#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo comes the sequel to the smash-hit Jurassic Park, a thriller that’s been millions of years in the making. “Fast and gripping.”—The Washington Post Book World It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end—the … Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end—the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, and the island indefinitely closed to the public.
There are rumors that something has survived. . . .
“Harrowing thrills . . . fast-paced and engaging.”—People
“A very scary read.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Action-packed.”—New York Daily News
“An edge-of-the-seat tale.”—St. Petersburg Times
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I was surprised as to how different this was from the movie. I mean like an entirely different story. While I did enjoy film, I think that the book is far superior. There less characters and the story was a little more streamlined than that of the original novel. But I’m saying that in a good way, as you got to follow the path of returning characters, while getting to know the newer ones during this adventure. I also once again enjoyed Dr Malcolm’s constant input about life, extinction, etc. He’s just a fantastic and entertaining character. I also felt that they really made the great point of not truly knowing the dinosaurs and their behaviors here, as these are just man’s interpretations of the extinct animals. So throughout the story, you can’t guess what each type of dinosaur will do next and that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. But, much like Jurassic Park, this has a solid amount of action, suspense and gore. The raptors are truly terrifying, and are on full display with their high intelligence during much of this book. But I loved this story, maybe not quite as much as the original, but damn close.
At first I thought this was a rehash of the screen play for the movie starring Jeff Goldblum. Then it seemed to veer away from the movie for the last hundred or so pages, telling an exciting and well written story of interaction with dinosaurs by unwitting and ill equipped humans. I have to admit having read this before, years ago, but must say I enjoyed it more this time than the first read. Michael Crichton is a consummate writer, creates wonderful characters. His dialog is scintillating, the speakers are real. It is no wonder this is an Amazon best seller.
All of his books star a little slow with lots of technical information but it helps get you in the correct frame of mind for his books. And lost world is no exception.
If you loved Jurassic Park, you won’t want to miss this one. There was one place where the two books didn’t match up and I’m not going to say more than that. It has to be hard to keep story lines straight and I can forgive him. See if you can spot it. It didn’t detract from the story at all, which was wonderful and definitely makes my “read it again” list.
Great book! Way better than the movie.
One of the best
Just not as good as Juraisic Park.
The movie made from the book was not very good, so do yourself a favor and read the book. It is terrific! I guess weak minds and limits in special effects led them to depart so wildly from the book, but it is unfortunate. This is a great story. Riveting action that will keep you glued to the book when you might need to do other things, but what a super remedy for the pandemic doldrums.
Not as good as the first one, but still worth a read of you like dinosaurs and thrillers.
It was exciting to be in another world. For me the story got me from the very beginning.
This is one of the best sequels I have read, I have watched the movie before I’ve read the book. I noticed that there was a lot of differences in the book and the movie.
393 pages
5 stars
Richard Levine is a brilliant and obsessed biologist who is certain that the dinosaurs still exist and goes in search of them. He has elicited the support of Ian Malcolm and Sarah Harding. Ian Malcolm returns as the chaos theoretician who was badly injured on the first journey to Costa Rica but returns to the country when Richard goes missing. Sarah Harding is an ethno-biologist who studies Lions and Hyenas in Africa, but gets roped into assisting Ian, Thorne and the irrepressible Eddy on their search for Richard.
Arby and Kelly are awesomely bright eleven-years olds who assist Doc Thorne and Richard Levine with their plans.
Lewis Dodgson returns as the bad guy in this story. He works for a competing genetic engineering company (as opposed to the now defunct In-Gen), and is still trying to steal dinosaur technology.
Mr. Crichton (as Richard), ruminates extensively on dinosaur behavior. I found his speculations very interesting. But Richard Levine has it all wrong…
This is an exciting and action-packed thrill ride. Humans versus dinosaurs! What more could an action junkie ask for? Mr. Crichton surely knew how to write. The characters are interesting and colorful – even the bad guys. The writing is seamless and the plotting is beyond compare. His books are full of technical information. It surely makes the reader think about what was available technologically when he was alive and what is available now. And the future? Who knows what we creative – and destructive – humans will come up with next.
I just listened to this book after having read it years ago and forgot how good it is. Dare I say, it’s actually better than the first Jurassic Park book whose pacing is a bit off kilter at times. Lost World? Nope, the pace is perfect with the action being offset with slower moments. The characters, well, you don’t read Crichton for character development, but each one is well thought out and has their own motives.
Lost World is a terrific blend of Crichton’s trademark action, science, philosophy/theory, and overarching theme of greed. The action scenes are vivid and pretty tense. And man, did Crichton take to heart the writing advice to be mean to your characters. These poor people just never get a break.
I LOVE TO READ THE BOOK AND REWATCH THE MOVIE. THIS HAS BEEN GREAT
This book picks up a few years after the original Jurassic Park disaster. It turns out that that the rumors of Ian Malcom’s death were greatly exaggerated, and he has recovered thanks to Sarah Harding. While none of the survivors of the Jurassic Park disaster have talked about what happened, there are rumors. And those rumors aren’t helped by the reappearance of weird creatures on the Costa Rica coast. In fact, wealthy scientist Richard Levine has come up with the theory that there is another island with dinosaurs on it, and he is obsessed with finding it. And it isn’t long before he, Ian, Sarah, and others are heading to the second island to study the dinosaurs, learn more about how they lived, and hopefully learn why they became extinct. Will the scientists be able to prove their theories? Or will some stowaways and other uninvited guests ruin their plans?
I listened to an abridgement of this book over 20 years ago, and I remember thinking this was a decent if unnecessary sequel. I decided it was time for a relisten and this time, a listen of the full book. Turns out, I enjoyed the abridgement better. There is too much time spent rediscovering that the dinosaurs are out there again and trying to locate them. Then, once we arrive, we get lectures, mostly from Malcom and Levine, about how dinosaurs lived and theories about why they became extinct. While there are some suspenseful scenes early on, it’s not until the final quarter that we get the scenes the movie has made famous. And those scenes? Nail bitters even if you know what is going to happen. The ending is much better than the movie’s ending as well, not that this is a high bar. Diehard fans will enjoy this one, but the casual fan has no reason to pick this book up.
No one can argue that Crichton was the master of scientific thrillers, but like the film adaptation, this book wasn’t quite as impressive as the original Jurassic Park. I absolutely love this narrator and am so happy I finally enjoyed the book, as I’ve seen the film about a billion times. The story dragged a bit for me, but I still would give my left arm to write as well as Crichton did. If you’ve watched this film, the book is an interesting expansion, but not necessary. If you’ve never seen the film, read the book first.
This is one of my all-time favourites…and it’s now the basis for several movies! So you don’t really need my review here to encourage you to give it a go, but if you really want the insight into the characters, and what they changed between the book and the movie, and want to see more of the t-rex as a cunning dino then just a ‘hey I can run fast and chomp on things’ animal then give it a read! I also enjoy it as I root for the little t-rex too 🙂
Three-and-a-half stars. I enjoyed this book. I have read everything from Crichton. He writes compelling and fun books that are not great literature.
Love it. This book is nothing like the movie that Was just released. Love Crichton books!!!
A great sequel to Jurassic Park. Great character building on a protagonist from the first book.