw, I did find myself enjoying this book for the most part. Not sure how often I'll revisit it though.
I read this book in two sittings and enjoyed it! It fits nicely into the dinosaur adventure niche and has some interesting takes on the dinosaurs that are encountered along the way. The characters are ok and there are some nice tech flourishes that reveal a little about the future setting (advancing robot designs and stim drugs).
Good points
Dinosaurs I love dinosaurs. If you love dinosaurs too then you should enjoy this book. Dakotaraptor is an awesome addition and the the industry standard T. rex and Triceratops are described in interesting ways.
Time travel. Having several different time settings adds variety.
Peril. There are some pretty high stakes for the characters. It turns out that you need them in this story or you die horribly! Also, guns kill dinosaurs in this book, which they would.
Meh points
Characters The characters are pretty flimsy. The most likeable are the robots! Warning, if you enter the Cretaceous period and have no deep tragedy or a missing loved one- You die!!!! Even then, you are doomed if you manage to resolve your problem before you get back to the time machine. The boy that launches the story needs a good talking to. What a silly sausage he is! His parents (maybe just his mom) deserve better.
All in all, the characters succeed in driving the plot, even the mwah ha ha ha villain. Although a bit contrived (You absolutely can’t come in the time machine! Oh ok then, bring all your friends!) they do grow on you.
I really enjoyed the rollercoaster ride through time and would recommend this book to adventure and dino fans.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
When it comes to dinosaur science fiction, I much prefer time-travel adventures to the Mesozoic Era instead of dinosaurs in modern theme parks. I’ve read so many, and this is one of the better ones, yet it’s so similar to Will Hubbell’s Cretaceous Sea.
The time travelers in both books witness the K-T extinction event when an asteroid strikes near the Yucatan peninsula, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs on earth. And both books reveal mysterious human-assembled buildings that existed during the late Mesozoic Era without explanation.
But Cretaceous Sea had a much more dramatic, detailed description of the impact, although this book suggests the asteroid would’ve been visible in the sky like a second moon weeks before the final collision. Cretaceous Sea vividly describes what the impact would’ve looked like from an aircraft hovering nearby, which of course turned fatal!
You encounter many familiar dinosaurs like T-Rex, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and pterodactyls, but this is the first story I’ve read about Dakotaraptors mimicking human voices like parrots. And being chased by reptilian predators who cry “Help me!” in a woman’s voice imitating their previous victim was creepy beyond belief!
SPOILER ALERT BELOW
The conclusion of this book describes what it would be like for a mother using a time machine to intervene before her child’s accidental death, which was an extremely moving finale.
The story was fairly entertaining but nothing groundbreaking. Could not connect with any of the characters. Most of them are so snappy and cranky. Furthermore, it’s hard to feel invested in a story that centers heavily around rescuing a character I cannot sympathise with. Emil makes plenty of foolish decisions despite his mother touting him as being “smart for his age”. And for someone who just found out he really messed up (from making his parents spend 25 years searching for him, to having strangers risk their lives for him, to destroying his father’s revolutionary billion-dollar project, to being the indirect cause of two people’s death and even narrowly escaping death himself...), he sure has an attitude.
Many situations in the story and actions that the characters take do not make sense or are just not realistic. Most of these issues begin to improve past the 60% mark of the book.
It seems that the author’s forte lies in his ability to illustrate the ecosystem of lush prehistoric jungles and their majestic creatures. The author spares no details in showing you just how grisly and unforgiving this ancient world could be.
Overall not a bad read but the frustrating characters and their lack of believability makes it fall a bit short. If you’re just in to switch off your brain and enjoy some big mighty dinosaurs, you’ll be in for a ride.
Note: Came for dinosaur violence, stayed for the bond between family. Did not regret.
Bit of a slog to get through Part 1, and Part 2 had some good points, but Part 3 was definitely a page turner in which I became invested in the fates of the characters.
Felt like the main antagonist was cartoonishly evil, and while I realize he served a point in the plot, part of me wishes he couldve been left out in favor of more man vs. nature.
Somewhat cringy scientific errors BUT I forgave them after reading the authors afterword & being served a satisfying ending. Was kind of hung up on the wild time travel rules/contradictions for awhile, but let it go once the book got to the good bits.
I found this book to be absolutely compelling! The plot has no moments that detract from the flow of edge of the seat adventures. Lovely descriptions of the setting and scary descriptions of the dinosaurs. The characters are sympathetic and make you root for them to succeed! I loved the ending! I really liked the robots! Mr Jack you are a really skilled writer! Send us more!
I bought this book on my Kindle, not expecting much, but in desperate need of a little Jurassic adventure. It more than surprised me,it wowed me!! I loved the characters, the story, the writer's way of telling his tale...all extremely well done and will be read again 10 years from know, just because I will want to! Thank you Mr. Jack for a wild and wonderful ride into the future, present, and past!
This is a different story about time travel. It really grabbed my attention and held it to the end. The characters are fully developed and you will luv some and hate a couple but that's alright. It has a bit of a slow start but once it starts moving it never slows down as it takes you on a crazy trip to the past. Lots of dinosaurs and action. Highly recommended.
A fun and imaginative time-travel dinosaur book that blends present, future, and far-distant past into a great adventure. The author has a good touch for establishing physical environment. You could really feel and smell the oppressive swamp, and I liked the descriptions of the dinosaurs. The characters were all engaging too, right down to the robots. I'd read something else by this author for sure. Could use a use good proofreading, but generally it was pretty clean of errors.
I wanted to read something about humans and dinosaurs,and this novel by Robert Jack.....was awesome.I could not read enough,each day,and never wanted to stop. The way it comes to the end of the story, was well worth every moment spent reading.
I will be looking for more from this author. Good, but not excellent, character development, great story, okay villain, and good ending. This is someone to watch.
I chose a five star because I was unable to put this one down. Read it straight through. Full of suspense and lots of action! I would recommend this little gem to any who love the Jurassic Park movies
It was a different book to read and they keep you wondering what will happen next. It leaves you wondering how you could mess up the future, but they don't bring it up.
I enjoyed this book very much. Time travel done smart, with realistic reactions. Action, a great psycho villain, sad deaths. Kudos to to you. Eagerly await your second novel!
Kept my interest. It was hard to put down. Time machine and Dinosaurs makes for a good story. I don't like feathered dinosaurs that kept my rating 4 stars instead of 5.
It was scary and original! I know that the author said some of the Dino facts where changed but honestly it was far closer to the truth to me, especially when I looked up some of the Dinos on Wikipedia.. I never knew raptors looked like birds and not lizards and the descriptions of them in here are scary! Esp the mimic...creepy! I don’t know if they really do that. It was a good mystery although not sure what happened to Barlowe I think his name was.. maybe raptors or got left behind I hope. The ending was great too! I wonder how the timeline will reset itself? But I love that it wasn’t a cliffhanger yet able to ponder what happened after. I wonder how tech will be in the future and if time machines will ever exist? Until then it sure is fun to read about it although I’m not sure I really ever want to tangle with dinosaurs even though Triceratops is still my fave.. funny not partial to parrots though or birds really.. never read a book about killer birds yet.. although saw Hitchcock’s Birds in 3D and screamed!