Oh my. Dinosaur hunters and the Wild West and star-crossed lovers, all in one fast-paced, eminently readable novel.

The late 19th Century was marked by, among other things, rivalries between paleontologists. The equivalent of a fossil Gold Rush sent them into the West, in this case the Badlands, in search of ever more spectacular finds. Amateurs vied with professors for the fame of their discoveries, although by the time of Every Hidden Thing, professional journals and museums were already favoring those with academic credentials. To say these bone hunters were cavalier about their treatment of fossil-bearing sites, their understanding of anatomy, and their ethics in dealing with one another is an understatement. Bribery, theft, lies, luring away employees, and outright destruction of excavations were not unheard of.

Set in a fictional version of this fossil race is a love story between the adult children of the two rivals, one an amateur desperate to hold on to his tattered reputation, the other a pompous academic. The young people manage to get themselves included in the expeditions mounted by their fathers, a race to find and unearth “Black Beauty,” a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. They encounter grifters and Native Americans, the latter resentful about incursions into their territory, guides and traitors, not to mention the elements and hazards of excavation.

It’s a lively page-turner with a pair of engaging lovers, curmudgeonly elders, plot twists, and best of all, dinosaur bones!

There was so much to like about this book, and at the same time, so much to find frustrating.

First of all...19th Century, Badlands, and dinosaur digs! What's not to love? It's a great subject, in a wonderfully unique location (I love the Badlands), at a really remarkable period in U.S. history (just after the Civil War). Now toss in a story-line that every student in the country has experienced (<em>Romeo &amp; Juliet</em>) and you have the makings of a really tremendous book. And in fact, author Kenneth Oppel does some really nice work with this.

Except...

...except that one of the major flaws (in my opinion) with <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> is the ferocity of 'love' two children experience in such a short amount of time. Is it completely unrealistic? No. We understand that youth of this age are just starting to learn about passion and don't quite understand all that is going on within themselves, and we accept it in Shakespeare's classic for what it teaches us. But to put <em>exactly</em> that same inflamed passion in a more updated story, and to add some discomfort (she doesn't like the way he kisses!), but still have children rushing into marriage, didn't feel natural. I never, ever got the sense that these two youths actually liked each other, much less loved each other enough to get married. And without the honesty of this relationship it was difficult to buy in to the rest of the story. (The scene of virgin sex between the two was well-done, but not really necessary.)

The search for dinosaur fossils is well written and I liked the characters of the fathers more than that of the two young lovers (is it because I identify with the fathers more than the children now? Quite possibly).

I knew nothing about the book when I requested a review copy. I was already familiar some of Oppel's work, which is what drew me to the book. The Romeo &amp; Juliet parallels were obvious very early on and in fact it was fun to keep drawing the parallels and identifying the different characters in comparisons to Shakespeare's work. But it also made me nervous, knowing how the classic ends.

Oppel is a fine writer and there's enough here to draw a reader in and keep them interested, but it would have been so much better if, instead of a carbon copy of Romeo and Juliet, he had created his own characters that breathed a little more life into who they are, making them believable.

Looking for a good book? <em>Every Hidden Thing</em> by Kenneth Oppel has a lot of strengths to recommend it, but the cardboard main characters are a detraction rather than a point of emphasis.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I was so psyched about this book it was what I was looking for! I loved Romeo and Juliet and I. DIE HARD love Indiana Jones! Im an 80's kid Indiana Jones is my JAM!!

But this book just didn't get me. The characters just didn't work out at all and the dialogue was confusing. The characters felt flat and just didn't move the story along at all. They were one sided and not complex. The Insta-love was horrible! I generally don't care about it but this one just made it really really bad! The plot was really interesting but the execution just didn't work for me.