Rating: 
Summary: My opinion for 'Prey'
Review: In my opinion the best parts of 'Prey' was when they blew up the lab and when they blew up a cave. I think the ending was pretty perdictable, but others that have read this book think that it wasn't perdictable. I think this is a good book for future readers.
Rating: 
Summary: The Great Prey
Review: Prey is about a man named Jack. Jack has to go to a desert in Nevada to work at Xymos Technology to get rid of swarm particles. He finds out that every few hours, the swarm multiplies. If he doesn't destroy them, then there will soon be hundreds that destroy everything in their path. Humans are the prey.
I would strongly give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. It was a great book with suspenseful momments. I think that this is scary for some people. This is a thriller and page-turning novel.
The protaginist and main character is Jack, as you may have guessed. He is unique in his own way because Julia would come home everyday and yell. He would tell her to calm down, and would reply with a scream.
Jack is always calm and tries to teach the kids the right thing to do. Julia tries to tell them the different thing. All Julia does is ignore Jack and tell the kids the wrong thing to do. He could sometimes get mad, but it would take Ricky, the boss at Xymos.
Jack is funny and smart. He knows when to be serious, and he knows when to joke around.
One key scene is when Jack has to depart to Xymos in Nevada. Jacks sister, Ellen comes over to watch the kids. The kids hate Ellen and call Jack all the time to ask him when he is coming home.
The next key scene is at the center. The swarms of particles have already multiplied, and there are three of them. Charley, one worker at Xymos got stuck outside in the car with the swarms. Luckily, he had a wet liquid and sprayed it on the particles. The particles left, and Jack went out to save him.
In conclusion, I think this is a great book for teens and older. This is a great book, and you will really enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Nano-sized Jurassic Park
Review: Remember the plot of Jurassic Park? The well meaning scientists, the crazed mercenaries, the bewildered civilians and the villians---tons of ready-made living dinosaur meat cultivated from Jurassic era DNA? All this made for a good story and a fully blown cinematic spectacle when the creatures were brought to life on the big screen.
That's pretty much the tale of Prey---instead of dinosaurs, the menace consists of a "swarm" of nano-sized computers created by a Silcon Valley hardware/software company that again have gotten out of control.
The story is told in the first person by Jack, the husband and temporary Mr. Mom of his family---wife Julia works tediously long hours at Xymos---the computer firm experimenting with nanotechnology. Jack senses something odd about his wife's newly found vehemence for her job and suspects an extramarital affair. It is only when he is hired as a consultant to iron out some of the bugs in software procedures written by a team he managed at another company and purchased by Xymos to perfect the project Julia is heading, that he gets a glimmer of what really is going on inside of his wife's head.
With his usual finesse, Mr. Crichton does an admirable job of presenting a difficult subject in language that a layperson can appreciate--if not fully understand. Of all of his most recent offerings, 'Prey' demands the reader's partial comprehension of the essence of nanotechnology to at least authenticate the book's premise. Jack speaks computer-ese easily, but if you are not at least familiar with older programming techniques you will find the differences that Jack accentuates in his explanations regarding goal-oriented programming as opposed to parallel programming, downright unfamiliar territory.
Otherwise, the plot follows the usual techno-suspense formula--the reader finds himself/herself turning pages at rapid fire speed as the characters combat a force that they created but no longer can control. I found myself speed-reading to learn more about the science itself which Crichton expertly weaves in with his action-packed storyline. The actual denouement borders on the predictable---updating the Frankenstein story with all its frightening repercussions---arrogant man infinging on a Nature that he does not fully understand yet feels confident in altering.
Recommended to those who like cutting edge science and a fast paced story.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting material, B-movie plot
Review: **minor spoilers**Convergence of hot technologies! This is what Crichton does best and I was pleased to see him returning to his sci-fi-thriller writing after reading the entertaining but rather pseudo-scientific Timeline. This time Crichton deals primarily with nanotechnology. What if humans were able to build tiny, dust-sized robots? That could fly? That were solar-powered? That could reproduce? That could evolve? Okay, so there are some leaps of faith, but the reading is nevertheless enjoyable, and Crichton's easy, fluid writing always insures that the common man will never be lost in techno babble. Unfortunately, the interesting premise and engaging plot can only dissappoint. There are countless typical Crichton plot devices. What if the technology gets out of control? What if the one thing we need is OUTSIDE IN THE SHED?? What if we are presented with several generic characters who are probably movie-fodder for grisly deaths? The last one hundred pages or so are pretty silly; the book begins to take a B-movie twist, switching from predictable to cliche. Also, the last three pages of the book consist almost entirely of tying up loose-ends and explaining plot holes. It seems like sloppy writing, almost as if he got sick of writing the book and decided to quickly wrap it up. Crichton's characterization has come a long way since Jurassic Park. His usual team of experts is not as clear cut and hand picked. Instead of the scientist, the lawyer, the businessman, and the mathmetician, we simply have a group of scientists with varying backgrounds. AND fortunately there are no annoying child geniuses who act like idiots. All in all, Crichton is a skilled storyteller and the book is a thrill to read. I devoured it within barely 24 hours. What makes the book even more amusing is the knowledge that Crichton recently went through a painful divorce himself. IMO, it was pretty clear that the character Julia was a stab at his ex, and the main character's voice was his own bitter cynicism following the ordeal.
Rating:
Summary: Not as great as his previous fare.
Review: This book is based on as all MC books are based on the theme "technology getting the better of us". Jurassic Park talked abt resurrection of the Dianosaur through DNA preserved in amber. Andromeda strain abt a deadly strain. Terminal man abt the adverse affects of advanved surgery and medication. Airframe abt commercial aviation tech. Sphere and Disclosure was not "abt tech gone wrong" altho
sphere tocuhes the possible problems with unhealthy space exploration bringing home more than it bargained for. Not suprisingly, PREY is abt tech gone wrong..specifically nanotech gone wrong. Altho this books stretches it quite a bit coz I found it hard to believe nano-particles having the intelligence to act cohesively as a unit and that too nano particles that learn. I mean for something the size of a mote of dust to have intelligence, or be intelligent enought to reflect and refract light in accordance with all the other "motes of electronic dust" so as to creat 3d life like human forms : smilling, talking, ...thats a bit too much. How the hell do you squeeze together a seemingly complex electronc circuitary in a something the size of a grain of sand so to equip it with the brains to exhibit learning tendencies and enough to make a big bad villian for an MC novel. Authors find creative wayes to find the villians so that their protagonists have something to target and win againts in the end. Read it after reading the other MC's and if you've read the other MC's then obviously you are going to read this one anyway....
Rating:
Summary: A Good Story Based on Actual Research and Development
Review: I was entertained by this story based on nanotechnology reasearch and development. The story lead me to believe that it's all happening for real today in labs under microscopes.
"There will one day spring from the brain of science a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying that even man, the fighter, who will dare torture and death in order to inflict torture and death, will be appalled, and so abandon war forever" - Thomas A. Edison
Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic but entertaining
Review: Michael Crichton is one of the most popular authors in the world. His books sell in the millions and he has legions of fans all eagerly awaiting the latest from this author of JURASSIC PARK. What is his secret? What is the key to his popularity? Aspiring thriller writers would do well to try to answer these questions.
Jack Forman is currently a stay at home dad raising three children- the youngest being an infant. He fears his wife, who works long hours and behaves suspiciously, is having an affair. That is until he learns exactly what kind of work she is involved in. Jack, a computer programmer by trade, led a group of programmers in developing a program that would create a biological process in the computer that could interact with and solve real world problems. There is an accident in the Nevada desert and Jack is called in on a temporary assignment to handle a group of nanoparticles that appear to be taking on a life of its own. The problem is the particles are programming themselves to hunt down and kill both animals and humans. They are, in effect, the predators and the humans are the prey.
Once again, Michael Crichton returns to the world in which science has gone awry in a terrible but somewhat plausible way. The strength of a Crichton novel rests with the way he can move the action along while keeping the reader engrossed in the story. In the beginning we meet the main characters and set up the scientific basis for the upcoming disaster. We then proceed rather quickly into the action packed central aspect of the story. Episodes get shorter and move quicker. The last sentence of each episode almost forces the reader to keep going-- phrases such as, "I'm afraid we have big problems, Jack." Or "Listening to her, I couldn't help but worry."
So it is a given that PREY will hold the reader's attention throughout. I had a problem with the plausibility of the nanoparticles organizing into a cohesive and destructive swarm. Their abilities appeared to be more and more outrageous as the story progressed. Characters were stereotypes, yet, adequate for this type of a book. Overall, well written and entertaining, but, lacking in any semblance of realism.
Rating:
Summary: Has life in beginning, died in the end.
Review: As one of Crichton's technological novels, this one was thrilling and quite intelligent. The whole suspected affair of his wife and his job loss were aspects that kept you reading for a couple hundred pages. Then all of a sudden the whole Desert Lab in Nevada got ultra corny. The team that was assembled to train the nanoswarm agents were very fake and lifeless and their actions were cliche like. Lastly, in the very end Chricton went from a smart writer to a lazy couch potato and the writing sounded as if he was getting tired of his own story and tried to finish the story without having a complete thought and went too fast. But for people who crave technological terminology and fast, complicated computer artificial intelligence this is the book for you despite the weak end.
Rating: 
Summary: potentially compelling story loses all steam
Review: I have to admit that for the first 100 pages I could not put this book down. It was intriguing, well researched and written, fast paced, and I was hooked. Then, when the action moved to the lab in the Arizona desert, I suddenly lost all interest. The reason? the dialogue of the young team at the lab was absolutely insipid, with the F word liberally sprinkled in every other sentence. I was really disappointed. The story lost its pace, got mired in the painfully banal bickering of a team of people no one cares about, and a potentially great story came to an end. I wasn't willing to wade through the muck to find out what happened.
This brings me to a question. Why does Chichton feel he needs to depict young characters - scientists in this case - as nasty, foul mouthed and arrogant? Why does he need to resort to using filthy language? Does he think this will make his books appear more "hip" to younger readers? Maybe he's desperate to widen his audience and thinks he can do so by dumbing his writing down to appeal to the lowest common denominator. The only thing I'm sure of is that he reduced his audience by at least one with this book. That it is a number 1 New York Times bestseller is a very sad reflection on all of us.
Rating:
Summary: Mildly Interesting
Review: I expected more because the concept is very interesting. He did not do much with it to make it interesting. There was not enough tension. I did finish it--it did keep my interest, but it was not a book that I hated to put down. Nor was it a book I couldn't wait to pick up again.
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