Ratha's Creature and Clan Ground are two of my favorite books from my childhood. I was delighted to learn the author had continued the series, but the rest of the books have been very disappointing. The first two in the series were interesting not because they were about prehistoric cats but because those cats were well-drawn, interesting characters. In fact, in those earlier books very little description was given about what the cats and their herd beasts looked like, leaving much to the imagination of the reader. The focus was on the story and the motives of the characters. In Ratha's Courage, the attention is almost solely on describing new prehistoric animals. It feels like the author is so intrigued by these animals that the story itself is getting lost. There are good ideas in the book, but they don't feel fully realized or fleshed out. Some of the plot points feel very out of place- steering beasts like a car? Humor about manure? The tone of this book feels like it was written from a much younger audience than Ratha's Creature and Clan Ground.

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