Mining the most recent paleontological advances, a paleobiologist recreates 16 extinct worlds, rendered with a novelist's eye for detail and drama, showing up close the intricate relationships of these ancient worlds.
Wonderful ... Think of it as a kind of natural history travelogue ... And then unthink that thought, because this is an utterly serious piece of work, meticulously evidence-based and epically cinematic. Or rather, beyond cinematic. The writing is so palpably alive ... Halliday is equally attentive to plant and even fungal life — this is not a zoo tour but a series of fecund dioramas ... This is a book of almost unimaginable riches ... 'The brightness and diversity of life, its clamour and colour and conflict, leap from the golden siltstone canvas,' Halliday writes; 'even the transience of a song, a startling wing-flap, is made solid and lasting.' That brightness and diversity leaps from Otherlands too. It is a book that will make its own solid and lasting contribution. It could well be the best I read in 2022 — and I know it’s only January.
Densely detailed ... Vivid ... In between the intriguing characters residing in the ethereal mountain glens and mysterious oceans are the bold hypotheses that lead readers to reimagine the dynamics of coexistence ... An intricate analysis of our planet’s interconnected past, it is impossible to come away from Otherlands without awe for what may lie ahead.
Much of Otherlands is written in the present tense, which feels a bit creepy until the reader gets into the rhythm, at which point the narrative becomes shockingly real and immediate, as individual dramas and entire, vibrant panoramas unfold in what feels like real time ... Underpinning this scrumptious language is deep science, with more than 50 pages of references.
