REVIEW: Jurassic Park & The Lost World by Michael Crichton

Some 23 years ago and change, Jurassic Park was one of the first adult oriented summer blockbusters I saw in my town's then fancy, new theater. I think we all know the story by now:

A multi-millionaire w/ a fantastical dream and investors with deep pockets sets out to use science to clone dinosaurs and create an exclusive themed amusement park that will fascinate visitors of all ages.  In order to get final approval to open, Hammond needs several experts in the field to sign off on the park.  They arrive and are flabbergasted and filled with awe; however, it all goes to hell in a handbasket when the park's computer guru sabotages the system to steal dino embryos and the park's main attractions get loose and start eating people.

Jurassic Park is an exciting narrative with a mix of science and adventure.  It reminds me a lot of Frankenstein and its theme: just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Sure dinosaurs are fascinating and we'll always have questions about their extinction. But......there's a reason why they died out in favor of other animals.

What surprised me the most was the novel's continued relevance. It doesn't read a overly dated and I really enjoyed the alternating POV. The ending is pretty open ended so I immediately decided to follow up with The Lost World.

It has been six years since the catastrophic events at Jurassic Park. Ian Malcolm is still haunted by that fateful trip to the island; however, he doesn't speak of what he saw and experienced.  But when rumor surface that something might have survived and a colleague seems driven to investigate the true at any cost, Malcolm once again undertakes an adventure to discover a lost world.

The Lost World is another treatise of even though you can, should you.  There is also a greater commentary into the man's manipulation of science and how that leads to destruction and sorrow. I find Crichton's characterization of the species themselves rather interesting and want to further my own research to learn more about the T-Rex and its supposed parenting instincts.

Velociraptors are a thing of nightmares.  They scared the crap out of me in 1993 and still do in 2016. It would be a terrible idea to clone those and let them out in the world! Yikes!

I really enjoyed the open endings of each novel since they are so thought provoking for readers.  At a point, I still root for the dinosaurs since they didn't ask for the situation and where just following instinct :)

Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars


#dinosaurs #lostworld #jurassicpark #michaelcrichton #adventure #science #thriller