Arthur Denison and his son Will, trying to lift the sorrow recently settled in their minds from the loss of Will’s mother, are overtaken by a storm at sea and are brought to a nearby island by a pod of dolphins. There they discover a land inhabited by dinosaurs -- living relics of the past -- and humans. In fact, there is an entire civilization on this island, where humans, dinosaurs and even prehistoric mammals coexist together in a paradise isolated from the rest of the world. Tim Clark’s music and James Guerney’s incredible story help bring to life this modern classic: Dinotopia. Even if you have read the book already, feel free to go even deeper into this realm of the imagination.

The story continues in Dinotopia: The World Beneath. In a follow-up to Arthur’s last expedition to the subterranean caverns beneath the island via the base of Canyon City, he and several other old friend from the prequel, Bix the protoceratops, Lee Crabb, the bitter once-sailor, now Dinotopian, and the mysterious and intrepid Oriana Nascava, a woman orphaned in her youth, determined to find out the truth of her obscure past. This journey takes us beneath the waves and into the history of the lost city of Posidos, and the eventual profound solution to the mystery of how Arthur’s sketchbook found its way into the hands of the author.

The World Beneath is a great sequel to a great story, and ZBS is just the company to shape it through audio. Recently there has been a prequel to this adventure published, entitled Dinotopia: First Flight. It chronicles a young man’s mission to stop the power-hungry people of Poseidos from taking over the whole island, in the golden age of the island, when history was still in the making. The story and illustrations are beautiful as the first two books, even if the storyline is more targeted at yougner readers, it is still an enjoyable world to escape to. Authors like James Guerney and companies like ZBS are hard to come by, but when they do meet, amazing things can, and have already happened. (note: the edition of Dinotopia I have is the older one, which doesn’t have the credits listed on the inside of the cassette case. I only have the credits for The World Beneath, which are listed below.)

Adapted by - Tom Lopez
Music by - Tim Clark
Engineers - Robert Harrari, Matt Seitz and Tom Lopez