MC, the baap of the technothriller, is one of my fav authors.
Andromeda Strain is my fav, and Timeline is a close second ( though the movie sukd as s) and whn news of the movie adaptation of Prey, his latest book, directed by none other than Steven Spielberg reachd me, I, a little embarassed at not having read Prey took it up expecting I would be running into a screenplay swashbucklingly similiar to tht of Jurassic Park.
Here’s my verdict.
Science and Characthers -- interesting
Plot and Action -- pure tinseltown
Mr. Crichton needs to write books, not screenplays. ’’Prey’’ begins with a lot of promise (compared to his last 2 outings). Good and interesting characters, background information that helps the story instead to halting the flow and a very interesting mystery. Then, about halfway into the book, it suddenly becomes yet another standard Hollywood screenplay.
The characters become flat and lifeless; every 5 minutes there is a new desperate chase scene (they didn’t work in Jurassic Park II, they didn’t work in Timeline, but whoever bought the movie rights wants it, so Michael writes it). The final battle and resolution is very empty and hollow and the motivations of the bad guys (see spoilers below) is completely lacking (but with plenty of room for a sequel Hollywood!).
Basic Plot : 2.785/5
Jack, an unemployed software engineer, is a stay-at-home dad. His wife Julia is a Vice President at Xymos which he believes is producing revolutionary medical technology. After Julia spends many nights working late, her attitude towards her family begins to change, Jack suspects she’s having an affair. Soon after however, Julia’s is involved in a mysterious car accident. Shortly thereafter Jack is recruited by some of his friends to head out to Xymos’s mysterious desert installation, where somethng has gone terribly wrong (Surprise!). A few of the nanotech swarms have escaped and seem to be evolving very rapidly. In fact, they seem to have developed a taste for flesh (Surprise!), and it’s up to Jack to stop them from spreading. While he’s at it, he’ll discover the nature of a devious corporate secret (Surprise!) and gain respect for the complexity of life (Surprise!) be it natural or artificial.
Yeah, just swap out dinosaurs for nanotech insects, move to the desert, and you’ve got ’Prey’. It’s complete with a desperate run to a shed puncuated by an attack with flesh eating creatures. Oh dear. It’s a lot harder to be frightened of a bunch of swarming machines that buzz around, than a pack of velociraptors. The ending of the book is bloating and unscientific eg. The nanoswarms take the shape of human beings and can replicate their movements and speech. It have been more reasonable for the swarms to attack body cells and produce cancerous disease.
The Science :
4.5/5 In terms of the science topics discussed in Prey, Crichton does a marvelous job of introducing and tying together genetics, nanotechnology, and computer science into the race against the rapid swarm evolution within the text. As always, he takes many pauses to inform a reader to the meaning and importance of many scientific terms involved in the book. For those less ignorant to the material than others, the reviews can get a little cumbersome He explores the evolution and applications of nanotechnology pretty thoroughly, if not objectively. There’s also some interesting insights into organic analogue computer programs as well as their applications.
Overall a good read, but not MC at his best. I truly believe tht MC-Spielberg make a great pair(in a friendly way) and tht movie will be better with some edition to the ending.
Also check drain_bamaged’s extended review of Samit Basu’s the Simoqin Prophecies ..