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pridiansky 's review for:
Congo
by Michael Crichton
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
You can tell this was one of Chrichton's earlier works that paved the way for his better series, Jurassic Park and The Lost World, which has lots of the same markers, but is far more accessible. This story falls incredibly flat, on the other hand. An interesting premise bogged down by technological jargon that continues through the entire book. Infodump after infodump until the very end. The climax is lightning fast and unsatisfying. He tries to convey a feeling of urgency by having the main cast competing with other governments to get to a site first to claim it for their country because it is rich in a type of diamond that would be used to make chips for technological warfare. The problem is, they never physically meet up with these would-be adversaries and we don't know what becomes of them, so although we're told about them, they never truly feel like a threat. You already know that for the story to work, they need to get to the site, so chances are bad shit is going to happen to the other people, hence a non-existent threat. I get what he was going for when he wrote this, but it lacks refinement and unless you are REALLY into the intricacies of niche science and technology, you are going to be BORED. BOOOOOORED. A fourth of the book is spent just trying to get the team together to travel there and they probably don't get to the site until the half-way point. That is a long bloody way to have to read to get to the main dish, ala ancient city with murderous primates. I like the free rolls at a fancy restaurant, but I don't want to eat two basketfuls before my dinner. The sections in Jurassic Park explaining about the technology? Imagine that as the whole book, but less interesting and even less accessible. The one part that I enthusiastically liked was a two page section at the end of the book describing how technology is essentially a race to the bottom, because when humanity figures out it's capable of something, it's a race to see who can do it first regardless of whether it's ethically or morally sound. Michael Chrichton wrote this in 1980, so it's impressive how up to date he was on technology. It wasn't enough to save this book though.