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A review by cynicaltrilobite
The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas
3.0
Our main dinosaur is a Ceratosaurus, but there's a T-Rex skull on the cover.... ok then.
What a strange book this is. Honestly, I feel like i may be being a little generous with giving this a 3/5 (really, it's more of a 2.5/5). I suppose my main criticism of the work is that in this book with ghost dinosaurs, the ghost dinosaurs really have nothing to do with the plot??? You really could remove all of the paranormal stuff from this, and more or less have the same book. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the ghost dinosaur sections, especially the dying Ceratosaurus in the hall of gems and minerals, but c'mon man, if your GHOST DINOSAURS are just a red herring for an evil pottery serial killer then I am gonna feel a bit cheated.
Speaking of..... pottery serial killer. Certainly a choice.
There's also these weird moments where the author waxes about social justice issues and it just feels so weirdly out of place, ESPECIALLY the one where our main character considers the effectiveness of feminism because a lady was mean to him.
Also, on that note, I found our main character to be absolutely insufferable. He's a broken tortured protagonist in all the worst kinds of ways, and instead of relating to him or feeling sorry for him, you just wind up feeling annoyed when he dodges responsibilities or makes an ass of himself. He does both, FREQUENTLY.
Ok, so I've been really harsh on this book so far, and I stand by my initial thought that this deserves probably less stars. However, I really did enjoy the dinosaur stuff and a number of the side characters, including Evelyn, Priya, Fran, Muller, and Maurice. Again, I can't express how much I loved the Ceratosaurus in the gem hall scene. The story of the dino siblings was sweet, if a little improbable scientifically, and it made me happy to see them reunited.
Final thought, why is this museum still open? We learn that the ghost dinosaurs have killed multiple MULTIPLE people over the museum's history. So, why are we just opening it up again and brushing past all that? I'd have loved to see some recognition of how they're gonna address that.
Or... feed the kids to the baby Ceratosaurus! Do it now!
What a strange book this is. Honestly, I feel like i may be being a little generous with giving this a 3/5 (really, it's more of a 2.5/5). I suppose my main criticism of the work is that in this book with ghost dinosaurs, the ghost dinosaurs really have nothing to do with the plot??? You really could remove all of the paranormal stuff from this, and more or less have the same book. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the ghost dinosaur sections, especially the dying Ceratosaurus in the hall of gems and minerals, but c'mon man, if your GHOST DINOSAURS are just a red herring for an evil pottery serial killer then I am gonna feel a bit cheated.
Speaking of..... pottery serial killer. Certainly a choice.
There's also these weird moments where the author waxes about social justice issues and it just feels so weirdly out of place, ESPECIALLY the one where our main character considers the effectiveness of feminism because a lady was mean to him.
Also, on that note, I found our main character to be absolutely insufferable. He's a broken tortured protagonist in all the worst kinds of ways, and instead of relating to him or feeling sorry for him, you just wind up feeling annoyed when he dodges responsibilities or makes an ass of himself. He does both, FREQUENTLY.
Ok, so I've been really harsh on this book so far, and I stand by my initial thought that this deserves probably less stars. However, I really did enjoy the dinosaur stuff and a number of the side characters, including Evelyn, Priya, Fran, Muller, and Maurice. Again, I can't express how much I loved the Ceratosaurus in the gem hall scene. The story of the dino siblings was sweet, if a little improbable scientifically, and it made me happy to see them reunited.
Final thought, why is this museum still open? We learn that the ghost dinosaurs have killed multiple MULTIPLE people over the museum's history. So, why are we just opening it up again and brushing past all that? I'd have loved to see some recognition of how they're gonna address that.
Or... feed the kids to the baby Ceratosaurus! Do it now!