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A review by vermidian
The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán
3.0
I'm going to preface this with a warning. A rape scene occurs within this book. If things like that bother you, please be advised that a main character is raped within the course of the book. Other rapes also occur, but are not described past being stated as having been committed. It's also a pointless scene, considering it only further villainizes someone you already know if a villain at that point in the book. Even though it was only a page and a half of stupid and pointless, it's soured my outlook on this book quite a bit. I'm really tired of the rape story arch. I'm sure she'll probably gut the guy in a later book, but it really pissed me off that it needed to happen at all. I hope the editors are fucking ashamed of themselves for leaving that in. Not only could it not have happened, it would have added to potential suspense if she had been missing when the villain appeared to commit the deed. Literally, that scene was only there for shock value and it pisses me off.
I've given this book 3 stars. Overall, I felt it was enjoyable, but it was pretty slow at times and, as the above paragraph would indicate, this book could have used a good editor to cut out the shock value bits that were unnecessary.
Overall, the world is pretty solid in it's concept. If you like Game of Thrones, you'll probably like this book. The battle scene at the beginning of the book is a little hard to grasp, but the later war scenes are far more legible. I feel like giving the dinosaurs nicknames instead of sticking to commonly known names was a little annoying, but I can see how it would be clunky to constantly refer to dinosaurs by their latin names. I think they're implying that somehow the world was rebooted once it fell into ruin by people who lived on the moon, but the details are too vague and the grey angels don't make a whole lot of sense yet. Still, despite that potential sci-fi origin, this book is squarely placed in the fantasy fiction genre.
Honestly, I thought the dinosaur riding aspect was handled pretty well. I was expecting some pterodactyl riders, but it appears all the dinosaurs that are ridden - at least up to this point - are all squarely land-based. I did like the prospect of gargantuan sea monsters coming out of nowhere to eat people off boats, of course, but no one's managed to ride one of those yet.
Overall, I'm not sure where the plot is going in terms of the long range goals. I actually liked most of the main characters, barring the villain of course who I rather wanted to hit in the teeth. There were bisexual characters all over this book, though no active romances with bisexuals to speak of as they are all warriors in a band of dinosaur knights and often die. I really liked Jaume, who is a main character, either bisexual or pansexual, and a really interesting male love interest for Melodía, another of my favorites. I also loved that a recurring character who you get to read from the perspective of is a carnivorous dinosaur named Shiraa. (Forgive me, I forget what variety she was, but she was within the Tyrannosaur sized range of dangerous.) Overall, I wish the characters grew more than they did. Melodia was starting to grow by the end of the book, but everybody just kind of kept playing that same melody the whole story long, never changing or really learning. Still, they have good foundations, which made them bearable to read from the perspectives of.
I will say the art is fucking spectacular. I love the styling of the dinosaurs, both the one on the cover and the ones on the chapter heads. Bravo,
This is very much an adult book, so I don't really recommend it to readers who aren't accustomed to sex scenes, gore, and cursing. It's a little more vulgar than A Song of Ice and Fire in those aspects, though I did appreciate the sex scene being better written than any of the ones in George R. R. Martin's books. (Seriously. They're awkward.)
I've given this book 3 stars. Overall, I felt it was enjoyable, but it was pretty slow at times and, as the above paragraph would indicate, this book could have used a good editor to cut out the shock value bits that were unnecessary.
Overall, the world is pretty solid in it's concept. If you like Game of Thrones, you'll probably like this book. The battle scene at the beginning of the book is a little hard to grasp, but the later war scenes are far more legible. I feel like giving the dinosaurs nicknames instead of sticking to commonly known names was a little annoying, but I can see how it would be clunky to constantly refer to dinosaurs by their latin names. I think they're implying that somehow the world was rebooted once it fell into ruin by people who lived on the moon, but the details are too vague and the grey angels don't make a whole lot of sense yet. Still, despite that potential sci-fi origin, this book is squarely placed in the fantasy fiction genre.
Honestly, I thought the dinosaur riding aspect was handled pretty well. I was expecting some pterodactyl riders, but it appears all the dinosaurs that are ridden - at least up to this point - are all squarely land-based. I did like the prospect of gargantuan sea monsters coming out of nowhere to eat people off boats, of course, but no one's managed to ride one of those yet.
Overall, I'm not sure where the plot is going in terms of the long range goals. I actually liked most of the main characters, barring the villain of course who I rather wanted to hit in the teeth. There were bisexual characters all over this book, though no active romances with bisexuals to speak of as they are all warriors in a band of dinosaur knights and often die. I really liked Jaume, who is a main character, either bisexual or pansexual, and a really interesting male love interest for Melodía, another of my favorites. I also loved that a recurring character who you get to read from the perspective of is a carnivorous dinosaur named Shiraa. (Forgive me, I forget what variety she was, but she was within the Tyrannosaur sized range of dangerous.) Overall, I wish the characters grew more than they did. Melodia was starting to grow by the end of the book, but everybody just kind of kept playing that same melody the whole story long, never changing or really learning. Still, they have good foundations, which made them bearable to read from the perspectives of.
I will say the art is fucking spectacular. I love the styling of the dinosaurs, both the one on the cover and the ones on the chapter heads. Bravo,
This is very much an adult book, so I don't really recommend it to readers who aren't accustomed to sex scenes, gore, and cursing. It's a little more vulgar than A Song of Ice and Fire in those aspects, though I did appreciate the sex scene being better written than any of the ones in George R. R. Martin's books. (Seriously. They're awkward.)