Name: The Lost World, Jurassic Park
Rating: 3.777372262773723 (137 reviews)
ISBN: 9780448415765

Gail Herman

Stills from the film highlight the return odyssey to an island theme park in which prehistoric creatures recreated through cloning run amok

The Junior Novelization

The Lost World, Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton

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. #1 "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER "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 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"

The Lost World

Tim Pendry

Michael Crichton's 'Jurassic Park' appeared in 1990 and was a masterpiece as science thriller albeit with minor flaws. In 1993, Spielberg released the flawless (given the constraints of the family entertainment genre) film of the book. Then things go a little awry. The film was such a success that Spielberg pressed Crichton hard to produce a sequel against Crichton's initial better judgement and so this pot boiler appeared in 1995 (eventually to be made into a film in 1997 within the now burgeoning franchise). It is not a bad book. If 'Jurassic Park' did not exist for comparison, it would be classed as a solid if unremarkable contribution to the genre. It should entertain most people because Crichton (with one flaw) cannot write badly when he is not preaching. It is, however, a re-hash of the original story that takes far too long to get going (the entry of the Tyrannosaurus as the trigger point for excitement only comes after long pages of surprisingly low key scene-setting) and it compromises far too much with the Spielbergian revision. This time we have a strong female lead (a response perhaps to market requirements in the early 1990s) and the two kids are ridiculously advanced for their age. The visceral is toned down (though not completely) and the villain is nastier - all film entertainment simplifications. Crichton has also continued one of the flaws of the original by allowing Dr. Malcolm to get drugged again and to preach although one suspects that he is Crichton's alter ego, existing to get some values and messaging across that represent the author's own frustrations with science and the world. This also serves (with the dialogue of Dr. Levine) to put forward the educational themes of this book which, moving on from dinosaur biology, emphasises the latest (early 1990s) thinking on dinosaur behaviour as well as ethological themes and the scientific debate about how evolution works. It is really just 'Jurassic Park' re-envisioned with some occasional loss of coherence, the novelisation of a film that did not yet exist (and would be different again as is the privilege of the film maker). But, as I say, it is not bad. When it does get going, the adventure is exciting enough.

_____________________ Something has survived. THE BESTSELLING SEQUEL TO JURASSIC PARK Six years have passed since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park. In the years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end, the island has been indefinitely closed to the public, its park dismantled, the dinosaurs themselves destroyed. Or so it was thought. But something has survived. And when a team led by maverick scientist Ian Malcolm enters the mysterious 'Site B' to investigate, they are determined that this, at last, will be the end of the dinosaurs... Michael Crichton takes the terrifying events of Jurassic Park even further in this unstoppably readable adventure sequel, told by a master storyteller. _____________________ A must-read for Jurassic Park fans: the Steven Spielberg adaption of The Lost World made numerous major plot changes to the original novel, making this the true last unexplored frontier of the Jurassic Park world...

Luke Harkness

Some good moments but mostly sentimental

So I saw both the first movies before reading this and the original Jurassic Park book. Both are quite different from the films and so that makes me feel conflicted as I loved both of the movies.

I do like the philosophical bits by Malcolm and some of the more science-based explanations behind the dinosaur behaviour and such though. 

It's written relatively well, not mind-blowing, but easy to read which I guess is good writing.

If you've read the first or seen both films, I'd give this a read as its fun to see the differences and how Michael Crichton intended the story to be told.

Tobias V. Langhoff

Pretty much a carbon copy (Carbon-14?) of the much better Jurassic Park, but still pretty thrilling!

Six years after the secret disaster at Jurassic Park and the destruction of the dinosaurs, the dismantling of the park, and the closing of the island, rumors persist that some form of life has survived.

A Novel

Entertaining and exciting. A good sequel! A slower start and then action-packed to the end

Joe Gemignani

Summer 1997 will see the release of Steven Spielberg's colossal new film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the long awaited sequel to the unforgettable and highest grossing film of all time, Jurassic Park 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park Junior Novelisation' captures all the thrills and chills of The Lost World story, with heart-stopping suspense, hair-raising action and illustrated with colour photographs from the film.

Jurassic Park : the Junior Novelization

It unfortunately comes through quite clearly that Michael Crichton was pushed to write a sequel. A story that feels like it's still in the development stage.

Nick Bicko

Six years after the secret disaster at Jurassic Park and the destruction of the dinosaurs, the dismantling of the park, and the closing of the island, rumors persist that some form of life has survived

Fraser Simons

It’s probably more like 3.5* but I liked enough things that I decided to round up! It’s less interesting and tight than Jurassic Park but still quite a fun book. I especially liked the dynamics between Harding and Kelly, which was surprisingly refreshing. 

What made Jurassic Park so effective was in the build up in the first 40% it was using the info dump of science it was actually introducing the variables of failure for how the park would fail and the problems the characters experience during the thriller aspects. 

In this book, there’s even more setup and it doesn’t do that. It puts forth an interesting question focusing on the gaps in our understanding regarding evolution, sure. But that doesn’t build the same sense of anticipation and satisfaction when the variables become pertinent to survival in the first one. Especially since the question put forth about evolution is unanswerable. 

Still. It’s fun when it gets going and I liked some of the new characters. Some twists and the scientific underpinnings are still interesting, just falls short of how fantastic the original was (imo).

Mandi Jayne

Classic Crichton! Not quite as good as Jurassic Park, in my opinion, but a very strong book that has the benefit of being a stand alone-you do not have to read the first book to enjoy this one!

Amanda J 

I like better than Jurassic Park. I got kinda confused with the characters names. It felt like the children were unnecessary they could have been adults, it seemed Crichton was just trying to follow Jurassic Park model. 
I really like some passages that discussed how important history was to science. Really appreciated that lol.

Read in Sweden and Amtrak NY-PVD

I wonder what the threshold is for the number of times you can pass out on a dinosaur-infested island and not die. While I'm sure there are no conclusive numbers, I can say that Michael Crichton believes that it is fairly high.

I really liked the first book in this set, and I really wanted to like The Lost World. I ended up finding the savior of the book, in my eyes, which was the loose inclusion of facts in scientific research and the links to still existing animals. Malcolm is once again his old self, when not idly ranting about how awful humans are, and apparently everyone is a scholar in some respects.

Personally, I would rather shut up and breathe for a minute after escaping my death and save the idle theorizing about why things occurred the way they did once I was sipping tea at home. I suppose that's why I'll never reach the level of fictional academia.

Here are some things that annoyed me about the book, while trying not to give too much away. First, the cutaways between mini-chapters or characters become increasingly annoying. I'm sure it's hard after a while, but there has to be a better ay than having a character black out or sleep. Second, everyone is an academic, and not even the children are spared. While I knew what I was signing up for after Jurassic Park, I didn't realize that we would delve even more into evolutionary theory than I really cared to know. Third, the main antagonist was easily known long before we had even seen them, and I realized it would play out much like Jurassic Park in that regard. I also felt like some of the dinosaurs were mentioned but never seen or seen enough. Carnataurus, for example, is a cool concept (though I doubt the legitimacy of the camouflage) but they were shoved aside for familiar foes. Fourth, I hate seeing the same characters rehashed with new faces and slightly changed personalities. Obviously Malcolm was the same, but aside from the villains, the characters felt like rehashes of the old group from Jurassic Park. From Levine and his dino hunting to what's her face the zoologist who studied carnivores.


And to top it all off, I don't like the explanations given for how the island existed. (in the spoiler below)
(view spoiler)[
You're telling me that, in a lab full of scientists working with zoologists, no one knew about the sheep meat? Everyone was freaking out but no one knew that was the cause? Really? 

And the fact that T-Rex can be wonderful parents, but apparently Velociraptors devolve into chaos is really annoying to me. They also were apparently so stubborn or "smart" to waste all of their time hunting our heroes, after being repeatedly killed and maimed. No, they wouldn't waste their time on the scrawny humans who yielded little meat, especially after killing whats his face and dragging the carcass back to base camp. They were smart enough to figure out hunting in a pack, they would eventually develop their own system for eating just like any other species, because group-based animals have inherent hierarchical instincts. It might not be pretty, but someone studying carnivores would be able to see it. And instincts would dictate child rearing, like in the T-Rexes. So while he may have created a good monster, I don't think his farce of scientific explanations can explain away why he wants them totally demonized; it's really just for the literature.
 (hide spoiler)]

Things I liked included the multiple viewpoints, toned down brats (much better and improved since Jurassic Park) and the sense of death and despair that he can create in his writing. Until the character passes out, that is.

Janine Rosario

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 dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public. But there are rumours that something survived. And when a team go to investigate, they are determined not to give it a chance to escape. Michael Cricton takes the terrifying events of Jurassic Park even further in this unstoppably readable adventure sequel, told by a master storyteller.

The Lost World, Jurassic Park The Junior Novelization

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