Monday, April 23, 2018

The Lost World by Michael Crichton

The Lost World
















Author: Michael Crichton
Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House)
Year: 1995
Audio Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
Audio Reader: Scott Brick
Audio Year: 2007
Audio Length: 15:20:33
Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller
Age: Adult 18+
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I've been listening to a lot of books on audio lately, I listen every chance I get. I had been waiting for this book for months, there was a long wait list. Finally got it unexpectedly but was happy about it. Just as good as the first one, I knew what to expect from Crichton this time around so I was ready. I'll include a movie comparison at the end of the review like I did with the first one.
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First thing I realized from the beginning was that Malcolm was alive! He didn't perish on the island with so many others, he really became the main character of this sequel.

In this second story it's been several years since Jurassic Park. Ian Malcolm has recovered from his injuries but he is permanently maimed & must walk with a cane. He has teamed up with a man named Robert Levine to go & search for "Site B" to Jurassic Park which is located on the island of Isla Sorna, again off the coast of Costa Rica. The pair is alerted to a possible alternate site because there have once again been sightings of strange animals all over the coast.

Levine & Malcolm were supposed to proceed to the island together but Levine lets his ego & enthusiasm get in the way & he takes off first leaving Malcolm behind. Levine had paid a team of people to make him specialized equipment & meet him at the island so Malcolm plans to do just that. The team includes Jack Thorne a field equipment expert & his assistant Eddy Car.

We also meet 2 kids that are taking a class that Levine was supposed to be teaching, they are Kelly & Arby. Levine has been communicating with them & they are helping with the class since he skipped out to Costa Rica.

Again the "bad guys" of the story are Dodgson & his team at Biosyn. We also meet Sarah Harding, she is the kinda girlfriend of Malcolm but she is studying predators in Africa.

Levine is in trouble on the island, there is some kind of attack, he sends a distress call to Thorne. So Thorne, Eddy, & Malcolm decide to go after him. The kids stowaway unknown to the team & Sarah is asked to join them. Once they are there it is very apparent what a lost world this island is.

The island still has power & they find out that it's really where the dinosaurs were being made then they were being transported to Jurassic Park.

Dodgson is tracking them on his own agenda to get the dinosaurs for his company. The plan is for Biosyn to steal some dinosaur eggs & take them back for research etc.

Malcolm's team finds Levine & he is ok but everyone else that came with him is dead. They have to wait until the next day to meet the chopper to get off the island. In the meantime they are trying to stay alive & study the dinosaurs the best they can.

Along the way Malcolm's team saves a baby t-rex that's been injured, the get attacked by the adult t-rexs, & they have to face their worst enemy yet...raptors. Once again just like at Jurassic Park the raptors are the main problem & they will all be lucky to get off the island alive.

In the end Malcolm s right again! While they are on the island he is working on his extinction theory. It turns out the island is a perfect lost world.This is because there are too many predators inhabiting it at once. The group believes this is because the scientists from Ingen were feeding the dinosaurs ground up sheep that had infections called prions, like mad cow disease. The dinosaurs got the disease called DX. Then they excreted it out in their poop that was eaten by the compys. Other dinosaurs eat the compys & it creates a giant circle of disease. This is the theory proposed for why the island collapsed.

In the end Eddy & Dodgson are eaten & everyone else makes it off the island alive.
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Likes: This book was very similar to the first & it was also read by the same person which was good.

Also like the first book there is a lot that is left out in the movie but they are both still good.

There is a lot of info given about extinction & what happens to animal populations over time. They also talk about the theory of what happened to the dinosaurs.

It only took me about a week to listen to this book even though it is a little long.

Lots of suspense & action.

Dislikes:-

Rating:




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Book-Movie Comparison

I've always love the Jurassic Park movies & I am so excited for this next one to come out in a few months! After reading the books I still really like the movies despite then being drastically different from the books.

The movie starts out with a family on the beach & the little girl is attacked by compys. This is actually the way the first book Jurassic Park starts.

Malcolm is on the subway & gets noticed for his involvement in the Jurassic Park incident. In the book they all signed non-disclosure agreements & there is only "rumors" about what happened so he's not super famous.

Hammond has summoned Malcolm to his home to tell him about site B & that he is forming a team to go to Isla Sorna & study the dinosaurs. Obviously in the book Hammond is dead at the end of Jurassic Park.

The team Hammond has assembled is Sarah Harding who is Malcolm's fiance, a photographer named Nick who doesn't exist in the book, & Eddy Car, plus a very mad Malcolm. So the movie doesn't have Jack Thorne, Robert Levine, or Arby in it at all. It also doesn't include Dodgson or anything about Biosyn just as the first didn't.

In the movie Sarah is already on the island & the others are supposed to meet her there.

Kelly is in the movie but she is Malcolm's daughter from a previous marriage. In Jurassic Park he has been married & divorced several times.

In the movie Ingen comes with big helicopters & lots of equipment & they plan to take dinosaurs back to San Diego to create a zoo of sorts.

The guide that is with Ingen wants a t-rex for himself. They find a nest with a baby i it & set him up as bait while they round up several other dinosaurs.

Sarah & Nick sneak into the camp & free all the dinosaurs causing a stampede. They then save the baby rex & take him back to the trailer. In the book Eddy discovers the baby is hurt & they decide to save him while they are chasing Dodgson.


Just as in the book the t-rex parents come after the baby & there is an incident with the trailer & Eddy gets killed.

But meanwhile in the book Levine, Kelly, & Arby are at the high hide (which is also in the movie) when raptors start attacking. This doesn't happen in the movie because Levine & Arby don't exist.Instead the Ingen people come to the rescue & they all trek across the island to get to a radio at the abandoned lab.There they run into the raptors.

In the book that is the end of the story. Levine, Malcolm, Kelly, Arby, & Sarah get off the island alive. But of course they had to do something crazy for the movie. That's where the t-rex loose in San Diego takes place.

I think overall he changes that were made in the movie support the story line from the first movie well.


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