160 pages
Published 1995
Read February 6
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (though the paintings deserve higher)
I thought I had read this once before, back during my read-everything-Dinotopia era in the early 2000s, but now I'm pretty sure I skipped directly to First Flight.
The World Beneath is a definite downgrade from the original. Gone is the insistence that “Dinosaurs aren’t just for kids!” World Beneath admits defeat and, almost sheepishly, reads like a picture book. The text is simplified and aged down, scarcely more than captions to the art.
Gurney's art is, of course, exemplary, some of the finest paleo-art of its era. We don't get any big, memorable tableaux that equal Treetown in the first book, though the picnic excursion to Slumberland Valley comes close.
World Beneath takes a while to find its footing. Once the central adventure starts — Arthur’s trip into the ancient caves beneath Dinotopia — it’s a pleasant enough dungeon crawl, complete with a seedy tavern, cavernous temples, strange gemstones, golden statues, and a fleet of mechanical dinosaurs. The abbreviated text makes it feel more hectic and haphazard than it should, especially the climax.
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