Utopia

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading but not remembering
Review: Hard to rate this book, honestly, especially without half stars.

I disagree greatly with several of the reviews here. For one, comparing it to Die Hard is a completely unfair way to sell this to a potential buyer. Die Hard was a game of cat and mouse, full of action. There isn't much action in this book, nor any hiding. In fact, there's only one true gunfight, and it lasts 3 bullets. More bullets are fired in other areas of the book, but it's against unarmed, unknowing people.

It's also unfair to compare this book to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was a book about technology and action within a theme park of sorts. This is a book involving some technology and action within a true theme park, but it's a different breed. The action is limited, and the technology isn't explained or even described much, just presented as something that exists.

There are also some groaners. Most notably is the Wingnut character mentioned in other reviews. From his first appearance you know here's there simply to be sacrificed. No surprises there, but to the authors credit he downplays the convenient behavior trait that leads to his usefulness, and incorporates it more as part of a whole rather than a way to exploit. You may see Wingnut's usefulness coming, but Child doesn't get lazy and leave it at that.

Another issue is the terrorists themselves. At one point it's mentioned that people would be shocked if they knew the true face of the ringleader, yet nothing comes from it after he's stopped. A shame, but only due to that line.

So I've told you what this book isn't really, and that it has problems. Is it worth reading? Yes. The book is essentially a crisis book within a theme park, a difficult concept to make realistic. Child takes great effort to make it so, giving reasons why obvious answers must be ignored, and taking into account how a corporation would likely act. Nothing is too unrealistic, and none of the plot will make you groan very hard at all. This is arguably Child's greatest accomplishment within the book.

It's interesting, the characters have some depth to them, and you'll keep reading. The full potential is never realized, but there are no falls off the edge, so you'll read with a smile.

A solid effort. Not amazing, but solid enough that I look forward to Child's next solo effot.

Rating:
Summary: A fun well-written adventure
Review: I bought this book simply by the description but I thouroughly enjoyed it!

This is an inventive world that the author places you in w/ engaging characters. Some might argue it is a bit predictable but I did not feel led along. I enjoyed getting to the end.

The format in using time for each chapter was a nice touch.
I highly recommend this book. What a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: An egrossing read, certainly a master of the thriller
Review: I have just finished reading Utopia - and, as a fan of the Preston and Child duo, I feel that this beats certain favourites including Relic !

The story is well thought out, although I was worried it was going to be another "westworld" - but it certainly isn't anything like it. As a fan of theme park mechanics I am amazed how much research Lincoln Child put into this. I have to complain that the depthness of the main characters are not as good as when he teams with Doug - but its certainly not important as the story takes you along a rollercoaster thrill ride (excuse the pun) from page to page !

Just like all of the Preston/Child books - you get half way through, second guessing what is about to happen, and confused at the remaining hundred pages or so ! But suddenly, the story twists and you're immediately back in the plot, running through a fantasy world of intrigue and close disasters !

Lincoln Child is writing a second book - yet he still co-writes with Douglas Preston - at the rate they are starting to churn out these awesome stories, my only hope is that the quality remains and continues to keep me in suspense !

Rating:
Summary: Child Offers Up Good Solid Fun
Review: I'm a fervent fan of Child and Preston and am happy to report that when Child wanders off on his own to write a yarn, he does NOT disappoint.

I'll admit when I first read the book's blurb I wasn't exactly bowled over about the idea of a theme park tucked away in the Mojave Desert for a setting. Frankly I would have been happier if Child had opted to place his novel in a Reno casino setting, or maybe even a glacier off the Arctic. The theme park idea seemed hokey. Well, I was wrong.

Child took the theme park, gave it a futuristic sci-fi kinda feel, tossed in some of the best now-you-see-'em-now-you-don't thugs (with brains), plopped in a memorable robot dog, a nice, but a little slow sometimes, hero, an excellent unexpected side-kick, and . . . this is the best part . . .
a plot twist that actually surprises the reader.

I don't mean to sound jaded, but after reading action/thriller/horror/mystery novels for over 25 years I can basically count on figuring out a book's ending way too soon. And predictable spells boring.

Well folks, Utopia is NOT boring! Read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Utopia is a thrill ride that you will find hard to put down!
Review: Lincoln Child's first solo novel is fantastic. If you have read any of the Preston/Child books in the past, this will not disappoint!

Utopia takes place in a futuristic theme park in Nevada. It is filled with futuristic rides that blast you into zero gravity and filled with holographic surprises around every corner. The park, named Utopia, is completely shut off from the outside world, and thus makes for a fascinating setting to an action packed day.

The story basically takes you through Dr. Andrew Warne's first visit to a theme park that he in a way helped create. He is there to help fix a computer program that he created to control all of the parks robots. But this is no ordinary day as John Doe (who we know very little about) is in the park to pull of the crime of the century. The story is fast paced as Warne others try to stop Doe from pulling of the crime and killing the innocent people in the park.

From the opening chapter to the last page there are twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. We meet interesting side characters like Wingnut, a robot dog, and are taken along on the rides in the park that are described in a way that makes you feel like you are sitting next to the person in the book. There are some technical aspects of the park in the book, but I think that this adds to the overall story!

All in all a wonderful novel and a great solo work by Mr. Child. I highly recommend this book, and all other Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books!

Rating:
Summary: Sounds Familiar
Review: The story of this book is good, but the desciptions of Utopia sounded so familiar to me until it dawned on me that it sounds a lot like Disney World. There are two many similarities. The building facades creating the second and third stories are just like Disney. The underground (can you say Utilidors?) is just like Disney. Utopia being its own community with its own government is just like Disney. Even the fact that the creator died before it opened is just like Disney. I love the story the way it is written out, but it would have been nice if it wasn't so similar. It didn't make me want to fly to Vegas to see a park called Utopia. It made me want to drive to Florida to get another glimpse of Mickey Mouse and see the wondrous parks collectively called Walt Disney World.

Rating:
Summary: Stinker. Utter, absolute, bottom of the barrel stinker.
Review: The worst book I've ever started reading. If I could turn back time, I'd rather have spent that twenty bucks paying someone to punch me in the face. This was atrocious, there's no other word for it (but let's try to find some anyway.) I'd say the characters were carbon copies, but that would be an insult to poor characters everywhere. The plot was utterly banal, and it's astonishing that this guy felt the plot was enough to hold the novel up, so much so that he put no effort into character. I feel cheated, because on the cover the quote was: "It doesn't get any better than this." I imagine whoever typed that was on the payroll or sharing the author's bed, there can be no other motive for such praise. This book was utterly dreadful, I cannot say it enough to get the taste of this novel out of my mouth. Utter bilge. There were even spelling mistakes in there for crying out loud, for instance: 'menat' should have been 'meant.' Trash. Books like this are the reasons people stop buying books.

Rating:
Summary: Three Painful Weeks to Read
Review: There always seems to be a good Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston novel to read every couple of months, and generally when books are pumped out like that they seem to become a little repetitive. But fortunately thats never happened with these authors. They've continually brought solid technologically advanced page turners that never seem to quit. Thats why it was interesting to see these two split up for a bit and see what they can do on their own.

Utopia is a theme park beyond all theme parks and puts Disneyworld to a crying shame. The characters are forced to deal with a group of alleged terrorists who are after some advanced holographic technology exclusive to the park. But there is a twist later on.

I don't know anything about holograms or robots but apparently Lincoln Child does and he knows a lot. Unless of course he's making all those big words up and he really doesn't know what he's talking about. But I'm pretty sure he does and the research he must have put into the novel must have took some serious time. Thats one thing that I've come to appreciate about the work he's done before, and it's refreshing to know that Lincoln Child can pull it off by himself.

The only problem I had with the story is the timeline of the whole thing. The chapters are actually time intervals, and the whole story happens in one day. For the most part it was pulled off well, but sometimes it felt the action would have taken longer than the time the chapter actually lasted. But this was a minor flaw and it doesn't effect the over all flow of the book.

I look forward to more joint ventures between Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston and more solo efforts, I can never get enough of Special Agent Pendergast.

Rating:
Summary: A good techno-thriller!
Review: This book has all the ingredients a thriller should have. We have a futuristic theme-park with a bunch of terrorists threatening to kill people if their demands aren't met and any move to try to warn the customers or try to determine how the terrorists have infiltrated the computer systems, will result in many customer deaths.

In the theme park called Utopia, holographic technology and realistic historical depictions are the norm with robots performing maintenance and in some instances, serving the clients. Something seems to cause the robots to malfunction (I just remember the line "Welcome to Westworld, where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong..."). The robot's programmer is called in to deprogram and remove the robots. What he finds is that instead of accidental system problems, someone has planted a "Trojan horse" program that causes the malfunctions.

Meanwhile, the park's management is approached by a terrorist, to give the master program of the park's core program, or a lot of people will die. We later find that this program could be used by the military to defeat heat seeking missiles and other programmed armaments. Therefore, giving up the code could have world-wide ramifications.

The story progresses to an exciting conclusion. The only issue I had that prevented me from giving it 5 stars, is people are getting hurt and killed on the attractions and the park officials are able to keep it quiet from law enforcement. I you can overlook this, then it should be a perfect thriller.

Rating:
Summary: A very good story. 4 1/2 stars, I rounded up.
Review: Utopia is a 21 century amusement park, the most advanced park in the world. Utopia is made up of four (a fifth to open soon) different "worlds" under a dome. Camelot, a midieval world; Callisto, a futuristic space-station world; Gaslight, a turn-of the century London themed world; Boardwalk, themed after those turn-of-the-century parks located near a beach; and soon to open Atlantis, themed after the lost-continent of the same name.
The story takes place during one day. The park is running smoothly, when terrorists quietly let themselves be known to the big-wigs, making demands or causing terror. Dr. Andrew "Drew" Warne, a robotics expert from Carnegie-Mellen University, visiting the park as an external-specialist, finds himself doing more than what was expected, but instead leading the way to saving the park and it's visitors.

Utopia is a beautifully written book, sometimes the descriptions and thoughts written within the story will remind you of a good-piece of fast moving literature. I very much enjoyed reading this, and found it exceptionally hard to put down and I actually cared about the characters. Even some of the terrorists were intellectual and fun to read about.
There were just a few problems with the book, however. The character of Georgia, Warne's daughter, seems, for 14 years old, to act both too young and too old. Also I truly hated Sarah Boatwright, the Chief of Operations of the park, and past girlfriend of Warne. She was just an egotistical, annoying and irresponsible person, and I have no idea how someone like Warne would have ever loved her.