“Forty years ago, the Gather family—James, his daughter Beau, and his son Billy—vanished during a whitewater rafting trip and were presumed dead.

Five years later, Billy reappeared on the far side of the world, telling an impossible tale of a primordial valley populated by dinosaurs, aliens, Neanderthals, and androids. Little Billy became the punchline of so very many jokes, until he finally faded from the public eye.

Now, a group of graduate astronomy students follow their professor, Noah Barnes, up a mountain for what they believe is a simple stargazing trip. But they’re about to travel a lot farther than they planned …

Noah—the now grown Billy Gather—has finally figured out how to get back to the valley. Accidentally bringing his students along with him, he’s confident he can get everyone back home, safe and sound.

But the valley is a puzzle—one it turns out Noah hasn’t figured out—and they’ll need to solve it together if there’s any chance of making it out alive.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I bought this for ebook.

Thoughts: I enjoyed the puzzle behind this strange story. It has elements of time travel, dinosaurs, aliens, and general strangeness. It moved along at a decent pace and kept me guessing as to where the story was going.

The Gather family disappeared on a whitewater rafting trip and, five years one of the Gather family members (Billy) returned on the other side of the world. Billy had stories about a valley of dinosaurs and Neaderthals, but of course everyone assumed he was a traumatized kid. Billy changed his name to Noah, became a professor, and spent his career learning quantum physics. Now it’s time to for Noah to go back to the mysterious valley of his childhood. Unfortunately, he accidentally drags some grad students along with him. Noah was confident he could get them all home, but things have changed in the valley and now he is not so sure.

There were a few things about this story that really grabbed me and kept me turning pages. The first was the mystery of the valley and how (and why) it had changed over time. The second was the pure wonder of strange things that were found within the valley; you never really knew what you were going to find when you turned the next page.

I enjoyed the characters here. They don’t have a ton of depth to them, but they are entertaining. There is a pretty high (and swift) body count in this book, so it’s best not to get too attached to anyone. Noah/Billy is a bit of a puzzle and I found his stubbornness in admitting things had changed a bit frustrating. Although to be fair, he had been planning this return to the valley his whole life, and to have it all go so amiss had to be mind boggling.

I ended up liking how the story wrapped up. At first I wasn’t sure how aliens, dinosaurs, Neaderthals and robots were going to come together in a cohesive story but Clines made it work. He made it work in a way that was cohesive, easy to follow, and entertaining. Whenever I want something a bit weird and quirky, I pick up a Clines book and am never disappointed.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I really enjoyed this. This story is a bit weird and different, but I liked that it kept me guessing and really enjoyed the wonder of all the weird surprises throughout. If you are looking for an odd mystery adventure story that involves dinosaurs, Neaderthals, aliens, and robots, I would recommend. Trust me, it all works together great and will keep you on your toes. Can’t wait to see what Clines comes up with next!