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librarydoc's review against another edition
2.0
Book Talk: Your body belongs to you...right? Not anymore, at least according to the lawyers and researchers in Crichton's Next. Transgenic species of apes and parrots are being created that blend animals and people into strange new beings. And how will all of this new technology impact us?
My Thoughts: I generally like Michael Crichton's books. They tend to be interesting and fast reads. This was the opposite, pretty much drudgery. I really really disliked this book. There were so many characters doing way too many things, and those were just the humans. Then add in the half ape, half parrot, and half orangutan, and things get really confusing.
My Recommendation: 2/5 stars
Grades 9+ (language)
My Thoughts: I generally like Michael Crichton's books. They tend to be interesting and fast reads. This was the opposite, pretty much drudgery. I really really disliked this book. There were so many characters doing way too many things, and those were just the humans. Then add in the half ape, half parrot, and half orangutan, and things get really confusing.
My Recommendation: 2/5 stars
Grades 9+ (language)
drjcookies's review against another edition
The overall demeaning descriptions and characterizations of women, but also the pedophilia plot line and the detailed description of a minor as a victim of rape.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Sexual content
kat_reads_horror's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Crichton does an excellent job at taking science and making it something you can really follow even if you know nothing about the subject. This particular subject is both intriguing and terrifying, so I was very invested in the story. I do think we could have had fewer characters. The story was getting a little lost on me, trying to keep everyone straight.
pc953's review against another edition
2.0
I am an avid consumer of Crichton's work and regretfully this was one of his worst. In typical Crichton fashion he has paired High tier concepts with a thriller to make them digestible. It is clear he is trying to make a point, especially in the afterward of thia book. Regretfully the way he ties this all together is sloppy. Reading this felt as if I was flipping through 12 channels on loop getting snippets of story that somehow sync up in the end. If his books weren't so easy to read I would have put this one down long before finishing.
jdeveret's review against another edition
2.0
Wow, this book is a mess! I've been a pretty big fan of Crichton ever since the Jurassic Park movie, which hit me at the perfect time as a 12 year old. His books got a bit formulaic in the later part of his career, but I generally have enjoyed them and the scientific cautionary tale a that were his specialty. But while the underlying lesson of Next is ultimately discernible, it is buried beneath a convoluted jumble of intersecting characters, tenuous plotlines, and awkward transitions between different storylines and interspersed news stories. Reading this I was reminded of the movie Crash, which similarly tried to tie together a host of characters but came off stilted and preachy. Love Actually also comes to mind, but I think that one succeeds far better in linking the stories in an entertaining way.
Anyway, so I guess Next wants us to know that the genetic engineering field is a wild frontier, with rogue CEOs hiring "bounty hunters" to literally steal people's genes right out of their bodies, and uncontrollable researchers creating illegal human-animal hybrids which then assimilate into normal society and everyone just accepts them. I was also amazed at how many just awful people there were in this story. Pretty much every man is a lecherous creep ogling every woman they see, and cheating on their wives whenever possible. And plenty of the female characters had no qualms about adultery either, modern ideas about polyamory aside.
Crichton likes to have fun with stretching the bounds of what is possible versus what may be possible in science, and I did find a lot of the strictly scientific ideas about gene sequencing and mutations to be conceivable, but the story that these ideas are stuffed into is so outlandish at times that I was shaking my head in disbelief. And this from a guy who made quantum time travel seem plausible! I guess it must have been apparent that the theme was getting lost, because there is an addendum at the end that explicitly lays out the concepts that are considered bad, which in theory we should have figured out from the book.
In conclusion, if you like the science of genetics, you may enjoy this book regardless of its flaws, but I was just a bit shocked at how much I didn't enjoy this particular Crichton outing. At least it was an incredibly breezy read, so I was able to quickly put it in the rear view mirror and move on to my next book!
Anyway, so I guess Next wants us to know that the genetic engineering field is a wild frontier, with rogue CEOs hiring "bounty hunters" to literally steal people's genes right out of their bodies, and uncontrollable researchers creating illegal human-animal hybrids which then assimilate into normal society and everyone just accepts them. I was also amazed at how many just awful people there were in this story. Pretty much every man is a lecherous creep ogling every woman they see, and cheating on their wives whenever possible. And plenty of the female characters had no qualms about adultery either, modern ideas about polyamory aside.
Crichton likes to have fun with stretching the bounds of what is possible versus what may be possible in science, and I did find a lot of the strictly scientific ideas about gene sequencing and mutations to be conceivable, but the story that these ideas are stuffed into is so outlandish at times that I was shaking my head in disbelief. And this from a guy who made quantum time travel seem plausible! I guess it must have been apparent that the theme was getting lost, because there is an addendum at the end that explicitly lays out the concepts that are considered bad, which in theory we should have figured out from the book.
In conclusion, if you like the science of genetics, you may enjoy this book regardless of its flaws, but I was just a bit shocked at how much I didn't enjoy this particular Crichton outing. At least it was an incredibly breezy read, so I was able to quickly put it in the rear view mirror and move on to my next book!
jenhurst's review against another edition
2.0
This book needed a lot of reworking. It doesn’t have the same level of care that a lot of his other works has. There’s way too many characters and plot points but all under developed. The book wasn’t long enough for the amount it had going on, so everything felt very surface level. It needed to cut down on some plot points and develop the others.
devonforest's review against another edition
3.0
The concept of this I thought was interesting and that part of it I liked. However, there were just too many characters and sub-plots that never connected in the end. I couldn't keep all the characters straight and a lot of the sub-plots didn't have enough closure for me. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Good ideas, but the execution of those ideas fell short.
leggup's review against another edition
3.0
There were far too many major characters in this book. There were also far too many minor characters in this book. There was no context to determine who was a major character and who was a throw away character, so the book took you on all sorts of detours that seemed important, only to show you, 4 chapters later, that the last character's only purpose was to get you from Plot A to Plot B.
I am still a little unsure about a few minor plot points, mainly- was Brad's lawyer working for his uncle, or someone else? What happened to the kids of the guy whose bones were stolen? What was the purpose of the chase scene in the beginning of the book; are those supposed to be important people later; who was the buyer? Was the Dr who found out he had an addict daughter connected in any way to any character, or was that supposed to be a "If we allow genes to be viewed this way, it's a slippery slope!" teaching moment?
The whole book was a slippery slope argument, which came off as exceptionally preachy, even though I agree with him.
The ending is very weak, especially for one character who "Gets what was coming to him" in a SOOOOooooOOOoooo ironic way.
I am still a little unsure about a few minor plot points, mainly- was Brad's lawyer working for his uncle, or someone else? What happened to the kids of the guy whose bones were stolen? What was the purpose of the chase scene in the beginning of the book; are those supposed to be important people later; who was the buyer? Was the Dr who found out he had an addict daughter connected in any way to any character, or was that supposed to be a "If we allow genes to be viewed this way, it's a slippery slope!" teaching moment?
The whole book was a slippery slope argument, which came off as exceptionally preachy, even though I agree with him.
The ending is very weak, especially for one character who "Gets what was coming to him" in a SOOOOooooOOOoooo ironic way.