Next by Crichton or has Cricton gone insane?

[Teger]

I was in the library the other day and noticed a Crichton book I hadn't read, so decided to give it a shot. I was shocked at how utterly shitty and insane the book was. Seriously, what the fuck? It was so poorly written and the characters so ineptly described that they all seemed to blur together. I don't think there was an attempt to flesh out any of the characters at all, and the plot itself was totally inane and ridiculous. Was this book ghost-written? Was Crichton high or something?

What the fuck was this?

[Suineg]

I didn't mind it actually.

[Faille]

I think he wanted to get his message out and didn't worry enough about telling a good story in the process.

I just read it over the last week, and today I saw a news report saying that korean scientists have managed to breed cats that can glow in the dark.

[Pharazon]

Yeah, you could tell moreso than alot of his other books that the messages were the key things here.

The laws on gene patenting really need to be changed.

There needs to be more separation between university research and the business world regarding drug patents and such.

I didn't think the story was bad; it wasn't any more disbelievable than a number of his other works. Creating great characters has never been one of his strongpoints, but yeah they might have been especially "blank" in this work.

[Pinchandroll]

I agree that Next was not the greatest book by him, however reading Prey made me forget all about that. Prey is one of my favorite Crichton books, simply because the idea of a malevolent cloud of nanoparticles is so creepy.

In conclusion: read Prey instead of Next.

[Teger]

I've read Prey and I enjoyed it, especially because of the first-person perspective, which was a departure from normalcy for Crichton. Anyway, the thing that bothered me so much about this book (despite the terrible plot) is just how random/retarded all the news articles and asides were. I understand that I'm supposed to laugh at all the Blonde hair dying out/cavemen preferred blondes articles, but its hard for me to find something thats so heavy handed and obvious funny. Maybe I've been ranking Crichton too high for what he was, but I thought he was a more technological and sophisticated author than most fiction writers. I mean just compare this book to one of his early works, or hell, even Prey, and the difference is staggering.

[Burkex]

I never read Prey sounds cool I might check it out. I loved his Jurassic Park (I read it way before the movie was even in production) and it is probably one of my favorite books. But some of his books are way out there and are pretty crappy. I think I gave up on him after I read Congo, boy did that book suck ass.

[Arbuste]

The only book by Crichton I read is Timeline. It was so unbelievably bad I couldn't force myself to try another. I'm more surprised about people saying some of his books do not suck.

[zilkoril jr.]

Jurassic Park, Congo. Come on!

[Aegdaien]

Originally Posted by Arbuste

The only book by Crichton I read is Timeline. It was so unbelievably bad I couldn't force myself to try another. I'm more surprised about people saying some of his books do not suck.

Blasphemy. Absolute fucking blasphemy.

Also - The story (or lack thereof) in Next was because the book was about getting his views on genetics across. It was the worst book I've ever read by him.

[Eomer]

Andromeda Strain was pretty good too, but I think I read that shit in like elementary school so my standards weren't exactly high.

That said, Crichton has never been a very good writer to begin with, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's pulled a Dennis Miller.

[Cad]

If you're going to pick on a shitty Crichton book, Timeline isn't it.

[Teger]

Timeline is pretty mediocre, but its nothing compared to Airframe. Yet, even Airframe is better than Next.

[Brutul Tarew Marr]

You read a Crichton book to get his view on some scientific/political idea he has spent a crap load of time researching and read a screenplay for a cheesy action movie at the same time. You don't get a Crichton book because you want to read a well-written novel hehe. He is a very smart guy and has some very interesting ideas, but he's never been a great writer IMO.

[Cybsled]

Personally I never liked Sphere much. Parts were ok, but the end kinda pissed me off. "Dur, lets use our powerz to make it so nothing ever happened!". I fucking hate reset buttons or ancient artifact that has existed for 100,000 years just happens to fucking get destroyed the moment the characters arrive type-endings.