Do I really need to introduce Jurassic Park as a premise? If you haven’t seen the film – firstly sort yourself out – secondly, you’ve very likely at least heard of it. If you haven’t: Dinosaurs are brought back to life via science and they attempt to open a theme park with the Dinos as attractions but it all goes terribly wrong. Cue madness.
Though, this book isn’t the same as the movie. In fact, a lot of the actual plot is fairly different, the character personalities are different and there’s plenty here to digest.
Plot – 4.5/5
So, as above, the general premise of this book is the same as the movie we all know. However, there are some differences in the plot. Without any spoilers, John Wu has a much larger part to play in the novel, some characters who die survive and others who survive, die. However, the plot is still absolutely gripping. It felt more like reading a fourth Jurassic Park tale as it’s just about different enough from the film to feel like a completely different tale.
One of my absolute favourite things about the novel in particular is the incredible knowledge Michael Crichton has of the creatures and the amount of scientific information he openly includes in the book. With science and knowledge of dinosaurs having come on since this book was written, we know some of the descriptions of the dinos in this book to be incorrect now. However, the incredible knowledge of sizes, grazing patterns, the understanding of pack movement and what scientists believed to be true is so fascinating to read – especially as I’m a huge dinosaur nerd already.
Characters – 4/5
As I mentioned above, many of the characters in this book are different to how they’re portrayed in the film. This is likely due to them needing to fit into more stereotypical roles of 90s heroes for the film. But I like these original versions of them just as much.
They each have their own distinct personalities – some are excited to go to the park, some are nervous, others are fascinated by the science, others have to be considered due to a server lack of interest.
Crichton has created a wonderfully diverse set of characters here who all bring their own views on the situation and impact to the storyline.
Jurassic Park summary – 4/5
I’m a huge dinosaur nerd and a massive Jurassic Park fan – so when I picked up this book a couple of years ago, I was so excited to read, what I thought at the time would just be a much wordier version of the film I adored. However I soon came to realise there’s a lot more science in the novel, the characters have different interests and those you may like in the films, you may not in the books and vice versa. It’s a great read and you can see why it was developed into a movie – Crichton does a wonderful job of helping you visualise all of the scenes and has created a fascinating concept and plot to match.
If you’re a fan of the films, I’d still recommend the book. If you’re a fan of history or science, I’d recommend the book. Or if you’re simply looking for a decent monster book then I’d recommend it also. It’s a great read and one I’d recommend to any keen reader.
