LIVING MEMORY by David Walton – Review

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Living Memory by David Walton
Series: Living Memory #1
Published by Self Published on October 18 2022
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 240
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: David Walton’s latest is part action-packed thriller, part fascinating dinosaur science, and 100% fun.

I love David Walton’s books, so when he asked me to read and review his latest, I couldn’t say no. Walton has a flair for combining science and technology with fast-paced, high stakes plots and engaging characters, and his ideas are mind-boggling at times. Living Memory might have the most unique idea I’ve run across in a long time: Walton imagines a scenario where a bird-like breed of dinosaurs called maniraptors were highly intelligent creatures, so intelligent that—well, it would spoil things if I told you, but trust me, you’re going to want to find out!

The story opens at a dig site in Thailand, where a group of paleontologists have just made a startling discovery. We meet Samira, an American who has secured permission to extract fossils from the site and take them back to the United States, and Kit, a native Thai paleontologist on Samira’s team who is acting as a local expert and helping Samira navigate the unfamiliar Thai landscape and customs. With advanced imaging technology, the team has uncovered rows of dinosaur skeletons, arranged so precisely as to suggest a formal burial ground of sorts.

But their excitement over the find is ruined when the Thai government informs them that American expats are no longer welcome in Thailand, due to a recent change of regime. And before Samira can finish her work, all of her fossils are seized and she and her team members are thrown into a holding cell for questioning.

Meanwhile, Kit has made his own discovery. While extracting one of the fossils, he found a strange, green liquid embedded in the rock, and when he breathed it in, he experienced an intense feeling of fear and vivid hallucinations. When a lieutenant approaches Kit and asks him to help uncover a drug smuggling ring, Kit suspects that it has something to do with this odd liquid.

In alternating chapters, we go back in time sixty-six million years and meet a maniraptor named Prey (whose full name is Sweet Blood of Easy Prey Just After Slaughter!), just one of a large group of intelligent dinosaurs who use scent to communicate. Prey has just seen something incredible—and terrifying. Now all he has to do is convince the others that this potentially life-changing event is real.

All these elements come together in a thrilling—and sometimes confusing—-story involving the CIA, Thai gangs, drug traffickers, a vengeful princess and a group of scientists who are determined to reveal the truth about the organized burial ground and its significance to the scientific world. 

So there is a whole lot going on in Living Memory, and I guarantee you’ll never be bored. I absolutely loved the scientific elements and the way Walton blended them with the speculative idea of a super intelligent dinosaur species. I thought it was a bold choice to tell part of the story from the dinosaur’s point of view, and Walton’s idea of what an intelligent dino might look like actually made sense in a lot of ways. Because of their large olfactory cavities, their sense of smell goes above and beyond simple scent and allows them a sophisticated communication system. I loved the way the author references intelligence in other species like chimpanzees and birds as a valid way to explain why dinosaurs might have had similar abilities. The maniraptor society is a matriarchy, and the females are twice as big as the males and set all of the society’s rules. I loved watching Prey try to get the females to listen to him, and in a weird role reversal, he’s disappointed when they brush him off. I was also very fond of the full names of the maniraptors—a couple of my favorites were Lush Warmth of Ocean Thermals after Rain and Fear Stink of Injured Mammal Limping Through the Sand, lol.

As for the human characters, I particularly liked Samira and her sister Beth (who is also a scientist), both fierce, independent women who are trying to survive in a male dominated field. Samira is Ethiopian and was adopted as a child, and despite her loving adoptive family, she’s been trying to fit in ever since. Among the many topics Walton explores in his story is that of faith. Beth believes that her religion will take care of her, while Samira questions everything and puts her faith in science. I loved that the sisters have such a close, loving relationship despite these differences.

I also really liked Kit, who is loyal to the Thai government but is feeling the sand shift beneath his feet as the new regime seems to go against everything he’s come to believe in. Kit is a dedicated scientist who simply wants the world to see that Thailand has much to offer in the field of paleontology, but he’s also glimpsed the seedy side of the country in its illegal drug and sex trafficking, and it horrifies him.

The story does go off the rails a bit at the end with some crazy, over-the-top action, but honestly, it was so much fun I just went with it. And I was actually surprised when I got to the last page and realized this is the start of a series! I’m not sure how I missed that going in, but the cliffhanger ending is the perfect hook to snag readers back for the next installment. Living Memory was a ton of fun, so if the combination of dinosaurs, politics and thriller-type action are your jam, you won’t want to miss this.

Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.