Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton by Karen S. Wiesner

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

by Karen S. Wiesner  

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Dragon Teeth was published in 2017, nine years after the author's death, although it was a book Michael Crichton actually wrote in 1974. It's touted as a historical fiction forerunner to his mega-successful Jurassic Park. Right upfront, I'll state as I did about my review for State of Fear by Crichton a few weeks ago that Dragon Teeth really doesn't have anything to do with aliens in any form, despite that the author is known for including elements of that type in his work and despite the title and really cool cover for this. However, in the vein that sometimes books about the future of humanity as well as historical accounts of it, albeit fictionalized, sometimes do seem very outlandish to modern readers can Dragon Teeth be considered alien. 

Set in 1876's Bone Wars (otherwise known as the Great Dinosaur Rush), when fossil hunting was at the height of competition, this story follows two fictional students of paleontology engaged in a heated rivalry that strains the boundaries of everything legal and moral--similar to real-life paleontologists during that time period, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. William Johnson is a Yale student, his rival Marlin. During a fossil hunting expedition in the Badlands, things go from bad to worse, just as one can expect in the Wild West (and yes, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok do make appearances). 

There were rumors of National Geographic adapting the novel into a TV series that follows the notoriety of Cope and Marsh's intense rivalry during a time of fossil discovery and speculation. I'm not sure if anything ever happened with it, but it would be interesting for those who want to find out more about how fossil hunting first began in America. 

While this story is good and has all the elements of suspense, fantastic characters, and a historical-event studded setting and plot, I'm not a huge fan of Westerns and this book is, at its heart, the best kind of Western. I read and mildly enjoyed it for what it was. Those with an interest in that genre or who want to know more about early paleontology won't be disappointed. 

I can't help wondering why the author wrote this whole book during the time he was probably also working on other early action/adventure novels like The Terminal Man and The Great Train Robbery. Why did he never go back to Dragon Teeth, never try to get it published, as he surely could have during the height of his popularity? Did he find it lacking as several reviewers did following its posthumous release? Any answer I can come up leads me to also question what the author would have thought about this work he abandoned being published at all. But I guess that doesn't matter now, even if it should. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

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