Mintari: A World of Dinosaurs
by Daniel Arenson
Dinosaurs. Majestic giants. They’ve captured our imagination for generations. On planet Mintari, they live again.
Mintari is far from Earth. Wild. Pristine. A world where triceratops herd across grasslands, pterosaurs soar over golden mountains, and T-rexes prowl the misty forests.
But these magnificent beasts might soon disappear. And only one man can save them.
They call him Jurassic Joe. A semi-mythical figure. A ranger who lives in the wilderness of Mintari. Defender of dinosaurs. Bane of poachers. Folk hero. But is he real?
He better be. Because big game hunters are landing on Mintari. A lot of them. It will take a hero to stop them. And they must be stopped. Or the dinosaurs of Mintari will be lost forever.
Discover a world of savage beauty, terrifying danger, and ancient beasts brought back to life. Welcome to Mintari.
I want to start off by saying that I liked this book. I did,
honest! I love dinosaurs and the plot for this book seemed right up my alley; but almost as soon as I started reading it, I had to
walk away. Aside from the proofreading and editing mistakes, the characters
felt like your typical archetypes. So much so that when a certain character
meets their demise, I felt relief that I wasn't going to have to read about
them again. Harsh, I know, but true. Others were so
original that they made no sense to me whatsoever. There's a lot of repetition
in here as well. So much so, that I was constantly having a sense of Déjà
vu.
Despite all of that, there were things that I did like. First and foremost are
the dinosaurs! The old favorites like Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and
Stegosaurus are here. Along with some that don't get a lot of exposure like
Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus and Achillobator. I was particularly happy with the
fact that Velociraptors in the book were presented at their correct size (Jurassic
Park lied to you). The way the dinosaurs were brought back from extinction was
interesting and I would have liked to have had that process explained in more
detail. There is also quite a bit of anthropomorphism, which I didn't mind as
much. It was curious to see what some of the dinosaurs were thinking and why
they behaved as they did.
The human characters were a bit cliched, but most were okay. Nothing new to see
here, but they managed to catch my interest about halfway through the book.
Some of the relationships happened way too fast for me to believe and some of
their personal growth seemed to happen in an instant. But I would be curious to
see how their journeys continue. For the right price.
And, as always, please make sure to like this post and follow my blog if you
haven't already. I'd greatly appreciate it! Until next time, my friends!