The Lost World (original: 1995; edição: 1996)

Date approximate ( )

When you are in that mood where you want to read about people being torn limb from limb by impossible creatures, this is the book for you.

Adventure with scientists on an island with dinosaurs. Although I never connected with the main characters, I found them interesting. Many theories are plowed through for how our world came to be and where it is going. Interestingly told, only a couple of times did my eyes glaze over. I loved reading about the dinosaurs. A great read when you need adventure in a big way. ( )

This was a decent Crichton novel. There was a large gap of time since I read Jurassic Park (the first one) and this one, but I still felt connected to the character of Malcolm and the new characters that were established were firm and important in the duration of the story. This was quite different from the movie, that I saw as a youth, and I feel it is a massive improvement from it. Everything resolves itself quite nicely, fitting in a neat cube (you'll understand the reference if you read the novel) and I felt better for reading it. The book was very structured and written in a way that even a layman, such as myself, could grasp the fictionalized science behind it.

3.5 stars- worth the journey! ( )

The concept for The Lost World's predecessor, Jurassic Park – dinosaurs in a modern theme park gone wrong – was such a disgustingly brilliant idea that I am angry I did not think of it first, even though I was not even born when Michael Crichton wrote it. It was a sure-fire crowd-pleaser and a licence to print money.

There is still enough of that original magic in The Lost World that, when allied to Crichton's storytelling skill, this by-the-numbers sequel seems greater than the sum of its parts. Less happens plot-wise and what does happen seems derivative of Jurassic Park (it is noteworthy that the Spielberg film sequel took very little from Crichton's follow-up, except for that excellent dangling trailer sequence). There is a fair amount of deus ex machina towards the end (when the constant jumpy action scenes start to make you weary) and none of the characters are especially interesting.

And yet… Goddamn it, dinosaurs out of control in a modern world is so great an idea that The Lost World still entertains massively. It is the sort of bracing, Saturday-afternoon adventure story that is not really written any more, or at least is only now written cynically or ironically. Crichton loved those old adventure stories (the title is taken from one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories) and he adds to them a keen scientific edge. It's just a wonderful way to spend your time. ( )

It wasn't as good as the first one but I still really liked it.

I really liked towards the end where Malcolm is hopped up on the morphine, I laughed at everything that came out of his mouth. All hells breaking loss and he's singing and saying stuff like "Its nice to have a man around the house" that had me rolling. ( )