Ben Cartwright, former soldier, home to mourn the loss of his father stumbles upon cryptic letters from the past between the author, Arthur Conan Doyle and his great, great grandfather who vanished while exploring the Amazon jungle in 1908.
Amazingly, these letters lead Ben to believe that his ancestor’s expedition was the basis for Doyle’s fantastical tale of a lost world inhabited by long extinct creatures. As Ben digs some more he finds clues to the whereabouts of a lost notebook that might contain a map to a place that is home to creatures that would rewrite everything known about history, biology and evolution.
But other parties now know about the notebook, and will do anything to obtain it. For Ben and his friends, it becomes a race against time and against ruthless rivals.
In the remotest corners of Venezuela, along winding river trails known only to lost tribes, and through near impenetrable jungle, Ben and his novice team find a forbidden place more terrifying and dangerous than anything they could ever have imagined.
Primordia: In Search of The Lost World (SF)
By Greig Beck
Severed Press
ISBN #978-1925711479
Price $12.78 (Paperback)
Price $4.99 (Kindle)
246 Pages
Rating 4-Stars
Ben Cartwright is out of the Army now, and back home, but still looking for some excitement. Discovering that his namesake, Benjamin Cartwright, in 1908 had went in search of the lost world, sending his notes and maps to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in England. Doyle had written the fiction novel from those notes, and the actual lost world just might be real. Discussing it with his old friends, they decide to look for the fabled lost world themselves. However, they need the notes and maps entrusted to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first hundred pages or so reminded me of the Hardy Boys solving puzzles, as they search for the hidden notes and maps; there is another group also after them, and the maps end up in the wrong hands. But that’s okay, Ben’s team has the notes, and the last hundred pages take them to the plateau. Here’s where things get scary. A comet called Primordia passes close to Earth’s orbit every ten years, and during its passing one plateau becomes a time portal, returning the mountain top millions of years in the past. It’s this plateau they have found and climbed a chimney to the top, where they discover dinosaurs and giant snakes. It doesn’t take long for everyone to be eaten, except for Ben Cartwright and his girlfriend, Emma Wilson. Just as a giant 70-foot snake is about to eat them, Emma falls over the edge of a cliff and escapes into a cave. Ben is running from the monster snake when the comet leaves Earth’s orbit once again. Emma makes it to civilization and vows to return to the plateau in ten years to save Ben.
The yarn was fun, and being based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World made it unique. There weren’t many dinosaurs, but we do see a few. Mostly, giant snakes eat everyone, since they are the major predator on the mountaintop. Personally, I don’t like reading a book that doesn’t end, as this one is left open for part two. I would love to know what happens in the sequel, but a little afraid it will begin like Nancy Drew before we get to the meat of the book. After all, Emma must wait another ten years when the comet makes its next pass by Earth to attempt a rescue. Will Ben survive that long? And is it just a coincidence that the comet is named Primordia? Highly recommended.
Tom Johnson
Author of JUR: A STORY OF PRE-DAWN EARTH
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