Reviews

Micro by Michael Crichton, Richard Preston

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midwifereading's review against another edition

4.0

**There are some "kind-of" spoilers, but if you've read any Crichton, you won't be surprised. Just FYI**

I opened this book yesterday, and finished it before I went to bed. I couldn't put it down. The concept was intriguing, and the glimpse into the micro-world was pretty cool. Like all Crichton books, it's graphic and descriptive in its violence. It has some language, for sure. And there's even a giant boob. The dialogue was often cheesy and predictable, but some of it was great. Of course, nearly everyone dies in graphic, terrible ways, as is usual with Crichton's plot lines.

It was begun by Crichton , but finished for him posthumously by Richard Preston. I have no idea how to compare their styles, and I don't know if Preston's vision changed Crichton's intent at all. So, no commentary on that.

One of the problems I have with Crichton novels is their tendency to have a reallyfastbeginning and a reallyfastending. It's like he can't wait to get to the meat of the plot, so he takes very little time to fully establish characters. He still does a decent job in a few words, but it takes quite awhile for me to care about any of them. (There are some interesting twists in who Crichton kills off in this one, though, which was pretty nice. My accuracy in calling the deaths failed about half the time in this book! And I actually cared about a few of them...) Also, there's a transition scene that I found myself thinking "Where the heck did THAT come from so suddenly? Jeez..." I had to re-read it to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped a page or two.

He takes his time in the middle, building up some great tension on fantastic detail, then it's like he realizes, "Hey - I'm running out of pages. Better wind this up quick." And boy, does he! Still, the ending to this book was far more satisfying than the ending of "Sphere" or "Congo". (Frankly, those two books sucked, in my opinion. Could have been amazing, but weren't.)

Ever since I read and loved "Jurassic Park," I tend to pick up his novels with anticipation, even though I've been disappointed more often than I enjoyed myself. I loved "Jurassic Park" a LOT, and still can't stop grabbing a Crichton novel when I see them. I think I love his attention to scientific detail, the depth of research obvious in his books, and the craziness of the adventures that seem somehow believable.

This was classic Crichton, much more in line with "The Lost World" than any other of his books, I think. It was good, but not GREAT. I still really liked it, however. Hence, the 4-stars.

leafblade's review against another edition

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4.0

Esto va a ser corto.

El principio fue pesado. Bastante. Recién con la muerte de Peter me empezó a interesar del todo, porque no tenía ni idea qué hacer ni qué pensar por el hecho de que el chico que había asumido como principal estaba muerto. Nunca me había pasado, y por eso fue este precisamente el detonante que hizo explotar mi interés. Todas las muertes fueron totalmente inesperadas, menos la de Danny. Sabía que no iba a llegar al hospital, de un modo u otro. La relación Karen-Rick es hermosa, y que ambos hayan pasado de la actitud no sólo dura sino también fría y distante con el otro a amarse es algo que valió la pena leer. Eric fue una grata sorpresa, y me rompió el corazón cuando le dijo a Drake "tú mataste a mi hermano pequeño", porque como hermana mayor sé lo que es sentir que tenés algo que proteger y verte de repente en una situación que no podés manejar. Ben Rourke fue también una gran sorpresa, porque yo también tenía las esperanzas de que haya gente en Tántalo.

Lo que no me gusto para nada pero para nada de los nadas fue el final. Noté mucho el cambio de narración de un escritor a otro (porque Michael Crichton murió mientras escribía el libro y eligieron a otro hombre para terminarlo), y el final fue en el punto en el que ya no sentí más a Crichton. Después de la vista detallada y científica que estuve devorando durante todo el libro, eso fue poco. Y odio con todo mi ser los finales abiertos. Qué le pasó a Rourke? El bot gigante se quemó con Nanigen? Quedó algún bot en algún lado? Qué pasó con el tipo que, al final, agarró los planos del núcleo tensor? Karen lo encontró? Logró volver al micromundo? Si volvió, volvió con Rick? Qué pasó con ellos? Cómo está anímicamente Eric una vez que el tirón de la adrenalina lo dejó? QUÉ PASÓ CON ROURKE QUÉ PASÓ CON KAREN Y RICK. QUIERO SABER. NO ME IMPORTA QUE SE HAYAN UNIDO A UN CIRCO Y SEAN PAYASOS. DE VERDAD.

nica_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

protoman21's review against another edition

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3.0

This certainly felt like a Crichton novel, but you could tell there was something just a little bit off. I wanted to love this book and wanted for it to recapture the feelings I got when I read some of Crichton's classics, but the intensity just wasn't there. There were moments where I was really into what was happening, but these were overwhelmed by a general sense of apathy. All the pieces were there: man tampering with science and nature, a group of scientists brought in from the outside, a megalomaniac behind it all; they just didn't click together in the way only Crichton at his best is capable of. I will say that the Peter Jansen twist was a good one, and something I did not see coming at all. I once heard that the Lost creators originally wanted to kill off Jack halfway through the first episode. Ironic that Micro, which is also set on a tropical island successfully pulled off this daring plot twist. Although I was most attached to Peter at the time, I wasn't so attached that I felt completely betrayed by his early and sudden death. The odds were stacked so high against the micro humans that any of them survived was astounding. It definitely put more tension in the remainder of the book since at that point you realized that nobody was safe and the authors were willing to kill off all of the main characters if need be. I rate this three stars mainly because it didn't live up to Crichton's best works. I enjoyed the book, but it isn't one I will remember forever.