Review of Tertiary by John Coppinger

Another from my Pitch Me! SF Thread. This was a good sample size, unlike a couple of short stories which barely allowed a written sample after the author's notes and preamble.

Tertiary tells the tale of a Dinosaurian civilization which leaves clues and messages within what at first appear as fossilized remains. A secret code and visions begin to affect the original three-person archeological crew, whose disbelief is gradually turned to certainty. The sample takes us from the original dig site, to the scientists laboratory (introducing other characters along the way) and even to their own flats as the back story builds. Visions of terrible happenings hint at danger and the need for help.

All in all a promising start to the novel, even including a drawing (well done as well) of the dig site. My only concern was a little over the formatting - there appeared no breaks between scene changes, causing one paragraph to run into another and leaving me to go back and check when we had, for instance, arrived at the laboratory, or Laura's flat. This interrupted the flow and made it seem slower than it was in reality.

As I said, good promising start, with a believable storyline and characters. Sorting out the scene changes would have raised the mark. THREE AND A HALF out of FIVE from me.