Book Review – Dinosaur Park by Hayford Pierce
My apologies to John Betancourt at Wildside Press. I should have had this review done a very long time ago. My reading time has been very limited, which isn’t an excuse, but the reason. I don’t like being late on commitments, but every so often I live up to my Scottish clan motto: “Late but in Earnest.”
Now… Hayford Peirce’s DINOSAUR PARK. This book was a fun, adventurous, and humorous book that I thorough enjoyed reading, and would read again. In fact, at SoonerCon earlier this month, I recommended it while on a panel that took a turn to discuss time travel, because this book not only incorporated time travel – but discussed the consequences of that discovery that was both entertaining and worked.
Dinosaur Park follows Kerryl Ryson in a life-long journey. His quest begins when he’s 10 years old on his home planet of Stohlson’s Redemption. Dinosaurs are no longer extinct and are part of the planet’s society and religion, while a visiting dignitary is on the planet, Ryson commits a childish prank resulting in a Tyrannosaurus Rex vomiting on the dignitary. In his rage, the dignitary feeds Ryson’s father (and clan head) to the T-Rex and enslaves the rest of his clan, while leaving Ryson behind as a slave on the planet.
The quest that forms Ryson’s entire life is vengeance for his family and clan. His journey takes him through several societies and religions and finally sends him to Earth based on the dinosaurs. Earth is now a highly restricted and proscripted planet. In fact, in one point, he doesn’t seem to be able to even board the ship going to Earth, but he makes it happen. Once on Earth, he discovers a wrinkle in his plans, the people of Earth have discovered and developed time travel. All but one segment of the population is able to jump back in time and manipulate time lines. The excluded segment is genetically unable to manipulate time and is destined to live in a protected area that can keep track of the pure time line. Everything seems normal until Ryson shows up – somehow, he is unaffected by time travel. So begins a secondary quest to keep his family safe once rescued from anyone on Earth trying to make time “right” or stop him in his tracks.
This novel is an adventure. The hero is flawed, but you find yourself rooting for him. It’s a creative and well written. I thoroughly enjoyed it – and even found myself reading the electronic version on my eReader at every opportunity.
DINOSAUR PARK, by Hayford Peirce
Wildside Press, 258 pages / trade paperback
U.S. $9.95 (trade pb), U.S. $6.99 (ebook / multiplatform availability)
Pub date: 3/31/2010
ISBN: 1-4344-1249-0
Wildside Press web site: http://www.wildsidebooks.com/Dinosaur-Park-by-Hayford-Peirce-40Trade-pb41_p_3968.html