DebJpole Hello,
So I hope you’ve all read my Jurassic Park review as here is the review of the sequel; Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
It has been six years. Six long years since the top secret disaster that was Jurassic Park. Six years since the dreams of a scientific development came crashing down. The dinosaurs were destroyed. The park was completely demolished. The island will never be open to the public. It will remain a secret apart from those who were there but even they’ve been sworn to secrecy. No one must know what happened on that island.
“ But this island was the real thing. This is where the dinosaurs were made.”
Until…
The rumour mill begins to spin when undocumented animals start appearing on an island near Costa Rica. Dr Grant has continued making notes of these sightings and plotting them on a map. Could it be that something has survived?
“…this island was a place where everything was unknown and unexpected. Where you didn’t know what would happen. He found that troubling.”
When a scientist goes radio silent after heading to the island on a lone expedition to investigate these appearances, another group of scientists must head out to rescue him.
“This island was a true lost world – a pristine, untouched ecology.”
But they’re not the only humans on the island, for others have also taken note of the strange sightings and want to create their own Jurassic Park…by finding dinosaur nests and stealing their eggs.
“…this island presents a unique opportunity to study the greatest mystery in the history of our planet: extinction.”
Now the scientists are in a battle all of their own, to try and rescue their colleague but also save their own skins because it doesn’t take them long to encounter some of the most dangerous dinosaurs around. Some are familiar to us, some are brand new and give our scientists something else to worry about.
“At the edge of chaos, unexpected outcomes occur. The risk to survival is severe.”
There are a lot less dinosaurs in this than Jurassic Park but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and allows the story to take precedence. But why are there so many predators on this island? Where are all the skeletons? But the big question remains – What went wrong on this island? So drastically wrong that it was abandoned.
My favourite character has to be Sarah Harding. She’s a literal Wonder Woman. No signs of any damsel in distress here. She’s ready front and centre to do what’s needed and doesn’t let anyone or anything stand in her way. And that scene with Dodgson near the end? Let’s just say I was internally cheering her on. She breathes girl power and exudes it throughout the book.
“All your life, other people will try to take your accomplishments away from you. Don’t you take it away from yourself.”
The most terrifying part of this book wasn’t the velociraptors or the tyrannosaurs rex. In fact, it was a dinosaur I hadn’t heard of before – the Carnotaurus. In the book, this dinosaur had the ‘chameleon ability,’ an ability to change colours to blend into its surroundings. So good was its skills that the only reason our characters knew it was there, was when they heard breathing. I could definitely relate to the terror here. How can you run from danger, if you can’t even see it.
“That was his only goal. To get off this island, before it was too late.”
Now SPOILERS for those who haven’t read Jurassic Park so stop reading if you haven’t read the book but intend to do so.
Right, you have been warned. At the end of Jurassic Park, Ian Malcom is implied as having died, although it’s not explicitly divulged. He said goodbye to his friends and in the epilogue, the Costa Rican government refused to permit a burial for Malcolm, yet here he is, alive and kicking in The Lost World. Now I’m not sure if this is some literary trickery by Crichton or if it’s just laziness to commit to leaving him out but the consistency is a tad off.
The book is completely different to the film so if you’re expecting a comparison then you’ll be bitterly disappointed. Very little of this book, if any was used by Spielberg in the film. Different in a good way though. There are far less characters to try and contend with and to follow and there are less characters than those in Jurassic Park. I prefer this as the writing is less scattered and more information is divulged on each character. Dr Malcom’s continued input on extinction and on life could also be related to now, especially when the destruction of the human race is mentioned.
“Human beings are so destructive…I sometimes think we’re a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that’s our function.”
This book was so much better than the first Jurassic Park, I definitely enjoyed this one more.
You can find it on Amazon
Until next time,
Keep reading,
D x
