"Dinotopia Week" starts Monday

Dinotopia is one of the most successful dinosaur franchises in history. The creation of artist James Gurney, it has spawned video games, tie-in novels, a TV miniseries and a short-lived television show, not to mention a mountain of related merchandise. I doubt there are many dinosaur-loving kids or adults who haven't at least leafed through one of the books at one time or another.

Now the first new Dinotopia book by Gurney in eight years, Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara, will soon be released, and to mark the occasion I plan a series of Dinotopia reviews starting Monday. I'll profile a different Dinotopia book each day, including a tie-in novel written by Alan Dean Foster, wrapping up with a review of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara on Friday. (That is, assuming no emergencies or other situations come up -- so far it looks like it will be a pretty quiet week for me.)

Why the wait? I'm a sucker for suspense, plus I need to write the reviews. But in case any of you are debating whether to order the book, I believe it's his best work since the original Dinotopia.

You can check out the official site, Dinotopia.com, for previews of the book and for ordering information. Gurney also maintains a blog that serves as a sort of "behind the scenes" look at how a Dinotopia novel is created.