A big, old-fashioned adventure story, Dinosaur Summer starts from the premise that the events of The Lost World (the 1912 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, not the Michael Crichton novel) are real. In Dinosaur Summer, Conan Doyle and his fellow adventurers discovered a hidden world in South America -- and now, 30 years later, dinosaur circuses are so commonplace that the public is no longer interested. When the last dinosaur circus closes down, 15-year-old Peter and his journalist father accompany the expedition that sets out to return the surviving dinosaurs to their native home on El Grande, the "lost world" plateau where dangerous and unknown creatures still live.Filled with plenty of action, danger, and lots of bizarre animal species, the story is exciting and moves quickly -- except for a few draggy bits that have more to do with oil politics, indigenous tribes vs local governments, and Hollywood movie producers. The character of Peter is really engaging and interesting, as he starts to grow up, assert himself, and figure out his tense relationship with his father in the midst of this incredible journey. All in all, quite a fun and entertaining read!For more information, see my review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
As a major dinosaur/King Kong/Harryhausen fan, I really, really wanted to love this book. It's about a boy's summer with his father, Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien, and the makers of King Kong, as they close down a dinosaur circus and return to The Lost World of Arthur Conan Doyle to free the dinosaurs to the wild.Unfortunately, despite the fact that it should have pushed all of my buttons, the writing is just too flat to engage me. The style is a rather lackluster, declarative one that I associate with young adult books. It describes the action without engaging the senses in a way that makes me feel the emotion of the moment. Sadly, after 125 pages I gave up as my TBR pile called to me.I would still recommend Dinosaur Summer to young adults.
Do You like book Dinosaur Summer (1998)?
It has an interesting premise, what is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor challenger's Lost world has been a reality. Dinosaurs exported to circuses, then returned home. This book was increasingly difficult to get into. While it was an easy read, the characters do not grow on you and at times the story was difficult to follow. It felt like it took forever to read a minimal amount of the book. The best part of the book is where Bear described what was real and fictional. Again interesting premise but poorly executed on Bear's part
—Nick Cincotta
I enjoyed this 1998 tribute sequel to Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. In this alternate world, the events of The Lost World are taken as true, and by 1949, the public has grown tired of the display of dinosaurs, and the circus acts that display them are going out of business. Young Peter Belzoni joins his down-and-out photographer Dad on a movie expedition to return the last of the circus dinosaurs to their native El Grande tepui in South America. As a young man growing up, Peter is both likable and believable, although some of the movie people are caricatures. The pen illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi add a lot. I think of this as a YA novel, and would not hesitate to recommend it to an adolescent looking for something more than can be found in all the popular dinosaur movies.
—Tomislav
Peter and his photographer father are chosen to accompany the last dinosaur circus as it returns the dinosaurs to the Lost World (Doyle's book was history, not fiction) in 1947.The first half was a little slow, until they reach the drawbridge that divides the Lost World plateau from the rest of South America. At that point, between an angry carnivorous dinosaur and uncooperative local military, everything goes wrong, and things get excited.I bought this book when it was first released in paperback (15 years ago), and I finally got around to reading it. It was a much simpler book than most of Bear's science fiction, but a fun, pulpy read.
—Lianne Burwell
