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Title | The Dinosaur Lords
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Author | Victor Milan
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | 2012
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First Printing | 2015
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Title | The Dinosaur Knigts
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Author | Victor Milan
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Cover Art | TK
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Publisher | Tor - 2016
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First Printing | Tor - 2016
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Category | Fantasy
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Warnings | Violence
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Main Characters | Karyl Bogomirsky, Melodia, Rob, Falk, Jaume, Raguel
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Main Elements | Dinosaurs, angels
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Website | victormilan.com
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 The Dinosaur Lords
The Dinosaur Knights
"It's like a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones." --George R. R. Martin
Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.
Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn't help him one bit.
Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.
And they have come to rid the world of sin...including all the humans who manifest those vices.
THE DINOSAUR KNIGHTS is the second in Victor Milan's lush, exotic tale about knights. Knights riding dinosaurs.
Now normally I don't start a series with the second book, but when I went back to read the reviews of the first book there was a lot of talk of rape and gratuitous violence, so I decided to just start with the one I have. So yes, I had some catching up to do as to the back stories of the characters, and what I found more difficult, the world as a whole. But it was doable, so I could still enjoy what I was reading.
As for gratuitous sex and violence, didn't find any here. Yes there were some gruesome, violent scenes, but they were at war after all, and didn't find anything over the top. Based on other reviews here, the second book is apparently toned down from the first. I thought it was about right. After all, if you're talking about a T-Rex, there's going to be some blood and dismemberment...
So why did I pick up this book? Dinosaurs. As I kid I watched a weekend morning cartoon called Dino Riders and really loved it. Now like I said I didn't read the first book, so not sure how the dinosaurs came about in the first place. I'm pretty sure they are on a different planet than Earth, not back in prehistoric times, and they do have horses too, which makes for interesting military strategy. But anyway, every fantasy is allowed to demand one "this is the fantastical basis of the world, take it as is" and then everything needs to make sense based on that. And it did. How people cared for them, rode them, used them in war or for labour or as pets or for the hunt. Or trying to avoid an allosaurus that might have wandered into your backyard...I think one of my favorite characters was Shiraa.
I also enjoyed the way this new world was made up of old world countries. The names are a little different but England, Ireland, Spain, France, etc are all there. The names people have, their languages, etc. The world building was good. And the characters were varied and interesting too. I think one reviewer asked why we don't get to see anything from Karyl's POV, but when you have a mysterious and enigmatic key character, you maintain that by only exploring him through his interactions and the thoughts of others. If you were in his head, he wouldn`t be nearly so interesting.
And the supernatural aspect, the Grey Angels. I get the feeling they are more science fiction than fantastical (Uriel and Raguel discussing making "copies" of themselves, like computer programs), but I don't really know what they are. Did I miss that from the first book, or is that the big mystery still to be explained? Either way, they are pretty scary and interesting.
So not sure I'll risk rape and violence to read the first book, I don't feel I missed that much. But I am hooked, I want to know what happens next. Particularly when it comes to Karyl and the Grey Angels.
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