Book Review: Dinotopia - Windchaser (Series)

The Dinotopia series of books for kids uses the setting established in James Gurneys' original illustrated book to continue telling further stories of a land where dinosaurs never died out, and in fact evolved intelligent brains capable of society and language. They inhabit a remote island hidden by tides and weather from anyone other than shipwrecked castaways, who have integrated their various cultures into one harmonious civilization with the dinosaurs to achieve... well, a utopia. It's farfetched in a lot of ways, even if you can get past the basic premise. You may want to spend some time explaining concepts to younger readers; I for one didn't want to let some of the assumptions about the perfect society portrayed in the book slip by without a little discussion first.

The plot of Windchaser is fairly simplistic. However, one of the two protagonists (both apparently preteen boys) loses his father right off the bat in a prison ship mutiny. During the mutiny the ship is destroyed by a freak wave and the two boys are the only ones to survive. They are carried to an island by some helpful dolphins, and they soon discover the secret of Dinotopia. A heavy way to start such a simply-written book. Younger readers will need some supervision in order to understand some of the more complex philosophy, moral questions, and emotional undertones that come up throughout the book; older readers will be put off by the extremely basic plot and underdeveloped characters.