The Lost World was the only sequel Michael Crichton wrote, and he saw it as a challenge. The title was of course a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle, whose 1912 novel told of explorers visiting a remote plateau to confront dinosaurs. Michael Crichton borrowed another trick from Conan Doyle’s sequels —he brought a character back to life. Conan Doyle resuscitated Sherlock Holmes, even though he fell to his death at the Reichenbach Falls; Michael brought back Ian Malcolm, a favorite of readers and filmgoers.

For the winner of the 5th round of the Dental Nightmare sweepstakes !

Thank you so much! I've read Jurassic Park and enjoyed it but have never read this sequel, so I'm curious to see what happens here.

This was an entertaining read, although I didn't like it as much as the first one. It definitely takes an action-heavy minimal-plot tone, with the predator dinosaurs positioned as villains pretty quickly and a whole group of rival bad-guy scientists who are a little too dramatically dastardly to be convincing. One of the perils of working in animal behavior and caretaking is that I was probably putting a little too much thought into the dinosaurs' behaviors and interactions, and had a bit too much sympathy for the scientists who were in awe of their discovery. Neither is an advantage when said dino would like to eat you!

The ending wrapped up unexpectedly fast, and I was left wondering whether there had originally been another plot thread that was cut out. I did thoroughly enjoy having a physically tough woman character who contributes heavily to saving the day through the kind of improbable feats of strength and heroism we usually see men performing in this type of novel. Sarah Harding is far from the usual feminine roles of sneaky femme fatale-type or brainy planner who gets others to implement her ideas. Instead, she probably gets the most physically punishing scenes. (The scene in the trailer on the edge of the cliff stands out!)

Added to the LFL