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The Outer Limits by John Peel #5
The Invaders
Feeling a little...saur today?
Every school kid knows that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago. But what would happen if maybe some dinosaur DNA managed to survive? And what if it could be revived and transferred into a living host?
A host just like...you?
As a group of teenagers are about to discover, this Jurassic lark is no fairy tale. It's real. People are beginning to mutate into monstrous creatures--part dinosaur and part human, but one hundred percent deadly....
Every school kid knows that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago. But what would happen if maybe some dinosaur DNA managed to survive? And what if it could be revived and transferred into a living host?
A host just like...you?
As a group of teenagers are about to discover, this Jurassic lark is no fairy tale. It's real. People are beginning to mutate into monstrous creatures--part dinosaur and part human, but one hundred percent deadly....
128 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 5, 1998
20 people want to read
About the author
John Peel
350 books166 followersJohn Peel is the author of Doctor Who books and comic strips. Notably, he wrote the first original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Genesys, to launch the Virgin New Adventures line. In the early 1990s he was commissioned by Target Books to write novelisations of several key Terry Nation Dalek stories of the 1960s after the rights were finally worked out. He later wrote several more original Daleks novels.
He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).
Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..
He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).
Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 2, 2020
This is Peel's somewhat whacky response to Jurassic Park, which his novel name-checks several times. Also, in case we missed it, at one point one of the characters says, "Life will find a way."
Couldn't muster much interest for the characters, and the tone of the early parts of the story felt considerably more light-hearted than seems apt for The Outer Limits.
*Spoilers*
The dainid could engineer this incredibly sophisticated virus that can assimilate essentially ALL other life-forms and convert them into members of the original dainid eco-system. But they couldn't find a way to preserve their civilization, even if greatly reduced, after the comet altered the planet's climate? Also, if they possessed the science and technology needed to create this virus, which can effectively lay dormant for 65 million years AND STILL WORK, surely there would have been other remnants of dainid civilization we would have discovered over time?
Couldn't muster much interest for the characters, and the tone of the early parts of the story felt considerably more light-hearted than seems apt for The Outer Limits.
*Spoilers*
The dainid could engineer this incredibly sophisticated virus that can assimilate essentially ALL other life-forms and convert them into members of the original dainid eco-system. But they couldn't find a way to preserve their civilization, even if greatly reduced, after the comet altered the planet's climate? Also, if they possessed the science and technology needed to create this virus, which can effectively lay dormant for 65 million years AND STILL WORK, surely there would have been other remnants of dainid civilization we would have discovered over time?
October 15, 2023
3.5/5
One of the joys of an anthology series is breadth of storytelling it can allow. The Outer Limits was a case in point, something that it's tie-in novels used to their advantage. Written by John Peel, The Invaders is an answer of sorts to Michael Crichton's bestseller (and Steven Spielberg's film) Jurassic Park. What if instead of humans bringing dinosaurs back to life, the dinosaurs somehow found a way to use humanity to return to life? It's a fascinating premise, one that would have been more than worthy of the mixed bag that was the 1990s revival. Indeed, it's one that's somewhat letdown by the fact that this is YA, though Peel still offers a readable SF tale. One full of chases, 1990s right-wing militias, and awkward teenagers thrown into an incredible situation. Not to mention dinosaurs, even ones you're not expecting. And though aimed for a YA audience, it's still better than several of the actual TV episodes the series produced.
One of the joys of an anthology series is breadth of storytelling it can allow. The Outer Limits was a case in point, something that it's tie-in novels used to their advantage. Written by John Peel, The Invaders is an answer of sorts to Michael Crichton's bestseller (and Steven Spielberg's film) Jurassic Park. What if instead of humans bringing dinosaurs back to life, the dinosaurs somehow found a way to use humanity to return to life? It's a fascinating premise, one that would have been more than worthy of the mixed bag that was the 1990s revival. Indeed, it's one that's somewhat letdown by the fact that this is YA, though Peel still offers a readable SF tale. One full of chases, 1990s right-wing militias, and awkward teenagers thrown into an incredible situation. Not to mention dinosaurs, even ones you're not expecting. And though aimed for a YA audience, it's still better than several of the actual TV episodes the series produced.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews