Scan barcode
A review by enchantedfiction
Zoo by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge
1.0
** THIS IS A FULL ON SPOILER REVIEW SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS AND DON'T WANT THEM LOOK AWAY **
1.5/5 stars
I was drawn to getting the audiobook because I was a really big fan of the show that was based off of this book, and I didn't actually see myself picking up the physical copy to read. So here we are.
If you don't know what Zoo is about, it's practically the animal mania apocalypse. Jackson Oz, or Oz as he's known to everyone, is an outcast in the ecology and biology realm, focusing mainly on the increased animal attacks on humans over the past few years. No one wants to listen to his theories, they just believe that he is a crack pot and doesn't have anything to back him up. But then things change. Domestic animals start attacking their owners, zoo animals start attacking their trainers and escaping, and all hell breaks loose. Oz is called to Africa to consult with Abraham after his brother has no communications with him and they find lions acting in bizarre ways.
I don't even know what to do with the synopsis, since the beginning definitely had me interested, but I lost interest not terribly far in. There is a weird 5 year jump early on, which I guess was there to show how in denial everyone was, or something.... The book had me interested up until this jump in time. It just didn't really make much sense to me. After this, Oz eventually gets recognized as actually not having a few nuts loose, and the President is even interested in what he has to say. He is then flown out to Washington DC to help develop a solution to all of the animal attacks so they no longer have to live in fear. When they tie the strange hive-mind-esk behavior of the animals to the increased use of technology, especially cell phones. There is a no electricity use PSA that goes out, which means no cars, no cell phones, no lights, etc. This works for all of.... you guessed it.... three. days. THREE DAYS. And since that seems to be a magic number, people start using their electronic devices again. This all happens within the last like sixth of the book maybe...? Since it was an audiobook I'm not really sure how that would translate to the physical book. Oz was starting to feel like people weren't going to actually follow through with the ban of "essential" items, especially when he is told that they are going to send him back to New York to be with his wife and son via jet. And then the ending just decides to end when Oz is crashing back down to Earth and you don't know if he is going to live or die. UGH.
The ending was seriously so blah and rushed. This book seriously could have had a lot more to it and been so much better. Literally this entire book besides the stupid time jump and solution happened in the first like two episodes of the show. There was no character building, I really didn't care about anyone, and it felt like everyone got what they deserved. I don't know if I would have felt any differently if I had read the book before watching the show since they went more in depth of things that would happen in a situation like this, and people were actually scared from the beginning. But honestly, I like to have a little more faith in myself and would think that if I had read this before watching the show, I probably would have stayed away from the show because it was that bad. This says it is book 1, but I haven't seen anything else come out of this. In my opinion, there should have been a lot more action, a lot more thrill and encounters with killer animals, and more suspense. This was a total flop for me, and the only reason it gets 1.5 stars instead of 1 is because the beginning was actually interesting.
I probably wouldn't recommend this even to those who enjoy thrillers... it was really disappointing, no character build, no really satisfying plot, and I just ended up not even caring by the end. I had much higher hopes for this, but it was just a complete let down for me.
1.5/5 stars
I was drawn to getting the audiobook because I was a really big fan of the show that was based off of this book, and I didn't actually see myself picking up the physical copy to read. So here we are.
If you don't know what Zoo is about, it's practically the animal mania apocalypse. Jackson Oz, or Oz as he's known to everyone, is an outcast in the ecology and biology realm, focusing mainly on the increased animal attacks on humans over the past few years. No one wants to listen to his theories, they just believe that he is a crack pot and doesn't have anything to back him up. But then things change. Domestic animals start attacking their owners, zoo animals start attacking their trainers and escaping, and all hell breaks loose. Oz is called to Africa to consult with Abraham after his brother has no communications with him and they find lions acting in bizarre ways.
I don't even know what to do with the synopsis, since the beginning definitely had me interested, but I lost interest not terribly far in. There is a weird 5 year jump early on, which I guess was there to show how in denial everyone was, or something.... The book had me interested up until this jump in time. It just didn't really make much sense to me. After this, Oz eventually gets recognized as actually not having a few nuts loose, and the President is even interested in what he has to say. He is then flown out to Washington DC to help develop a solution to all of the animal attacks so they no longer have to live in fear. When they tie the strange hive-mind-esk behavior of the animals to the increased use of technology, especially cell phones. There is a no electricity use PSA that goes out, which means no cars, no cell phones, no lights, etc. This works for all of.... you guessed it.... three. days. THREE DAYS. And since that seems to be a magic number, people start using their electronic devices again. This all happens within the last like sixth of the book maybe...? Since it was an audiobook I'm not really sure how that would translate to the physical book. Oz was starting to feel like people weren't going to actually follow through with the ban of "essential" items, especially when he is told that they are going to send him back to New York to be with his wife and son via jet. And then the ending just decides to end when Oz is crashing back down to Earth and you don't know if he is going to live or die. UGH.
The ending was seriously so blah and rushed. This book seriously could have had a lot more to it and been so much better. Literally this entire book besides the stupid time jump and solution happened in the first like two episodes of the show. There was no character building, I really didn't care about anyone, and it felt like everyone got what they deserved. I don't know if I would have felt any differently if I had read the book before watching the show since they went more in depth of things that would happen in a situation like this, and people were actually scared from the beginning. But honestly, I like to have a little more faith in myself and would think that if I had read this before watching the show, I probably would have stayed away from the show because it was that bad. This says it is book 1, but I haven't seen anything else come out of this. In my opinion, there should have been a lot more action, a lot more thrill and encounters with killer animals, and more suspense. This was a total flop for me, and the only reason it gets 1.5 stars instead of 1 is because the beginning was actually interesting.
I probably wouldn't recommend this even to those who enjoy thrillers... it was really disappointing, no character build, no really satisfying plot, and I just ended up not even caring by the end. I had much higher hopes for this, but it was just a complete let down for me.