Customer Reviews

Dinotopia: First Flight

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There can be no doubt that James Gurney's painting are absolulty lovely, whimsical, thoughtful, interesting and beautiful. I enjoyed both "Dinotopia" and "Dinotopia The World Beneath". "Dinotopia First Flight", however does not come close to the these two in story or character development. It has cookie cutter characters and is quite predictable. The game included is of little interest to children. The pictures are great, but I'm disappointed.

If you haven't bought the first two Dinotopia books (Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath), buy them. They are surely two of the greatest books in almost any genre written in the last 30 years. If you have, read them again instead of buying this. It is a big disappointment and is basically just an average book. But, I would recommend looking at it at a bookstore also, just in case you think it is worth the money...

I just have to say this. He's my very favorite illustrator. His first 2 books are 2 of the best books I bought. But this one is inferior by fay to the other 2 books. Maybe he didn't have time, or the editer had bad taste. It's really sad to see it happens that the quality drops dramatically. But I hope Mr. Garney reads this and think about it. Because every one of us expects a lot from one of the greatest illustrator of our time.

I found the story very lacking, but the lustrations are up to par, above in some cases. I noticed that most of the other reviews were four stars. In my opinion, that means the illustrations are enough to carry the book. Illustrations of this caliber normally are.

compared to the other Dinotopia books (all of which I enjoyed) this is a atrocity. James Gurney's illustrations are still interesting and wonderful, but as others have said, the plot and characters are cookie cutter thin. The one liners spouted out by the non-human characters will make you cringe. I just hope Gurney can make another book and cleanse his now tainted name.

Dinotopia:First Flight is a book about a boy named Gileon,who is being tracked down by an evil person named Roff Stricker because he is not doing his schoolwork.He makes some friends named Budge,Binny,Bandy and Bongo(Short nam is the 4 B's)that help Gideon out of his dangerous adventure.If you like dinos and robots you will like this book.

While I am a huge fan of the Dinotopia series overall, I felt that First Flight somehow failed to capture the charm that makes the other books so wonderful. The narrative, though action-packed, was not quite as engaging as I had come to expect from the series. Of course, the visuals are the main reason anybody buys a Dinotopia book, but surprisingly, even these did not capture my imagination the same way as previous and subsequent titles. Though James Gurney is a master illustrator and the paintings that grace the pages of this book are very well-done, again, somehow a certain bit a charm seems to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, it is still a beautiful book, and I don't think any fan of Dinotopia or dinosaurs in general would regret buying it, but I would recommend buying the other books in the series first, and save this one to complete your collection later.

As with the rest of Gurney's books, First Flight contains an abundance of fine, detailed and beautiful artwork. I can't tell whether his imagination or artistry is better, but both are beyond fantastic.

This story tells the tale of a young boy years before the current events of his other books, and how he had fought alongside dinosaurs against machinery that was threatening to barricade the harmony between man and dinosaur.
To me, this story is much shorter and much less "sophisticated" than his other books; it seems more geared towards the younger crowd than the others were (but I'm not saying the others weren't for all ages, just that this one didn't seem as complex).

The story was short, yes, but it did eventually develop quite nicely and ended satisfactorily. A good read for Dinotopia fans, but it's not a huge loss if you don't get the chance to read this one. If you don't read the others, though, then shame on you!

My 1st grade son received this book for Christmas and was thrilled with the story and has studied the pictures by the hour. We are looking forward to working our way through the older Dinotopia stories now. I was surprised that this book was not reviewed as highly as the other books so now have some very high expectations. This shorter story was a nice way for my 7 year old to be introduced some serious fiction without scaring him with bulky text. It is a nice change from Pokemon.

This was a great book. I was completely astonished by the beauty of the illustrations and the descriptive nature of the text. I personally find the original title the best, but this one is up to par.