Author Brent A Harris turns reviewer as he delivers his verdict on the pre-historic pulse-pounding pulp prose that is Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen, by Daniel M Bensen.
Time travel,
alternate timelines, dinosaurs. That was more than enough to interest me in
Daniel M Bensen’s Groom of the
Tyrannosaur Queen. And, while the title implies that it has more in common
with Taken by a Pteranodan than pulp
sci-fi, (other than a couple salacious scenes and some bits of violence
befitting a Zack Snyder Batman film), Bensen crafts a rather high-brow look at
a lost colony, complete with dimensionalities: language, ethics, and culture/religion.
In other words, it is not a caveman-meets-woman/angel-of-the-future-love-story—well,
it is that, but it also has a depth, which is unexpected in the day of
self-published works.
Trals Scarback is
Conan the Barbarian with a brain, the Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Mesozoic. He
lives for conquest, revenge, and to bathe in the blood of those who would
enslave him. In other words, he’s a pretty decent guy. His plan for Cretaceous
conquest is hampered a bit in the beginning by his capture and the untimely
arrival of a time machine. Out of this ‘Ship of Years’ emerge four travelers,
led by Andrea, a former special forces operative in a future-gone-mad by peace
and bureaucracy (which just proves my theory that DMV employees are far more
effective weapons than armored tanks). The four time-travelers wear
super-powered suits that make them all but invincible weapons in an age where
nearly everything can kill you. Thus, Bensen begins an engaging dialogue which
asks, what is true power and what is
leadership? in a narrative that can sometimes plod along like a long-necked
sauropod or dart like a razor-toed deinonychus, until it crashes like a T-Rex
through an un-electrified fence in a twisting climax.
The first half of the
book feels unfocused as there are too many characters and too many short
snippets that make the reader ask: who is
the story supposed to be about? and why
should I care about all these people? This is straightened out by the last
half of the book as plot lines resolve and characters are… well, just like in
Walking Dead, it is not the dinosaurs you have to worry about—it’s the people.
As the herd is thinned, the narration, combined with the real-feel of this
paleo-world, culminates in a much better-than-average story for a
self-published work—particularly from a debut novelist. There are real stakes,
real bits of character growth, and real meaning to what is essentially a fun
and pulpy Sci-Fi story. There are so many times a less skilled author would have
made a mistake, but Bensen deftly sidesteps.
Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen is a refreshing dime-store novel with
thematic purpose that ultimately overcomes an unfocused beginning to deliver
dinosaurs (with feathers!), cavemen with culture, and a fierce warrior queen
astride a rampaging T-Rex.
AI Rating: 4/5
You can grab your
copy here http://amzn.com/B018UD6DH2
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