The Lost World

Rating:
Summary: Michael Crichton Mails It In...
Review: I love Michael Crichton. He's one of my 4 favorite authors (Tom Clancy, Stephen King, and Jack Higgins being the other 3). And Jurassic Park is probably my all-time favorite novel of his. It's exciting, mysterious, filled with almost a childlike sense of wonder. I mean, let's be honest. How many of us as young boys didn't dream of actually seeing a real dinosaur?

But with The Lost World, it looks like Michael Crichton has bowed to the will of the movie studio. Whereas Jurassic Park had a very logical, well-paced storyline with lots of action and real fear, The Lost World is a weak story with a contrived plot to get people back to an island populated with dinosaurs that immediately start to chase and kill them like before.

Don't get me wrong, the story is written in Michael Crichton's typically solid style, but the story is really weak and seems just an excuse for another dinosaur book. And was I the only person that read the ending and thought 'What happened?'. I mean, the characters were in deep trouble, chased once again by Velociraptors, and suddenly, they find a way off the island and the book ends. None of the events that got them off the island (or only just enough so the book wouldn't simply end). In my opinion, you know the author is simply ready to end a book when he falls back to a short narrative that basically says 'the characters found a secret way off the island and got away. The End.'

I'm sorry, but I would have expected better from Michael Crichton. Instead of a forced sequel to Jurassic Park, he should either have come up with another unrelated story (which he's typically very good at doing), or taken a bit more time to come up with an original sequel. Following up on the events referred to at the end of Jurassic Park where some dinosaurs had obviously escaped to the mainland comes to mind...

Bottom line, if you have to have a bit more of Jurassic Park (like I did), read the book. But don't expect it to live up to its predecessor. Oh, and don't expect this story to have much at all to do with the movie by the same name. They're almost totally different.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!!
Review: If you like dinosuars, then you would like The Lost World, an awesome dinosaur book. If you have seen the movie and liked it, you would think this book is better than the movie. Ofcourse fake, but a good fiction book. If you a dinosaur fan, read this book. You will see how the main charactors get through this and surviving a T-rex and trying to outrun raptors. Cliffhanger is one thing in this book. you will be on the edge of your of seat reading this book!

Rating:
Summary: As good as Jurassic Park
Review: If you liked Jurassic Park, you will like The Lost World. If you can get past aspects of the book that are more unbelievable, like the recurrance of Dr. Ian Malcolm, it can be a fun book to read. There are different theories on the behavior of the dinosaurs in this book as the characters this time are trying to simply observe the habitat. Although I enjoyed the characters in this book, I agree with another review and I feel that once again the dinosaurs steel the show. Crichton is able to put you on the island and make you feel like you are there observing the dinosaurs. Crichton has again created an exciting and thought-provoking book and I recommend it to any Crichton fan.