Stephen King Fans discussion

We've been talking about his books a lot in the Worst King Book thread, so I figured we should actually make a thread and discuss Crichton in a more appropriate place. ;)

Discuss away!

As a kid, I loved (and I still do) the Jurassic Park trilogy.

Thus, I want to read Jurassic Park and The Lost World so bad.

Pirates Latitude seems nice also

I have read Jurassic Park, and I really enjoyed it. I haven't read The Lost World though...

The Lost World is good but not as good as Jurassic Park.

I've heard that Pirates Latitude is Crichton at his best...is that the general consensus?

Dustin wrote: "I've heard that Pirates Latitude is Crichton at his best...is that the general consensus?"

I've actually heard the opposite, that it is basically a rough draft of a novel he never got to clean up before his death and was rushed out to print before it was ready. I have not read it as I was not happy with his last few novels that were finished by him. I will probably read it eventually.

Dustin wrote: "I've heard that Pirates Latitude is Crichton at his best...is that the general consensus?"

In my opinion while it was great to have one more thing published after his death it was not his best work. Fun, maybe a little but I was not that big a fan.

Christine and Gatorman are right. The plot was fleshed out, and some mustache-twirling bad guys (typical Crichton cardboard characters) were laid out, but it was clearly skeletal and bare bones. He seemed to get the plot down, then flesh out his characters as he went. Anyway, clearly it was just his publishing company cutting its losses and cashing in. I don't blame them, necessarily, as they'd probably already paid him upfront, and this was the best this work was going to get. They owned it, basically.

And, yeah, Lost World does not compare to Jurassic Park, which is probably the pinnacle of its type.

Dustin wrote: "I've heard that Pirates Latitude is Crichton at his best...is that the general consensus?"

Thank you, guys (I appreciate your input!)

The only Crichton I've read is Timeline, and that was pretty good I thought. That was a few years ago though. I'd like to give some of his other stuff a try maybe one of these days. I've always liked the movie of Jurassic Park :)

Hi, Kit!

Timeline is great, IMO. You should definitely try some of Crichton's other stuff.

The only one of his that I read was Congo. I liked it. The movie really sucked though.

The earlier Michael Crichton books are excellent, up through State of Fear. After that, the quality started to go downhill, IMO.

State of Fear is a wonderful read!

Lol it's been years since I watched Congo, but I liked it when I was a kid. My book buying season is coming up, so I'll keep an eye out for some of his work.

I have a bunch of books of his that I'm selling if you're interested Kit... (I'm trying to raise and save money for a move.)

Here's the ones I have and their condition:

Timeline by Michael Crichton - Very Good
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - Good
Rising Sun by Michael Crichton - Good/Very Good
Next by Michael Crichton - Very Good
The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton - Very Good
State of Fear by Michael Crichton - Like New
Sphere by Michael Crichton - Good/Very Good

PM me if you're interested. :)

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I loved Jurassic Park, but The Lost World really annoyed me. It just felt like a total sell out to Hollywood - like he wrote the book to be a movie sequel. I enjoyed Disclosure and Sphere as well.

Becky wrote: "I have a bunch of books of his that I'm selling if you're interested Kit... (I'm trying to raise and save money for a move.)

Here's the ones I have and their condition:

Timeline by Michael Crich..."

Man that's a lot! I'd love to snag 'em up, 'specially all in a big chunk like that, but sadly I'm unemployed and living off the charity of my family at the moment, much to their not-so-happiness lol. Thanks for the offer though :)

Although the characterisations are pretty poor at times, I have thoroughly enjoyed the 6 or 7 Crichton books I've read. Airframe and Prey have been my favourites.

He was the first adult author that I picked up.

Also I think he writes his books like a screenplays, even though most of them have been turned into movies.

Crichton was my favorite science fiction writer out there. Jurassic Park and Timeline are just fantastic, and Sphere is also really good.

I've read mostly all his books and they're all at least good but I was disappointed with The Lost World. Also, they should not have released Pirate Latitudes, it had the makings of a great novel but it was definitely not a finished work.

Stephen wrote: "Although the characterisations are pretty poor at times, I have thoroughly enjoyed the 6 or 7 Crichton books I've read. Airframe and Prey have been my favourites."

I have not read anything by Crichton (I know shame on me) but I am about to start Prey on audiobook. Is this one of his better novels? Is this one a part of a series?

It's not part of a series. I've read most of Crichton's books and thought Prey was just ok. His earler books are better than his later ones. Try Jurassic Park or Sphere for a great read.

Thanks Gatorman

I liked The Lost World. Sometimes cheesy sequels are really fun!

Hi, Tracy!

Most of Chrichton's work are fairly well done. I particularly enjoyed Rising Sun, State of Fear, Jurassic Park, and Congo..

Thanks Dustin!

I have read Congo (recently) and I may try one of your other suggestions.

I loved this book so much I have it in paperback, ebook and audiobook. Fantastic.

Yes, State of Fear is one of my favorite Chrichton novels, Ashley!


And you are welcome, Tracy.:) What did you think of Congo?

It was very interesting, Dustin.

Stephen wrote: "Although the characterisations are pretty poor at times, I have thoroughly enjoyed the 6 or 7 Crichton books I've read. Airframe and Prey have been my favourites."

I really liked Airframe; he was very technical writer. I found that I would read Chrichton novels only when I had the time commitment for a thorough read/comprehension. It's always been worth the time.
I've read most of his books except Eaters of the Dead and Next.

Tracy wrote: "It was very interesting, Dustin."

Yes, I thought so, too!

Pirate Latitudes should have never left the shelves. The book was found in his desk and was not ready to be published and it shows!

I've heard mixed-reviews on Pirate Latitudes, actually.. I'd read it simply because it's his last..

Crichton used to be my favorite author, till I found King, Jurassic Park is my all time favorite, but Sphere, Prey, and State of Fear were pretty good too. Wasn't a fan of Next or Airframe though.

I've read Jurassic Park and Sphere and thought they were excellent. Timeline was a snoozefest that I gave up on and I thought Next was pretty lame. With Timeline and Next the science was amazing but the story lines were unimpressive.

I really liked Timeline and Airframe. Next and Prey, not so hot. Jurassic Park and Sphere are the best.

I have both jurassic park books sitting on my kindle waiting to be read.

I really liked Jurassic Park but wasn't so thrilled about his Lost World.

@Felina: Some books you just have to stick with, and they become worth it. For Timeline, i did not have any trouble reading it, and I liked it so much I've read it again.

Jc11king wrote: "As a kid, I loved (and I still do) the Jurassic Park trilogy.

Thus, I want to read Jurassic Park and The Lost World so bad.

Pirates Latitude seems nice also"

I tried to read the first Jurassic Park a year or so after the movie came out, but at that age I couldn't get into it. Deffinately going to try again!

Jurassic Park is definitely a good read, IMO!

Dustin wrote: "Jurassic Park is definitely a good read, IMO!"

Agreed.

My favorite Crichton is

Kyle wrote: "Read it. Awesome book. I didn't like the movie as much."

The movie sucked big-time. Prey was ok. I prefer his earlier stuff.

Kit* - please, please do me a huge favor: there is a book called "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis - it was published about 3 yrs before "Timeline" (and, incidentally, won the Hugo and the Nebula for the year it was published.

It presents a far, far more accurate picture of the time that Michael Crichton wrote about in "Timeline" The mechanisms for going back into the past are different, but Willis goes into a much, much more interesting and thorough picture (For one thing, the woman who goes back to the Dark Ages has to have some nerves in her nose deadened because believe me, the Middle Ages STUNK - big time. No pretty flower blossoms as Crichton describes. The people never, ever bathed (they believed it was sinful and vain to do so.)

You will never forget this book - it's what turned my college studies to Medieval History.

Great, thanks! I will definitely check it out. The whole stinky-ness factor is something I tend not to think about in my daydreams of going back in time lol, I guess it probably would've been pretty nasty back then huh?

Apparently, it was absolutely awful!!! I know, I used to daydream ALL the time about traveling to the Middle Ages, but my dreams were DEFINITELY not founded on the reality of the times!

Along with being a much more factual book than "Timeline", "The Doomsday Book" is a much more exciting one!

Kit* --Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Added it to my want-list, thanks for the rec, it does look very interesting. :)