I love this book more than Jurassic Park. Ian Malcolm is, by far, one of my favourite literary characters. (Third only to Sean Dillon from Jack Higgins' novels and Richard Bolitho from Alexander Kent's.) This thrusts him further into the spotlight....And while this sequel lacks the original's "Ooohs" and "Ahhhhs" because, let's face it, we've done the whole dinosaur shocker already. Still, it's chock full of corporate threats and yummy human snacks. ( )

I like The Lost World, though a little less than its prequel, Jurassic Park. I thought the Jurassic Park introduction and opening were better, although they it was used in the movie version of The Lost World. Also, the book/movie continuity issues continue with the fact that two characters in this movie die at the end of the book version of Jurassic Park. ( )

It's bizarre that this acts almost as a sequel to the movie rather than the book, but whatevs. Dinosaurs, yay. ( )

The Lost World is the sequel to Jurassic Park, and it just isn't nearly as good. Crichton apparently originally didn't want to write a sequel, but the enormous success of the Jurassic Park movie (coupled with some pressure from movie makers in the form of truckloads of money) caused him to change his mind. The end result seems strained and unfocused, as if Crichton simply had no good ideas and decided to just toss in a bunch of people and dinosaurs at random.

A character who unequivocally died in the first book is back (a concession to the movie, where that character survived), and becomes the central character of the book. A hidden source of trouble, unmentioned by any of the characters in the first book (including those who necessarily would have known of it) is the central locale of the plot. People run off to do silly things. A new evil corporation crops up, not the same one as in Jurassic Park, and does evil things. Rescue missions are planned. Greedy people make shortsighted decisions in pursuit of money, and poetic justice is visited upon them.

The book just seems tired and stale. Reading the book feels like eating day old bread - it was probably really good yesterday, but today it is just good enough to be edible. The Lost World is just good enough to be readable, but nothing more than that. ( )

Not really like the movie, this book was very interesting. Not up to par with Jurassic Park, but still good. ( )