Animals, humans, and dinosaurs: they're all on the run.
In Roland Smith's MUTATION, cousins Marty O'Hare and
Grace Wolfe travel with a band of brave men and women
through the Amazon in order to protect the last existing
dinosaurs from the clutches of Dr. Noah Blackwood, the
endangered animal hunter. They travel in all sorts of
ways, from flying in a helicopter to driving a state-of-
the-art boat designed to look like a crumbling mess, to
avoid Blackwood and his henchmen. They didn't count on
Blackwood's men disabling their communication system.
Now, Marty's friend and Grace's father are missing and no
one has any idea what to do next. Will Blackwood get his
hands on Grace and the dinosaur hatchlings or will Marty
and Grace and their team outsmart him once and for all?
The excellent conclusion to Roland Smith's Cryptid
Hunters series reveals all of this and much more.
With an adventure novel of this scope, there is always
danger of losing focus, and unfortunately MUTATION does
have a little of that problem. The book is too short to
hold up so many branching storylines: Grace is doing one
thing while Marty's on the boat, Wolfe is kidnapped and
then so is Marty's friend Luther, the dinosaur hatchlings
have to be fed but the pilots find a new safer way to do
it. There just is not enough room in this to cover all
these subplots to the satisfaction of the reader.
Where the real satisfaction lies is in the
characterization of Marty O'Hare. He is a brave
adventuring young boy, who cooks omelets by the score. He
is always very concerned for his friends, delightfully
sarcastic, and more than enough to carry the book's
myriad problems. It's refreshing to see in a young male
character a true leader and a good role model, while also
retaining the flaws of a real person.
On the whole, MUTATION is an excellent wrap-up for the
series and it is an overwhelmingly positive young adult
novel. I would definitely recommend this to anyone from
ages ten to sixteen. This is a charming book with
charming characters and an engaging adventure without
being too dark or savage in content.
Monsters of legend come to life! The final thrilling title
in Roland Smith's popular Cryptid Hunters series.
Marty and his best friend, Luther, have managed to rescue
Marty's cousin Grace from the clutches of the nefarious
pseudo-naturalist Noah Blackwood, but their most dangerous
mission lies ahead of them. Marty's parents have been
missing in Brazil for months, and their trail has all but
run cold.
With time running out, Marty and the Cryptos Island crew
race off for Brazil -- where they discover that Noah
Blackwood has twisted the natural order of things beyond
their wildest, most terrifying dreams.