Review: 'Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur' by Ian McDonald
A fleeting collision of myth and desire
McDonald’s Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur presents a compelling collision of forces: the tentative gentleness of the “boy” against the raw, almost primeval vitality of the “dinosaur.” This brief spasm of awareness pulls the reader into a future that feels at once distant and fiercely lived.
The story follows Tif Tamim, a nineteen-year-old boy hounded by a troubled past and an aching desire to ride a bucking carnotaurus for a living. In a world where a temporal fissure allows dinosaurs to cross briefly into Man’s realm, Tif’s wish hovers perpetually—and painfully—within grasp.
Arriving at the doorstep of a ramshackle circus, Tif becomes enamored with every facet of its brusque operation, from the dark-eyed male rider to the warm intimacy of its small family of misfits. Yet something from the past keeps calling him back. Or, more accurately, someone.
Though short, the story condenses its world-building into rivulets of backstory that glimmer rather than overwhelm. McDonald’s language flows with a dreamlike looseness, spilling color and a touch of surreal atmosphere in just the right measure to keep the imagination thirstily engaged.
Meanwhile, beneath the novella’s adventurous surface lies a quietly probing tension: how far can humanity intrude upon nature, and what does civilization’s unraveling reveal about ourselves?
Given the depth of this quandary and the vivid silhouettes of its characters, the story leaves us aching for deeper submersion.
After all, the chaos of toppled hierarchies can be conveyed in a few words, but the flesh that hungers for life’s offerings cannot. This tension spills into a broader impression of Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur, which resists settling fully on any one axis of experience.
The story is hardly romantic or firmly embedded in the present, and its conflicts are resolved far too swiftly. What’s more, while adventurous, it often leans toward a storyboard rather than a fully inhabited narrative.
The dinosaurs themselves illustrate this best. These ancient beings of unparalleled vitality are tamed with surprising ease; their domestication feels muted, a subtle flattening of life’s ferocious wonder.
Still, Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur charms enough to soften the sting of its limitations. Tif is wholly lovable, and McDonald’s world is a portal into a fantastical, thrilling realm. Its only flaw: it releases the reader all too soon.
In the end, the reading experience delights in its imagination and audacity, lingering in fragments—the ache of desire, the sparks of longing, the luminous spaces where boyhood and myth collide. With tempered expectations, it remains a thrilling freefall.
An advance copy was provided by Tordotcom.
Mood Meter
🌖🌓🌖🌕🌖
Genres
LGBTQ+
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publication Date
February 3, 2026