Not Quite the Paradise, Or the Story, One Expects - A Review of The Dinosaur Lords

The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


When a child is of a certain age, usually between seven and ten, the most magical, most wonderful thing in the world is a dinosaur. Many parents are familiar with the “dinosaur obsession” that hits children at around that age or somewhat earlier, and the almost never-ending demand for toys, books, more toys, movies, and on and on and on until the child outgrows the obsession, and moves on to other things.

But for some children—myself included—that obsession never really disappears. It grows quieter, yes, and gets buried under other interests, but it never really goes away. A very small handful of us become palaeontologists, but a greater majority of us grow up into adults whose eyes sparkle when we look at fossils; who catch The Land Before Time on HBO and still get teary-eyed when Littlefoot’s mother dies; and who rewatch Jurassic Park with the same enthusiasm we had when we first saw it. Though as adults we know that dinosaurs can’t talk and that the science at the heart of Jurassic Park has been disproven, such things don’t diminish the joy and sense of wonder we feel when we see or hear that magical word “dinosaur”.

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