West of Prehistoric

By: Erik Testerman

Narrated by: TJ Clark

Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Jedidiah Huckleberry Smith spent his entire life searching for the raider who mutilated him as a child. Finally, giving up on a trail long grown cold, he leaves his outlaw past behind and starts over in a remote town in Wyoming.

One dark night his ranch is attacked by a mysterious and ferocious beast from a world lost to time. Only Jedidiah’s savagery and skills save him.

Now, teaming up with a beautiful but naïve paleontologist, they stand between his adopted town and its destruction by an army of barbaric prehistoric apes and dinosaurs. But Jed’s past has come back to haunt him. The man he searched for is discovered in a position of power, and Jed must choose...

Revenge for his past, or the salvation of strangers.

Either way, bullets will fly, and blood will be spilled.

©2021 Severed Press (P)2022 Severed Press

The triumph of dynamite over dinosaur.

Does this have some western-story tropes? A couple. Does it have some dinosaur-story tropes? One or two. Does it matter? (It does not.)
My only concern going in was the accent of the main character. I wasn't 100% sure I was going to be able to roll with it, but somewhere in the first 45 minutes or so the narrator settles in and it's pretty smooth after that. 'Dinosaur' is going to be 'dina-sawer' through the entire book (and the sequel), so the sooner you let that go the better. It's pretty charming, and I wouldn't change it now. All the other character voices are quite good and distinct.
The story is a take on the "weird stuff happens to a guy just trying to mind his own business" genre that I am a big fan of, so I enjoyed it a lot.
Spoiler: Carbine survives. Relax.

A great story with a great MC. Needs a movie.

If you love B rated movies this is the story for you. No it's not a movie but if it were I'd love it too. Great characters, and the narration is awesome. I laughed and verbally yelled at a character that he was a jerk. It gets you invested in the fun and you find yourself wanting the next book. Think the Tremors Series and Butt Gummer. Not the story but the feeling of it and the character. MC could carry the series along the way Burt did.

A creative fun ride

I found this book because I love the “Weird Western” genre of books and this definitely scratches that itch but also I think it should be noted the amount of research you can tell you the author did just from the historical points… and a very enjoyable hero in the same vein as John Marston

Solid story, see warning

Okay, I love westerns and I love dinosaurs so this should have been an easy home run. I almost couldn’t finish it though. I gave up on it twice. It wasn’t the story, but the reader. He just wasn’t my cup of tea. The deep, slow, melodic voice not only put me to sleep but made it hard to follow the story. After telling my wife I was disappointed that I couldn’t finish it a second time, she suggested I try playing with the speed. That did the trick. Between 1.3x-1.4x and I could listen to it finally.

So, the real review of the story is much easier now. It’s a lot of fun. If you like genre mashups this one is a home run. It would make a solid Western or Dinosaur book in its own right but the story blends the two genres in a very fun way. The writer creates a solid world and develops the work well. Characters are good, not great but it’s a freakin Dino Western, you gotta expect some archetypal, if not stereotypical, characters.

All in all, the book is well worth the listen and I’m looking forward to the sequel. If you don’t like the performer, try speeding him up instead of giving it up. I am glad I did.

Wild West & Dinosaurs! What else do you want?

The premise of this story is absolutely fantastic. A portal opening between a world/time of Dinosaurs and the Old West. This is my 3rd or 4th book narrated by TJ Clark and as always, he knocked it out of the park. I just bought the sequel two days ago and can’t wait to get to it.

Where to begin……

The author obviously put a lot of effort into verbalizing what was in his head. The story could have probably been pretty good if he had done ANY research into the elements that were integral to the story. If an editor went over the manuscript, he/she needs to pick a different occupation. The reviewer that suggested speeding up the story was spot on.
If you know ANYTHING about horses and riding, buckboards, mules, cow breeds, shooting a gun horse back, hand guns, rifle long shots, sighting weapons, women, Indian’s or dynamite you probably will want to give this a pass because of utter ridiculousness. Other than that it’s not a bad sophomoric story.