Cryptozoica [Kindle Edition]

A perennial hot button issue in science and religion is on the origin of life. Were humans created by God--in which case, whose God?--or by evolution or by something else entirely? In "Cryptozoica," Mark Ellis adds fuel to the fire by offering another theory on the origin of man that involves dinosaurs and some very special goo.

Like "The Da Vinci Code," the story also involves secret societies. In this case it's the School of Night, an ultra-secret club of scholars that included Charles Darwin himself. In the book's prologue, we learn that Darwin and the crew of the Beagle ran across the Tamtung islands, which were home to some very weird creatures. They didn't really know what to call them since the word "dinosaur" hadn't been invented yet.

Skip forward to the present. "Tombstone" Jack Kavanaugh is living on Little Tamtung along with his friend Crowe. They, along with an eccentric billionaire, tried to start a sort of Jurassic Park/dinosaur safari on Big Tamtung, but the venture was shut down after three people died. Now the School of Night is getting involved, along with some Asian gangsters who helped bankroll the original venture. This means that Jack, Crowe, and some new and old friends all have to return to Big Tamtung and unlock its secrets.

What secrets are those? You'll just have to read to find out.

"Cryptozoica" is a taut and engaging pulp adventure. If I have one complaint, it's that there wasn't enough of a body count. I wanted the dinos to munch a few more people. Still, this is a fun, exciting read with some great illustrations too that should bring to mind old school adventure stories like "The Lost World" while adding a little modern science and conspiracy theory to the mix to freshen it up.

That is all.

This was a very busy and exciting book. I wanted to continue reading to find out what happened next. The storyline was good with some true things and a little fiction mixed. I loved it!

Cryptozoica is a rollicking adventure, a cross between a modern crime novel and a classic Lost World tale. It features vivid, compelling characters (my favorite is Mouzi) and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Not content with just people and dinosaurs, Ellis throws in a Triad gang war, a hidden society, a vast ages-spanning conspiracy, and hints at the beginnings of civilization, and perhaps the origins of life on Earth as well. Of course, there are plenty of pulse-pounding dinosaur scenes, too. This book has something for everyone, while -- at the same time -- retaining a tight and easy-to-follow narrative. Fisticuffs? Got it! Swordplay? Got that! Gun-Fu to do John Woo proud? You betcha! Loathsome villains & flawed heroes? Yep! Menacing dinosaurs & grizzly deaths? Cryptozoica's got those, too, in spades!

The only two drawbacks I had with the book were: 1) It wasn't available for Kindle, and 2) it suffers from a few typos and typesetting problems. The type issues, however, are no more than one usually finds in smaller press books -- and, frankly, not many more than one finds in big New-York-conglomerate publisher editions nowadays. The occasional funny line break or typo, though, is well worth having a book like this, which might never have seen the light of day if left to "A-List" publishers.

So, many thanks to the small press enterprise that published Cryptozoica, and even more thanks to Mark Ellis for bringing us such an entertaining Jurassic (or, more properly, Cretaceous) page-turner!