by Michael CrichtonI have read a number of books by Michael Crichton and I think it is safe to say that my expectations for this novel were high. Probably too high.Next is a science fiction type novel, with some grounding in reality. I expected a book in the same vein as Jurassic Park and Terminal Man, a fictional story with strong scientific support for credibility/feasibility. However, this novel seemed to strike me as more paranoia than probability. I feel at this time there are two possibilities to consider with respect to this book. Either the author is attempting to give extreme examples to this topic to generate dialogue about where we could end up or he is writing this book about how he perceives the world and where we are heading. Regardless of what target Mr. Crichton was shooting for, I think he missed.
My second major complaint, is that the story was very confusing and hard to follow in the way that it was written. There are something like 10 main characters that are introduced and we are supposed to remember. While the chapters are short, he often will talk about the story arc of one character and wait several chapters to get back to them. Couple this with all the ancillary characters in the book, and I could never remember who he was talking about and what their problem was.
Now, despite the heavy criticism I have unloaded on this novel, I must say that I did enjoy reading it. I have always appreciated an intelligent novel and I think that everyone would agree that genetic engineering is a controversial topic. Overall it was intriguing to think about where we are going as a society and near the end of the book Mr. Crichton began to bring up some controversial (judicial) practices. These practices were then addressed by the author during the "author's note." If you are a fan of Michael Crichton, I would recommend this book, especially since we won't be getting any new novels from him any time soon.
Rating: 3/5 bunsen burners.
Coming up: Falling by Christopher Pike
My second major complaint, is that the story was very confusing and hard to follow in the way that it was written. There are something like 10 main characters that are introduced and we are supposed to remember. While the chapters are short, he often will talk about the story arc of one character and wait several chapters to get back to them. Couple this with all the ancillary characters in the book, and I could never remember who he was talking about and what their problem was.
Now, despite the heavy criticism I have unloaded on this novel, I must say that I did enjoy reading it. I have always appreciated an intelligent novel and I think that everyone would agree that genetic engineering is a controversial topic. Overall it was intriguing to think about where we are going as a society and near the end of the book Mr. Crichton began to bring up some controversial (judicial) practices. These practices were then addressed by the author during the "author's note." If you are a fan of Michael Crichton, I would recommend this book, especially since we won't be getting any new novels from him any time soon.
Rating: 3/5 bunsen burners.
Coming up: Falling by Christopher Pike
Fun fact about your next author Christopher Pike, the name is actually a pseudonym of Kevin McFadden and actually is a reference to the character Captain Christopher Pike in the Star Trek universe. Yeah I'm that geeky that I know that!
ReplyDeleteI agree. As much of a fan of Micheal Crichton's work as I am, I felt that "Next" fell short of my expectations of him. It was still enjoyable and intelligently written but not as strong as his previous works like "Jurassic Park" or "Sphere."
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