Let me be clear at the outset:
1. I love fantasy art, and I love paleoart.
2. Terryl Whitlatch is clearly a talented artist. Her work reminds me of that of Mauricio Anton and James Gurney. She can do anatomical drawings of extinct, modern, and imaginary animals, draw characters, etc. in a number of styles from the ultra-realistic to the cartoonish.
This book is filled with interesting and delightful art. What I hoped for is some explanation of the thought process behind the drawings. For example, the "Pre-Tracker" is reminiscent of the extinct predator Andrewsarchus, and has some aspects of the modern wolf, but it has six limbs. It would be nice to know the origin of the concept, what kind of environment was envisioned for that animal, etc.
Also, it would be nice to have some rules of thumb how to make imaginary animals look bizarre, but somehow realistic. Alas, there is none of that here--this book is basically a gallery.
Readers should check out James Gurney's "Imaginative Realism."