The Lost World: A Novel (Jurassic Park) Mass Market Paperback – October 30, 2012

Went on an Andy Weir marathon and I wanted more. I read the Micheal Crichton was a similar style and I happened to have Jurassic Park lying around unread for years. I was blown away with how good it was and needed more. I bought this, chasing the dragon, with low expectations and was blown away again. The second movie was a flop in my opinion, but the book had whole lot more going on.I re-watched the first two movies after and it was fun seeing how they utilized this source material.

I enjoyed this book even though I am not a huge science fiction fan. The author is incredibly knowledgeable and a pro on all things dinosaur. It is faced paced and exciting! I would recommend it to anybody! It is a fun read even if you have already seen the movies!

I do like this book. It is very scientific and if you are someone who is into dinosaurs or scientific documentary or documents, it would be very good for you to read this. If you are somebody who is more worried about the dinosaurs, killing people then actually the scientific part of Jurassic Park this book might be a little bit slow For you. Now the kills are very gory though and very detailed compared to in the movies. I will say I think I liked the first one better.

If you loved the Jurassic Park films, The Lost World book takes it to a whole new level. The plot is richer, the characters more developed, and the suspense hits harder than anything in the movie adaptation. Michael Crichton’s writing brings the world of dinosaurs to life in a way that’s smart, intense, and absolutely unputdownable. Highly recommend if you enjoy science fiction with a brain and bite!

Great book and sequel to Jurassic Park!

It’s been six years since that big fiasco at Jurassic Park. There has been an extensive cover up about the incident, with those who knew about it being “hush hush” about the tragedy. Miraculously, Ian Malcolm, presumed dead, is recovering and has heard rumors from fellow scientist Richard Levine about a purported “lost world”, where the prehistoric animals continue to live.The temptations to find out are just too irresistible for not only Malcolm and Levine, but others too….If I have this correct, I believe I read somewhere that Crichton was somewhat pressured by fans into creating a sequel because of the runaway success. And, with the thought of a film most likely in the works, who could have blamed him? At the end of the day, though, The Lost World is like the less successful, annoying little brother of Jurassic Park.One of the questions explored is how and why these animals are still thriving/ existing on this island that they have discovered. So, this gives the characters a reason to arrive there. Malcolm, Levine, and a few other side characters (including, of course, the stowaway kids) head to this mysterious place. However, of course, there are the slime ball kind of characters out for their own gain doing slime ball-like things that arrive there as well unbeknownst to others.There are some aspects to Crichton’s style that are always pluses for me. One is that he creates intensity and fast-moving tension, and this comes in the form of our main characters being in very difficult and perilous situations where we end chapters sometimes with a suspenseful cliffhanger. Along with this, there always seems to be a cerebral approach to Crichton’s novels, where a moral or an ethical question or issue is examined through what takes place. This gives the novels a little more dimension or depth, as they go beyond being just a “fast paced thriller.”With that being said, characters are often very meh in Crichton’s book (as is the case here), and while he’s normally able to get around this with an intriguing plot, it just doesn’t work here at all. I think that this stems from the fact that the plot and some of the action gets more and more ludicrous the further we progress into the novel.I mean, this novel goes off the deep end a little in the second half with all the wild goose chases. Some of the scenes were just flat out silly or unbelievable (I know the book is fantasy, but come on now!). The action scenes were way over the top, and then some of the capabilities of the dinosaurs were a bit much to believe. So, events fizzled tremendously in the novel’s second half. And with the lackluster characters and the cringeworthy dialogue and interactions, it just rendered everything sort of mediocre.I will still give Crichton credit for creating a quick-paced novel that has tension and some intrigue. However, The Lost World is like that ride that just eventually loses its fun.I think Crichton’s novels always have interesting and engaging premises so I would still like to read some of Crichton’s other works, such as The Great Train Robbery or Timeline among others.

"The Lost World" was much better on paper than it was on film. The film took a great deal of liberties with the story, going as far as adding entirely new characters and plotlines as well as borrowing from "Jurassic Park" to move the story along. This review, however, is of Michael Crichton's wonderful book and not the film loosely based on it.I'm one of those people who usually sees a film before I read the book it is based on. With the "Jurassic Park" flicks, I really enjoyed the first one and hated the second one. With this in mind I was hesitant to pick up either of Crichton's dino books. After reading "Jurassic Park" though, I found that not only was the story different, it was much better. That made me wonder if "The Lost World" would do the same. As expected, "The Lost World" did not let me down. It was almost entirely different from the film. The primary plot of this story is that one Richard Levine is curious to find out if a "lost world" actually exists. He has been researching odd animal findings in and around Costa Rica and believes that somehow a few dinosaurs actually survived extinction. Not knowing about John Hammond's business venture in building a dinosaur park where dinos actually exist, he picks the brain of Dr. Ian Malcolm in hopes to convince him to help him seek out this "lost world." Of course, Malcolm is the wonderfully cynical mathematician from "Jurassic Park." He was thought to be dead but through the wonders of the written word, Crichton revives him. As Levine presses Malcolm for help, he eventually decides to go it alone and ends up trapped on Isla Sorna, also known as Site B. At this point the story drops (for the most part) all arguments over evolution and extinction and becomes a rescue mission. Malcolm, along with the likeable Dr. Thorne, the headstrong Dr. Harding, field technician Eddie Carr and two very intelligent stowaways, sets out to save Levine's life and hopefully protect the secrets of Site B.Of course, no Crichton novel is worth a dime without a decent villain. In this case, we revisit BioSyn's Lewis Dodgson, the catalyst for most of the chaos in the first book. He, along with two counterparts, sets out to collect a few eggs from Site B for his own gain. Dodgson is sinister, calculating and very sure of himself. I'll let you find out for yourself just how much of a problem he becomes in the "lost world."As in "Jurassic Park," Crichton often goes off on long scientific tangents explaining the habits of lions and jackals in Africa. He also gives drawn out explanations on why or why not the dinosaurs were wiped out by asteroids. But just like in his first dino book, Crichton pours out this information in a way that, to me, doesn't bring the action to a screeching halt. I enjoy reading these little tidbits of scientific information, but I can see where others might find them to be a bit too much info to take in while your being attacked by velociraptors.Many reviewers find this book to be subpar. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it is a sequel. Sure, Malcolm shouldn't be back in action, but he's such a fun character that I'm willing to let Crichton slide here. I'll also concede that doctors Harding and Thorne closely resemble Grant and Sattler from the first book. I'll also admit that the two kids are nothing more than a rehash of Hammond's grandchildren. However, Crichton puts a very good spin on an old tale with "The Lost World." In my opinion it moves at a much faster pace than its predecessor. Although the characters aren't very well developed, we are given enough information to care about or hate most of them. Also, there are quite a few differences between the actions and even the biological makeup of many of the dinos in this book and "Jurassic Park," but these differences do help to move the book along."The Lost World" isn't a perfect book. It revisits old territory but still manages to give the reader a lesson or two about extinction and chaos theory. I give it five stars because it works wonderfully as an action yarn and it's nice to catch up with one of my favorite characters, Ian Malcolm.Highly recommended.