Lauren Alder

The Codex of Desire Lauren Alder

Love and violence, war and lust, lies and betrayal - even intelligent feathered dinosaurs fell prey to such savage impulses, more than 67 million years ago. When Raoul Deguchi, a human palaeontologist, touches the alien-forged metal band wrapped around the forearm of a small theropod dinosaur fossil, he is mentally transported back in time to experience the tragic intersection of five dinosaur lives. Girn'ash, a shrewd and secretive female slave, falls in love with Tir'at Esk, a dashing military prisoner - and will do anything in her meagre power to win his freedom. But Girn'ash's queen is determined to coerce the handsome warrior into her harem, and when so many ferocious desires collide it might doom an entire civilization to nuclear extinction.