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adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A surprisingly gory book, and a pretty good thriller. From the opening scene to the last chapter the dinosaurs are almost non-stop attacking everything they see. It gets a bit ridiculous in the middle with the T-Rex being as persistent as an 80s slasher villain on tracking down specifically these 3 humans. You start to wonder if the dinosaurs even eat each other. (There is a quick note showing over 100 of them died overnight so I guess they do "off-screen")
However, this keeps the tension up for nearly the entire book which is great. Once you get to the famous scene where the cars stall it doesn't let up at all. The only dull moments of the book are really when the mathematician keeps going on about chaos theory. I'm sure it was a hot new philosophy at the time, but it really drags on when he talks about it for the 10th chapter in a row.
As a bonus: the part where they are on the raft on the river is extremely vivid if you've ever been on the Universal Studios ride.
Giving it a 4.5 since you do have to have a suspension of disbelief that dinosaurs are blood lusted to the point where they'll slaughter one thing, take a few bites, and move on to the next thing. It's more murder than hunting at some points of the book.
However, this keeps the tension up for nearly the entire book which is great. Once you get to the famous scene where the cars stall it doesn't let up at all. The only dull moments of the book are really when the mathematician keeps going on about chaos theory. I'm sure it was a hot new philosophy at the time, but it really drags on when he talks about it for the 10th chapter in a row.
As a bonus: the part where they are on the raft on the river is extremely vivid if you've ever been on the Universal Studios ride.
Giving it a 4.5 since you do have to have a suspension of disbelief that dinosaurs are blood lusted to the point where they'll slaughter one thing, take a few bites, and move on to the next thing. It's more murder than hunting at some points of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Medical trauma
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Misogyny, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Colonisation
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Don't get me wrong I loved reading this, I'm a massive Jurassic Park fan, but because I'm such a fan (and also a fan of character studies) I think that's where although I appreciate this as a source material I was disappointed in how the characters were explored within this text. I found some of the monologues took me out of the text rather than into it further - and the depiction of the POC workers and the female characters is a product of its time - that is to say they were 2 dimensional at best. Not to mention fat phobia- but that was present in the movie as well so no surprises there. I had a lot of fun seeing what characters didn't make it to the movie/were merged/Malcom dying was a surprise! Am even more curious to read the lost world now! Overall really enjoyed reading this but I can't justify rating it higher as that would be due to nostalgia for the movies not the text itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia
adventurous
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To be honest…I preferred the movies. Yet I do still recommend this if anyone is curious as the book is quite different.
Far more technical and scientific language usage, especially in terms of chaos theory which quite frankly I still struggle to fully wrap my head around, and was also shocked at how often it came up. It was also a darker story as well, with more detailed deaths (but don’t expect anything that gory don’t worry)
The dinosaurs were great (obviously) and yet the children were somehow the biggest threat, mainly because of how damn annoying they were and somehow were never capable of understanding the situation they were in.
Far more technical and scientific language usage, especially in terms of chaos theory which quite frankly I still struggle to fully wrap my head around, and was also shocked at how often it came up. It was also a darker story as well, with more detailed deaths (but don’t expect anything that gory don’t worry)
The dinosaurs were great (obviously) and yet the children were somehow the biggest threat, mainly because of how damn annoying they were and somehow were never capable of understanding the situation they were in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia, Gore
Minor: Misogyny
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An engaging read and cautionary tale about trying to control the forces of nature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence
Minor: Child death, Sexism
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
No Spoilers:
I will admit, I did start out of order with this book and the sequel.
I watched the movie when I was 6, and fell in love. The action, the dinosaurs. Perfect. Then end of fourth grade, we got to read from the middle-school library. Wouldn’t you know it? There was a chunky book with a huge T-Rex skeleton in it. I read “The Lost World” when I was 10, and fell in love again.
Then I learnt that the Jurassic Park movie, not only was a book, but it was the first in the series that I had already enjoyed the second of. So that summer, I bought “Jurassic Park”.
I will say, I enjoyed the book a lot. It is probably in my top five, if not top two books I’ve ever read. I like the science writing, which is smart enough that the explanations in context make sense, but not too smart that I didn’t understand what it was saying even as a 10-11 year old. Sure, some of the science didn’t quite make sense then, but it was because of age rather than writing. Now, I better understand the more technical bits. There were points in the book, where little me didn’t enjoy as much. The action stalled for the characters to observe and talk more than I had liked then. Even now, some parts (very few) are a tad slow.
I still love the book, reread it all the time. I gave it 4.75 stars just because I find I like the second book more. The characters just felt more real in comparison.
I will admit, I did start out of order with this book and the sequel.
I watched the movie when I was 6, and fell in love. The action, the dinosaurs. Perfect. Then end of fourth grade, we got to read from the middle-school library. Wouldn’t you know it? There was a chunky book with a huge T-Rex skeleton in it. I read “The Lost World” when I was 10, and fell in love again.
Then I learnt that the Jurassic Park movie, not only was a book, but it was the first in the series that I had already enjoyed the second of. So that summer, I bought “Jurassic Park”.
I will say, I enjoyed the book a lot. It is probably in my top five, if not top two books I’ve ever read. I like the science writing, which is smart enough that the explanations in context make sense, but not too smart that I didn’t understand what it was saying even as a 10-11 year old. Sure, some of the science didn’t quite make sense then, but it was because of age rather than writing. Now, I better understand the more technical bits. There were points in the book, where little me didn’t enjoy as much. The action stalled for the characters to observe and talk more than I had liked then. Even now, some parts (very few) are a tad slow.
I still love the book, reread it all the time. I gave it 4.75 stars just because I find I like the second book more. The characters just felt more real in comparison.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing
Probably wouldn’t have let a 10 year old read it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Unfortunately Ian Malcom continues to be right about everything and if I think too hard about the degree in which he was right about everything what with the modern computer AI shit we all have to choke on I’ll want to blow my brains out.
Alternate review: I love dinosaur!
Alternate review: I love dinosaur!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Violence
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely cherished this read. The origin of my favourite film and it turned out to be an even greater book.
The book focuses a lot more on the fictional scientific method and justifications with many of the possible errors the could point out. I am not a biologist or palaeontologist by any means myself, but to me it is clear that Crichton has done his research — not only about dinosaurs, but computers and maths as well.
He writes very convincing characters with various professions and areas of interest, which ultimately results in a flawless piece of literature. The world, the characters, and the fantastic creatures just really complete each other into a worthwhile read.
The book focuses a lot more on the fictional scientific method and justifications with many of the possible errors the could point out. I am not a biologist or palaeontologist by any means myself, but to me it is clear that Crichton has done his research — not only about dinosaurs, but computers and maths as well.
He writes very convincing characters with various professions and areas of interest, which ultimately results in a flawless piece of literature. The world, the characters, and the fantastic creatures just really complete each other into a worthwhile read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Though it can be very exposition-heavy at times, I feel like the action was enough to balance it out.
Some of the passages about the advance of science and how we are trying to play god hit different in the age of ai.
It was kinda weird that three pages were dedicated to Malcolm denying climate change 🫤🤷🏼♀️
Some of the passages about the advance of science and how we are trying to play god hit different in the age of ai.
It was kinda weird that three pages were dedicated to Malcolm denying climate change 🫤🤷🏼♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism
Not as family-friendly as the movie
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism