The Lost World: A Novel (Jurassic Park, #2)

by Michael Crichton

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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.
 
“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

• ISBN10: 0345538994
• ISBN13: 9780345538994
• Publish Date: 30 October 2012 (first published 17 September 1995)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Tall Rack)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345538994

Reviews

[sstaley]

I finally finished listening to The Lost World. This was my first time reading this book.
Where I really enjoyed Jurassic Park, I didn't like The Lost World as much. My biggest
problem with this book was all of the pontificating that the character of Ian Malcom does.
After a while I tuned out while listening. I also wasn't excited about coming back to the book.
I wish the author had just stuck to what reader's wanted: scenes between the dinosaurs and
people. The last 1/3 of the book was great! The beginning and the middle had too many moments
that went off track. I'm glad I listened to this, but I won't be re-visiting it again.

[clementine]

I feel the same way about this one that I did about Jurassic Park: it's fun and exciting, and basically does its job as a biological thriller, but it's not exactly high quality. The writing's not great, the science obviously doesn't hold up (like, uh, he referred to velociraptors as 2m tall Jurassic creatures when they were actually the size of a large-ish dog and lived during the Cretaceous), and the whole thing requires quite a lot of suspension of disbelief.

I mean, not just in terms of the science - everything. We have Dodgson as this conscienceless villain, someone there simply to be evil and not to provide any sort of nuanced conflict. We have the kids, whose arrival on the island was broadcasted from a mile away and whose only role seems to be using the computers. (Just like in the first one, of course.) We have all the villains dying and none of the heroes, unless you count Eddie, who is just a random engineer. We have the complete lack of compelling, complex female characters. I guess to be fair there's a bit of a lack of compelling, complex characters in general, but when there 7 adults on the island and only one is a woman... you know. Ian Malcolm remains awesome, though.

I mean, yeah, it's a decent thriller. You just can't think about it too much.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to add - what is it with all the people barely reacting to the fact that there are FUCKING BLOODTHIRSTY DINOSAURS on this island? They all take in stride, and it's like, DUDE, THERE ARE LIKE 500 GODDAMN DINOSAURS SURROUNDING YOU. But, no, they barely seem to register it.

[remo]

Tras el tremendo éxito que cosechó Parque Jurásico, era inevitable que al autor le propusieran una segunda parte. Intenta, por orgullo torero, meter cosas nuevas para que no sea más de lo mismo, pero la primera estaba tan bien hecha que deja poco hueco para la innovación. Nueva historia, seis años después, de los mismos personajes en el mismo entorno. No le hace sombra a la primera, aun siendo esta una novela muy entretenida.