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Top of the pile
79
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
64/100Critics
93/100Scholars
Author:
Thomas Halliday
Publisher:
Random House
Date:
February 1, 2022
Mining the most recent paleontological advances, a paleobiologist recreates 16 extinct worlds, rendered with a novelist's eye for detail and drama, showing up close the intricate relationships of these ancient worlds.
What The Reviewers Say
Wonderful.
Densely detailed.
Much of Otherlands is written in the present tense, which feels a bit creepy until the reader gets into the rhythm, at which point the narrative becomes shockingly real and immediate, as individual dramas and entire, vibrant panoramas unfold in what feels like real time.
A brilliant series of reconstructions of life in the deep past, richly imagined from the fine details of the fossil record ...There are passing hints of how particular fossils were formed, and why specific locations yielded a rich haul, but the details are passed by – if you wan that kind of thing you will have to follow up the extensive notes. The exposition is also mercifully light on the cliches of Attenborough-style narration, where every scene seems to be either a mating opportunity or a meal.
