Not the most exciting description, but let's talk about the plot. This book is a welcome return to form after The World Beneath and First Flight. Much like A Land Apart from Time, the plot is mostly an excuse to explore new parts of Dinotopia, and I've got no complaints. There's also no anti-technology messages, just pure fun and adventure.
I've always found it interesting that Arthur tends to get more focus in the books than Will. You'd expect that Will would get more focus, due to being a teenage boy, but that's not the case. This certainly hasn't hurt the book, as they are beloved by both kids and adults alike. This isn't to say that Will is totally absent, but he's spending most of his time with his fellow Skybax riders.
I enjoyed getting to see more of Sauropolis. I found their resident philosophers, the Spotter and the Stripers, rather amusing. They always argue any issue by taking the opposing side. When Lee Crab steals Arthur's invitation, for example, one of them argues that it wasn't really stolen, as it is merely the physical representation of Hugo Khan's desire to a see Arthur. Thank goodness nothing really bad, like murder, ever happens in Dinotopia. Granted, we do see that Sauropolis has a fire department, who utilize sauropods to great effect, but appears to lack a police force.
One of the most notable aspects of Journey to Chandara is the introduction of feathered dinosaurs. Gurney likes to keep as up to date as possible when it comes to portraying his prehistoric animals. This is probably why Enit and Malik don't appear, at least visually, as their designs are now out of date. On a side note, many paleontologist love Dinotopia due to the attention to detail Gurney includes. Many have said they'd book a ticket in a heartbeat if they could.
Up until this book, Dintopia has had a fairly European, particularly Western Europe, feel to it, baring a few minor exceptions here and there. Chandara, by contrast, has much more of an Asian feel to it. Chandara is bordered by a desert that evokes the Middle East and Mongolia, as well as some aspects of Central Asia and the Silk Road. Chandara proper features aspects of China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia and Eastern Europe. Arthur and Bix also venture into the high mountains, which were perviously established to have a bit of a Himalayan and Tibetan feel to them. I'm all for diversifying Dinotopia's cultural and architectural aspects.
The journey to the high mountains also features several prehistoric mammals beyond the typical Ice Age bunch. We see Macrauchenia, Paracertherium, giant ground sloths, and Megalocerous, among other creatures. Must admit I was hoping to see a few terror birds somewhere along the way, but maybe next time. Here's hoping we get a fifth book at some point.
Arthur and Bix happen across a village of Pilgrims on their way to Chandara. Well, sort of. They're decedent of the Mayflower's sister ship the Sunflower. They live in Polynesian style Tahitian long houses. They love to play games. In fact, whenever they have work to do, they find some way to turn it into a game. Somewhere, John Calvin is spinning in his grave. Puritans were Calvinists, and Calvinists despised anything resembling fun. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. So they've obviously abandoned Puritanism, but it does raise an interesting question. How does religion work on Dinotopia? Do dinosaurs have their own religions? I understand that perhaps Gurney wanted to avoid potentially thorny subjects, but it is fun to think about.
Anyway, so Will and his fellow Skybax riders make an appearance at a giant Egyptian-style statue of King Ogthar that serves as a Skybax rider retreat of sorts. The inside is hollowed out and full of rooms. One of their favorite pastimes is sky jousting. It's kind of like regular jousting, though the lances have blunted ends tied in cloth. The riders have parachutes to land safely on either land or water. Still, gotta wonder about what happens if the parachute malfunctions. I sure hope Skybax are fast.
I also liked how Chandara displayed different social rules than other parts of Dinotopia. For example, the feather dinosaurs of Chandara use a lot of body language related to their feathers. As such, human fashions often include artificial feathers to take this into account. We also get to see a guide to the alphabets of Dinotopia. They're basically the same, just different shapes based on the foot shape of the dinosaurs. There's also a transitional alphabet for those who use the Roman alphabet. I wonder if they do that for other alphabets? Chandara even has a footprint amphitheater, obviously invoking calligraphy.
Chandara is the last of the four great empires of Ancient Dinotopia. Well, unless you count the forerunners of the mountain peoples. Though, I guess they don't count, since their current form is different from their predecessors. Anyway, this ties into Chandara's Asian theme. China is the world's oldest continuous civilization. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Inca Empire, all of these have faded, but China alone remains. That is, it has more or less retains its original culture and connection to the past.
So, just who is the mysterious Hugo Khan? Why, a microraptor, of course. Everyone thinks he'd be something big and imposing, but he's a small feathered raptor. He is a wise and just ruler. Every night he flies across the city to ensure that all is well with his subjects. Every night before bed, the people of Chandara leave notes in their shoes with wishes and requests, the emperor reads all of them, and considers how to respond.
We get a pretty big revelation when the ministers of the arts make presentations to Hugo Khan. One of the duos is a human and a butterfly. Yes, apparently butterflies are sentient in Dinotopia. Wait, so just butterflies, or is anything more intelligent than a sea sponge sentient? If the latter, then how does that jibe with the whole pescatarian and eating insects thing the Dinotopians have going on? Yeah, I'm going to say only butterflies. Still, why them? What makes them so special compared to other invertebrates? Hmm, wonder if the giant insects of the Carboniferous are sentient?
Towards the beginning of the book we get a framing device of Gurney discovering Arthur's journal in an antiques shop. This is a nod to A Land Apart from Time, where he found the original journey in a library. Gurney mentions that Dinotopia is not on any modern maps. Oh no, did something bad happen? Did Dinotopia sink into the sea like Poseidos did? I'd hate to think that all the weird and wonderful things on Dinotopia are gone for good.
Or maybe there's a more hopeful explanation. What if Dinotopia is located in a pocket dimension that interests with our world? That would explain how we have creatures from millions of years apart living on the same island. Perhaps time works differently in Dinotopia's pocket dimension. I like this idea best.
Well, I think that covers everything. It's been a great ride, and I certainly hope that Gurney makes a fifth Dinotopia book, and perhaps a sixth and seventh, one of these days. I will see you guys next time.
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