The Extinction Trials: Exile

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The Extinction Trials Exile was a fun sequel. It started out a little slow, with a lot of time spent on Earthasia, the continent where all the humans live, but once the action shifted to Piloria, the dinosaur continent, this book shifted into overdrive. Stormchaser and Lincoln, two of the survivors of the first expedition to Piloria, have to go back in this one- not a surprise, probably- but this time the goal is to deliver deadly viruses to the water supply there, in hopes of killing off the more aggressive dinos. The goal being to make Piloria safe for human habitation. Storm also has a more personal reason for going, which I won't spoil, and there are a couple of surprise additions to the team this time around. All in all this was a fun romp through dinosaur land- at times it felt a little by the numbers, nothing really groundbreaking, but in spite of that I enjoyed this a lot and flew through it, just like the first book. 

The big moral dilemma here is whether the dinosaurs should be killed at all. Is it right to eliminate entire species so that the humans can take over- especially since resources are exhausted on the human continent and food is scarce. They clearly have to do something. Storm in particular wrestles with this dilemma, but events conspire to make the decision almost moot- after all, if they don't introduce the viruses they don't get to come home. And Lincoln, just like in the first book, has another reason for revisiting Piloria. In spite of the moral questions, there is the usual running and carnage that inevitably happens when you mix humans and dinos! 

The dinosaur action is pretty intense and even though this is YA- and reads that way- the carnage is kind of intense. The author doesn't pull any punches with the bloodletting, and this makes Piloria feel dangerous. The descriptions are spot on as well, with the different habitats and the omnipresent humidity, just the overall atmosphere. The bigger picture worldbuilding, like why is there a dinosaur continent with all these different terrain types, just across the sea from the human continent that is overcrowded, is still iffy, and I hope this is addressed further. Piloria itself almost seems to have too many terrain types in close proximity to each other, something at least one character notices in the tail end of the book, so I don't know if this is a thing or if I'm just overthinking it. 

I liked Storm and Lincoln both this time around, and it was nice to see a new team take on the dinosaurs. The romantic possibilities between the two of them are there, but are not really developed- this book is more about them getting their relationship back on track, reestablishing trust, after the events of the first book, so any romantic developments are going to have to wait for the next book I guess. If you like a slow burn though this definitely delivers! There are also some other family developments that are compelling, such as the relationship between storm and Reban Don, which gets a lot of attention in this one. 

Overall this is a solid sequel. Again there's nothing mindblowing here, but it's a fast read and once it gets moving there's lots of action. I have a ton of questions and thoughts, which I'll expound on below in a spoilery section, but if you liked The Extinction Trials or if the premise appeals to you, I'd say this one's a no- brainer. 

FURTHER DISCUSSION

So... Reban Don. We get a softening of his character in this one, as he is sent to Piloria with the group, and he and Storm get to know each other. I appreciate the nuance to his character, but as Lincoln muses at one point, he still did the things he did in book one- including sending kids to Piloria, most likely to their death, with seemingly little compunction. Since he shows no signs of regret it's hard to really buy into his character development- I mean, he's a nice guy now just because his circumstances have changed? He's just misunderstood? Not really buying it, even though I welcome his evolution- it just needs more work. 

I love the moral quandary presented here, and how Storm struggles all through the book with the choices she has. And the fact that she remains behind, with her father, at the end- the two of them alone on Piloria could be lots of fun! 

I noted in my review of The Extinction Trials that the biggest issue for me was the worldbuilding. By that I mean the big picture stuff, the plausibility of it all-not to mention is this supposed to be a future Earth, an alternate world, or whatever. I guess that doesn't really matter, but we learn next to nothing about why Earthasia is the way it is, with overcrowding and resource depletion, and yet a weeks voyage across the sea is a vast land full of natural resources- and dinosaurs. Why are they only there? Why have people not settled on Piloria before? There are, as yet, no answers.