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Primordia

In Search of the Lost World

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About this listen

 Ben Cartwright, former soldier, home to mourn the loss of his father stumbles upon cryptic letters from the past between 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 the 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.©2017 Greig Beck (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Adventure Science Fiction Fiction Suspenseful
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If you like seeing (hearing) rag tag bunches of assorted characters slowly being picked off one by one by an assortment of creepy crawlys and beasty bastard, then you'll love this story.

It's got everything, Rugged men, lovely ladies, old cockroaches, rusty planes, large fronds, small D energy, adventurous Great Granddaddy's, big bot flies and a mean mercenary who should really know better.

I'm a man of simple tastes, and I must say, my appetite was sufficiently satiated for the duration of this listen. This ain't you granny's "Lost World", but it is your teenage sons "Lost World", because he (unlike her) can get behind the idea of someone being eaten alive by.......well, you get the picture, no spoilers here.

Move Over Jurassic Park...

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The opening of the book is almost unbearable. The overly cheesy, teenage-style romance made me seriously question whether this could really be the same author who wrote some of my favourite science-fiction stories. The tone felt jarringly different, to the point where it pulled me out of the experience almost immediately.

I even checked the publication date, assuming this might be some very early work from the author, written before he found his stride. In the end, perseverance does pay off — but only just. As the story progresses, it gradually shifts into something far more engaging, unfolding into violent and surprisingly realistic depictions of life among prehistoric beasts. The action is brutal, and while the violence feels grounded, it’s balanced with touches of “factual fantasy” that add some interest and texture to the world.

That said, the characters themselves remain fairly bland and vanilla throughout, never quite rising above serviceable. They do their job in moving the story along but lack depth or memorability. I’m currently reading Primordial II, and so far it feels very much on par with the first — competent, but not particularly exciting. At times, it’s hard not to feel a bit bored.

Overall, there are far better books out there in this genre, but this one is still mildly entertaining and oddly comforting if you’re in the right mood. Just don’t go in expecting anything exceptional. Choose wisely.

Cheesy and cliché with elements of action

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What a great idea? Arthur Conan-Doyle's famous Lost World being based on real events and be there for one of his descendants to re-discover. I really liked the sound of that, old clues, jungle adventures, deadly dinosaurs, what could possibly go wrong with all that?

Unfortunately while the idea was good the execution felt pretty average to me. I feel sure that Beck's writing has been much better in the past. The characters felt very two-dimensional and the make up of the team of friends very convenient. The action part of the plot when it did finally arrive just felt like a queue of things that the author had researched being inflicted one after the other on the characters. . The dialogue was lacking with a flippant, youthful approach which remained untroubled by death and disaster.

In addition, Sean Mangan, while he has a lovely rumble of a speaking voice doesn't have much in the way of character voice or dramatic effect to his performance. All put together it leads to a vague sense of the artificial permeating everything giving little that could immerse the listener in the grand adventure that the book promised.

It's not the worst audiobook you can buy by any stretch but to me this feels like the author invented an excellent opportunity for himself but didn't quite manage to make the best of it, particularly with this audio production.

Subprime Ordinary

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I grew up reading the lost world world and was captivated as a child. You took a great book and brought it to another level thank you.

suspense at its best

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if your a fan of adventure, you 'll love these 3 audible books. Need more

love this series

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