Dragon Teeth: Michael Crichton

It is over ten years since Michael Crichton passed away, and this is the third novel of his published posthumously. According to an afterword by his widow, the text of this novel was written in 1974, and presaged his famous interest in dinosaurs through the Jurassic Park franchise. This novel is set during the so called Bone Wars of the 1870s, when bitter rival archaeologists Professors Cope and Marsh competed using unscrupulous tactics to identify, disinter and preserve dinosaur bones found in then remote parts of the USA, in this case the Black Hills of Dakota, sacred to the Sioux Native Americans. The central character is a fictional student William Johnson who during the course of the story works for both professors, is attacked by numerous parties of Native Americans and Western gunslingers, while trying to preserve some of the bones from Cope's expedition, from which he was separated, believed to have been killed in an ambush. This is a decent page turner and a very quick, superficially enjoyable read, but lacked substance for me.

Not what I was expecting but a good read all the same. The picture is misleading though. The dragon teeth of the title do not belong to the T-Rex skull pictured on the front. I thought it would be about the discovery of the first Tyrannosaurus. It isn't. I won't say anymore. I don't feel a huge presence of Michael Chrichton in this book, it feels like it was pieced together from rough notes and as a consequence, it's no Jurassic park, but if you are interested in palaeontology then it is a pretty good novel.

Pretty disappointing book. It was put together by others after Michael Crichton's death from notes etc he had left and it shows. This wasn't clear when I downloaded it

A great entertaining read,as per Michael Crichton books well researched,informative,and just a Great read,loads of adventures for the unlikely hero,and great descriptions of a lawless wild west,funny as well,am revisiting this great author,and this was a unknown gem to find,thoroughly recommended

I am a bit biased as i love Michael Crichton's books.Again a fab read, with a slightly different tone to the story compared to other books i have written by Crichton.If you like Crichton-do buy, but be prepared it is slightly different.History, (American,) Paleontology, exploration fans will especially like this book.

Initially pleased to find a Michael Crichton book I hadn't read but this bears no resemblance to those other novels . I found it dry and the characters one dimensional, a real disappointment

This book is really good fun - it's got plenty of excitement and action, and it isn't 'just' about dinosaur bones. There's death, betrayal, espionage, a wild-west shootout... all based around a historical scientific expedition.

Wow what a book, only wish this book had been published before Jurassic park a great book by a great author thanks