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kaboomcju's review against another edition
1.0
The professional reviewers of this book must have been paid to say nice things about it. First off, this book does pose some very interesting points about dinosaurs and their connection to birds...and humans. So the science is intriguing. With that said, the story itself was horrendous. I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of the characters. Their dialogue was unbelievable and didn't flow at all. No one in the real world talks like that. And the way they interacted with each other just made me scoff. And don't even get me started on the time travel. Probably could have written the book without it, and it would have been the same. Nothing was explained about that aspect of the book. Just because it's science fiction doesn't mean you have to make the characters UNBELIEVABLE. Ugh.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
Many years ago, I worked for an organization called the National Solar Heating and Cooling Information Center. It ran a toll-free number and answered questions about energy conservation and solar power. We produced a lot of publications and so there were a number of writers on staff. (I did a number of jobs there, including running a library for the staff.)
One of the writers was Swanwick. I shared an office with him for awhile and we got along fairly well. At the time he was already starting to write short stories that he shared with some of the staff. One of the stories included black holes, so Swanwick consulted with my husband who is a physicist. I liked working at the Center for many reasons, but Swanwick and some of the other staff made it a quite interesting place.
Over the years, I have read Swanwick’s books and stories as I have run across them. It seems weird that this is the first novel I have read of his since 2008. I will have to find some of his other books that I have missed.
This was a perfect book for my vacation. I had time to soak in all the intricacies of the dinosaurs, the characters, the time-travel and the plot. I slowly read through the story and enjoyed the writing and the planning that was involved in telling this particular story. I have always enjoyed reading Swanwick’s storytelling, but this was especially good.
I was reminded of all the reasons I read science fiction. It was fun to visit a newly invented world and it was interesting to see how suspending my disbelief led me to a fascinating tale. I need to pick up a few more science fiction books.
One of the writers was Swanwick. I shared an office with him for awhile and we got along fairly well. At the time he was already starting to write short stories that he shared with some of the staff. One of the stories included black holes, so Swanwick consulted with my husband who is a physicist. I liked working at the Center for many reasons, but Swanwick and some of the other staff made it a quite interesting place.
Over the years, I have read Swanwick’s books and stories as I have run across them. It seems weird that this is the first novel I have read of his since 2008. I will have to find some of his other books that I have missed.
This was a perfect book for my vacation. I had time to soak in all the intricacies of the dinosaurs, the characters, the time-travel and the plot. I slowly read through the story and enjoyed the writing and the planning that was involved in telling this particular story. I have always enjoyed reading Swanwick’s storytelling, but this was especially good.
I was reminded of all the reasons I read science fiction. It was fun to visit a newly invented world and it was interesting to see how suspending my disbelief led me to a fascinating tale. I need to pick up a few more science fiction books.
rocketiza's review against another edition
2.0
Like a lot of time travel stories, it's fun until you stop to think it about for 1-second. I liked how the main character near the beginning tries to argue the premise doesn't make any sense though.
jkkb332's review against another edition
3.0
The parts where they were surviving in the land of dinos were A+ although it got a little weird (IYKYK). The rest of it was so confusing, this was definitely not what I like my time travel fiction to be. The narrative jumps around the timeline so much it made me dizzy, and the characters having different versions of themselves existing in the same place and time broke my brain. If it wasn't for the dinosaur parts this would barely be 2 stars. Even 3 feels like a stretch. Just not a fan.
archergal's review against another edition
4.0
This was a complicated book.
From the cover description, you might think it's a fairly straightforward story of time travelers who get caught in the past. That element is there, but it's a pretty small part of what's going on. It appears that the way to prevent time travel paradoxes is to keep copious notes in the most bureaucratic method possible. You can meet yourself and you both don't implode or vanish in some kind of singularity. And the future is stranger than you could possibly imagine.
The story was pretty meta about time travel. I don't always enjoy those kinds of stories, but this one kept me reading, curious to know how things were going to work out, or not work out.
The ending is a bit odd and ambiguous. But easy answers here would have been stupid and unrewarding. This book is smart and interesting.
From the cover description, you might think it's a fairly straightforward story of time travelers who get caught in the past. That element is there, but it's a pretty small part of what's going on. It appears that the way to prevent time travel paradoxes is to keep copious notes in the most bureaucratic method possible. You can meet yourself and you both don't implode or vanish in some kind of singularity. And the future is stranger than you could possibly imagine.
The story was pretty meta about time travel. I don't always enjoy those kinds of stories, but this one kept me reading, curious to know how things were going to work out, or not work out.
The ending is a bit odd and ambiguous. But easy answers here would have been stupid and unrewarding. This book is smart and interesting.
jonmhansen's review
4.0
It's interesting. While it is about time traveling paleontologists and does contain lots of interesting dinosaur info and a bit of gratuitous sex, it's really about how a person spends their life. On the whole, I liked it.
theartolater's review
3.0
All while reading this, I was chuckling a bit, as the book had a really Crichton-esque pop sci-fi feel to it and I was struggling to take it seriously. I didn’t really like it overall, just to learn that it was Nebula-nominated and Hugo-winning. Was 2002 a weak year or something? Compared to The Accidental Time Machine, the time travel aspect seemed forced and ended up awfully confusing, the characters were only marginally interesting, and I just really didn’t care much for it. I dunno - this was my first encounter with Swanwick and he’s apparently a pretty well-known author, so I’m not sure what to make of it.
archergal's review
4.0
This was a complicated book.
From the cover description, you might think it's a fairly straightforward story of time travelers who get caught in the past. That element is there, but it's a pretty small part of what's going on. It appears that the way to prevent time travel paradoxes is to keep copious notes in the most bureaucratic method possible. You can meet yourself and you both don't implode or vanish in some kind of singularity. And the future is stranger than you could possibly imagine.
The story was pretty meta about time travel. I don't always enjoy those kinds of stories, but this one kept me reading, curious to know how things were going to work out, or not work out.
The ending is a bit odd and ambiguous. But easy answers here would have been stupid and unrewarding. This book is smart and interesting.
From the cover description, you might think it's a fairly straightforward story of time travelers who get caught in the past. That element is there, but it's a pretty small part of what's going on. It appears that the way to prevent time travel paradoxes is to keep copious notes in the most bureaucratic method possible. You can meet yourself and you both don't implode or vanish in some kind of singularity. And the future is stranger than you could possibly imagine.
The story was pretty meta about time travel. I don't always enjoy those kinds of stories, but this one kept me reading, curious to know how things were going to work out, or not work out.
The ending is a bit odd and ambiguous. But easy answers here would have been stupid and unrewarding. This book is smart and interesting.
craftyhilary's review
5.0
Tremendously satisfying. So nice to read something once in a while that I'm hardly able to put down.
braydin's review
3.0
A solid enough time travel story. While I enjoyed the book, there was nothing that really stood out about it to recommend.