The novel “Bones of the Earth” by Michael Swanwick was published for the first time in 2002.
Richard Leyster is a paleontologist who works for the Smithsonian Institution, where he deals in particular with dinosaurs. One day a Mr. Griffin offers him a job that requires absolute secrecy warning that there’s a risk of violent death. He provides no details but leaves a box and, after he’s gone, Leyster opens it and finds a real Stegosaurus head.
Leyster discovers that time travel is possible but only thanks to the fact that someone has provided the ability to perform it to humans. However, the exploitation of this possibility is subject to precise rules, which still allow scientific expeditions in the Mesozoic. The dangers, as well as fierce dinosaurs, come from a group of creationist terrorists who want to stop time travel at all costs.
In 1999, Michael Swanwick published the short story “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur”, which won the Hugo Award. The author later expanded the story of scientific research in the Cretaceous into the novel “Bones of the Earth”, which combines scientific speculation about the ecosystem in which dinosaurs lived at the end of the Mesozoic to that concerning time travel with its possible paradoxes.
“Bones of the Earth” starts with the discovery of time travel by the paleontologist Richard Leyster, who gets involved by the mysterious Griffin in a scientific research he could’ve never imagined. This first part is rather slow because there’s a lot of talk and little action. Michael Swanwick chose to use it to provide a lot of information about the rules regarding time travel and there are also several scientific information about dinosaurs.
In fact, all the part of “Bones of the Earth” dedicated to paleontology is a bit heavy because there’s a wide use of scientific jargon such as the names of several species of dinosaurs and assorted anatomical references. It’s definitely helpful if the reader has at least some interest in the subject to avoid getting lost within all this information. At least, after the first part, a lot of action starts with many twists.
“Bones of the Earth” contains several speculations concering the ecosystem of the Mesozoic and the relationship among the different animal species during the Maastrichtian period, which concludes that geological era. These are ideas that are sometimes quite far-fetched but personally I found them intriguing.
The research on dinosaurs are carried out by a group of paleontologists. Throughout the story, Richard Leyster has to deal with the brilliant and ambitious colleague Gertrude Salley. The relationship between the two of them changes over time and it’s easy to get lost among the various leaps back and forth through various periods in which the two meet and clash. Along with Griffin, they are the best developed characters in the novel.
The research on dinosaurs are an important element in “Bones of the Earth”, also because in addition to the danger faced by paleontologists in their contacts with the dinosaurs there are those caused by a group of creationist terrorists. Time travel is the worst thing that can exist for these Christian fundamentalist because it allows anyone to see the falsity of their beliefs. For this reason, they’re ready to do anything to sabotage it.
Some people criticized “Bones of the Earth” as anti-Christian for the way these creationists are depicted. This, along with several rather explicit sex scenes, has certainly contributed to some negative opinions about the novel. However, it should be kept in mind that these people are fanatics and some actual news about American Christian fundamentalists make them look quite realistic.
All this would have been more than enough for a novel, instead Michael Swanwick goes further and gives us glimpses of the future history of the Earth, even in the very distant future. Since the beginning of the novel, it’s clear that humans were given the technology of time travel by someone else and the first references to the Unchanging are given.
In the last part of the novel the protagonists are faced with a number of paradoxes caused by a fork in the timeline. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, as the Doctor might say. In this ending, Michael Swanwick reveals the mysteries related to the Unchanging and why humans had the opportunity to travel in time.
“Bones of the Earth” contains so many ideas but because of this it’s sometimes a bit unfocused. The novel isn’t very long so it’s impossible to give all the space needed to a comprehensive development of the various elements. On the other hand, there was the risk that making it longer might make the novel even heavier. Given the complexity of the story, perhaps the lesser of two evils was chosen.
Despite these flaws, I think “Bones of the Earth” is a very good novel because I find that its merits far outweigh them. I recommend it especially if you like dinosaurs and stories about time travel.
