* AdaptationDisplacement: Majority of the people who know about Dinotopia only watched the miniseries and/or the InNameOnly animated movie, ''WesternAnimation/DinotopiaQuestForTheRubySunstone'' due to television being more widespread than the books as a medium.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: At a cursory glance, Dinotopia seems to be an island where man has DomesticatedDinosaurs. Certainly dinosaurs are explicitly proud of their strength and happily carry humans and pull heavy things for them. However, humans and dinosaurs are supposed to be on equal standing. And if you ask Lee Crabb, ''he'' would tell you that the dinosaurs are the true rulers and the humans just their opposable thumbed little servants.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** ''First Flight'' has a plot that revolves around the main characters riding around on [[GiantFlyer Giant Fliers]]. Doesn't sound familiar enough? His mount is named {{Film/Avatar}}.
** The variably ''anthropomorphic'' dinosaur residents of the island are sometimes derogatorily referred to as "[[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom scalies]]".
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids:
** The first ''Dinotopia'' illustrated novel is a book with loads and loads of illustrations. And it involves [[TalkingAnimal talking dinosaurs]]. It ''never'' had a chance. Gurney has stated that his books are for all ages; he likes media where things can be enjoyed both at a shallow surface level and also when more thought is applied.
** The spinoff novels on the other hand, are ''definitely'' meant for kids, though a few of them have crossover appeal. Have we mentioned the [[ProudWarriorRace Knights of the Unrivaled]]?
* {{Woolseyism}}: An alphabet used widely in Dinotopia is simply called the "footprint alphabet", since it is based on the shapes of dinosaurs' feet. The Polish translation of the book calls it "alfabet łapiński", with the latter word being a portmanteau of "łaciński" (as in "Latin alphabet") and "łapa" (foot).