Rating: 
Summary: a page-turner edge-of-the-seat book
Review: a great book!!! one of the best ive ever read and im a book worm!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Dinos Dinos Everywhere!
Review: I don't know if the dinosaurs bring out the best in Crichton or what. I've read a few of his books and haven't really cared for them, but I loved Jurassic Park and I really enjoyed this one too. It's a rollicking adventure story that doesn't stop very often. When it does, though, with some long scientific asides, it stops dead.Crichton sure is capable of writing an exciting tale. I wish he'd do it more often. Lost World has many exciting sequences as various dinosaurs (mostly Tyrannosaurus and Raptors) chase the humans all around the island. The action is breathtaking as, just when you think the humans have solved their problem (or at least are on the road to solving it), things take a turn for the worse. I am not one for hyperbole, but throughout the middle of the book, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up much later than I should, and only turned out the light because it was getting too late and I still had too far to go. This really isn't much more than an action yarn with some scientific ideas attached to it, though, so don't get the idea that it's really deep. In fact, the scientific ideas are one of the problems with the book. I'm not saying they're not accurate, as I don't know enough about them to make that judgment. However, there are times where Crichton just stops the action dead to go on for a page or two about chaos theory, evolution, or something. These are interesting, but they completely destroy the mood of the book. It's almost like mixing chocolate and shrimp: sure, some people may like it, but for the rest of us who like both but hate them together, it makes the finished product just a little less palatable. Thankfully, the asides don't come at you too much at one time, so once each one stops the ball starts rolling again. Being an action thriller, the characters aren't that complex. They seem like it at times (such as when they're spouting scientific theories), but they aren't really. Malcolm is scarred by the events in the first book, and there's an interesting sequence where this comes into play. Thankfully for himself and for the others, he snaps out of it fairly quickly. I liked his character, though, because he's a combination of a realist and a cynic. However, he uses his scientific knowledge and his intelligence to get them out of more than one scrape. He's probably the most broadly defined of the bunch. The other members of the expedition have their character hooks too, but they aren't that deeply explored. Crichton spends a lot of time detailing their background, but when events start happening, they're more fodder for these events than anything else. They are distinctive, they just aren't complex. The villains of the piece, though, are pretty dull and stereotypical. Dodgson is your typical greedy and lazy villain. His specialty is stealing other people's research after it's been tested, because that's easier and more lucrative than doing your own research and possibly going down numerous blind alleys. His allies are the typical nervous bunch, with one person worried that they're doing the wrong thing and the other one worried that they're doing the right thing but that it will go horribly wrong (which it inevitably does). Thankfully, once they get events rolling to their inevitable conclusion, they're pretty much sidelined and we don't hear much about them again until the end. The plot is kind of a runaround, but I really enjoyed it despite that. There are definitely predictable events in it, such as when a character does something and you know immediately what the consequences of that action are going to be, long before any of the characters do. That does mar things a little bit. But it's easy to look past them because Crichton writes the action so effectively. When characters aren't spouting scientific stuff, I almost held my breath as events happened. Especially effective is the trailer scene, where Malcolm and Sarah have to figure out how to get safely out of a trailer that's being pushed, prodded and smashed by two enraged Tyrannosaurs. It's hard to tell what's going to happen there, or who will survive this sequence. Nobody (with the possible exception of Malcolm) is safe in this book, so there is a lot of tension. I will say that not everybody dies, but there certainly is doubt when certain people are in danger. I wish Crichton would write more like these. To me, he seems at his best when he's writing scientific action thrillers. I wish there were a way that he could limit the scientific asides, though, as they really slow things down. I don't mind the asides themselves, but I think they could be included better. Still, this is one book that you won't be able to put down. And it has dinosaurs eating people. What could be wrong with that?
Rating:
Summary: excellence
Review: With Michael Crichton's amazing attention to detail it's almost as if you were actually looking down backbone of a dinosaur. Crichton's novel, The Lost World, brings us to five years after the disaster of John Hammond's dream for a dinosaur park. But instead of Isla Nublar where the park had previously been, the focus was on the neighboring island, Isla Sorna, site b. recently there has been strange findings around the area and rummors have gotten around there might be dinosurs living freely on this island. One of the main reasearchers on this situation was a palieontoligist and teacher named Levine. Levine Being the arrogant person that he was left for the island days before the rest of the team had planned with out informing anyone that he was leaving. On Isla Sorna Levine and the assistant he brought with him immediately run into problems. Back at home, Levine's disappearance is noticed by Mr. Thorne, the head engineer of the team. Thorne contacts Levine with a satellite phone and gets a scrambled message with Levine asking for immediate help. The team does a rush job of getting ready and immediately leave for the dangerous island including two of Levine's 6th grade students completely unknown to the teams knowledge. For this group may dangers lie ahead. One of the many positive things Michael Crichton does with this novel is his use of detail; he really pulls you in to the story. In some of the actions scenes I actually found my self reading faster. A few of the things I didn't like about this book was Crichton often talked about things that were not important and found the book sometimes laborious to read. Over all the book was great, even with the semi-high number of pages the anticipation keeps the pages turning and the book is a quick read. I recommend this book to anyone who likes books with adventure and action.
Rating:
Summary: A great sci-fi type novel!
Review: This book was amazing!Michael Crichton is a very smart writer.I loved the action and suspense.It starts off kinda slow but ends up really fast-paced and just amazing.I couldn't put it down! I recommend it to anyone who loves reading fast-paced action/adventure novels.
Rating:
Summary: i thought it was wonderful
Review: I thought it was a wonderful book. it got me interested directly from the start. Even thought there was a little bit too much talking and chatting, there were alot of thrills, chills, and suprises. I love dinosaurs, and am very interested about what the world was like when they were the rulers of the earth, not us. Crichton brought me right into that world, and I must admit that I actualy got scared when a raptor suddenly leapt out of the bushes. i think the book is much better than the movie. I love the movie, also, but the book seemed much more...Jurassic Park. It does have a bit of bad language, but if u skip over that, it is a very exciting book. I fell in love with the charactars, and did not stop reading until I ran out of pages!
Rating:
Summary: Not quite like the first.
Review: This second book didn't quite fill the shoes of the first. It was good but I suppose the first was a hard act to follow. Same writing style, same detailed, scientific, explanations of how things can go awry. Overall a good book and must read followup.
Rating:
Summary: Not to shabby
Review: I read this book soon after I finished Jurassic Park. I liked it a lot. It has a much different feel than Jurassic park though. In this book the characters are more out for study than a ride in the park and as always, it turns for the worst. I liked Jurassic Park much much better than this one, and if you are deciding whether to read this or not based on the movie, dont be fooled. The movie is VERY different from this great novel. Dont pass this up, but also, if you are expecting as good as the first novel, you may be dissappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than The Movie...
Review: The movie The Lost World was not a bad movie, it just doesn't come close to the book. The movie actually does change quite a bit (no Thorne, in the movie InGen brings in a large team, Dodgson coming to Isla Sorna, ect.). I'd seen the movie first so I knew what happened to certain extent and I'm just glad that the T-rex in San Diego was not in the book... Anyways, ... I found it really cool though, with the High Hide and the trailers and everything. It could've been better, though. It could've been worse, too, I guess. And it really is pretty scary and tense and I couldn't put it down because I wanted to find out what happened to the characters. ...I really enjoyed this book. But the ending! Why, Mike, why?
Rating:
Summary: Good enough but was it really needed?
Review: I've just finished this and its a good read. Not Crichton's best by any means, but nonetheless a good book. I like the way that it links with Jurassic Park but actually uses a different set of characters (apart from Ian Malcolm). It did annoy me a bit that Malcolm was in the novel since he was supposed to have died in the last one. I also felt it unnecessary to include more kids for the sake of it. Also, the story was a bit one-dimensional compared to Jurassic Park, and it didn't have quite the same bang. A bit like comparing Hollywood with the Welsh Film Industry... Anyway, what I will say is that I don't like the accusations about Crichton writing this for commercial value because the film was released at the same time. Firstly, the set of characters is almost completely different. Secondly, the plot is also very different. This isn't Jurassic Park, it's not Sphere, its not even Timeline. But nonetheless, its still worth reading if you're a Crichton fan, especially if you liked the first book. But, as other reviewers have stated, it wasn't really a needed sequel, neither did it match up to the first book. The only real reason I gave it four is because it was entertaining enough.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent sequel, but nothing special
Review: My father and my brother both insist that Michael Crichton is a hack who couldn't create a remotely interesting character if his life depended on it. I think that he's capable of writing some damn good adventure stories. As a matter of fact, we're all correct. I readily admit that he has some major weaknesses, characterization being just one of them, but he also has a certain talent for building suspense and getting you caught up in the story. "Jurassic Park" was one of the best science fiction adventure novels that I've ever read. The sequel, "The Lost World", starts out with a promise of more fast-paced action, but it stumbles a little bit towards the end. It's five years later, and the disaster on Isla Nubar has been thoroughly hushed up. Ian Malcolm is still offering up mathematical theories, his latest being that studies of systems "at the edge of chaos" can provide the key to the extinction of the dinosaurs. While Crichton's treatment of mathematics is, of course, nonsense, it's still amusing to read Malcolm's witty dialogue as he clashes with the skeptical mathematical community. Meanwhile, reports are coming in of strange animal carcasses being found in Costa Rica, but the government is attempting to cover up the situation. When a noted scientist suddenly vanishes without a trace, Malcolm joins with a engineer who designed special vehicles for him to rescue the man, and they take off for another island in the Pacific. Needless to say, it turns out that the InGen engineers were breeding dinosaurs on this island as well, and the rescuers are soon being chased by an irate Tyrannosaurus. Meanwhile, the notorious Lew Dodgson also ventures to the island in hopes of stealing dinosaur eggs. For about the first two-hundred pages, Crichton does an excellent job of pulling you into the story. The sense of adventure is tremendous. Unfortunately, he just can't keep it up for the entire length of the book. One problem is that the author apparently decided that he needed to a pair of children in danger once again. The mechanism that he uses to bring two precocious kids to the island is pretty ridiculous. Also, the final section is fairly predictable, with yet another case of equipment malfunctioning in critical situations, and Malcolm once again caring more about explicating his mathematical theories than surviving and escaping from the island. I think that with a little bit more though and creativity, "The Lost World" could have been a better book, but it's still a decent way to waste a few hours of your spare time.
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