As a "dinosauroligist", I loved this book. This is probably the first book that comes from a dinosaur's point of view. It goes deeper into these animals when it comes from their viewpoint. Instead of showing dinosaurs as stupid and slow, Raptor Red shows dinosaurs as creatures that have emotion. Raptor Red also has many encounters with other dinosaurs like acrocanthosaurus, gastonia, and troodonts. It shows how dinosaurs of different species react with each other. Highly recommended.

Robert Bakker's "Raptor Red" is unlike most dinosaur fiction because it is told from the point of a Female Utahraptor, a concept unusual for books of this type. When I first heard of this, I thought the idea sounded strange and I didn't want to read a book filled with "Hungry, must kill something!" however I relented based on the great reviewer rating here, and the fact that Bakker was a consultant for the raptors in Jurassic Park, so he must know what he's talking about.

I was pleased that I did decide to read the book because while it was unsual, I did enjoy it. Bakker takes us through what he imagines the life of a raptor must have been like. We follow Raptor Red through her life, which is filled with much more than killing and eating. The life of Raptor Red, as viewed by Bakker, could almost be the life of any of us. She experiences pain and loss, family conflict, romance, and love.

As I said, I certainly found many of the concepts presented in this story interesting, however I have to wonder how Bakker came up with his research on Raptors. Not being a paleontologist, I don't know much about what is accepted scientific fact and what he just completely makes up or is based on conjecture. I find many of the events in the story inplausible, such as the part where Raptor Red and her family basicaly go sledding down a snow-covered hill. I almost expected them to break out into a snowball fight at any minute. To believe in Bakker's concepts definitely takes a strong consideration that either we know nothing about animal behavior, or that Raptors were quite possibly one of the smartest animals to ever live.

Overall, Bakker provides a very thought-provoking story that really changed my outlook on Dinosaurs from the view of ferocious cold-blooded predators that spent vtheir lives hunting and killing. He also fills in the story with excerpts that give the reader a look into several other animals of the era such as an Aegialodon and a Pterodactyl that likes playing jokes on the Raptors. Although many of these ideas sound ridiculous, they work in the story and it comes off as a serious look at what a raptor's life "could" have been like, rather than a Disney story filled with talking animals who cook and drive cars. I defintely recommend this book if you are interested in looking at a radically new view of dinosaur life.