The Bone Wars
by Erin S. Evan
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Pub Date Apr 11 2023 | Archive Date Mar 15 2023
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Description
Sixteen-year-old Molly Wilder just discovered what appears to be a dragon fossil on her summer internship in the Badlands of Montana. After a secret organization steals it, she must pair up with the world’s most renowned paleontologists to track it down.
Rome, A.D. 306. Emperor Constantine converts the Roman Empire to Christianity. Over the next two decades, his armies destroy pagan idols across Europe and the Middle East.
England, A.D. 1830. Paleontologist Mary Anning writes to Sir Richard Owen, describing a fossil that she discovered in the cliffs of Lyme-Regis. She writes that the fossil is a large wing made of black bone.
Montana, A.D. 2023. Sixteen-year-old Molly Tanner discovers a mysterious fossil while on a summer internship. The fossil has a large wing structure, horned skull, and black bones. Neither famed fossil-hunter Derek Farnsworth nor renowned paleontologist Dr. Sean Oliphant can place it in a recognized dinosaur family.
For 65 million years, the Badlands of Montana have held a secret hidden in their depths...
A Note From the Publisher
1) HARD SCI-FI MEETS YOUNG ADULT. The Bone Wars blends the young-adult genre with hard science-fiction. The novel is chock full of both globe-trotting adventure and science, in this case paleontology. Young readers will feel like they too are paleontologists.
2) A BOOK WITHIN A BOOK. The novel is quasi-epistolary, with a series of fictional letters between Mary Anning, Sir Richard Owen, and the other major 19th-century paleontologists. The letters provide an alternate history in which these paleontologists sought to prove not just the existence of dinosaurs but actual mythical creatures.
3) WRITTEN BY AN EXPERIENCED PALEONTOLOGIST. The Bone Wars evolved from a story Erin made up for her own children, telling it to them at bedtime each night. The novel brings that experience home for everyone else’s children.
4) FIRST IN A SERIES. While the novel can stand on its own, it is intended as the first novel in a series. The second novel (already outlined) follows Molly and the other main characters as they travel across Mongolia in search of more rare fossils.
Marketing Plan
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781942645665 |
PRICE | $15.99 (USD) |
PAGES | 300 |
Featured Reviews
This book kept me captivated the entire time. If you enjoy reading science-fiction or adventure, watching Jurassic Park, or love dinosaurs/paleontology, you will really enjoy this book. I don't want to give too much away, but I did appreciate the touch of the fantastical in this novel for what the "Montana Monster" turned out to be. This story played out in my mind along the same lines of Dan Brown's novel, the "Da Vinci Code", or like the movie "National Treasure"; by this, I mean a group of four paleontologists are chasing down clues and trying to solve the puzzles that have been given to them, all the while they are being chased by a secret society that is dead set on keeping this secret buried-- for all eternity. Without giving too much away, I will say that I personally felt it was predictable about who was responsible for leaking the information; however, I was wrong about how they went about doing it. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre/storyline. If you are an active/practicing paleontologist, I am sure you will find flaws in the storyline, but I did appreciate that the author did seem to put forth an effort into learning about fossils, rocks, and dinosaur species.
Is the writing perfect in this novel, no. One thing that I found confusing was that the novel is written in the first person; however, the story is told from various people's point of view. This isn't a bad thing, but the way it is done leaves the reader to sleuth through the first page or two to figure out who is actually telling the story. I think this could be remedied by mentioning the person in the chapter title.
(review will also posted on IG @slowerlowerliving and Goodreads soon)
(Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this novel)
This book kept me captivated the entire time. If you enjoy reading science-fiction or adventure, watching Jurassic Park, or love dinosaurs/paleontology, you will really enjoy this book. I don't want to give too much away, but I did appreciate the touch of the fantastical in this novel
thank you to the author
To say I absolutely loved this book is an understatement. From just the synopsis I was intrigued. Every moment of this book was so thoughtout, so many details and tidbits of history perfectly blended in. I read this book over 2 days, had I not needed to be at work, it would have been less time. I'm so excited for book 2. Like most people I love dinosaurs after seeing Jurassic Park and all its sequels but the details of previous time when different fossils were from it sparked a desire to learn more. I have so many of the references books listed in the back if the book now on my to-read list. Erin Evan will now forever be on my authors to follow. 10/10 would recommend every single time
4.5 stars
This was such a fun, informative adventure novel that would be a great read for people of all ages. This would make a fantastic family read.
I did read an arc of this novel. I hope that for publishing, the name of whose POV the chapter is in will be added to the chapter title as it does get a little confusing.
I loved this book: the characters, the excitement, the adventure, the factual information about dinosaurs and paleontology, the fun. This book was so fun to read! I can’t wait to read the next novel in this series! (But this can definitely be read as a stand alone story.)
Thanks to NetGalley and Inkshares for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review, which is not affiliated with any brand.
Reviewed an advance copy of The Bone Wars through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
Enjoyed this fun YA novel that follows the exploits of 16 year old Molly as she interns at a dinosaur dig over the summer. Pirates, ancient societies and a mystery involving scientific legends from Victorian England challenge Molly and friends.
Like a Michael Crichton novel for teens, this book entertains while teaching the reader a thing or two about the science of fossils. 5 stars for his fun, quick read.
My thanks to Ms. Evan and NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Bone Wars.
Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) for an honest review/feedback.
This is definitely a five for me even with the problems I noticed.
First, I would like to say that it was very hard sometimes to figure out which chapter was who, because it changed all the time and the point of view and character wasn't always clear.
Other than that, I didn't have any problems or lack of enjoyment.
I've always loved archeology and paleontology in general, not to mention mythical creatures.
When I picked this up I was so excited for it.
It took me a bit longer to read than usual, I'm not really sure why because I full out enjoyed it.
The relationship between all the characters was something I enjoyed immensely. And those characters are my life right now. Derek and Oliphants bickering and bantering. Not to mention watching those characters grow!
Easy to read and with a beautiful cover to match.
I can't wait for book two!!!
This is an excellent read! I live mixing science with fiction stories so the reader is actively learning and I learned so much from this. Every child loves dinosaurs and this book goes several fascinating steps beyond that. An excellent book that I highly recommend!
No! Why did this book end so quickly. On a serious, THIS-BEST-PART-IS-GOING-TO-BE-FANTASTIC note!! 😂
For some reason, when I applied for this ARC it thought it was some sort of thriller. To my surprise, it turned out to be a Young Adult novel encompassing some mystery and a little fantasy.
The book starts out being narrated by a 16 year old girl who knew from the age of four, that she loved to dig. This, of course, led to her interest in paleontology - the study of fossils. With already two years of field work under her belt, she applied for an internship which she won and was sent to Glasgow, Kentucky, to work with paleontologist in the field, who had, too, won this award. They start digging and the paleontologist, Sarah, shows her Tyrannosaurus vertebrae she found along with a fantastic tooth that belonged to an unknown species It was different to any other fossil tooth ever found.
The girl then stumbles across a large fossilized skeleton in a cave, something even bigger than the biggest land walking apex predator on earth. When a government agency swoops in on confiscates all evidence.
Sarah and her team set off to figured out what it is that they are trying to hide by destroying this new species. And the journey leads them down a magnificent path.
This book had so many twists and turns, it was constantly interesting and taught me so much history of real paleontology - a field I have always loved myself. I love how the author was so dedicated to creating a full back story that included real great historical legends in the scientific world.
I also loved the author's style of writing. It flowed beautifully and I could not put the book down.
This book was FANTASTIC and I cannot wait for the sequel!!
I was provided with an ARC of The Bone Wars by Erin Evan via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!
First and foremost, I LOVED this book. If you are a fan of dinosaurs, fun facts, and adventure this book is for you!
The book follows a girl named Molly who finds herself heading to the Hell Creek Formation to dig up fossils for a summer after winning an internship. If that isn’t cool enough, she makes a groundbreaking discovery that sends her, and the other paleontologists she is working with, on an epic adventure far from their dusty dig site in Montana.
The author does a fantastic job of melding fact with myth. I loved all of the paleontology facts and history throughout the book and it really helped to work the fictional elements in nicely.
Throughout the book the point of view switches between Molly and the other paleontologists she is traveling with. The change in view helped get a more well-rounded picture of events; however, it would have been nice to get a bit more perspective from the opposing force working against them as the story went on.
Overall, 10/10 will read again. I really hope the author is working on a second book in the series. I can’t wait to read it and see what comes next!
Being a dinosaur nerd I really loved the book! And dragons too! Wow, great read,the only disappointment was that now I have to wait till the next book,please say there’ll be more! Five stars from me!
This was a very well-researched and interesting story. It reminded me a cross between Jurassic Park (although with fossils) with the Da Vinci Code.
“No carnivorous dinosaur, even a T-rex, ever had teeth like this. At least no carnivore I’d ever heard of. And I think this is even bigger than a T-rex. And its bones were as black as night.”
The Bone Wars follows 16-year-old Molly, Ph.D. student Sarah, fossil hunter Derek Farnsworth, and paleontologist Dr. Sean Oliphant as they work together to unravel a scientific mystery. During her summer internship in the heart of the Montana badlands, Molly stumbles upon a gigantic fossil tucked away in a cave. No one on the dig has seen anything like it—Molly has discovered a new species. Shortly after the discovery, the fossil is stolen. When an anonymous note signed “S.V.” arrives at Derek’s warehouse with photos of historical paleontologists holding fossils that look exactly like the one that was stolen, the team realizes they might have uncovered a secret that is centuries in the making.
As a person who has loved dinosaur stories like Jurassic Park and Land Before Time my whole life, I was super excited to pick this novel up. I recommend The Bone Wars specifically to anyone who is intrigued by dinosaurs and wants to learn more about them. It is very clear that Evans is an expert in the field of geology and paleontology. At least 50% of this book was filled with vivid descriptions of fossils and the scientific classifications of different dinosaurs and other creatures that lived during this time period. While this definitely makes the novel very science-heavy, that is great for readers who are interested in learning more about this field of study. I know I was stopping every other page to look up dinosaur images and fossils on Google so I could visualize Evans’ descriptions even better. If you are just looking for a mystery or an adventure and you don’t have the patience for a lot of scientific descriptions, then this may not be the story for you. However, if you’re obsessed with dinosaurs and want to learn more about them while enjoying a fast-paced story, this would be a perfect read to pick up.
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