Mastodonia by Clifford D. Simak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is definitely not a bad SF and Simak is still one of my favorite go-to classic SF authors. Even the basic tale of a time machine to colonize the past or otherwise get rich off of stupid hunters who think they're the match for dinosaurs is well done if an old tale.

Of course, later novels such as Jurassic Park blows modest SF like this away, but then... maybe not. :) Time travel tales usually get a bad rap. I don't know why. I enjoyed this one for what it was: popcorn fiction. :)

Even the tax evasion schemes by setting up your own country in the deep past were funny and still feels timely. It's not like they were huge corporations. More like they were a small business trying to make it work despite all the static. :)

Simak remains a charming writer that I cannot find any fault with at all. He was never all that spectacular or ground-breaking, but he was always thoughtful, exploratory, and he always developed characters who never left a bad taste in the mouth. :) Oh, and he never went the corny route, either, for which I love him dearly. :)


View all my reviews