Customer Reviews

Footprints of Thunder

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I loved the whole story line and the characters involved. Just the idea of having a time-quilt effect bring the past(millions of years ago) exist with the present was interesting to see what consequences resulted. I loved the New York City portion of the story with the old lady and the Iguanadon, she just took the whole situation in stride with life. The author writes very descriptive of what the country looks like after the quilting happens, I was able to see the steamy jungle like swamp next to the towering New York apartments. I had a great time with this book.

After quenching my dinosaur thirst with 'The Lost World' (a great sequel, by the way) I happened to fall upon 'Footprints of Thunder' quite by accident, and figured the plot sounded decent enough to give it a go. I have to say I was glad I took the risk. As another reader mentioned, the overall premise is at best ludicrous...but c'mon! It's DINOSAURS we're talking about, you pretty much HAVE to suspend your belief in order to fall for it in the first place. But after you DO...well that is when this book takes off.

Author David sets us up with all kinds of odd phenomenon that has happened not just in the novel, but in real life, too. Accounts of it raining fish miles away from the nearest lake or river and a few other unexplainable occurances (some of which ARE from the authors imagination). Then, all-of-a-sudden--the landscape of the entire planet is changed in the twinkling of an eye. Parts of earth remain the same, but OTHERS suddenly become earth of the past...the WAAAAY PAST. Now we've got dinosaurs walking the streets of New York City. Sound interesting? I have to admit once I got past the odd premise, I really enjoyed 'Footprints of Thunder' very much. Was it better than 'Jurassic Park'? I don't think it even comes CLOSE. But hey, for a great beach read or something to pass the time on a long flight, it makes for a fun escape into the partial-world of the paleolithic. Overall, not bad.

If you love dinosaurs, whether they're fierce and terrifying or cuddly and sympathetic, this book is for you.

If you like violent, bloody, non-stop action, this book is for you.

If you like big budget, end-of-the-world disaster epics, this book is for you.

If you want a plot that weaves Big Foot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, weird falling objects, the Bermuda Triangle, spontaneous human combustion, and ancient Babylonian prophecies into one tidy paranormal thread, this book is for you.

If you're looking for a convincing science fiction story about time travel . . . forget it! The plot is outright ridiculous!

Billions of people, all over the earth, are transported -- overnight -- into the Late Cretaceous because of hydrogen bomb tests carried out in the 1950s and 60s?

I mean . . . really!

But if you're willing to suspend your disbelief, this book is fast-paced and entertaining. The dinosaurs themselves are a real treat. I actually liked this book better than Jurassic Park.

Let me apologize ahead of time. I must have read a different book from most of the previous reviewers. It has the same title and even some of the same action, but I missed the majority of what the other reviewers read. I will agree that the action is good when it is good. I will agree that the book has a great premise. But when the back cover blurb compares it to "a classic end-of -the-world novel in the tradition of Lucifer's Hammer",ARGHHHHH! (That's dinosaursese for "PU-lease!) About the only comparison I could find was the "dramatic personae" listing. This story has WAY to many characters and none as richly developed as Harvey, Tim, Maureen or Arthur. The time quilting premise is novel, although the explanation of the origins are a little fuzzy. The "fix" is worse than an angora ranch. What was the deal with "the group"? How did the moon and the future, etc. work it's way into the relevance of the story? Did the President's science advisor ever get anywhere with his theories? The cruise missiles fly, but what happened? Did the plan work? Was the science advisor right or wrong? Which science advisor had the correct theory? What happened to the Willamette, and so on? Did Atlanta cease its flux? There are way to many loose ends in this story. I realize that not everything has to be all nicely wrapped up at the end, but dang, there were more starts and stops than rush hour traffic! What happened to Kenny? Terry and Bill's excellent adventure to D.C., Huh? Let's go into a forest and explore and then when a T.Rex comes by and eats a few idiots, lets not get the hell out of here! The whole moon theory that just kind of lies there. The ending with Petra and Colter and the burying of notes, etc, I just didn't get the explanation. The sequence with the sailing family was great. The novel could have been so much better! I guess that's what editors are for. Compress the character list, snip off some extraneous story lines (the whole Hawaiian connection) and you have a leaner, meaner plot line. By the way, there was zero mention of what happened to the quilted areas that were shifted into the past. That could have been a great parallel story line. And just to be one, did you notice the footprints on the cover. I didn't realize that dinos hopped around leaving side-by-side footprints. Maybe it's just me. The moral of the story is be sure to have plenty of sugar on hand for any guests that might wander by, and oh, watch out for street gangs, I've read that they can be hazardous to your health.

Those who accuse James F. David of using an idea that has all ready been done, have not read the book. This science-fiction thriller is one hundred percent original and once again gives full credit to the meaning of its genre. In addition, this book is also written in the format of a good disaster movie. Good characters, amazing plot, and a powerful concept, Footprints of Thunder is an ode to David's talents.

This is James F. David's first novel and what an original winner. Through unexplained events in time and space, prehistoric animals and prehistoric jungles suddenly start appearing in our world of the 20th century. As the giant beasts hunt for humans and roam the ravaged cities, humanity must find a solution to reverse these unexplained events. A great book with great characters, writing, story line and concept.

This book is full of action and it keeps you interested until the end, But its at the end when you realize how much was left unfinished. Like a bad episode of the X-files, it leaves the veiwer (in this case the reader) with absolutely no closure. The extent of the plots left abandoned and the questions left unanswered are so numerous no 1000 word review would come close to covering it. It is clear the author, James F. David, did not set out to write a compelling action novel about the consequences of Dinosaurs interacting with Humans, but rather used this as an excuse to vent his cynisism and frustration over modern society. Just to make sure you know how ticked off he is, he leaves the reader "hanging" at the end, hoping we will join him in his angst. Thank you, no. I will simply forget these past two days and remember never to pick up another one of his novels again. Incidentally, the two stars were given becasue it is well written and at least in regards to the creatures themselves, very descriptive. Also, the action begins early and continues to the end. Call me old fashioned, though. I like a novel that ties up its loose ends. When the reader is purposely left unfulfilled, it ruins the experience for me. For that, I cannot recommend this book.

As I said in the title, don't judge this book by the jacket description, which is corny beyond belief and also made the book sound really unfocused! I picked this book up at a used book store only because it promised there would be dinosaurs running amok and eating people, so I thought it would be fun. I'm SO glad I gave it a chance! Lots of people are saying that there were too many plot lines, and yes, there were one or two that really weren't necessary to the story, but I still enjoyed them all. All of the characters were well thought out and were believably human. With the wide variety of characters, you can see all of the different ways that individuals cope under stress - whether it be danger, or adaptability - which was very interesting, and probably very accurate, considering the author is apparently a psychologist. In fact, I got pretty attached to most of the characters and so with some of the rather sudden, violent deaths that I did not always see coming, it rather felt like they had just slipped through my fingers.

The studies in human behavior weren't the only interesting part, though. I found the scientific theories behind the time quilting to be very interesting. I haven't the faintest idea of how sound or far-fetched these ideas might be, since I know NOTHING about physics, but they definitely made sense and added a very fun dimension to the plot. One way or the other, this book got me interested maybe reading more about physics.

Even jumping from plot to plot, the story is pretty fast paced. It also kept me guessing the entire time as scientists try to figure out the cause of, and then a way to stop the time quilts, not to mention whether or not certain characters would ever make it out of the primeval jungles alive! The action was great and really got my heart pounding - James F. David really has no problem creating a clear mental picture for you, complete with smells and sounds. Some of the descriptions and events were just chilling!

I'm not giving this book 5 stars because it's a great work of literature or anything like that, but simply because I enjoyed reading it so much! It grabbed me quickly and wouldn't let go. I was up until 7 a.m. reading before I finished it. Then I was so excited to read the next book (but I let myself sleep first). If not for the fact that there IS a second book, I might have had to knock a star off my review, because there were a few things left unexplained at the end of the book, but those things become the plot of book two and ARE explained, so I'm happy!

If you want a really fun quick read, this is the book for you!

Unless a book is just seriously bad or encredibly long, I generally get it read in 8-24 hours. I finished this novel in about 18. James David's Footprints of Thunder has a great premise and some excellent storylines, but I must agree with some of the other reviewers - TOO MANY STORYLINES! As well, many of these storylines are completely ignored at the end of the novel and I was left wondering what happened. You don't have to agree with how a book ends, but you should at least get to KNOW how it ends.

All in all, this author had some good ideas and kept my attention the whole way through. I think he just had too many things going on in the novel and couldn't spare the time to wrap them all up and leave us with a sense of satisfaction.

Who cares if it's "scientifically realistic" or if dinos had teeth! This is fun, apocalyptic escapism. I couldn't put the book down! Ok, I'm a bit partial to a "hometown" boy, but James F. David can spin a fantastic yarn, and his characters are sympathetic and believable. Not to mention a plot that's simply a rollicking good time! :) Try his other books, too!