Dinosaur Hunter Review (Sci-Fi & Paleontology)

Dinosaur Hunter Synopsis: Congratulations – your application for a Mesozoic hunting license has been successful! Before you travel back in time and charge headlong into a teeming pack of prehistoric big game, we strongly advise that you read the following guidebook. It will provide you with information crucial to success – and survival! You will learn the basic facts of geography, climate and environmental conditions of the three periods that make up the exciting Mesozoic era. Then you will uncover the startling variety of fauna that populates this ancient earth, as well as the specific information on tracking, spores and behaviour so essential for the field sportsperson. Remember, in this time, these monstrous beasts rule the earth, so arming yourself with the facts is vital. Let the hunt begin! – Goodreads

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Dinosaur Hunter Review

While it wasn’t quite as knock-your-socks off as I hoped it’d be, Dinosaur Hunter is still an entertaining read as it presents interesting info about dinosaurs in the form of a guidebook for hunting them (apparently time travel has been invented, and people are using it to go kill things. So, yeah, that actually seems about right.) I liked the way the information was presented, factual information followed by a brief file entry/report from a hunt during the particular era that was being focused on. Note: I can’t speak to the veracity of the ‘facts’ presented, so I’m going to assume they’re true, and take behavioral observations as suppositions and let that be that. 

White also does something unusual in that his very first report comes from a female hunter. Specifically, a female that is a model and CEO of her own fashion company. I definitely did not expect that! He follow this up by having females feature prominently in all but one of the stories, if I recall correctly. The stories also all end badly for at least one person in the group, keeping to a ‘don’t be stupid. Stupid gets you dead’ theme.

The illustrations are also decent (though I wish there were a few more – I found myself googling lots of names to get an idea of what the dinosaurs looked like), showing some of the dinosaurs in the now accepted feathered form that is more accurate even it makes them a little less ferocious looking .

This would be a good gift for older teens or adults interested in dinosaurs, but I think it’d have to be more than just a ‘passing interest’ for them to really enjoy it, as its easy to find yourself skimming -without meaning to  –  the massive info-dumps even if you genuinely enjoy reading about dinosaurs. Dinosaur Hunter by Steve White is definitely worth checking out, just be sure about the interest of the person you’re getting it for.

Click here to find Dinosaur Hunter: The Ultimate Guide to the Biggest Game now on Amazon.com

Title: Dinosaur Hunter | Author: Steve White | Publisher: Osprey Publishing (site) | Pub Date: 2015-10-20 | Pages: 236 | ISBN13: 9781472812827 | Genre: Science Fiction | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 3 out of 5 | Date Read: 2015-12-17 | Source: Received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.