I have a feeling that to really love this book, u need to be interested in dinosaurs. I like dinosaurs, i find them interesting, but i wouldn’t say I absolutely love them. Which I think needs to be the case to give this book a five star rating. The writing is good and the story is fine as well. I finished it rather slowly for my taste, would recommend to people who are in love with dinosaurs!

Unexpected and exciting, "The Bone Wars" gripped my imagination with a novel setting and exciting new characters. When 16 year old Molly Tanner begins her paleontology internship in the badlands of Montana, she doesn't expect the summer to take a dark and magic turn. After discovering a new type of dinosaur that looks suspiciously like a dragon, Molly and the Montana crew are suddenly chasing mysterious forces across the world. If revealed to the public, the fossil they discovered rock the science world and bring forth dark secrets.

Filled with mystery, action, and long forgotten magic, Evan creates a compelling first novel wherein I was left hungry for more. While some elements felt unrealistic, such as a 16 year-old being on a dig site in Montana, I overall liked the concept enough to suspend my disbelief. I appreciated the fresh and novel take on the myth of dragons.

I almost didn’t finish this - the switching of character POVs was not clear and at times, I think there were mistakes made in the telling - at one point the narrator says something like “‘blah blah’ said Molly. And then a sentence or two later, it’s shown that Molly is the narrator at that time, so why was she talking about herself in the 3rd person when that didn’t happen other times in the book.

There was a lot of in depth knowledge about dinosaurs that I just…skimmed through to be honest. I did find the question of what would be the implications and effects of finding proof of “mythological” creatures interesting, but I didn’t particularly find the set up of the Order vs SV very fascinating. I also thought that the characters were flat and could tell from early on what the twist with one of them would be.

Received this on netgalley.

To say I absolutely loved this book is an understatement. From just the synopsis I was intrigued. Every moment of this book was so thoughtout, so many details and tidbits of history perfectly blended in. I read this book over 2 days, had I not needed to be at work, it would have been less time. I'm so excited for book 2. Like most people I love dinosaurs after seeing Jurassic Park and all its sequels but the details of previous time when different fossils were from it sparked a desire to learn more. I have so many of the references books listed in the back if the book now on my to-read list. Erin Evan will now forever be on my authors to follow. 10/10 would recommend every single time

4 out of stars

This book was very dense in the beginning, but picked up pace around page 92.

While I enjoyed the plot, the POV changing almost every chapter was confusing, especially since there was nothing to indicate who the POV is. You have to figure it out yourself, which is annoying.

Molly is a fiery protagonist and I would read the 2nd book just to see her more. Farnsworth and Oliphant are both kind of annoying because they have their own history that interferes with a lot of the groups adventure.

The PLOT TWIST THOUGH, I did NOT see that coming and neither will you!

I encourage perspective readers to push through the first few chapters because it's truly worth it.

ARC Provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

(Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this novel)

This book kept me captivated the entire time. If you enjoy reading science-fiction or adventure, watching Jurassic Park, or love dinosaurs/paleontology, you will really enjoy this book. I don't want to give too much away, but I did appreciate the touch of the fantastical in this novel
thank you to the author

the summery for this book was incredibly fascinating. unfortunately, i didn't enjoy the execution. before i get into what didn't work for me, i would probably recommend this to someone who has an intense interest in dinosaurs and paleontology. i still have my other problems, but maybe it'd work better there.

i like both of those topics, but not to the extent needed for this to work for me.

the first quarter of the book was really rough. the author has actual experience in digs and a degree in geology, and you can tell. but unfortunately it felt too... dry, to be frank. the beginning felt too technical. it gets more normal once you get past that point, but there was something really off about how the writing felt in the introduction.

my other big issue was the characters. i already knew i'd have some doubts about molly because she's only sixteen, but i spent a huge part wondering what set her apart so much that she'd earn an internship at a dig so young, and i don't think i was ever convinced. and when we moved past that to other situations, she was also a lot of the times the only one putting stuff together which - just not realistic. the group was made up from top-of-their-field scientists, but it was the 16 year old teenager connecting the dots. the characterizations also felt a bit all over the place with... all of them, to be honest. and lastly, there was one character who barely got any page-time (despite being present for all of it, but they were never the focus) before suddenly becoming extremely important and doing something crucial for the plot. it just didn't have much impact.

there were other smaller stuff that bothered me (there were one too many times where the characters just stumbled across the stuff rather than figure things out themselves; little depth in certain topics; the actual roles being stated which was a bit... baffling), but the plot idea is good. i think that's what was mainly frustrating with this read. i very very much like the idea behind it.

i just didn't enjoy half of the characters, and the other half felt very shaky in their characterizations. this could have been good, and i wanted to like it so badly, but unfortunately it didn't work for me.

This book really spoke to the inner child, as when I was younger I always wanted to be a archeologist. This was a really well done book, it was a great story and I loved that the author, Erin S. Evan, is a paleontologist and wrote this for her kids.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters in this story and enjoyed the capture of different time periods.

"Over the years I’ve heard that you are a learned man with a keen interest in natural objects. Particularly those oddities that cannot be explained by current scientific understanding, but that you wish to rectify. Because of this, I have a great desire to write to you about my family history. Please see the enclosed sketches by my ancestor, Cornelius Meyer,’” Molly paused and pointed to the drawings in my hand."

Thank you NetGalley and Inkshares for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All the views and opinions expressed are purely my own and not affiliated with any brand.

This was a fun book. It's sort of Jurassic Park meets National treasure. Erin S. Evan writes a fun and thrilling adventure story that is also very informative. There are a lot of facts in this book which reminds me of The Martian. The facts just add more to the story and I didn't ever feel bogged down by all the information.

My only criticism is that the narrator of the book changes and sometimes it would take me a minute to figure out which character was talking. I just wish that the name of the character was after the chapter title so that it wouldn't take so much time to figure out who was talking.

Overall I thought it was a fun story and I really hope there is more to come. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure stories!

I had a hard time getting through this one. Conceptually, it was a great idea and I wanted this to be great. Unfortunately the author seemed to hesitate at leaning into their concepts. I think a lot of the mistakes and characterizations will be resolved by the next book which I look forward to reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into this book, let alone finishing it. I had to stop with about 100 pages left. I am bummed because I really was looking forward to reading it due to the premise and myself being a huge dinosaur enthusiast. I felt like the characters and story fell flat and that the book was targeted toward kids, but because of the long/scientific text throughout, I don’t know if the book would be understood by or hold the attention of a kid.

The Bone Wars
The Pirates of Montana
Erin Evan
In The Bone Wars we meet Molly a sixteen-year-old taking part in a dig based in Montana. Molly was using a drone when a gust of wind whips it out of sight. Molly rushes to find it when she takes a fall. She ends up at the bottom of a hill. She enters a cave to get out of a storm and can’t resist exploring. Inside she makes an important discovery. She discovers a skull with horns, black bones and a wing structure. Molly believes she has discovered a dragon. After the fossil is stollen Molly, her supervisor, Sarah, fossil Hunter Derek and paleontologist Dr. Oliphant give chase across continents determined to retrieve the bones.
The characters in this tale lack depth and come across as if they were immature adolescents. While Molly appears to be the smartest character she comes across as disrespectful. The villains were even worse. If you like paleontology or geology you would probably enjoy at least part of this book for it is chockful of scientific information about dinosaurs, fossils, and other scientific stuff. A lot of the plot was predictable. The changing point of views was confusing. This book has great potential but falls short. I do believe that author Erin Evan is a talented writer with a bit more work she can be a great writer.

Please fix the review ebook. I find the pages are totally blank. I am eagerly waiting for the copy.

Hope it gets fixed soon.

This book kept me captivated the entire time. If you enjoy reading science-fiction or adventure, watching Jurassic Park, or love dinosaurs/paleontology, you will really enjoy this book. I don't want to give too much away, but I did appreciate the touch of the fantastical in this novel for what the "Montana Monster" turned out to be. This story played out in my mind along the same lines of Dan Brown's novel, the "Da Vinci Code", or like the movie "National Treasure"; by this, I mean a group of four paleontologists are chasing down clues and trying to solve the puzzles that have been given to them, all the while they are being chased by a secret society that is dead set on keeping this secret buried-- for all eternity. Without giving too much away, I will say that I personally felt it was predictable about who was responsible for leaking the information; however, I was wrong about how they went about doing it. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre/storyline. If you are an active/practicing paleontologist, I am sure you will find flaws in the storyline, but I did appreciate that the author did seem to put forth an effort into learning about fossils, rocks, and dinosaur species.

Is the writing perfect in this novel, no. One thing that I found confusing was that the novel is written in the first person; however, the story is told from various people's point of view. This isn't a bad thing, but the way it is done leaves the reader to sleuth through the first page or two to figure out who is actually telling the story. I think this could be remedied by mentioning the person in the chapter title.

(review will also posted on IG @slowerlowerliving and Goodreads soon)

Thank you Netgalley, Inkshare and author for providing me with this copy. My thoughts are my own.

First of all I love this book idea and the plot describes. The intriguing mystery mixed with paleontology stuff ? Sound very unique and peaking my interest. I instantly falling for the worldbuild, but extra digging will make it stronger background for the stories.

The plot itself is fun but less dept. Extra interactive narrative will keep the readers interest to reading till the end. The MC kinda childish and generic. But my 10y son like this book better than I do, so I think his opinion as real target reader is matter the most.

Let me start by saying, I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick easy read, with lots of action/adventure/speed. I appreciated that the author didn't dwell on too many overly long descriptive scenes to "set the mood"
Essentially, the story starts with our protagonist, a precocious teen, Molly joining a summer dig in Montana, expecting to learn more about dinosaurs and hopefully impress her boss- a grad student, Sarah. A quick trip into a cave to avoid a storm leads to the discovery of a possible new species, which quickly escalates into a search across several countries, ending in Japan. Along the way, interesting discoveries are made, with just a hint of danger to keep it exciting.
I enjoyed how this story mixes beloved mythical creatures with the modern world, emphasizing quietly that what we know is true, but there is likely more that we don't know about our world and environment. In addition, it shows that people indeed are not always as they present, and that there is more than just what is seen on the surface.
A few things that made this- less enjoyable for me- there is frequent switching of narrators without a very clear identification as to who is now narrating. I enjoyed the different points of view and thought processes but didn't like having to often go back and re-read to figure out who was now narrating.
Beyond this, the characters, even the one who ends up being the rouge character are compelling as individuals, and even though not a lot of writing is spent in character development, and the characters are a little bit "flat" and not super well fleshed out, I still found them likeable and believable. Kudos to the author for her description of MS, I was able to figure out the diagnosis from her descriptions, very early in the book- I appreciated that this wasn't the main focus of the story, and felt that the placement and details were just a perfect amount to give meaning and relevance to that character's actions.
The book seems poised for a part 2, so I am hopeful that this is in the works!

I thought the description sounded really interesting, I mean, who doesn’t want to read a paleontology mystery! The story centers around Molly (the paleontology intern), Sarah (the grad student), Farnsworth (the commercial fossil hunter), and Oliphant (the celebrity paleontologist). They find mysterious bones that don’t match any known dinosaurs, and then the hijinx start.

I wish this was the setup to a really good book, but for me, it felt more like a fever dream you can’t escape from. The point of view shifted between different characters, but without any clue who it is changing to which made it incredibly confusing. Also, the different point of views added nothing to the story. None of the characters were likable or well developed. The plot jumped around wildly and made me feel discombobulated. The premise of why the existence of dragons was trying to be covered up seemed ludicrous, especially when you consider that dinosaurs themselves are already pretty far out there. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this one, even though I think it came from a cool idea.

I received an ARC from netgalley for an honest review.
This book started off a bit slow, after getting through a couple chapters the story started to pick up and keeps getting better, the storyline is good and interesting if you like dinosaurs and paleontology, after the first few chapters the book keeps you sucked in!. My 12 year old read it and loved the book. Only reason I gave it 4 stars was the slow start

This book was unfortunately a DNF for me. The story read like an elementary text book with too much definition and description the characters were childish and honestly annoying. I really wanted to enjoy it. Molly was written more like a 12 year old than 16. I hate DNF-ing but this one just wasn’t it. I was hopeful but unfortunately it fell short.

Ok, great literature this is not, but I don't think that it ever intended to be. It is the sort of book I like to read on a sunbed in the summer. It just rolls along giving entertainment for a few hours ( and interesting facts about dinosaurs) and in that it succeeds. I will be looking out for the next book to see how the story develops.