Jurassic Jackaroo: Jasper’s Junction

By: Roma Gray

Narrated by: Terry F. Self

Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

How does the greatest gunslinger of the old west end his career? By hunting a dinosaur animal spirit, of course.

Karl Redgrave has a big plans for his retirement party. He's bringing together the world's greatest criminals, murderers, warriors, and assassins to hunt something worthy of them all: a highly intelligent, seven-foot tall dinosaur spirit; known to the natives as the Grishla.

Of course, Karl wants only the best on his safari, so he has pitted these men against each other in a deadly contest in an old ghost town, with five winners securing a place in the hunt.

Who will live? Who will win? And if they win, can they survive the final confrontation with the beast?

©2017 Roma Gray (P)2018 Roma Gray

Interesting prequel.

I loved book 1 of this and was excited to listen to the prequel to it. This is almost two short stories that collide together at the end. On one side, we see Jack (Sorry, I can't even begin to spell his Indian name so I'll stick with Jack). Jack belongs to the tribe that the Grishla cursed. His tribe sacrifice people to appease the Grishla, but when his mother is sacrificed, it hits Jack hard. He is too young to do much about it but he's never forgotten or forgiven them for doing it. Now he's grown, he finally gets tired of their ways and when his childhood friend gets offered as the sacrifice, he decides to rescue her and run away. They are hunted by the tribe for their desertion.

On the other side we see Karl Redgrave calling the elite of the hunters, assassins, murders etc, to fight a battle. They are to find 5 Faberge Eggs and whoever finds it will be rewarded. There are no rules so it's a fight to the death for some. Those 5 winners will hunt a very elusive creature, called the Grishla.

Initially when I started reading this, I was quite confused as to what was going on, but once I figured out the two separate stories, I enjoyed this a lot. It wasn't as enjoyable as book 1 but it was close! The plot, as I said, was two separate stories that come together in an unforgettable way at the end. I liked Jack's story the most and really felt for him. His tribe was horrible and it was nice that he found his own path.

The last half of the book was extremely fast paced and intense and made up for the confusion at the start. This is a solid addition to the series and I'm hoping we get book 2 soon!

Terry F. Self had a lot of different tones and voices for the different characters and was easy to listen to, I just found him to be a little unenthusiastic with the reading. A little emotion behind his words would have brought this to life fully!

I was given this free audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

The Valley of Gwangi meets the Last Dinosaur

Roma Gray is quickly becoming a favorite writer, at this point I have listened to three of her books, and loved every page. Here, she crafts a tale that is a western, but with the added flavor of dinosaurs. This is particularly fun genre, and one of my favorite flicks is The Valley of Gwangi, in which cowboys fght dinosaurs. How could I NOT be interested in this book?

This is a prequel, as the title says, to an existing series. So, I expected a lot of set up, or nuggets that were there just to round out the earlier books. Instead, as far as I am concerned, we got a perfectly fine stand alone novel. The book is told through two seperate characters, Jack and Karl. Jack is a native American who comes from a tribe that tries to appease the rampant dino (think of virgin sacrifices to dragons), and Karll, a retired hunter/gunslinger.

There are points where I saw Karl as Masten Thrust, a millionaire hunter in the made for tv movie The Last Dinosaur. This is a good thing, I loved that movie (see how much I enjoy dino movies?) And his determination to get the Grishla (dino) drives him forward.

The characters are well drawn and fully fleshed out, the story is well paced, and the writing just flows. It almost feels like Roma just has the idea in her head and dashes it off fully formed. She has a wonderful writing style. I do not want to sound sexist, but I feel that women sometimes have a hardtime writing male characters, and vice versa. I don not see a sign of that here, and I will happily admit that she dispels my myth.

I enjoyed Self in Gray's short story, Blue Bell, and he is good here, too, but he could put a little more effort in to bring home the emotional scenes, or better pace tha action ones. The story is great, but I always feel that a good narrator will elevate a story and make it even better. Still, I can't complain. His voices are distinct, and believable. His ennunciations are crisp and clear, and his pacing is spot on.

This is a great start to a series, but could just be read as a stand alone, either way, I bet you'll listen to it a few times just for the fun of it all. It is a great world that Gray has created, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what she does next.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Jurassic Jackaroo Book1:Jasper’s Junction

Author Roma Gray
This is the best Western-Dinosaur book/tape on the market. Certainly a niche category, but a good one!! :)
I completely enjoyed this and will look for this author again.
I received a free copy in exchange for a honest review. I would have been satisfied and happy even if I had paid for it.
Never a dull moment.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Another Wonderful Gray and Self Combo

This prequel to The Hunted Tribe is so good!! Another cliffhanger, but it's such a good cliffhanger. Can't wait for more from Ms. Gray

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Really fun novel!

I was totally into this one; hooks you from the very start. Really creative premise. The narrator is great too; very distinct character voices and accents. Gotta listen to the next one! Definitely recommend it!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Grimdark Weird West mixed with Wild, Wild West...

I discovered this one on a Facebook audiobook promotions group offering Audible codes for honest reviews. I had a bunch of other books to finish, but the author was local, and the premise interested me, since I have always been fascinated by Native American superstition. I'm glad I took a chance on it, since I discovered a talented author and a fantastic narrator.

In the turn of the turn of the 19th century western US, a retired gunfighter who has more money than he can spend meets a Native man with an interesting story to tell. A story about his tribe, and a curse that brings death from an ancient monster to all that speak of it out loud. An ancient monster his tribe brought about with their shamans' magic and hubris. Right then, part of the roof collapses and the Native runs out of the room, leaving the gunslinger to wonder if what he said was true. Following the native out of the saloon, he finds him, just as he is being slaughtered by a creature of nightmare. Speaking to it, he finds he's not a target, since he hasn't spoken of the monster. This gives him an idea for some excitement in his life, something sorely lacking since he retired.

A bit in the past, we see a young native boy talking to his mother, confused why she is so sad. Turns out, she was supposed to pass her magic on to her children, and since she didn't, well, the tribe wants the magic back from her. They get it back too, in a horrific scene the young boy is forced to watch. Ten years later, a girl he had a crush on when he was younger is about to meet the same fate. Instead, he convinces her to run away with him to the white mans world, where hopefully, the tribe and it's evil wont be able to find them.

A year later, we find them working a ranch with an immigrant Australian couple who moved to the states to start a ranch. They are happy and accepted by all the local townsfolk and church members, and have begun to reconstruct their lives. Then, out of nowhere, the girl is captured by their tribes shamans, who have managed to track them down and need to get her back to complete the sacrifice. The boy and the rancher determine to take off after them and get her back. This leads to a series of misadventures as they try and get her back before they reach the tribe, but things don't quite go as planned.

Meanwhile, in Jasper's Junction, a ghost town the gunslinger had made as a prop, the Gunslinger has invited a bunch of gun fighters, warriors, thieves and assassin's to compete in a hunt in the town for items that, when found, will show their skill and get them into the game of riches the gunslinger has proposed. All they have to do is find one of several Fabergé Eggs recently stolen from the Tsar of Russia's collection, and get them to the saloon. Of course, they have to make it through lethal traps, hired gunmen out to kill them as well as each other, since millions of dollars are on the line and they will all kill anyone in their way. This interesting group of characters is whittled away until only 5 are left, and the gunslinger gives his proposal: Be part of his safari to hunt a mythical monster which he wont give details about to avoid invoking the curse.

Meanwhile, in the mountains, the young native man and woman face their tribe as they are about to do the unspeakable to them. Suddenly, a commotion arises, and the ceremony is disrupted and chaos ensues. In this confusion, the young native man is given an offer of a chance to come out on top if he's willing to make a rather unpalatable deal. Seeing no other choice, he accepts, spinning the future onto its head, and leaving us to ponder where his story will go next.

For a fairly short book, the world building in this one is well done. You get a good feel for where the story takes place, especially Jasper's Junction, which feels like an old west version of the Marvel Comics villain Arcade's Murderworld, only competent in killing people. The characters are well executed, with their motivations and actions feeling natural and organic to who they are and what they have experienced. The villain, if you can call an ancient spirit monster a villain, is excellent, keeping hidden and only striking when the moment is right, and it's final appearance turns the whole story topsy-turvy. The whole thing feels like a combination of Grimdark weird west mixed with the inventions and adventures of Wild, Wild West. All we needed was Robert Conrad to make a cameo to make the whole thing perfect.

Narration was handled by Terry F. Self, who did a fantastic job both bringing the characters to life and keeping the narration flowing. He avoided trop accents for the natives and foreign characters, taking a nuance approach. His change of tones, inflections and emphasis definitely differentiated each character, and he is definitely a reason to consider checking this book out.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Forget Jurassic Park

Roma Gray has created the horror equivalent to Jurassic Park. Why this is not a movie, I have no idea. Better yet, throw this on AMC alongside the Walking Dead and Into the Badlands!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

intriguing

I like this spin on the wild weat, I read that the author wanted to write something like will smiths wild west and I see the influence. I really enjoyed this store. I liked how throughout you got to see the differ perspectives of the different of the contestants. just a little sad to see a few I had groan attached to die or left out. the twits at the end surprised me thankfully and I can't wait till the next one.

I recieved this audio book free in exchange for an honest review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Nice Prequel here!

I've listened to a fair amount of stories by Roma Gray. Usually, it seems to be a hit or miss for me. On that note, this was a really good pre-story to book 1 of this series, although I'm not sure how it connects or meets up with book 1.

Anyways, as always, Terry F. Self does a great job as a narrator!

Questions/Comments:

Katwon (?) had been traveling for a while, so obviously he would stink. But why would he smell like fish exactly?

I was a little confused when the "killers" were in Carl's town. The first guy (forgot his name) and his assistant hadn't heard about the rules yet, although everyone seemed to have. Why was that? For example, one of the guys ends up telling another that "Carl said if you get a shot, take it." So when did Carl go over the rules?

Why did Jack end up thinking/telling Andy that because the red magical guys from the altar are alive, they must be intelligent? That just seemed like a questionable thing to say considering not all things alive are intelligent. Just saying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Predator and Jurassic Park!

I love how Roma combines elements of different stories. This is a great story. It’s also an excellent prequel.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Original concept

I never understood the release of prequels after a series has already begun, until I became a writer and realized that sometimes the story doesn't begin where we intended and we have to go back to explain it in another book. This is a great case in point. The Hunted Tribe book 1 begins with a hook right of the bat; a woman in the process of committing suicide after divorcing a husband she still loves, a fire that nearly kills a man and whose son is accused of setting it, even though there was no logical answer as to how he could do that. Then as the story unfolds we learn of the curse of the Grishla, and we find ourselves thinking about the backstory of the curse. Then suddenly it's here, in this book. See how the curse of the Grishla all began in this heart-stopping, edge-of-the seat thriller, as Jack, haunted by the cruel and senseless sacrifice of his mother that he is forced to watch, tries to save the women of his tribe, and Karl Redgrave, a gunslinger who has committed unspeakable crimes, goes on the hunt for the beast. Thank you, Roma Gray for the opportunity to review for you.