I am a total dinosaur nerd; If I ever go back to do further studies or to re-skill, it’ll be within a paleontological field. As such, it’s no surprise that the majority of the non-fiction I’ve read in the last couple of years is dinosaur related. This novel is a little different from previous reads, focusing on the broader history of Earth pre- and post- the world’s fifth mass extinction event that saw the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago. Using Hell Creek of ancient Montana as a focal point, Black tracks the sweeping disruptions of this single place and also imagines the global impact with writing that is detailed, accessible, and enthralling as she walks the reader through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries, and the million years after the impact of history’s most infamous asteroid.