Monday, December 28, 2020

Book Review | Dragon Teeth

 

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books of all-time. I can't even count the number of times I read it from middle school on up. I can't count the number of times we played Jurassic Park as kids in the neighborhood (I was ALWAYS Ellie), re-enacting the movie over and over and over.

Crichton's passing saddened me greatly, because we lost a fantastic writer who always kept me on the edge of my seat. I have yet to meet a Crichton book I haven't liked. This was no exception.

Dragon Teeth was published in 2017, nearly a decade after Crichton's death. Compared to other books I have read by authors who passed during the writing, editing, or revising process, this felt 100% Crichton, 100% of the time.

It is really weird to think about the heyday of dinosaur fossil discoveries happening in the Wild West, two things that seem incredibly incompatible. Crichton has blended fact and fiction together so perfectly and it absolutely wonderful. I would even say comforting, because to be able to read one of his novels years after he passed away was just that, comforting. Luckily, it was also a fast-paced and entertaining read that had be hooked from start to finish.

The story takes place in 1876. Everything that comes to mind when one thinks of the time and the place, complete with goldrush towns and Native American tribes at war with one another. There are cameos by Western figures we know so well, gunfights and the like. This is a western novel through and through. But in the midst of all of that, two paleontologists are also at war - with one another. The rivalry between the two men takes center stage as they race to collect as many specimens as possible.

Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were real men, real paleontologists who battled one another for scientific supremacy. The men spent years and fortunes spying and sabotaging  in order to come out on top.

The only character who seems to be completely a product of Crichton's imagination is William Johnson. He is a rich, spoiled, lazy young man attending Yale and ends up out West on a bet that he can't survive the summer on an expedition with Marsh. In terms of survival, this is initially simply a nod to whether or not he will last out West of if he comes home early. As the adventure deepens, it becomes a literal fight for survival as Johnson has to contend with all the dangers surrounding him in addition to the dangers that Marsh and Cope's men are to one another. It certainly doesn't help Johnson when Marsh becomes convinced that Cope sent Johnson to spy on his own activities, and all kinds of intrigue ensues.

I picked this one up for a couple reasons. First, of course, dinosaurs. Secondly, I knew the history between Marsh and Cope and was excited to see what Crichton could do with such fantastic material. As I read, I found myself forgetting this was, in fact, very very true in so much of the story. The two men were larger than life and HATED one another. They did whatever they could to sabotage one another, and their plots often worked. Crichton packs so much into the story here, and even then one must remember that the rivalry was so intense and there is so much left out, simply because Crichton could easily have doubled the length of the book in recounting all the ways in which the rivalry was incredibly intense and downright dangerous.

All in all, this is absolutely brilliant. Crichton at his finest. Highly recommended.

10 comments:

  1. I've had this one on my shelf for several years, a bit apprehensive to read it after his passing. I'm glad that this one still retains his voice though!

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    1. If you are a huge Crichton fan, I definitely thing you will enjoy it because it is without a doubt him. I can't believe that he first had the idea back in the early 70s. It's so sad he never got to see it published, but it is great. And if you are so-so on Crichton, it's still great because the adventure is such a trip.

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    2. I definitely need to read it then. I finally got around to Prey this year, and couldn't believe it took me so long to read it! His writing is pretty much always fun to read.

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    3. I still need to read Prey! I love so many of his books, but the dino ones are always my faves.

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  2. Marsh and cope were used as good examples of how not to conduct yourself in the field when i was studying geology in uni... they didn't follow the excepted rules of paleontology but just grabbed goodies and ran; they did a lot of damage in the process...

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    1. Right?! And all in an effort to make the other look bad. But instead they set the field back who knows how many years with their shenanigans. Who knows what they destroyed in the process, also.

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  3. I have yet to tackle Crichton but make no mistake, I will!

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    1. There are so many great ones to choose from! I will always say Jurassic Park first of course, because it truly is phenomenal. Yet it is also the instance where I say the movie is as good as the book. Both are so, so good. Timeline is my fave non-dino book. Sphere was also SO GOOD. Really, you can't go wrong with Crichton.

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