Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA thrilling, yet fundamentally flawed read
Reviewed in Canada on April 8, 2020
The 3-stars I gave this book came with much difficulty, as this was literally the first "real" novel I read growing up (the previous books I was exposed to were of the "Goosebumps" & "Hardy Boys" variety) and nostalgia was a factor. When I read Jurassic Park originally 18 years ago, I was in awe; however, my young mind focused on the story, the action, and sense of adventure; yet failed (or was ill-equipped) to notice the plot and structure. I want to stress: I have never read a book this widely published (and a best-seller to boot) that had anywhere close to the many inexcusable typos, grammatical errors, and continuity issues found in Jurassic Park. Not to mention, Crichton's writing was painfully inelegant at times. The action of Jurassic Park flows quite nicely, and helps to build suspense; however, when the action died down, well, that left a lot to be desired. There was a bored jerkiness to those sections that were hard to get through sometimes. Crichton reused the same descriptors way too often, and had a bad habit of using words twice (ie. "had had" came up a lot).
So, to sum this review up simply: if you don't particularly care about minor plot holes, grammatical mistakes, awkward syntax, and typos, then this one is a great read. It is very suspenseful and really well paced in many sections. But, if such errors tend to take you out of the story (like me), this one might be a hard pass.
--M. M. Spector