Ten year old Kerryl Ryson ends up deep in the soup when he causes a tyrannosaurus to vomit on a visiting noble from another world, the Most Immaculate Ultim of Alderdown. Kerryl's father is fed to the dinosaur and his clan is sold into slavery. For twelve years, Kerryl labors as a slave and plots his revenge. But what does the Ultim have to do with Earth and why is travel to Earth so difficult... ?First of all Dinosaur Park is a bad title. While there are dinosaurs in abundance, there is no park and Big Ben doesn't make an appearance as the cover would indicate. But then the original title, the Thirteenth Majistral, isn't that great either since the Majistral in question doesn't appear until the last quarter of the book. Anyway...
Dinosaur Park is an entertaining read. Kerryl is a protagonist in the mold of Jack Vance's Cudgel the Clever. He generally wanders from one situation to the next, all in a quest for revenge but with no idea how to accomplish it. Once the time travel element is introduced, the story really kicks into high gear. I like the way Peirce handled time travel and paradoxes.
Not many gripes with it. The writing took a little getting used to at first, since the early goings are peppered with mentions of strange people and places. It reads like a lost Jack Vance book in some ways, subtle humor included.
I'd recommend Dinosaur Park to fans of Jack Vance, dinosaurs, and time travel. While it wasn't my favorite time travel story, it was still very good.