I was never a fanatic about dinosaurs, but my first born was, reciting the names by rote every time he wanted to impress adults. Of course, he was thrI was never a fanatic about dinosaurs, but my first born was, reciting the names by rote every time he wanted to impress adults. Of course, he was three when his mother and I took him to watch Jurassic Park at the cinema. The movie was way too intense to take a three-year-old, but he cites it as one of the reasons he became a hardcore, horror fan.
This novel initiated a franchise full of movies, toys, games, and influences on popular culture insofar as trivia, chaos theory, music, and the sciences. Consequently, I kept the novel a long time on my shelf, in order to wait until a sufficient amount of time had passed in order to revisit this special work. There was a fair amount of trepidation at re-reading something I had only previously read once, but I loved the re-read.
The story is told in third person mostly following a paleontologist, Alan Grant, and his assistant, paleobotanist, Ellie Sattler, as they are whisked away by their billionaire benefactor, John Hammond from a dig in the states to a preserve / theme park on an island near Costa Rica. The scientists and engineers on the island have collaborated to create dinosaurs from fossilized DNA extracted from insects in amber.
The beasts created are awe-inspiring and humbling, but there is a pervasive hubris that comes with the knowledge and confidence that one has accomplished something that others have been unable to duplicate. As many other science fiction monster movies have posited, everything is great until one realizes that one has created something dangerous and potentially an existential threat.
The characters are wonderful, especially Tim and Alexis Murphy. These kids are the grandchildren of John Hammond that are in constant danger throughout. Their consistent fear exacerbates the precarious nature of their situation of imminent peril. This will serve as book #7 of 20 horror novels for my All Hallows Month goal....more
Before approaching any book, it occurs to me that the reader should attempt to know the writer: his or her predispositions � in order to more thoroughBefore approaching any book, it occurs to me that the reader should attempt to know the writer: his or her predispositions � in order to more thoroughly get a point of view that may or may not be present in the work one has read. It is obvious that Crichton had some very real concerns about Japanese interests in American technologies as a constant threat. He voices those concerns in the forward of this book, so he is not disguising it. Most of those concerns IMHO have been proven unfounded, so if one is looking for a broad sweeping interpretation of Crichton’s opinion on the subject, please look elsewhere because I review this book solely by its own merits, my opinion, and my enjoyment of the work. Crichton was a huge researcher of his subjects and clearly throughout Rising Sun, it is evident that he uses his characters to convey that information through character exposition. Characterization is strong. The plot flows at a rapid pace. The police procedural aspect is consistent with what the novice would expect and sufficiently unique to be a fascinating read. I really liked it and according to my Grey Geek scale: 4 Grey Geeks....more
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is an excellent novel that communicates the possibilities of epidemiological apocalypse in hard science fictiThe Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is an excellent novel that communicates the possibilities of epidemiological apocalypse in hard science fiction technobabble. Before Stephen King’s The Stand, Crichton tells of a near possibility that requires little consideration before it explodes into a horrifying nightmare scenario. Because I listened to it as an audiobook, the staid scientific oratory was even more frightening for its emotionless delivery. It reminded me of college lectures where I said to myself, “Why am I here?� because it seemed like everyone around me was nodding their heads as if they understood, and I alone was sitting there with a look of utter confusion on my face. It’s that kind of very REAL horror. Very much not something I should have read during the Covid lockdowns....more
Louie the Mustache
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