Michael Crichton's Jurassic World: Jurassic Park / The … (2024)

Jurassic Park
4 stars

We are all familiar with this story, no? So my review will consist of my thoughts and experiences with it over time.

My first memories of this were from the summer of 1993. I remember my aunt taking my brother and me to see the movie; all I knew going into it was that it was about dinosaurs and the toys looked awesome. Later that same year I would be introduced to the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the first American iteration of which consisted of dinosaur-themed zords and costumes. Needless to say, 1993 saw me come down with a case of dino-fever, and no, I wasn't bit by a Compy... *sigh*

I would later look around on the playground for dinosaur bones on a "dig", which were actually whitish rocks because duh. But it made me feel scientific, dammit!

Jumping ahead a number of years (don't ask, a gentleman doesn't reveal his age) fine, it was 10 years, stop badgering me!, one of my high school English teachers had us read selections of the book. I don't know why, to be honest. He didn't seem very interested in reading for an English teacher; he often showed films and we never finished a book we started. Enough about him, though.

I could go on about things that were changed for the film such as the juxtaposition of the childrens ages, the fact that some scenes in the book were used for later films, or that the raptor nest weirdness was left out altogether. I could go into the irony that a book with an underlying theme of crass consumerism was turned into a billion dollar franchise that spawned not only toys and clothing, but its own theme park attractions. Hell, I could even point out the other large subject of playing god with technology just for the hell of it; but I'd like to point out the realness that the creatures in this book are not actually dinosaurs: they are hybrid beings with extracted ancient DNA mixed with that of other animals to fill in the gaps in their genetic sequences. If anything, they're chimeras.

I know people have a lot of issues with the science in this book, such as being able to extract dino genetic material from mosquitos encased in ancient amber , but somehow the author was able to summon the power of resurrection (read: retcon) by bringing Ian Malcolm, previously reported dead at the end of this novel, back to lead the sequel.

The Lost World (ETA: 09 June 2015)
3.5 stars
Seeing ☣Lynn☣'s review reminded me that I forgot to add my thoughts on The Lost World so here I go. The movie adaptation was released the summer after third grade for me, and I had this weird thing where I liked to read junior novelizations before I saw the movie so the first version of this that I read looked like this:

And that was a toned down (read: kid-friendly) account of the movie. It wasn’t until just a few months ago that I read Crichton’s source material, which oddly enough was pretty family-friendly too. Gone were Hammond’s niece and nephew, only to be replaced with other whiz kids (they were later fused into one character who became Ian Malcom’s raptor-kicking acrobat daughter for the film). Also, in the book Malcolm is mysteriously alive again.

While Jurassic Park was great as a book, it obviously started a major film franchise. Reading The Lost World reads like a cash grab for Crichton; it just seemed more like a spec script than an actual novel. It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t have that same magic that the first book had. I can’t blame the man since he was smart enough to create such a lucrative property. Plus, these movie tie-in watches from Burger King were hella bomb yo:

figure 1: Burger King watch that flips open and glows in the dark

So with dino-fever kicking into high gear again with the release of Jurassic World, guess what I’m going to be reading?

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My dino-identity ponderings: I always thought of myself as a pachycephalosaurus, but now I am rethinking that, I don't know that I am as hard-headed as all that (though as a child I did like to head-butt things - including people), nor am I really the aggressive type, plus they seem to hang out in large crowds, almost mosh pit style. I have never been one for coordinated group sports (or attacks), more of a individual sport kind of guy - running, tennis, that sort of thing - so that probably means I wouldn't be a velociraptor either. I do think I am fairly caring and while individualistic can work well with others when necessary, so maybe I would be more of a triceratops or maiasaur...

My significant other: You are a stego.

Me: What? Why a stego?

My loving significant other: You and stegos are both sort of slow, plodding creatures that are kinda funny-looking with flashy accessories.

Me: WHAT?? They are typically not portrayed as very smart creatures.

My apparently judgmental, not as loving as I previously thought, significant other: Just trust me, you are definitely a stego.

Me: Whatever, everyone loved Spike in the Land Before Time - I'll take it.

Perhaps I should now say something relevant to the actual book(s) in question - exciting, interesting read; concept and research inspired, plot driven books. The story is largely already ingrained in my consciousness (and our social consciousness) due to the wonderful movie adaptation of the first book (and the less successful second). If possible, it would probably be best if one read the book(s) prior to seeing the movie(s). This is the type of book which is simply perfect for the Hollywood treatment, and in this case, I think it may have even been improved upon in that adaptation - the visuals and score for the original movie elevated the story and emphasized the massive scale which really can not be accomplished in the same way in a book. This is a great page-turner of a book, perfect for someone that wants a solid escapist summer vacation book with an undercurrent of menace.

This book does try to make the reader think about scientific advances, and whether we should even when we can. There is also a philosophic bend which is enjoyable, and though not a real focus, I would say the role that capitalism (the profit motive) plays in all of this is a critical element to the moral themes. There is enough research laced throughout to at least alleviate some of the guilt about reading something that otherwise might feel like straight up brain candy. It is still more of a kale sprinkled sundae than a sugared salad, if you get my drift, but I think that is probably preferable to most.

Again, plot driven - I think it is fair to say that Crichton is not the strongest at characterization, but neither is that his goal, I think he has an honest relationship with his readership - Crichton readers understand what they want from him and he delivers. As you can tell from my opening ramble, I was identifying with the dinos and not really the human characters, in fact I really didn't care too much what happened to the hominids, but I think that is okay in this case. All that being said, this is by a good margin my favorite Crichton book so far and I even ended up liking The Lost World more than Jurassic Park, though this is at least in part due to the fact that there was more of a departure between the book and movie in it's case and thus I was left with more surprises. All-in-all one thing you can not get around is that this is an enjoyable read, Crichton is a good story-teller, stop nit-picking and simply enjoy.

Still one of my favorite books ever. Will review this once I finish Lost World sometime this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOLY FUCKING HELL!!! GUESS WHAT I FOUND AT HALF PRICE BOOKS FOR JUST $16.25?!?

:D

This is a STEAL! I can't find it anywhere for under 30$.

This book is so fucking beautiful in my hands. The cover artwork is just amazing as hell.

Can't wait to crack this big boy open in a few weeks.

Geniale Geschichte
Starke Charaktere
Um Meilen besser als die ("Disney-") Verfilmungen!

Jurassic Park

Really enjoyed reading Michael Crichton's sci-fi action-filled Dinosaur adventure, but having watched the video umpteen times back in the mid-1990's, felt the movie packed more of a punch. I also found Ian Malcolm's character to be quite irritating in the book with his on-going techno-babble.

The Lost World

Surprised at how much more I enjoyed The Lost World in book form over the movie. (Go figure). The story moved right along and seemed to have more edge-of-your-seat excitement and disastrous encounters than I remember in the movie. (but it's been awhile)

Overall, enjoyed both novels, HOWEVER, I really, really, really could have done without Ian Malcolm's analogies or his character (in the books) for that matter. I found his interruptions even more annoying in The Lost World. Oh well......still a fun read!

P.S. I also now know for a fact from a resident and GR friend that there is no beach on Costa Rica. Thank you Alejandro!

Yes. I have read both of these. And yes. It was a while ago. And also yes. Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors. Ope, and yes, I didn't buy a Masarati yesterday.

Did you know that... all my troubles seem so far away^... It's weird.

BUT,
I re-read stuff.

So, I re-read The Lost World. " (My personal favorite) about 3 months ago, and then read a review on here for "Jurassic Park" about 2 days ago and realized I needed a review for this book. So this is it...

Movies were obviously gonna stray from the book. No doubt about that! But, hey, they were good!
the books were obviously good. Oh, people are on an island with dinosaurs, what could go wrong????
Short answer: everything!

Oh ya, just because they're trapped in cages means they won't wreak havoc and kill people...?
The storyline is so self-explanatory. It's like the Hallmark channel with dinosaurs.

But more for Jurassic World...

Guy meets girl. Girl likes guy. Dinosaur separates them. They come together at the end.

That's a Hallmark for ya!

But hey, cut this dude some slack, Crichton makes a 'Halmark' type plotline, and turns it into a 'Hacksaw Ridge' type story.

RIght?

Now, if you've never read these books than "get a life." Nah, I'm joking. ( no actually) ;-) Just, go home and read these till your done and then be happy! ☺

I know I sure am. Remember, all my troubles are so far away!

So. Ya! Read these. Have fun with it. With the book. Obviously. Play with the book!

PEACe ✌

^lyrics to Beatles song-"yesterday"

This was the first Michael Crighton book I ever read and have read about 80 times now without disappointment. For fans of the movie a bit of warning, watch the movie first and then read this, because if you do it the other way around you WILL be disappointed. This book is violently different from it's film, from Ian to the kids (that's right, two kids. Not one, and neither are related to anyone that goes to the island), to even our antagonist.

Being that InGene has gone belly up (mild spoiler) our vilan in the book is not InGene themselves but rather the same from the first book, Dodgson. Who's Dodgson you ask? Remember the man who hired the fat computer nerd Nedry in the first book/movie? That's him. In the movie he was literally ignored beyond a quick cameo and then bang, he feel off the face of the Earth. In the book he has a minor role as well but we are told of some of the lengths he is willing to go to in order to get what he wants. In this book, we learn just how ruthless he really is.

For me, and this is my personal opinion, the plot for the book holds water better then movie, from Ian's attitude to relearning about Site B, to Dodgson's return. It never made sense to me that anyone would bring a full grown T-Rex to the mainland where we have no where to really contain it not to mention the feeding costs would be sky high. In honesty, Sea World has a hard enough time feeding whales, a T-Rex would need more in order to survive.

Regardless, it's a great book and totally worth the read.

✨Laat ik duidelijk zijn. De planeet is niet in gevaar. Wij zijn in gevaar. Wij hebben niet de macht om de planeet te vernietigen… of te redden. Maar we hebben misschien de macht om onszelf te redden.

✨Complexe systemen hebben de neiging zichzelf te positioneren langs wat wij ‘de rand van de chaos’ noemen. Die rand van de chaos stellen we ons voor als een plek met voldoende vernieuwing om een levend systeem in beweging te houden, en voldoende stabiliteit om te voorkomen dat er anarchie ontstaat. Het is een zone vol conflicten en machtsverschuivingen, waar oud en nieuw in een constante staat van oorlog verkeren. Het zoeken naar evenwicht is een delicate aangelegenheid; als een leven systeem te dichtbij komt, kan het wegzakken in incoherentie en vaagheid. Maar als het te ver afdrijft, wordt het stijf, gefixeerd, een totalitaire eenheid. Beide toestanden leiden tot uitsterven. Te veel verandering is even destructief als te weinig. Alleen aan de rand van de chaos kunnen complexere systemen floreren.

Both books were really well written, and I would rate Jurassic Park 5/5, and The Lost World 4/5.

It really made me wonder whether or not anyone bothered reading The Lost World before making the movie, as it would have made for a much better film.

It has Dinosaurs

Jurassic Park: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Lost World: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Jurassic Park - *****

The Lost World - ***

This book took me FOREVER to get through. I flew through Jurassic Park back in 2015 then didn't read The Lost World for months (#bindupproblems). I kept starting it and putting it down then making progress then nothing and so on. Now for quick reviews.

Jurassic Park - Fantastic. Five stars. I've loved the film since I was a small child and the book is BETTER. The science, oh the science. It feels so real, it goes into a good amount of depth and it's damn interesting. You have to allow for things we've learnt since the 90's but it's still so entertaining. I anticipate reading it many times in the future.

The Lost World - Took me a really long time to get into. About 40 pages in it gets really good and I read 200 pages of it on a train. Then around page 250/300 it gets weirdly boring. All this action is happening but it feels like 'blah, blah, blah' then page 380 ish it gets really interesting for about 30 pages then ends conveniently and abruptly. 'Dinosaurs, death, destruction, they all drink lemonade - the end' *Not a real spoiler*

Jurassic Park made me want to read more Crichton. I found out about Crichton's climate change deniery tendencies and that does not come across in JP. It stays out of most of TLW then sort of sneaks in at the end. It doesn't make the book worse and I'm all for opinions, even if I disagree but you end JP on a high - you end TLW thinking 'if this is where we are, what was the point?'

I would recommend Jurassic Park to everyone but the second half of this giant book I would only come back to to revisit Sarah Harding because she is awesome. A star just for her.

I first read Jurassic Park and The Lost World in fifth and seventh grade, respectively. I’m fairly certain I was not old, or world-wise enough to truly understand the books, though I loved the movies (which are vastly different from the novels, but good in their own right) and had harboured since my preschool days an intense passion for dinosaurs. Now in my twenties, re-reading these two novels is much belated – and not only am I convinced I was too young when I read them before, but the stories have taken on new dimensions.

(Caveat lector: Spoilers for both novels below.)

Jurassic Park - 5/5 Stars

In the world of the novel, genetic engineering and discovery is the new scientific frontier – and, in the competitive and cut-throat arena of corporate science, the race to make the most money has scientists and businessmen across America rushing to fund and announce the next “Big Thing” before anyone else does. This is a world of corporate espionage, the bending and fudging of regulations, and suspect business practices. One man (John Hammond) decides he is going to make the ultimate theme-park – a theme park no one could resist visiting, which would make him untold millions. A theme-park populated with real, genetically re-constructed dinosaurs. Expensive, yes. And imminently simple, once the technology is in place, right? Right?

Jurassic Park is ultimately the tale of human scientific hubris. One man’s dream (and ultimate greed) fuels the secretive operations of InGen and its employees, building dinosaurs and a “preserve” to house them. Experts in many fields are called to consult, though no one has all the information. Ian Malcolm, the consulting mathematician, is the voice of reason throughout the novel, expounding on the fact that the people building the park were lazy, short-sighted, messing with things beyond their comprehension and power to control. He predicts, even before the action of the novel, that the park will fall apart and fail.

Malcom’s predictions aren’t the only foreshadowings in the novel. Not by a long shot. In fact, if anyone wants a textbook on foreshadowing, look no further than Jurassic Park. Every chapter has a line, a piece of dialogue, a simple description, that heralds the quickly approaching disaster. There are the early dinosaur attacks, of course, but much of the foreshadow is much more subtle. The baby raptor that hisses at Doctor Grant after he manhandles it; the way the dinosaurs are “too fast”, defying expectations in the smoothness of their movements, making them appear “unreal”; the T-Rex staring out of its electrified pen at the herbivores in the clearing within its sight but out of its reach… The park employees’ nonchalant and rather cavalier attitude to the animals in the park also serves this purpose, as well as highlighting the intense arrogance of what they are trying to accomplish.

One of the strengths of Crichton’s writing is in the description and behaviour of the dinosaurs. These are creatures that humans had never before seen or interacted with, and had no evolutionary experience with. These are creatures that are truly alien to human understanding; fossils can only tell you so much. These creatures show no fear of humans (a behaviour that is at its most unsettling where the compys are concerned). The raptors are fiercely intelligent and show a propensity for holding a grudge, and enacting revenge – shown in their actions, and in Muldoon’s description of them as killers who kill for the pleasure of it. The T-Rex, even, seems to hold a grudge, and goes out of its way to hunt down Dr. Grant and the two children across the island. Of course, all the predators are terrifying in their way, but Crichton even describes the herbivores as being dangerous, even if it is only by virtue of their size. The apatasaurs could crush someone with a well-placed foot or tail; the hadrosaurs crush anything beneath them in a stampede. The pterosaurs and triceratops are fiercely territorial and will attack anything that comes near them.

The pacing of the novel is quick, even from the start. The first fifth of the book is spent mostly in exposition - introducing characters and setting up the world and foreshadowing the ultimate conflict – but there are enough questions left unanswered to keep propelling the reader into the story. Once the characters reach the island, things pick up immensely, and even moreso after everything in the park begins to go wrong. There are many deaths, and many near-deaths – and often the characters are saved by chance occurrences that could be thought of as “luck”. Some might find this off-putting, but I thought it enhanced the question of when luck would run out. (Though, of course, I knew who lived and how the story ended, I don’t feel that it dampened the tension any.)

Jurassic Park is an excellent novel: the characters and plot are executed well, and the dinosaurs are just alien enough to be convincing. But the themes running throughout the novel - scientific arrogance, human fallibility and greed, the cost of "bringing back the past", what people do and how they treat each other in a crisis - are what make it really good.

The Lost World - 3/5 Stars

I went straight from finishing Jurassic Park into The Lost World. I have very little memory of reading this book the first time (though the scene with the colour-changing carnotaurs stood out in my memory, and the fact that it was the first book I ever read where a character liberally used the word "fuck"), so most of the book was new to me. In fact, it was new and a bit perplexing.

The Lost World is a very different story from the book that came before it. Where the first book is ultimately about human arrogance, the second's theme is much harder to discern. A narcissistic, obsessive paleontologist recruits Ian Malcolm (the same mathematician of the first book)and a few others to help him discover a "Lost World" populated by creatures thought to be extinct. His aim is to study the past in living detail - Malcolm seems interested in order to get data to prove his new theories on extinction.

And that's where things get a little confusing for me, at least thematically. The structure of the novel is very like Jurassic Park, a lot of exposition and explanation at the front, a couple of suspenseful scenes, and then the climax and a race to escape an island suddenly turned murderous. However, the climax occurs very late in the novel (triggered by the stupid trio from Biosyn, out to steal some dinosaur eggs), and only a few people are eaten (including all the "villains"). It is an engaging and entertaining read...except for the confusing thematics.

My contention here lies mostly with Ian Malcolm and his motivations for going to the island. He is bitten and thrown by a T-rex in the first book, and nearly dies of infection and shock. (In fact, at the end of Jurassic Park it is implied that he actually did die before reaching a life-saving hospital, though this is explained away in the sequel as rampant misinformation regarding the fact he was in hospital, undergoing so many surgeries during the grand-scale government cover-up.)Given this, it's reasonable to assume that he would not want to put himself into that position again - unless there was great need. While I grant that academics can be crazy in pursuit of proofs for their theories, I don't think Crichton communicates Malcolm's motives for going to the island convincingly enough. It is all very nebulous and theoretical: a study of dinosaurs to understand better why they went extinct - and generate a universal theory and understanding of extinction as a phenomenon. But it is not clear at all if this was worth it, especially since Malcolm is gravely wounded (again), and implies (at the end of the novel) that the island didn't make a good study anyway, as it was contaminated and ruined by human ignorance (feeding the baby carnivores the ground sheep, throwing the hatchlings out in the wild with no nurture or care, etc.). The fact that the "lost world" wasn't lost at all, and that many of the characters were seeing only what they wanted to see - at great cost, falls flat in the grand scheme of the work.

As far as characters go, Malcolm didn't have any of the edge and bite and the piercing foresight of the book previous. I didn't feel as much a connection with any of the characters in this book, really, except for Sarah Harding. Making up, perhaps, for the relative inactive Ellie Sattler in the first book, Crichton gives us a strong female character who ends up leading everyone and taking charge in the end of the book. I'll be honest, I thought Harding was a complete badass. She handled the situation with the T-rexes rather calmly, managed to help save Malcolm and Thorne at the trailer, helped look after the kids and the ineffectual paleontologist, chased down a raptor on a motorcycle, went alone to fetch the lost jeep, all on top of the fact that she had battled her way to prominence and respect in her field of study. Oh, and she survived being dumped overboard by Dodgson, crossed the island alone, and had no qualms with sacrificing her would-be-murderer (also egg-stealer and baby-wounder)to the father T-rex. (That particular scene is one of the best in the book, in my opinion, with the character's thoughts left deliciously ambiguous.)

Overall, I didn't like The Lost World nearly as well as Jurassic Park, though it was still an entertaining read. I almost feel like Crichton had a particular goal in mind for the book, but couldn't hold it up with what existed in real science, and decided to take another (perhaps less compelling) path (avoiding what many might consider "hard" science fiction). It felt like there was a point, a theme, something as pointed as the themes of the first book, but, somehow, it was lost.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is perhaps the most fun I’ve had reading a novel all year. I’ve wanted to read this one for a while. Always having been a fan of the original films released back in the 90’s, my curiosity was piqued when I saw discussion online about how different John Hammond is between the film and the novel.

I can say that Jurassic Park is most definitely the most entertaining and engaging book I’ve read this year. It seems to have been written to be a film, as the writing is very active and thereby very cinematic. The character-driven story is very approachable for readers normally intimidated by longer reads, and plenty of dialogue and visual attachments keeps things moving so that no part of the novel is too slow.

If I could rate Jurassic park stand-alone I believe I’d rate it 5 stars; not to say that it’s perfect in and of itself, but rather that it is perfect for me. It’s approachable and enjoyable, but still has something to say.

This may not be the read for you if you’re heavily opposed to large amounts of exposition; even for a science fiction this book of filled with a lot of it. Even despite the large amount of exposition it takes a fair amount of suspension of disbelief to buy into certain plots in this book. Lastly, the author has a somewhat poor way of writing children; this does not wholly spoil the experience but it does break immersion at times.

Rate - 5

———————————————————————————————

The Lost World

A disappointing sequel. The whole narrative is built largely off of a retcon from the previous book. I don’t necessarily think that a retcon is a bad thing, some authors do it very successfully; however the retcon in this book necessarily decreases the effect of it’s prequel.

This one takes a lot longer to get started and is a lot less fun. Throughout the whole of the first book, we are made to feel the fear and suspense of the characters; there is not enough of this in the sequel. When the action does eventually start flowing, it definitely hooks you. I would only wish that the action came earlier in the book, rather than in the last 1/3rd of it.

My major critique of this book is that it feels in many ways redundant. When the Dino action finally gets going, it’s a fun time, but beyond that there’s not much. I think that Crichton set out to give this book a different meaning than the previous one, but in many ways it seems to be retreading the same old points. A cynic may say that the sequel to the first book is in many ways like the films they make under the Jurassic park franchise: cheap cash-grabs that regurgitate everything successful from its predecessor in the hopes of matching its success. This books falls far short.

Rate - 2.2

This deserved a ten star. The book or better yet this masterpiece is one of the best books I've ever read.
A classic story with a magnificent plot.

I absolutely loved this.

Naprawdę dobre książki warte przeczytania

Still my favorite Michael Crichton book.

The book begins in August 1989 by doctors and scientist started slowly tying together a series of attacks involving strange creature attacks in Costa Rica. Fictional nublar is The main setting for the story. One of the species, a strange, small, lizard-like creature with three toes is identified later as a Procrompsognathus. Paleontologist, Alan Grant and his helper is graduate student, Ellie Sattler, are abruptly whisked away by billionaire John Hammond founder and chief executive officer of International Genetic Technologies or InGen for a weekend visit to a biological preserve he has established on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica.

Upon arrival, the preserve is revealed to be Jurassic Park, a theme park showing cloned dinosaurs. The animals have been recreated using damaged dinosaur DNA found in blood fossilized inside of mosquitoes which were preserved in amber. Holes in the genetic code have been filled in with reptilian, or amphibian DNA. To control the population, all specimens on the island are females. Hammond proudly touts InGen's advances in genetic engineering and shows his guests through the island's vast array of automated systems.

Recent events in the park have spooked Hammond's workers. To replace them, Hammond means for Grant and Sattler to act as fresh consultants. Malcolm, having been consulted before the park's creation, is especially sure in his prediction that the park will collapse, as it is an unsustainable simple structure bluntly forced upon a complex system.

Amazing book and quite different from the movie. Crichton is an offer who can wrap science into a terrifying plot and create a thriller you can't put down. He's demonstrated this time and again in most of his books. He passed away last year, and he will be missed. I'm looking forward to his last full novel, to be published in November.

Talk about an edge-of-your-seat page turner! Really liked this book. Can't believe I waited so long to read it.

Why did it have to end!? Seriously disappointed right now that there isn't a third book in this series...maybe I have dinosaurs on the brain...well, anyhow, the time has come to put down my thoughts on the book.

As a unit: so fun! Although, I did find myself thinking, "Wait, they changed the science in this one..." and then they would gloss over it with a simple explanation like "One goat would be enough to tide over a full grown Tyrannosaurus Rex you know...it probably wasn't hungry anymore." or something like that and move on, which was fine. I think it is awesome that Crichton adjusted his understanding of dinosaurs to match the understanding at the time of writing. That being said, I did not like Levine putting Dr. Grant down. Jerk. Which consequently is how I felt about Levine through most of The Lost World! Both books read extremely fast with short chapters, conversational prose, and relatable characters. I found the characters to be interesting and really enjoyed the relationships they built and/or tore down with each other. I also very much enjoyed the fact that I was able to read the books back-to-back. And Crichton did a great job keeping the same feel between books, which many authors seem to struggle with.

Regarding Jurassic Park: First off, the movie is one of my all-time favorites. That being said, I knew that the movie took a lot of liberties with the story. Hey, they were going for two different feels, it makes sense. And I don't think the movie devalued the book in any way. To be honest, I don't feel that they are even worth trying to compare because both are awesome in their own right. (This is an awesome article talking about the impossible task of comparing the two: In Jurassic Park, Spielberg made a family favorite from an adult book on avclub.com) Like the movie, this (and The Lost World) has definitely become a favorite book for me and I know I will reread it...soon! I did, at times, compare the characters in the movie and the book, they tamed down Malcolm in the movie (thank you), gave Ellie more to do, but the one that got me was describing Dr. Grant as barrel chested. Sam Neil is not the first person I think of when I hear "barrel chested", but I digress...

There is so much that happens in the book, it is hard to remember this is only happening in the course of a single day. This leads to one of my problems with the book. It is very episodic. The arrive, there is conflict, it is resolved. It gave an ungenuine feeling to the book. However, every episode was exciting! Then there was the Rex who would not leave them alone! And according to the science in the first book, she should never have attacked the cars because they were not moving (although the newer science in The Lost World clears that up a bit). But why did it grow attached to the little party...well, to create intrigue and excitement, that's why! The raptors kicked butt like no one's business and I love that (I have a soft spot for Raptors). It was exciting when everyone was trapped in the lodge with a doped up Malcolm spewing chaos everywhere. And I appreciated that Muldon lived! The one guy on the island who appreciates how intensely terrifying and powerful these animals really are. Too bad he had to die in the movie...

Those things being said, I really only had one overarching issue that was never explained...HOW DID THE DINOSAURS GET OUT OF THEIR PENS TO START BREEDING AS MUCH AS A YEAR BEFORE THE EVENTS IN THE BOOK UNFOLDED!? How do you not notice that there are not eight raptors (your most hostile predator that you keep in a small pen that is watched and checked more frequently than the rest) in your pen? How do you not notice that they have dug a hole under the fence of something like that...? And how dare Michael Crichton leave the island without explaining that one!? That plot hole is so big a cruise liner could go through it and still have room!

But in all honesty, the book was so much fun and exciting to read, that I cannot take away any stars for the plot hole...

The Lost World: Just like Jurassic Park, I was taken in on this book right way. At first I wished it had been Grant who did the cross over, but as I read I realized that would not make any sense. Malcolm is a straight shooter who does not hold his punches. Which is what this book needed. And then Crichton did the impossible and wrote a character more annoying than Malcolm anyway! Oy, with Levine already. But man was I excited to get back to the dinosaurs.

A quick note about both books, I liked that they had inexplicable encounters in the beginning with the dinosaurs. Like, what would happen if a dinosaur escaped from a genetics laboratory on an island off the coast of Costa Rica?

Levine was a moron and I wish he had died. He would have deserved it too - disrupting the parasaurs, littering (which ultimately lead to Eddie's death and Arby's injuries), and just being an all around know-it-all...but I knew he wouldn't be dying. Ah well...

I liked the flow of this one better than JP. Events lead into each other instead of being separate, it was a better example of Malcolm's Chaos Theory. (Also, Malcolm cannot catch a break!) Overall it had a cleaner feeling too, and characters served a bigger and wider purpose, which I appreciated.

I also felt the characters were so well written and had a lot of facets. Thorne was so no-nonsense which was great. Malcolm was so straight about everything. Dodgson made me angry just by reading his name. But the shining star was Sarah Harding, championing for women in science! She kicked serious butt and I would definitely pick her to be on my dinosaur expedition.

The part of the book that I thought was the best (okay there were two) was the trailer scene. This is when I realized Eddie deserved it. He should have stayed with Sarah and then gone over the cliff in the first trailer, but that's just my opinion. And his death-by-Raptor was pretty epic anyway. But overall the scene was so exciting, especially climbing up the underside of the trailer. I was holding my breath like crazy while reading. It was great!

My other favorite moment was when Dodgson was carted off by the Rex to be fed to the babies. What wonderful Karma that was! And then to slowly be eaten to death. It was the perfect way for him to meet his demise!

My overarching concern with this book was that there was new science to explain certain things and the idea that the animals on the island never learn societal norms. My problem is one: that only the raptors seemed to have this issue, the Rexes were perfectly happy being a loving and nurturing family unit. Secondly, why was that not noticed in the Park? If societal norms are not in the genes but learned instead, shouldn't the dinosaurs in the Park have shown the same signs? But several years passed between books and it is clear Crichton did not plan for The Lost World (seriously, he killed Malcolm in the end of JP!).

Again, it was so exciting to read the book, that these continuity issues are minor in my mind. I absolutely loved both books and look forward to reading them again!

Giving book one 5 stars, was fun and had an interesting twist. Struggled through a lot of book two. Levine was an asshole, I felt no connection to the kids that randomly showed up and Malcolm’s morphine induced philosophical rants draaaaaaaaged on. He also barely did anything??? Spent the last 1/3 of the book exactly how he spent the first one??? The most interesting parts were when people started to get eaten and unfortunately that happened within the last 100ish pages. I hope Levine gets kuru. The Sarah bits were enjoyable as well. Love u pookie 🫰🏻. Anyways, 3 stars.

Both of these books were phenomenal. I’m excited to read more by this author.
Jurassic park was very similar to the movie and explained a lot more and makes me appreciate everything so much more
Lost world was so much better than I anticipated. I know the movie will be ass knowing the real story now.
God I love this universe 🥹

I will never get over how Malcolm dies in the first and it's retconned in the 2nd by saying, essentially, "he was close to dead but not really and got better". I will always love the first book the most but I think that this is an excellent successor

Christ’s sake, finally done. Jurassic Park is great, but the Lost World drags endlessly, then gets best at the last quarter or so when I was too fed up to care anymore. Took me four days to read Jurassic Park, but over a month to struggle through The Lost World.

Loved the film but loved the book 110% more the book has so much suspense and its so hard to put down you just have to turn the next and the next you can't stop it is so good another great book by Michael critchton which this and the first book have gooten me back in to the joy of reading again.

The sixth best is to watch movie this is the first Hollywood movie I have a watch in my childhood and the great one

4.5 stars

Really enjoyed this

this was such a childhood fav of mine…need to rw the movies asap