What do you think?
Rate this book
The New World #1
Dinosaur
A young man and his mother fight to leave tragedy behind. Striving for a new life on Mars has cost Tim and Patricia everything, but as even their future is taken from them, their past is just beginning.
population 50 billion. Pollution, crime and scarcity are out of our control. Instantaneous travel provides hope for the terraforming of another world. A terrorist attack. An explosion at the event horizon of a wormhole. A murder. A trail of clues, misinformation and sabotage. Nothing is as it seems as an old enemy returns from the shadows. 100 years from now, the 100 souls aboard the USS New World are thrown back 100 million years to the deadly Cretaceous Period. From there, an epic fight to save humanity begins; but first, they must survive. A multi-national, eclectic crew; among them the good, the not so good and the no damned good at all. Loss, courage, genius and sheer bloody-mindedness bind them. NASA Captain, James Douglas, and his first officer, Jill Baines, expected a taxi run to Mars. Now they must escape a fearsome Mapusaurus pack, survive natural disasters, brutal discoveries and treachery.
population 50 billion. Pollution, crime and scarcity are out of our control. Instantaneous travel provides hope for the terraforming of another world. A terrorist attack. An explosion at the event horizon of a wormhole. A murder. A trail of clues, misinformation and sabotage. Nothing is as it seems as an old enemy returns from the shadows. 100 years from now, the 100 souls aboard the USS New World are thrown back 100 million years to the deadly Cretaceous Period. From there, an epic fight to save humanity begins; but first, they must survive. A multi-national, eclectic crew; among them the good, the not so good and the no damned good at all. Loss, courage, genius and sheer bloody-mindedness bind them. NASA Captain, James Douglas, and his first officer, Jill Baines, expected a taxi run to Mars. Now they must escape a fearsome Mapusaurus pack, survive natural disasters, brutal discoveries and treachery.
526 pages, Paperback
Published April 20, 2020
137 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Llewelyn
25 books16 followersStephen Llewelyn (1972 - still not dead yet)
Whereas Obelix fell into a cauldron of magic potion at an early age, Stephen fell into the construction industry, spending most of his post education working life trying to climb back out! Humble and unorthodox beginnings for a writer perhaps, but with lifelong passions for history, archaeology, prehistory, palaeontology and music, the draw of writing stories was perhaps inevitable. The New World Series was a natural beginning, exploring humanity's uncertain future from a long lost past, along with all of the intrigues which plague man (and woman) throughout any era. Ever easily distracted by anything of a scientific or historic nature, Stephen's 'wide eyed wonder' and fascination (with almost everything) could prove detrimental on occasion. When working on a really old property - where it was possible to follow the Georgian hand-made bricks down cellar stairs to the narrower Tudor bricks underneath them, all the way to the bedrock below which was removed to provide material for one of the first, stone-built Norman castles in Britain - digging into the history of this was found to somewhat slow the process of digging up the floor! Many of the people who have worked with Stephen over the years have suffered much, listening to his exuberance about such things. Stephen lives in a mountainous region of the UK with many crazy, but much beloved dogs and possibly one of the most patient women who have ever lived.
www.stephenllewelyn.com
Whereas Obelix fell into a cauldron of magic potion at an early age, Stephen fell into the construction industry, spending most of his post education working life trying to climb back out! Humble and unorthodox beginnings for a writer perhaps, but with lifelong passions for history, archaeology, prehistory, palaeontology and music, the draw of writing stories was perhaps inevitable. The New World Series was a natural beginning, exploring humanity's uncertain future from a long lost past, along with all of the intrigues which plague man (and woman) throughout any era. Ever easily distracted by anything of a scientific or historic nature, Stephen's 'wide eyed wonder' and fascination (with almost everything) could prove detrimental on occasion. When working on a really old property - where it was possible to follow the Georgian hand-made bricks down cellar stairs to the narrower Tudor bricks underneath them, all the way to the bedrock below which was removed to provide material for one of the first, stone-built Norman castles in Britain - digging into the history of this was found to somewhat slow the process of digging up the floor! Many of the people who have worked with Stephen over the years have suffered much, listening to his exuberance about such things. Stephen lives in a mountainous region of the UK with many crazy, but much beloved dogs and possibly one of the most patient women who have ever lived.
www.stephenllewelyn.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 20, 2018
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I wish to start this review by saying I am a dinosaur fan, a big one. I never grew out of my dinosaur obsession, and even considered palaeontology before teaching. There are not enough dinosaur books out there, in my opinion, so I squealed with excitement when this book arrived.
I read this book in 2 days flat. I found it very difficult to put down, I even managed to shut out the noise of a coffee shop and read for 2 hours - high praise indeed from me. The idea of space travel to Mars and Earth being over - populated and destroyed by humans has been done to death; however, this book has a twist. Whilst on their way to Mars, our cast of characters find themselves in the midst of a terrorist attack that sends them back to the Cretaceous Period, interestingly most other books I have read and films I have seen contain dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period so it was nice to have a change.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about our eclectic cast of characters, with a particular fondness for Douglas and Tim - I could read about these two all day. This book had me hooked, I couldn't put it down. Things would calm down and then the next minute, drama and action would start again and I couldn't tell what was going to happen next.
There was enough scientific knowledge to keep me happy, along with a host of action (that did not follow all of your classic sci - fi tropes) I gasped audibly at times, felt genuine emotion and worry about what was going to happen to the characters and also snorted with laughter at times - always a good combination.
I also really appreciated the fact that on the brink of disaster, hosts of couples didn't start cropping up. There were jokes about people liking eachother, but people were more worried about surviving than getting together, you don't often get that in stories!
There was also discussion around ethics and religion in relation to this cast of characters finding themselves in an awful situation, and trying to figure out how to cope with it. I appreciated this as it reflected human nature and just how we try to survive in the face of sheer terror and disaster.
My only criticism would be, more dinosaurs please, we always need more dinosaurs. Also, why can't I have the next book please? I need it in my life now. But I have to wait, and that just doesn't seem fair!
Original review posted on : www.thebookishfairyblog.wordpress.com
I wish to start this review by saying I am a dinosaur fan, a big one. I never grew out of my dinosaur obsession, and even considered palaeontology before teaching. There are not enough dinosaur books out there, in my opinion, so I squealed with excitement when this book arrived.
I read this book in 2 days flat. I found it very difficult to put down, I even managed to shut out the noise of a coffee shop and read for 2 hours - high praise indeed from me. The idea of space travel to Mars and Earth being over - populated and destroyed by humans has been done to death; however, this book has a twist. Whilst on their way to Mars, our cast of characters find themselves in the midst of a terrorist attack that sends them back to the Cretaceous Period, interestingly most other books I have read and films I have seen contain dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period so it was nice to have a change.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about our eclectic cast of characters, with a particular fondness for Douglas and Tim - I could read about these two all day. This book had me hooked, I couldn't put it down. Things would calm down and then the next minute, drama and action would start again and I couldn't tell what was going to happen next.
There was enough scientific knowledge to keep me happy, along with a host of action (that did not follow all of your classic sci - fi tropes) I gasped audibly at times, felt genuine emotion and worry about what was going to happen to the characters and also snorted with laughter at times - always a good combination.
I also really appreciated the fact that on the brink of disaster, hosts of couples didn't start cropping up. There were jokes about people liking eachother, but people were more worried about surviving than getting together, you don't often get that in stories!
There was also discussion around ethics and religion in relation to this cast of characters finding themselves in an awful situation, and trying to figure out how to cope with it. I appreciated this as it reflected human nature and just how we try to survive in the face of sheer terror and disaster.
My only criticism would be, more dinosaurs please, we always need more dinosaurs. Also, why can't I have the next book please? I need it in my life now. But I have to wait, and that just doesn't seem fair!
Original review posted on : www.thebookishfairyblog.wordpress.com
September 25, 2018
I enjoyed the novel, the plot was entertaining but some of the writing was a little ham-fisted, especially when dealing with dialect.
July 26, 2020
Not just dinosaurs
Wanted to read this for a while eventually got round to it I was half way through chapter one when I purchased book 2 and pre ordered book 3 it's that good,everything is written so well and researched well ,it has likeable characters and some not so likeable and a great story do yourself a favour and read this
Wanted to read this for a while eventually got round to it I was half way through chapter one when I purchased book 2 and pre ordered book 3 it's that good,everything is written so well and researched well ,it has likeable characters and some not so likeable and a great story do yourself a favour and read this
November 8, 2022
This was a waste of time, and I'm angry with myself that I still kept reading this to the end (well, to the cliffhanger at the end of this first part with 520 pages). I really don't understand why this got so many good ratings--ah well, tastes are different...
This felt like a script to a B-movie to me. The idea for the story itself was not too bad: an expedition to mars (through a wormhole) went havoc due to some terrorist act, and the spaceship ended up in prehistoric earth, at the time of dinosaurs. There is a lot of action, terrorists, space travel, time travel, dinosaurs, and more. The science doesn't add up of course, but who cares at that point--if the story is good enough. Which it is not. At all (well, a matter of taste, of course).
Without going into details to avoid spoilers: this is one heck of stereotypes piled one on another, foremost the almost comically cliché characters (take the Scotish captain, who supposedly is an exceptional character and an outstanding leader, but in reality is just plain annoying, and I don't even want to mention the written dialect). There are the good and the bad characters, which do not change at all, except that sometimes a marginally bad character turns "good" from one moment to the other. Of course, the real villains are just that: villains like from the Marvel universe. Ah, and the dinosaurs are unfortunately as cliché as the characters.
In short: there is no character development, the science in sciene fiction is patchy at best, the humor is repetitive and cringeworthy, and the story quite predictable.
Maybe I just missed something, or this is all written as a satire, but this is my take...
This felt like a script to a B-movie to me. The idea for the story itself was not too bad: an expedition to mars (through a wormhole) went havoc due to some terrorist act, and the spaceship ended up in prehistoric earth, at the time of dinosaurs. There is a lot of action, terrorists, space travel, time travel, dinosaurs, and more. The science doesn't add up of course, but who cares at that point--if the story is good enough. Which it is not. At all (well, a matter of taste, of course).
Without going into details to avoid spoilers: this is one heck of stereotypes piled one on another, foremost the almost comically cliché characters (take the Scotish captain, who supposedly is an exceptional character and an outstanding leader, but in reality is just plain annoying, and I don't even want to mention the written dialect). There are the good and the bad characters, which do not change at all, except that sometimes a marginally bad character turns "good" from one moment to the other. Of course, the real villains are just that: villains like from the Marvel universe. Ah, and the dinosaurs are unfortunately as cliché as the characters.
In short: there is no character development, the science in sciene fiction is patchy at best, the humor is repetitive and cringeworthy, and the story quite predictable.
Maybe I just missed something, or this is all written as a satire, but this is my take...
March 30, 2024
This was an exciting book right from the start. Clearly the author knows his Dinosaurs and more. I felt like the story was believable because his characters and knowledge of space and the dinosaur time period is awesome.
The story is basically this, a group of select people are going to Mars because we have messed up the Earth so bad it is uninhabitable. A group of terrorists are aboard also, to stop them from colonizing on Mars. And a bomb goes off sending them back in time a million or so years.. right back to the Dinosaurs. There they have to survive and try to figure out a way to get back to their timeline and not do anything to mess up the timeline! The terrorist group is still there so they also have to look out for them still trying to sabotage them!
The story is basically this, a group of select people are going to Mars because we have messed up the Earth so bad it is uninhabitable. A group of terrorists are aboard also, to stop them from colonizing on Mars. And a bomb goes off sending them back in time a million or so years.. right back to the Dinosaurs. There they have to survive and try to figure out a way to get back to their timeline and not do anything to mess up the timeline! The terrorist group is still there so they also have to look out for them still trying to sabotage them!
October 10, 2020
This is the first book I've read by this author, but what a great first book it was! Classic sci-fi elements, mystery, action, this story has it all. Oh, and DINOSAURS! Seriously, this book really keeps you flipping pages to see just what the hell could possibly happen to this crew next, even after they get flung 100 million years in the past, the hits just keep on coming.
That being said, there were a couple small bits that kind of seemed to drag on a bit, but everything pays off. I can't wait to read the second book in this series, and whatever comes after.
That being said, there were a couple small bits that kind of seemed to drag on a bit, but everything pays off. I can't wait to read the second book in this series, and whatever comes after.
August 14, 2020
Despite being about space and dinosaurs, I really loved this book. It had me hooked very early on and I found it hard to put down. Really interesting premise, great characters, amazing plot line and twists. I would recommend anyone trying this if they like a good old fashioned adventure story.....as long as you don’t want it to be old fashioned!
April 8, 2024
3/5 stars.
I wouldn't have kept reading had the audiobook narrator not be so great. Still confused as to where the story is going. The depiction of dinosaurs as roaring man-eating creatures is so 1980's.
It was funny (in a written-by-a-man kind of funny), though.
I wouldn't have kept reading had the audiobook narrator not be so great. Still confused as to where the story is going. The depiction of dinosaurs as roaring man-eating creatures is so 1980's.
It was funny (in a written-by-a-man kind of funny), though.
July 28, 2025
Very exciting time travel novel featuring ecological disaster in the 22nd century with 50 billion people on earth causing the emergency colonization of Mars via a newly discovered artificial wormhole technology. Time warping back to 100 million years ago caused by terrorists bombing the wormhole. Amazing new dinosaurs,maupausaurs, encountered in Patagonia. I highly recommemd this thrilling sci fi thriller!
May 7, 2023
Fun read
June 14, 2025
If I read it when I was a little younger it would have hit a lot harder, but still a fantastic series with great characters.
October 4, 2018
I could not put this book down. Survive is a cleverly-crafted story full of unexpected twists and turns, the sci-fi premise of wormhole travel is done very believably and the characters are wonderfully diverse.
I didn’t expect so much humour and wit with such a potentially dark subject matter (I won’t post spoilers but I really didn’t see these particular bad guys coming!) The writing style is beautiful, it had me completely gripped. The interactions between characters are really well done and a lot of the story is dialogue, so it really comes to life as the action ‘plays out’ in your mind as you read.
If you enjoy things like Doctor Who, Stargate, Firefly (and dinosaurs – the dinosaur stuff is really well researched! It’s nothing like Jurassic Park but if you like Jurassic Park you’ll enjoy this) you’ll love this book. Someone really needs to make this into a blockbuster film because the plot and the characters are just crying out for the big screen, it would be epic.
Can’t wait for the next one in the New World trilogy; this is the most interesting and engaging story I’ve read in a long time – I don’t think there’s anything quite like it out there right now.
I didn’t expect so much humour and wit with such a potentially dark subject matter (I won’t post spoilers but I really didn’t see these particular bad guys coming!) The writing style is beautiful, it had me completely gripped. The interactions between characters are really well done and a lot of the story is dialogue, so it really comes to life as the action ‘plays out’ in your mind as you read.
If you enjoy things like Doctor Who, Stargate, Firefly (and dinosaurs – the dinosaur stuff is really well researched! It’s nothing like Jurassic Park but if you like Jurassic Park you’ll enjoy this) you’ll love this book. Someone really needs to make this into a blockbuster film because the plot and the characters are just crying out for the big screen, it would be epic.
Can’t wait for the next one in the New World trilogy; this is the most interesting and engaging story I’ve read in a long time – I don’t think there’s anything quite like it out there right now.
April 5, 2025
Ummm, space/time travel, dinosaurs, ghosts, and Nazis, yeah, this was a bit of a mess. Still, enough of a mindless distraction to keep the existential dread at bay. I think this book was made somewhat more palatable by my fond memories of Primeval (British TV series).
June 18, 2020
Review to come!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews