This is a fun book, a book that will be appreciated by dino lovers of any age even if it's far from being perfect
Dinosaurs weren't all killed by the asteroids and developed language. This is the start of a funny and entertaining story, a bit unusual but I liked it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

They say not to judge a book by the cover, well the whole premise can be ignored in this instance. For despite sounding absolute claptrap, this was actually decent stuff. It really does sound piffle – the meteor did not kill off all the dinosaurs, rather it gave them the power of language, counting and the concepts of seconds and miles per hour, and so on, of course. Just when Eleri does wrong by his superiors, he sees something really rum on the way to the court that will decide his exile status for him – almost as rum as, say, those horrid carnivores collaborating and working together, militarily. For before now all the nasty wars going on have been herbi v herbi. And just in case (no spoiler alert) the exile does not kill Eleri off, someone or something wants to employ a flying lizard with aspirations of being a great spy and detective to bring proof of his death. So someone clearly wants rid – but if disasters from space cannot kill off the dinosaurs any more, surely a humble little forgotten-about dino-prince might just also find the way to survive?

Like I say, piffle. The risible way the dinos get speech and so on will be a hurdle for many, but once over that I was more than able to run with this. Yes, the world building is really clunky – the different tribes and locations and archaic names for all the species not helping anyone much – but the drama actually works. The first third in lesser hands would be all set-up, but with characters this broad a lot of that can come about through action, as it should, and we never have the Book One problem of explaining and not entertaining, instead we're right on the ball with pacey, engaging writing. I'm not saying I would leap through fire to read the sequels, but this was strong stuff, and compared to my expectations a masterpiece.

The Deadlands: Hunted is an exciting and promising start to a new series set in Cretacea, a fantasy prehistoric world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs. The story follows Eleri, a young dinosaur of the Mountain Kingdom who is disgraced and banished to the hostile, barren, carnivore-filled territory known as the Deadlands. (His crime? Saving the life of an enemy, and thus being pronounced a traitor by his very own brother.) In the Deadlands, Eleri makes some unlikely new friends: not only Tortha, the dinosaur whose life he saved, but also Lerithon and Sorielle — other exiled dinosaurs from enemy tribes. Together, the group of exiles must use their individual skills to survive the lethal Deadlands. Strange occurrences are afoot…there are secret meetings and a spy, and as Eleri and his fellow outcasts discover the real reason why their tribes are at war with one another, they must work together to save their kingdoms from total ruin.

This is a great, action-packed book that is sure to be well-received by young readers who enjoy stories of animal adventures and alternate worlds, such as the Wings of Fire series. Melki-Wegner’s world-building is impressive, although the long dinosaur names and the correspondence between their scientific names and the “Old Stories” names can sometimes be difficult to keep track of. The plot is satisfyingly suspenseful and engaging, solidly preparing the ground for the next instalment in the series. I will definitely be recommending The Deadlands: Hunted to students, and am looking forward to its sequel The Deadlands: Trapped, which will be published by Walker Books in October this year!

This book had a very exciting premise. Instead of a meteor wiping out the dinosaurs, some survived and they gained intelligence and speech. They started to strategise and war began.

The beginning of this book was intriguing and quite fast paced. We follow a herbivore who is the son of a prince but not in line to inherit. He wants to explore and become a storyteller. Things happen and we are introduced to other characters.

Two characters are exiled to a dangerous land.

Initially I was really interested but I was less so when we were introduced to a spy character and the pacing began to slow.

Overall I feel like this book had a great premise but the slower pace hindered my enjoyment.