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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Dinosauria Part 1: The Garden by: J. Rock

Genre: Science Fiction

Setting: A post apocalyptic Earth in an alternate time line.

A group of twenty-something scientists crash lands on a jungle covered island.  Their vehicle lies beneath the ocean.  Apparently, the egg shaped vehicle was some sort of time machine.  There is the possibility that they have altered the past prior to crashing on the island.  Interestingly, two of the women in the group, Andie and Andrea, are versions of the same person from alternate time lines.

The young scientists soon begin having various interpersonal issues.  Andie and Andrea both loved two of the men during their time lines.  The characters act impulsively.  They go off by themselves, or in small groups, because they are angry, upset or reacting to a perceived slight.

One of the characters, Jack, seems different than the rest.  At one point a prehistoric creature eats part of his foot.  Then, miraculously, the foot grows back.  When all the others seem to have massive headaches, he doesn't.  At times he seems to be able to see and affect the future. 

The island they are on is very strange.  Day and night are shorter than normal.  They often are varied in length.  There are dangerous fishopod creatures living in the ocean.  And there are dangerous man-eating velociraptors living on the island.

And we still haven't gotten to the "Truman Show" like garden dome, the mutated zombie creatures, the blast lands, the two copies of Earth in the sky above Earth, the Prophecy, the Saurians, or the train made out of diamonds run by a bipolar million year old computer.

For me,  this book felt like season one of television show like "Lost".  There are plenty of mysteries.  Several characters have flashbacks or dreams which may or may not be relevant to the plot.  And in the end there is no resolution, only more mysteries.

It also felt like reading book two of a series because there are references to plot elements without any exposition.  One example, is the "Night Terror Virus"  Apparently this virus killed most of the people on Earth and is the reason the group used the time machine.  However, there is no explanation about why they time traveled and where they went prior to landing on the island.

I finished the book because I was hoping for some plot resolution.  Perhaps those will come in later parts of the story.  I probably will not read them though.

Dinosauria Part 1: Garden



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