History Literature / TheDinosaurLords

* RaptorAttack: ''Deinonychus'', or horrors, both trained and wild are truly vicious pack hunters that rip their prey to shreds. [[spoiler:Just as poor Pilar found out.]]

''The Dinosaur Lords'' is fantasy/science-fiction series by Victor Milán, and delivers exactly what it promises to: medieval knights and dinosaurs.

Welcome to Paradise, a world where food is plentiful, nothing dies of old age, magic creeps under the radar and dinosaurs are war mounts, beasts of burden, predators and food source. This doesn't mean that the Empire of Nuevaropa, one of the bigger countries of Paradise, is at peace. At contrary - following a succesion crisis, there's civil war brewing. And it's far from the only conflict taking shape there.

* TheCoup: Falk's scheme is to [[spoiler:take over the Tyrant's Guard and use it to elliminate any other person with any infulence over the Emperor, making him the only power behind the throne.]]
* TheCynic: Abi is very realistic of the world around her, sees right through court games and has no qualms playing DaddysGirl to get what she wants. She's also the one to tell Fina that with the world they live in, noblemen branding and whipping slaves is nothing out of ordinary.

** Falk's mother. The mere suggestion that she may be arriving on the scene of events is enough to make usually-snarky Bergdahl admit that he's trembling in fear.
** Karyl has a reputation for never losing (it's not completely correct), making most of Nuevaropa shiver with terror whenever he arrives on battlefield.
* TheEmpire: Nuevaropa has a lot of this vibe, complete with DeadlyDecadentCourt and many nobles treating peasants like trash.
* TheEndOrIsIt: As everybody celebrates victory over [[spoiler:Raguel's horde]], [[spoiler:Aphrodite]] pops in and tells Karyl that this was only first of seven {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s likely hell-bent on Empire's destruction.

* TheFundamentalist: People of Life-To-Come sect are most fundamental and ascetic of all Church's orders, to the point of denying themselves even pleasures approved by the Creators, calling them metaphorical.
* TheHedonist: The religious sect Garden of Beauty and Truth believes that the purpose of the world is pleasure, arts and appreciation of beauty, and spend most of their time with one of those.

* BiTheWay: Most of high-born characters, including Jaume and Melodía, swing both ways.
* BittersweetEnding: ''Lords'' ends badly for Team Protagonists, with [[spoiler:Falk all but in charge of Imperial politics, Melodía on the run, Jaume slowly losing control over his own army, Rob and Karyl arrested and Grey Angels up and about.]] The only things to sweeten this are that [[spoiler:Melodía managed to escape Falk with Pilar and her co-conspirators won't be arrested as per Emperor's direct order. Blessedly, the man still can think for himself.]]

** [[spoiler:Raguel's]] decision to go to Providence, Longeau's dying babbling of FateWorseThanDeath awaiting those who side with the Garden, and Violette's and Bogardius' talk of "higher mysteries". [[spoiler:The Garden Council is in cahoots with a Gray Angel - the same one that started the crusade against the Garden in the first place.]]

* HeroicRROD: Karyl, getting pounded by [[spoiler:a furious Gray Angel]] and refusing to be carried around, reacts to being made a duke by falling flat on his face, and for a long time needs help just standing up.

* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:The Gray Angels]] have apparently grown to hate humanity so much, they wish to wipe it out and restart everything on Paradise with a clean slate.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: During the battle against [[spoiler:the Grey Angel Crusade]], Falk notes that he's killed at least a hundred people so far, and that isn't even the most badass feat of heroism so far that day - that honor went to Jaume leading the Companions on a cavalry charge straight through the entire enemy army and out the other side. And both feats are later overshadowed by [[spoiler:Karyl and Shiraa defeating Raquel]].

** [[spoiler:Violette and Bogardius are allied to - or enthralled by - a Gray Angel, and that the "Ascension" in ranks of Gardeners involves accepting his guidance.]]

** The unnamed king of Trinia swamps, whom the girl of Melodía's posse describe as so fat, he rarely gets off his throne.

Karyl Bogomirskiy, a mercenary in service of Nuevaropa, loses his memories after his triceratops legion is shattered and the Empire he fought for backstabs him. Along with Rob Korrigan, a wandering minstrel, Dinosaur Master and the man partly responsible for Karyl's downfall, they're recruited by self-professed sorceress to train the people of her homeland in arts of war in preparation for religious schism. Meanwhile, Nuevaropan prince Jaume, who did the backstabbing, wanders all over the land fighting wars and skirmishes he doesn't think wise on orders of Emperor he doesn't respect, and his fiancee, Melodía, Emperor's daughter, attempts to carve space for herself in imperial politics as the civil war moves from battlefields to shaded corridors of the Palace of the Fireflies.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Surprsingly averted, as far as we can tell - the dinosaurs are well-researched and plausible, and vast variety of them is used beyond StockDinosaurs. Milán even avoids the common trap of mistaking ''Deinonychus'' for ''Velociraptor''. On the other hand, the hadrosaurs weaponize their vocalizations not unlike in ''Documentary/ClashOfTheDinosaurs'', something that's highly unlikely in real life.

* ''The Dinosaur Princess'' (TBR June 2017)

* BadassPrincess: Melodía slowly morphs into one when she joins the militia; one-third into ''Knights'' she's already slaying dinosaur riders from horseback.

* AristocratsAreEvil: While Duke Bluemountain and Baron Ironstar are rather infamous for the way they treat their serfs, Count Guillaume is easily the worst, since he and his troops indulge in RapePillageAndBurn for fun.

* FamousAncestor: Manuel Delgao, who founded the empire and slew a ''Tyrannosaurus imperator'' and used its bones to build the Fanged Throne, is Melodía's ancestor. She's skeptical of the veracity of this achievement, [[spoiler:until Raguel arrives riding one during the final battle of ''Knights'']].

* FallenPrincess: Melodía goes from Princess Imperial to a fugitive on the run and the whole BreakTheHaughty routine, finally finding a new purpose fighting for Providence.

* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Zig-Zagged. While hadrosaurs and sauropods are known to be placid creatures. Triceratops and their Centrosaurus (or nose-horns) cousins can be pretty brutal while fighting.

* ElectiveMonarchy: The Empire of Nuevaropa actually chooses its ruler from several different duchies and principalities throughout the Empire, and is rare for a child of a former emperor being elected.

* AristocratsAreEvil: While Duke Bluemountain and Baron Ironstar are rather infamous for the way they treat their serfs, Count Guillaume is easily the worst, since he and his troops indulge in PillageRapeAndBurn for fun.

* {{Fanservice}}: The warm weather of Nuevaropa, especially in the south, makes people, both male ''and'' female, noble and peasant, to walk around shirtless and in loincloth usually. Sometimes less.

* XMeetsY: The first book is taglined by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's statement "It's like a cross between ''Film/JurassicPark'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

** Melodía herself gets seduced by another women when Jaume's absence is prolonged, though she clearly states that Jaume is still her greatest and only love.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Surprsingly averted, as far as we can tell - the dinosaurs are well-researched and plausible, and vast variety of them is used beyond StockDinosaurs. Milán even avoids the common trap of mistaking ''Deinonychus'' for ''Velociraptor''.

* StockDinosaurs: ''T. rex'', raptors (namely ''Velociraptor'' and ''Deinonychus''), ''Triceratops'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'', ''Apatosaurus'', ''Parasaurolophus'', ''Gallimimus'', ''Pteranodon'', ''Elasmosaurus'' and other stars are prominent, although the story sometimes makes use of SeldomSeenSpecies such as ''Centrosaurus'', ''Einiosaurus'', ''Lambeosaurus'', ''Edmontonia'', ''Therizinosaurus'', ''Anurognathus'', and ''Caulkicephalus''.

* StockDinosaurs: ''T. rex'', hadrosaurs (most prominently ''Parasaurolophus'' and ''Corythosaurus''), ''Troodon'', raptors (namely ''Velociraptor'' and ''Deinonychus''), ''Triceratops'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'', ''Apatosaurus'', ''Pteranodon'', ''Elasmosaurus'' and other stars are prominent, although the story sometimes makes use of SeldomSeenSpecies such as ''Centrosaurus'', ''Einiosaurus'', ''Therizinosaurus'', ''Anurognathus'', and ''Caulkicephalus''.

* StockDinosaurs: ''T. rex'', hadrosaurs, ''Troodon'', raptors (namely ''Velociraptor'' and ''Deinonychus''), ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Triceratops'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'', ''Apatosaurus'', and other stars are prominent, although the story sometimes makes use of less famous dinosaurs such as ''Centrosaurus'' and ''Therizinosaurus''.

* TurbulentPriest: A villainous example. Father Tavaros, assinged to Jaume's army as Papal Legate (the man in charge of "spiritual health" of the army) is trying to undermine Jaume's command from the start, and encourages his men to RapePillageAndBurn.

* KarmaHoudini: Falk gets away with raping Melodía because she only gets in contact with people who are able to punish him for it after he'd just covered himself in glory in a major battle, so his crimes would likely be forgiven if she tried reporting him at that time. [[spoiler:So she remains silent and plots to destroy and/or kill him later.]]

* OvershadowedByAwesome: During the battle against [[spoiler:the Grey Angel Crusade]], Falk notes that he's killed at least a hundred people so far, and that isn't even the most badass feat of heroism so far that day - that honor went to Jaume leading the Companions on a cavalry charge straight through the entire enemy army and out the other side. And both feats are later overshadowed by [[spoiler:Karyl and Shiraa defeating Raquel].