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sleeping_while_awake's review against another edition
3.0
I liked The Dinosaur Knights more than its predecessor The Dinosaur Lords, although it's not a huge improvement over the first book.
The events pick up right after the first book ends. Melodía and Pilar have escaped from the castle, and are heading into the next country over, Francia, to take refuge at a religious order. Karyl and Rob are on trial for the aftermath of the Providence battle, although it's clear the fault of the mistakes are with the nobles.
It's not long before Melodía and Pilar reach their destination of the Garden of Truth and Beauty. This is the same religious order that has been heavily involved with Rob and Karyl's doings, so it's inevitable the main characters meet up.
The first half of the book is akin to a building phase. The characters are preparing for another battle, and there's rumor of a dangerous Grey Angel appearing, which may spell disaster for everyone.
The battles are given lots of detail and attention, but the rest of the items in the plot, not so much.
There were multiple things problematic that carried over from the first book. The primary two being a lack of character development and details about the culture of the world. It's not enough to throw around some noble's names and note the climate is hot. Not enough immersion.
With The Dinosaur Knights, the largest issue was Melodía. It's unfortunate, as she does position herself as as a strong female character, but her involvement in the plot doesn't make sense.
One, she lacked motivation. When she got to the Garden, she had no thoughts about her next step. Even if her next step was hiding out in the Garden for the unforeseeable future. Throughout the story, there is nothing driving her. She experiences confusion in her love for Jaume, which prevents her from running to him, but that isn't motivation.
Second, she immediately is introduced to Rob and Karyl and involves herself in their military activities. She decides to join their ragtag army, and then all of a sudden, with absolutely no scenes to show it, Rob and Karyl have a conversation that she is very talented and she can command a unit of soldiers.
This is a princess, who had some weapons training, but I am most certain that type of training doesn't equal military strategy prowess and battle smarts. Because she's commanding a unit, she gets to be involved in a lot of decisions.
Third, why would Rob and Karyl allow her to fight? She's a princess in exile, and they are going to fight against her father and lover. She is a bargaining chip. I would have liked at least a dialogue that Rob and Karyl didn't care what happened to her or something, some sort of explanation, but there is none.
Fourth, any female character around her met an untimely demise.
It's clear Milán wanted Melodía, Rob, and Karyl to all be in the same place at once and get to know each other. However, the way in which it was done was not organic. Melodía had little agency and just went along for the ride.
The favorite character is definitely Rob. He gets the most development, what little there is of it, but his character traits kept getting really repetitive. He's a womanizer, understood.
There are lots of battle scenes and lots of action. There is a plot point in the middle of the book or so that makes things really interesting. However, Milán misses the chance to describe some crazy events, opting out for characters to summarize instead.
Shiraa the dinosaur has a few povs. Otherwise, the dinosaurs are just backdrop, sadly. I wish an author would do some sort of Dinotopia like story.
The romance/sex scenes aren't great. The love triangle felt so icky to me.
I really like the concept of dinosaurs in a fantasy novel. I got an overwhelming sense this world is going to turn out to be an Ann McCaffrey Pern situation, which is set up right in the prologue. I really hope it doesn't go that way, and is more original.
Overall, it's more of the first book, albeit with a tighter story that didn't seem as confusing, which is why it got one more star from me. If you read the first one, however your feelings on that will probably be the same as this one.
There's a lot to pick on in this book, but I thought the pacing was good and it didn't feel slow.
The events pick up right after the first book ends. Melodía and Pilar have escaped from the castle, and are heading into the next country over, Francia, to take refuge at a religious order. Karyl and Rob are on trial for the aftermath of the Providence battle, although it's clear the fault of the mistakes are with the nobles.
It's not long before Melodía and Pilar reach their destination of the Garden of Truth and Beauty. This is the same religious order that has been heavily involved with Rob and Karyl's doings, so it's inevitable the main characters meet up.
The first half of the book is akin to a building phase. The characters are preparing for another battle, and there's rumor of a dangerous Grey Angel appearing, which may spell disaster for everyone.
The battles are given lots of detail and attention, but the rest of the items in the plot, not so much.
There were multiple things problematic that carried over from the first book. The primary two being a lack of character development and details about the culture of the world. It's not enough to throw around some noble's names and note the climate is hot. Not enough immersion.
With The Dinosaur Knights, the largest issue was Melodía. It's unfortunate, as she does position herself as as a strong female character, but her involvement in the plot doesn't make sense.
One, she lacked motivation. When she got to the Garden, she had no thoughts about her next step. Even if her next step was hiding out in the Garden for the unforeseeable future. Throughout the story, there is nothing driving her. She experiences confusion in her love for Jaume, which prevents her from running to him, but that isn't motivation.
Second, she immediately is introduced to Rob and Karyl and involves herself in their military activities. She decides to join their ragtag army, and then all of a sudden, with absolutely no scenes to show it, Rob and Karyl have a conversation that she is very talented and she can command a unit of soldiers.
This is a princess, who had some weapons training, but I am most certain that type of training doesn't equal military strategy prowess and battle smarts. Because she's commanding a unit, she gets to be involved in a lot of decisions.
Third, why would Rob and Karyl allow her to fight? She's a princess in exile, and they are going to fight against her father and lover. She is a bargaining chip. I would have liked at least a dialogue that Rob and Karyl didn't care what happened to her or something, some sort of explanation, but there is none.
Fourth, any female character around her met an untimely demise.
It's clear Milán wanted Melodía, Rob, and Karyl to all be in the same place at once and get to know each other. However, the way in which it was done was not organic. Melodía had little agency and just went along for the ride.
The favorite character is definitely Rob. He gets the most development, what little there is of it, but his character traits kept getting really repetitive. He's a womanizer, understood.
There are lots of battle scenes and lots of action. There is a plot point in the middle of the book or so that makes things really interesting. However, Milán misses the chance to describe some crazy events, opting out for characters to summarize instead.
Spoiler
The part when Melodía saves Jeanette from Raguel.Shiraa the dinosaur has a few povs. Otherwise, the dinosaurs are just backdrop, sadly. I wish an author would do some sort of Dinotopia like story.
The romance/sex scenes aren't great. The love triangle
Spoiler
Melodía, Bogardus, and VioletteI really like the concept of dinosaurs in a fantasy novel. I got an overwhelming sense this world is going to turn out to be an Ann McCaffrey Pern situation, which is set up right in the prologue. I really hope it doesn't go that way, and is more original.
Overall, it's more of the first book, albeit with a tighter story that didn't seem as confusing, which is why it got one more star from me. If you read the first one, however your feelings on that will probably be the same as this one.
There's a lot to pick on in this book, but I thought the pacing was good and it didn't feel slow.
rubeusbeaky's review against another edition
3.0
A good sequel, but for some reason not as engrossing as the first? I admit that could entirely be a Me thing. But I found that the descriptions of dinosaur-rider combat were new and exciting in the first book, and tedious repetition in this one. I found Melodia to not be treated seriously enough, for the whole book to be more vulgar than the first... Nitpicky things. And I found the central conflict to be too derivative of Game of Thrones. Can we say "White Walkers"?
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
2.0
I actually enjoyed this one far less than the first. Have no fear, I intend to read the third book, and there are parts of this book that are great.
As many other reviewers have pointed, this book does pass the Bechel test. When the women talk to each other, they do not talk about men.
And yet, there is something off about the women in the book. We are given several characters to follow, of those, the only woman is Melodia, who was wonderful in the first book but seems to have been dosed with stupid pills in this one. And yes, considering the rape and imprisonment she underwent in the first book, some mental issues are not surprising. But this stupid? Additionally, it is strange that the male buddies tend to survive bu Melodia's women friends don't. In particular the death of Pilar came across very badly for several reasons. It felt overly violent with the description of the raptor juggling her breast. It felt like too much titataltion. It also felt like fridging because it was used to show angst for Rob and Melodia. Both of whom seemed to recover rather quickly .
Additionally, some of the plot points felt off - like where Melodia decides to go.
Yet, I loved the ending battle.
As many other reviewers have pointed, this book does pass the Bechel test. When the women talk to each other, they do not talk about men.
And yet, there is something off about the women in the book. We are given several characters to follow, of those, the only woman is Melodia, who was wonderful in the first book but seems to have been dosed with stupid pills in this one. And yes, considering the
Additionally, some of the plot points felt off - like where Melodia decides to go.
Yet, I loved the ending battle.
olsenc's review against another edition
3.0
I feel as if the story started out a bit slow for me, but the second half of the book certainly lived up to the hype.
librarimans's review against another edition
4.0
A little more meandering than the first book, but still an enjoyable read
riduidel's review against another edition
2.0
Dans ce second tome, la princesse outragée rejoint évidemment le mercenaire trahi, les comploteurs complotent, et tout ça se termine ferment dans un affrontement final où, surprise (parce qu'il y en a), tous les personnages suivis dans ces deux rôles se retrouvent curieusement dans le même camp contre... Une armée de pseudo zombies (oui, je divulgache crapuleusement). Et là, je dois bien avouer que ça fait un peu trop tarte à la crème pour moi.
Résultat, un roman distrayant, mais dont le plus grand charme est dans le titre.
Résultat, un roman distrayant, mais dont le plus grand charme est dans le titre.
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