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fallonedits's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Dinotopia Lost was the first book I bought with my own money. I've re-read the story periodically over the years, and though it is a beloved childhood favorite, it's also a finely wrought science fiction story with beautiful writing and a hopeful message.
Here are some of my favorite passages from the book:
Whole tree trunks sent down rivers or torn free from squall-scoured shores tumbled and snapped in the waves. Teak from Siam and mahogany from Java, mangrove from Sumatra and bamboo from Borneo, marked the leading edge of the tempest, riding the breakers like jackstraws. There were clusters of leaves, dead fish stunned to the surface by the fury of the churning debris, a forlorn handmade fishing net ripped from its moorings, and whole rafts of coconuts bobbing in the swell like so many abandoned punctuation marks in search of a paragraph.
Spread out before them was a wondrous panorama that not even the odor of death could diminish. It was a place of great peace and calm, of regeneration as much as disintegration. A site of leave-taking and new beginnings, of rebirth and recycling. Many were the man or woman who would have gazed upon that scene and seen only desolation, but Smiggens saw Nature in all its intricacy and wonder, hard at work, remaking the world.
Although they did not know it, there was not one of the great meat-eaters lurking in the vicinity of their camp but half a dozen, and the crew of the Condor encountered them not in their nightmares but on the following morning, which was bright and filled with sunshine.
Should you find yourself in desperate need of a hopeful story, one that celebrates community, asks what it means to be civilized, and allows you to play with your inner child, add this novel to your shelf.
Best birthday money my 9-year-old self ever spent.
Here are some of my favorite passages from the book:
Whole tree trunks sent down rivers or torn free from squall-scoured shores tumbled and snapped in the waves. Teak from Siam and mahogany from Java, mangrove from Sumatra and bamboo from Borneo, marked the leading edge of the tempest, riding the breakers like jackstraws. There were clusters of leaves, dead fish stunned to the surface by the fury of the churning debris, a forlorn handmade fishing net ripped from its moorings, and whole rafts of coconuts bobbing in the swell like so many abandoned punctuation marks in search of a paragraph.
Spread out before them was a wondrous panorama that not even the odor of death could diminish. It was a place of great peace and calm, of regeneration as much as disintegration. A site of leave-taking and new beginnings, of rebirth and recycling. Many were the man or woman who would have gazed upon that scene and seen only desolation, but Smiggens saw Nature in all its intricacy and wonder, hard at work, remaking the world.
Although they did not know it, there was not one of the great meat-eaters lurking in the vicinity of their camp but half a dozen, and the crew of the Condor encountered them not in their nightmares but on the following morning, which was bright and filled with sunshine.
Should you find yourself in desperate need of a hopeful story, one that celebrates community, asks what it means to be civilized, and allows you to play with your inner child, add this novel to your shelf.
Best birthday money my 9-year-old self ever spent.
princessleia4life's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it. I thought it had great characters, a thrilling storyline, and was a perfect addition to the original stories.
vroodles's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
paperbooklover's review against another edition
1.0
I bought it on a whim thinking it'd be more like the original but it turned out to be a sort of fan fiction. So that's on me. Also the illustrations and first person accounts of the first one are pretty hard to compete with.
csangell11's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
vermidian's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe it was just because I haven’t read a great number of books in this series, but I found the character interactions to be kind of sitcom-like and almost preachy at times. I went into this knowing it was meant for children, but it was pretty challenging for me, as an adult, to want to continue reading this book. That being said, the world and the cultures and the plot are all very good. For these reasons, I have given this book 3 stars.
isbjorn's review
3.0
Either because I'm much older than when I first fell in love with Dinotopia or because of the ending of this book I now realize Dinotopia is not a utopia, it is a dystopia. Why do you think everyone always just gets along and goes with the governing bodies with little to no question? Its because dissenters who take more than a book to get with the program are fed to the denizens of the rainy basin. No place is that perfect and happy with even people from the outside world just accepting the status quo. What do you think is really in the baskets of fish the caravans are always dropping off?
Crazy conspiracy aside, the book is alright, but doesn't, in my opinion, stand up to the originals.
Crazy conspiracy aside, the book is alright, but doesn't, in my opinion, stand up to the originals.
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