exciting start to finish, incl good commentary on genetic legislation. tbc ( )

9-13

Probably not the best introduction to Crichton, but an interesting read nonetheless.

It may seem like a cynical book at first, but it highlights issues that may be closer to reality than we would like to think. Maybe it is because I read this during Covid, but the idea of corporations vying for possession of genes or characteristics tied to an individual for profit does not seem that far fetched of a scenario in today's world. Much like the inevitability of AI genetic engineering will be part of the future, and is something we need to start thinking about and planning for sooner rather than later so people can still have autonomy over their own bodies. Because let's face it, a medical company would absolutely try to get legal authority over peoples' cells for monetary gain regardless of the moral speculation. This book is clearly well researched, which made exploring some of the themes even more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, it suffers from way too many character perspectives. So interesting pathways or not explored or cluttered from just trying to keep up with multiple plot lines and characters. Maybe this should have been a collection of short stories. Some good ideas here and there, but I did find myself getting lost at moments trying to figure out what was going on each chapter. Some I felt like could have been emitted from the book entirely without taking away anything from the book. ( )

The concept of this book is fantastic. And you can tell that it was heavily researched to make the science as accurate as possible (as Crichton always does).
However the writing of the book is where it falls shorts. It often seemed very scattered and although stories between characters were meant to intertwine, that wasn't done well.
If the idea of a story about genes and tissues excited you I'd still recommend reading the book. But go in knowing the style of writing isn't the best. ( )

One of Crichton's weakest. ( )