Prey

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating start, but then a rerun of previous Crichton
Review: I was completely caught up in the first half of the book. His story and character development were typical top notch Crichton. Then the last half of the book became a rerun of previous Crichton novels. Not giving anything away, but it sure seemed at times like I was reading a combination of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park all over again.

Rating:
Summary: who writes this dialogue
Review: Compared to his earlier works, the dialogue in this book is just ludicrous! Fair premise but a bit heavy on the "deus ex machina". Hardly worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Andromeda Strain II
Review: Michael Crichton's newest novel reads like a 21st century update of his earlier novel, The Andromeda Strain. The premises are different, of course, but other aspects of the novel ring remarkably familiar and somewhat formulaic. Instead of an evolving alien disease as the enemy, we now have an evolving manmade swarm of nanomachines. Instead of a multi-level compound to study the disease, where scientists must go through several stages of bacterial and biological sanitization, we now have a nano-manufacturing compound, where employees must go through several stages of dust and micro-particle sanitization.

Perhaps Crichton has spent too much time recently working with Hollywood on movies and television productions. Indeed, "Prey" often reads like a movie script, with detailed descriptions reading like they were meant more for a director or set designer than for a reader with his or her own vivid imagination. In this novel, "detail" becomes more important than "color."

"Prey" does, however, have its redeeming qualities. Interesting scientific anecdotes on apparently true-to-life studies and experiments pepper the text and add a certain sense of believability to the novel. Unfortunately, one-dimensional characters and unimaginative action sequences (again, written as if for a movie director) detract from the story more than the science brings to it.

The book does make for a quick read, but if you're expecting the same science-based suspense, realistic detail and intricate story-weaving as in some of Crichton's other novels, you will be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: great suspense thriller, a little over the top though
Review: I have read all of Crichton's book and this one is definitely one of his best. The theme as always is technology going out of control and creating havoc, this time it is about swarms of nano computers given to runaway evolution and ultimately becoming a menace to its creators. The technical details are well thought out (until the very end) and it makes the reader believe that such technology would indeed become feasible in the future. I think that the ideas Mr.Crichton present are themselves worth reading about.

Then there is the whole suspense thriller edge to it. Jack Forman the narrator is brought into the Xymos Lab to sort things out. He used to be an ace programmer, now a stay-at-home daddy to 3 and married to a Xymos executive. He is frustrated, he is slightly tired of dealing with his kids at home and picking them up from their soccer practice, and he suspects that his wife is having an affair.Jack's character is more compelling than most of Crichton's other creations.

Some other reviewers have noted that the narration style is much like a screenplay, I agree, but this makes the novel more riveting than anything else. Prey is unputdownable, at least after the first 50 or so pages. My only gripe is a certain ability given to the nano swarms towards the end, which is not well explained and was rather surprising, granted that this made a suitable climax for this excellent thriller. Of course I cannot tell you what it was, that would be a spoiler, read it to judge for yourself. You might hallucinate fuzzy black smoke for a few days if you are that type.

Rating:
Summary: Scary What The Future May Hold
Review: This was another awesome book from Micheal Crichton. I love the way Crichton writes because he takes a concept that is very complex and hard to understand and is able to make me understand all while telling a great story. Fans of Crichton will not be let down but the thrilling story that deals with nanotechnology. I like what this book has to say about not putting regulations on technology and the ramifications it can have on society. I read this book in about three days I could not put it down and neither will you.

Rating:
Summary: A complete waste of your time
Review: This ranks as one of the worst books I've ever purchased.

It ramples with shallow characters. The writing is just terrible. At one point a group of characters runs around acting like birds (they're seriously attempting to avoid getting killed) in an attempt to fool the Prey.

Don't buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I am still amazed that this ludicrous story would be published. Definitely feel if it did not bear his name it would have never seen daylight. I have read all of his books but this one sounds like it came from a very disturbed brain. Skimmed through most of it and felt sorry for the 3 children and husband. Impossible to believe a mother would subject her family to sure death.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but hard to "swallow"
Review: Well, Michael Crichton makes another interesting technical story that only seems plausible because of his exausting explanations that seem to appear in every chapter. It always seems his explanations are meant to convince himself as well as the audience. Like Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Sphere and most Crichton works, he likes to deal with small group dynamics and avoids the global effects of the crisis at hand. Still, it made for an interesting 13 hours. I "read" the audio version, which infuses a little of the reader's acting into the read, but it seems the only way I can read these days.

Rating:
Summary: Great Insight into the future of Nanotechnology
Review: I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I think that this book was incredible. Yes it's hard to understand and grasp the concept of hundreds of billions of nanoparticles forming clouds and even being able to form complex shapes (such as human form), but is it really? I mean 50 years ago, no one would believe that in 2000, we would have computers the size of our palm. Also, 20 years ago, who would've thought that soon there would be cellular phones that weighed as much 3 ounces and could fit in any pocket. So now that we've evolved that much, is it really hard to believe that in say, 25 years, we could manufacture nano-machines that could perform tasks nothing else could? The answer is no, it's not hard to believe, because in this brave world, anything is possible. So in my opinion, this book is a great insight into the near-future of an obscure technology that could result in major improvements in medical imagery, etc. This is nanotechnology...

Rating:
Summary: this was scary
Review: This book was one of the best he's ever written!! It was really scary. I love books about when science invents something and it goes horribly awry. I wish that he had included dinosaurs in this book....but it was scary enough without dinosaurs, but it would have been ood.l. I can't wait until his next book. I bought this one at the mall near my house and can't believe that it wasn't sold out!!!