| Product: |
The Lost World - Michael Crichton |
| Date: |
21/08/01 (205 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: More entertaining thatreading the back of other people's newspapers.
Disadvantages: A faint carbon copy of the first book
Reading Jurassic Park left me much keener than I had expected to read the sequel, and my local library helpfully provided a copy of The Lost World to read on my lunch break. Oops.
Instead of picking up where the first book had left us - dinosaurs migrating into the mountains of Central America - this wanders off in a totally unexpected direction - the 'secret lab' island that was apparently the flip side to the shiny science showcase of the original island. I deduce from other people's comments that this is a follow on to the film, not the book. Unfortunately it does feel that having had the one blockbuster success, this was intended to hone the formula - another dinosaur infested island, another mixed bag of scientists drawn together by circumstance, and two more young kids, including a precocious dinosaur mad boy for the film audience to identify with. Actually it's the kids that grate most - crow-barred in to the story as they are: at least the kids in the first book had a plausible reason for being there, and didn't come with some off-the-peg lessons about self esteem. The action is all you might expect, but the characterisation and dialogue is a bit thin, especially once they reach the island - perversely the 'introductory' chapters are the more interesting.
On this occasion the trip to the island is precipitated by the obsessions of a young and independently wealthy scientist, determined to find a 'lost word' where evolution has stood still. His exploits are spiced up with some strong-arm competition from the unethical genetics company whose attempts at espionage triggered the original chain of disastrous events. Some of the action sequences are excellent - steaming T-Rex eggs, and escaping from cliff tops and raptors are all great scenes - the only problem being that they feel like scenes written with more than half an eye on the film rites.
I wasn't expecting much when I read the first boo
k, which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately this sequel was all I had imagined the first book to be - uninvolving characters, made-for-the-movies action sequences, and a plot that reworks the first book, only less well. I'd never read Michael Chricton before these two novels, and I should have stopped with Jurassic Park. While not absolutely the worst book I've ever read, it is a disappointment - this should have been something so much better.
ISBN: 0099240629
Summary:
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