Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I anticipated this to be a Jurassic Park x Pirates of the Caribbean type adventure and it was more an ARK survival x Pirates of the Caribbean type adventure. This didn't phase me at all, just a note for other folks who are interested!

Now for the review: holy moly, I had a blast reading this book! It was a rollicking, occasionally gory and raunchy adventure with plenty of pirates and dinosaurs. Despite the fantastical events, the historical elements (namely pirate and dinosaur stuff) was clearly meticulously researched. I also found the characters to be very endearing despite their rough and tumble demeanor (I mean they're all pirates, so that's a given). I also found the villain quite complex! For an action/adventure romp, this book surprised me with both its great sense of humor and huge amount of heart.

My one complaint about the book was the storyline jumps at the beginning. These felt very theatrical and I think had this been a film, it would be clearer when the narrative dipped back into the past. As it is in written form, sometimes these shifts weren't very obvious from the get go and it took me a little too long to figure out that I was in flashback territory rather than a continuation of the present plot line. Other than this, it was a really heckin' good time.

Publication date: April 29, 2024