The Lost World - Michael Crichton

Crichton penned The Lost World after receiving pressure from fans, backed by Stephen Spielberg, to write a follow up to the original. Surprisingly, I found the sequel to have marginally improved on its predecessor, despite being written mostly with a Hollywood blockbuster in mind. The story takes place six years after the events of Jurassic Park. The survivors have been sufficiently bribed not to leak details about their experiences, and all traces of the experiment seem to have vanished. Ian Malcolm (who died at the end of the first book) is working as a university lecturer when he is approached by paleontologist Richard Levine, who is investigating rumours concerning alleged dinosaur sightings around Costa Rica. Their combined efforts uncover another secret island base used in connection with InGen's dinosaur cloning and it's not long before an expedition to study its unique ecosystem is underway. Following in the vein of the previous novel, the field trip predictably descends into a chaotic fight for survival as the dinosaurs begin to rampage.

The plot invokes the adventurous spirit of exploration and discovery as popularised in Conan Doyle's The Lost World from 1912. This modern update is largely concerned with theories of evolution and extinction, with the story acting as a backdrop on which Crichton can expound his ideas. In this capacity, Ian Malcolm is almost completely perfunctory, acting as info dumper for much of the novel. Not that any of the other characters fare better. We're served a duo of geeky kids, a 'strong female character' animal behaviourist, a grouchy engineer, and a cardboard cutout villain with henchmen who steal dinosaur eggs. None of them act like real human beings. After being pushed off a boat, almost drowned and barely escaping with her life, the heroine, instead of undergoing the expected trauma, is next seen singing in the shower. Characters coming face-to-face with real life dinosaurs for the first time are strangely devoid of believable reactions. There's also a boring chase sequence obviously written for cinema. Despite these criticisms, the story works well as a hammy adventure and the chameleon-like carnotaurs were fun additions.

Rating: 2/5