What do You think about West Of Eden (2004)?
Whoa, what a ride! Here are some quick & random points:1. Amazing portrayal of Yileni culture and advanced biotechnology. Very vivid and creative. 2. Vast differences of Tanu (humans) and the Yileni (reptiles) made the extreme xenophobia of both species very much understandable. Solid Othering on both sides.3. Rampant anthropocentrism even though there was no right or wrong side. I could even argue that it was the human who started it all. Yet the book sided with them. Not exactly disagreeable but slightly disappointing.4. A reptiloid female mounting a human male? No, just no. *shivers*5. Kerrick's character development was amazing, absolutely brilliant and well done. 6. What's up with that hideous cover? 7. Again and again, I was convinced that information is a great weapon, as well as the ability to change and adapt.8. Interesting take on pacifism and its moral dilemma in a highly militaristic setting.9. (view spoiler)[Fire shouldn't have spread that fast in forest, especially without any other flammable substance. Too convenient as a plot device. (hide spoiler)]
—Idan
Got through an hour of audiobook. Absolutely unbearable. About tribal conflicts or something between the humans and dinosaurs, with ample flavor text in their own languages for no reason. Also for no reason, the dinosaurs travel in some sort or semisentient whale or peliosaur, and it just makes no sense without pictures and why on earth make a book about an alternate timeline with sentient dinosaurs if you're going to make bizarre tech for them?Its just another story of cultures with wildly incompatible technology levels, only the humans are hunter gatherer level and therefor both useless and unrelateable. Arg how did this get recommended to me.
—Inukie
Very engaging book - a lot of fun to read, and also very intelligently imagined and executed. The plot was fairly snappy if also fairly predictable, and the characters were vividly rendered but on the flat side, with the exception of the two main protagonists. This is definitely a work where the world-building shines much more than the plot or characterization, but on the other hand, the world-building was truly remarkable. The visualization of how language and technology might have developed among the descendants of rainforest-dwelling dinosaurs was fascinating and thoroughly worked out. As a linguist, it was very enjoyable to explore the concept of a language that combined voluntary and involuntary gesture along with vocalization in a way that precludes lying. The dinosaurs' technology involved biotech that replicated most technology present in the human world circa 1970, but accomplished through the genetic engineering of highly specialized organisms. Extraordinarily creative and systematic at the same time.
—Andrew Dombrowski
