Ratings32
Average rating3.4
The year is 1876. Among the warring Indian tribes and lawless gold-rush towns of America's western territories, two paleontologists pillage the Wild West. They are hunting for dinosaur fossils, while surveilling, deceiving and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars. Into this treacherous territory plunges the arrogant and entitled Yale student William Johnson. Determined to survive a summer in the west to win a bet, William has joined world-renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his latest expedition. But Marsh becomes convinced that William is spying for his nemesis, Edwin Drinker Cope, so he abandons him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a locus of crime and vice. Soon William joins forces with Cope and stumbles upon a discovery of historic proportions. The struggle to protect this extraordinary treasure tests William's newfound resilience, and pits him against some of the West's most dangerous and notorious characters.
Reviews with the most likes.
Solid 3. There was some fun and interesting action sequences, but the characters were poorly developed. It was clear this was an early, unpolished work. Overall, semi enjoyable, but unremarkable.
One of three posthumous Crichton books. The protagonist is flat and the dialogue bland. I think that the novel has not been fully developed.
Surprisingly good. I really like the postscripts by the author and his widow about the historical basic for the book and Crichton's interest.