I bought this by accident, when I was a kid. It may be the first fiction novel I read. It certainly was the first science fiction novel I read. It impressed me at the time, and I won't betray that memory by bad-mouthing it now.

It plays at one of the oldest games in sf: imagine ancient life, hidden for eons, surfacing. In this case, that's precisely what has happened, for a reptilian sentient being from the age of the dinosaurs had preserved himself, into modern times, with the highest technology. This one-ups Haggard, in conception if not style. ( )