Inept Professional Author #2: Michael Crichton

[maran_z]

Title: Next

Genre: Thriller / Science Fiction

Plot: I merely skimmed through the book (you didn't expect me to read the whole thing, did you?), so I couldn't make out a plot. The inside cover wasn't much help either.

Problems:I won't touch the plot for this critique, but there are still plenty of reasons to pick apart Crichton's writing. After a

Comments

[laeladair]

I *love* Michael Crichton--he's my favorite author of all time. But it seems like only his old stuff is any good. The last "new" book of his I read that I liked was "Prey". All the ones following have been kind of disappointing.

I thought Next was really rushed. The material was all there but he didn't take any time to really *explore* what he'd set up. And "State of Fear" was just awful. It kills me to say it, but I think "lazy" is a good way to describe both of them :(

[maran_z]

I'm not a big fan of Crichton's work, as you can probably tell. In fairness, this might have something to do with my preference for fantasy.

I did read Prey not long ago, though. It was a lot better then Next, but it still had its flaws. Namely, the characters were one-dimensional and the plot was too predictable (I didn't expect the Chinese lady to survive, though). Still, he did keep the suspense at a high level.

[laeladair]

Have you ever read the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman? They're my absolute favorite fantasy writers and the first three books of the Dragonlance series are just amazing, I think. Depending on the type of fantasy you lean towards you may want to check them out.

[maran_z]

No, I'm not familiar with those books. Thanks for the recommendations. I prefer sorcery/dragon stuff. Lately I've been going through Terry Pratchet's satirical Discworld series. Besides being hilarious, they're also among the smartest novels I've read.

[maran_z]

Icon <3

Y'know, after Michael Crichton died, I considered removing this post, 'cause now I feel like kind of a jerk. But I didn't really expect anyone else to read it, so I just left it up. But anyway, he was really smart and did a lot of research. It's just that some of his books needed improvement. But I did read Jurassic Park in high school, and I remember liking it a lot. On the other hand, I also read Sphere in high school, and that book was retarded. It was convoluted and had too many plot holes. So...Maybe Crichton should've stuck with dinosaurs. ^^;;