Astrosaurs: The Sabre-tooth Secret by Steve Cole

February 2011, Random House Children's Books

144 pages, Paperback

Review copy

Children's, 7+ 

Lots of humour, space exploration, space technology, generalisations leading to misunderstandings, friendship,  doing the right thing, an interesting way to power a space ship 

Summary from Random House Children's Books

Captain Teggs is no ordinary dinosaur - he's an astrosaur! On the incredible spaceship DSSSauropod, along with his faithful crew, Gypsy, Arx and Iggy, Teggs rights wrongs, fights evil and eats a lot of grass!

The reappearance of a dino spaceship lost for 300 years spells danger for Teggs. How has a pack of savage sabre tooths got on board? What menace is chasing them through the wastes of space? Can the Astrosaurs unravel the mystery or will the sabre-tooths' secret destroy them all?

Reasons for loving the Astrosaur crew (Iggy, Teggs, Gipsy, Arx): They notice everything, even things which are odd and only later when they discover something is wrong, do they realise the significance of the odd sights. 

Is there another character who deserves a special mention? Yes - all the large kitty-cats with long pointy teeth, who aren't all they seem and who are relatively cute. 

How evil/nasty is the enemy? Very evil with the scheming and execution of the plan. 

Are there plenty of plot twists and surprises? Yes - sometimes I have a clue about the plot, this is one where everything was unexpected! 

One of my favourite parts was...learning the real reason behind the sabre-tooth tigers' existence. 

I give it an 8/10 

Find out more about all the astrosaurs and Steve's other books on his website. 

Suggested reads

Astrosaurs Academy: Deadly Drama by Steve Cole: this is one of the books about the astrosaurs training 

Astrosaurs: Megabookasaurus! by Steve Cole - a compendium of more astrosaurs stories

and for another book by Steve Cole (where dinosaurs are bigger and meaner) try Z.Rex, whose sequel is on my TBR pile (the z isn't a typo!)