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Book Reviews of Bones of the Earth

Bones of the Earth
Bones of the Earth
Author: Michael Swanwick
ISBN-13: 9780380812899
ISBN-10: 0380812894
Publication Date: 3/1/2003
Pages: 400
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 32

3.6 stars, based on 32 ratings
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

8 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 58 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good book about time travel and dinosaurs.
wesjones avatar reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 17 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a very intriguing story about the intersection of paleontology with time travel and how the study of dinosaurs by scientists might be done. Of course the characters can't leave their own emotions behind, so it gets very messy. Good read.
reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good engaging though sometimes confusing story
reviewed Bones of the Earth on
Helpful Score: 1
Good read - interesting premise and holds together well.
reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 38 more book reviews
INteresting plot where paleontolists got into the past to study dinosaurs. Interesting plot twists and fun to read.
reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 16 more book reviews
Good Stuff!
maura853 avatar reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 542 more book reviews
Disappointing. Hard to imagine how a book about time-travelling back to see the dinosaurs could be boring, but here you are.

I made it to page 200, when I decided I could take no more. I wonder if Swanwick's enthusiasm for his topic (and there clearly IS enthusiasm, and solid research, and underlying ideas -- that's the source of the extra star) overwhelmed his narrative sense. Dinosaurs are interesting (natch), going back to see dinosaurs, and research them face to face, is interesting, therefore anything you write about dinosaurs and time travel must be interesting. Sadly, not true.

Gets off to a reasonably good start, with Mystery Man Griffin visiting paleontologist Richard Leyster with An Offer He Won't Want to Refuse -- and a cooler with the freshly decapitated head of a stegosaurus. Great! It then, immediately, goes seriously off the rails, as the next 100 pages or so are basically a long, very long series of infodumps and character introductions (too many, too minor characters to keep track of and wonder if there's any reason to care about). Characters criss-cross time threads, actually meet and advise their younger/older selves: in this version of time travel, we are told, neither the butterfly effect, nor the grandfather paradox, nor the potential danger of encountering your past or future self is a problem, giving Swanwick free rein for all sorts of "fun," such as when a 13-year old girl with a crush on Leyster leaves by one door, and promptly re-enters by another, as a foxy 20-something who is determined to do something about that crush. Oh, what larks ...

It's all a bit boring and confusing, really, with only hints and whispers about Griffin's darker side, and the ulterior motives of the advanced beings who have gifted humanity with the time travel tech. Caring about any of the characters would have helped a lot, but there are too many of them, too randomly introduced.

By about page 150 we (finally!!) get to the part when some paleontologists are in danger of getting chomped by a T. Rex! But by then, for me, it was too little actual story, too late. I need an older, wiser version of Me to come back when I was at about page 10, and tell me that this was not going to end well ...
writerprh avatar reviewed Bones of the Earth on + 20 more book reviews
A bit of a yawn. James Rollins does a much better job with this kind of subject matter.