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isabellarobinson7 's review for:
State of Fear
by Michael Crichton
Rating: 1.5 stars
Michael Crichton made a career out of making things scary. Airplanes were scary in Airframe. Nanoparticles were scary in Prey. Time travel was scary in Timeline. Tiny aliens were scary in The Andromeda Strain. And of course dinosaurs, which were already pretty freaky, were terrifying in Jurassic Park. Crichton is at his best when he is putting a sci fi twist on a concept and then blowing it out of proportion, often to calamitous results. In that way he's kind of like the Stephen King of science fiction (minus the affinity for bad endings). So with State of Fear pitched as the book that makes climate change scary, I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t believe me when I tell you that the majority of the protagonists are skeptics.
You could be even more forgiven when I explain the people they end up fighting against are the climate change activists themselves.
Maybe this is a modern lens, but this book just felt off to me. It felt wrong. Like even if you went along with the idea that climate change is natural and humans had nothing to do with it, then shouldn't you still care about the people it is affecting? Regardless of whose fault it is, these characters are in danger and need you help. Even if (supposedly) you had no part in the (alleged) problem, it doesn't mean you can't be part of the solution.
Michael Crichton made a career out of making things scary. Airplanes were scary in Airframe. Nanoparticles were scary in Prey. Time travel was scary in Timeline. Tiny aliens were scary in The Andromeda Strain. And of course dinosaurs, which were already pretty freaky, were terrifying in Jurassic Park. Crichton is at his best when he is putting a sci fi twist on a concept and then blowing it out of proportion, often to calamitous results. In that way he's kind of like the Stephen King of science fiction (minus the affinity for bad endings). So with State of Fear pitched as the book that makes climate change scary, I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t believe me when I tell you that the majority of the protagonists are skeptics.
You could be even more forgiven when I explain the people they end up fighting against are the climate change activists themselves.
Maybe this is a modern lens, but this book just felt off to me. It felt wrong. Like even if you went along with the idea that climate change is natural and humans had nothing to do with it, then shouldn't you still care about the people it is affecting? Regardless of whose fault it is, these characters are in danger and need you help. Even if (supposedly) you had no part in the (alleged) problem, it doesn't mean you can't be part of the solution.