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Prey (2002)

by Michael Crichton

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
9,938151744 (3.45)69
Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles - micro-robots - has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.

As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence-in a story of breathtaking suspense.

Prey is a novel you can't put down.

Because time is running out.

.
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» See also 69 mentions

English (140)  Spanish (3)  Dutch (2)  French (2)  German (1)  Danish (1)  Finnish (1)  Swedish (1)  All languages (151)
Showing 1-5 of 140 (next | show all)
Not one of Crichton's best, but a good page turner. ( )
  jezebellydancer | Feb 11, 2024 |
Pretty good thriller about nanotechnology gone amuck. Only fair SF.
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
Silly book. Oh, wait…

It's Crichton's usual fare. Future tech moshed up to make a singular horror show in the wrong and stupid hands. This time it's Evolution AI x Nanotech Biological Thingamajigs = Massive chaos. And poop. That stuff was poop, right? I'm sure that his science was sound, but why did he have to subject the reader to coprophagia?

All of his references are from the 1970s through the 1990s. A couple hit 2000 and 2001, and are solid science. The concepts are wild and well explained. It's the characters that put me to sleep. Boring, two-dimensional characters. ( )
  rabbit-stew | Dec 31, 2023 |
I was a little surprised at some of the lower ratings on this one! While I do love the Jurassic Park books best from Crichton, I found this to be a similarly good science fiction horror story. Something I really like about both the Jurassic Park books and this one is how even though it’s a horror science fiction novel, Crichton still makes sure to give plenty of attention to the science details. Nano tech. is given a mind of its own in this story, in order to hopefully fix some issues with a nano tech product. But of course, this experiment quickly goes wrong.

I can see that Prey is a little less action heavy though and that makes some parts a little slower. Overall I found it a cool speculative piece with a good amount of horror and science mixed in. ( )
  rianainthestacks | Nov 5, 2023 |
All of Crichton's books are a combination of hard science and absolutely batshit crazy conjunction. And like all the others, PREY eventually degenerates into a weird, over-the-top adventure. It's a bit like hopping on a rollercoaster and realizing after it starts to move that the seatbelt is broken. You're not sure what you're in for, but you know it will be a wild ride.

PREY is a fast read with plenty of twists and turns. The characters aren't necessarily likeable, and the writing isn't stellar, but the premise is solid and fascinating. Give this a shot if you're looking for a book about technology going wrong in the most extreme way possible. ( )
  Elizabeth_Cooper | Oct 27, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 140 (next | show all)
Prey is a thriller, well constructed and fun to read, like Michael Crichton's other books.
 
Prey finds him in familiar territory, cooking up devilish situations for mankind at the hands of scientists working without restraint and manipulated by big business for their own greedy ends.
added by stephmo | editThe Age, Jeff Glorfeld (Jan 12, 2003)
 
As a writer, Crichton has always been a businessman, but his novels are usually competent. This one is dull, dull, dull. Science fiction can work (Alien, Blade Runner), but only where the mix of science and fiction is right.
 
Crichton dresses up his stories in contemporary clothes, and the nature of the threat is as much a wardrobe decision as anything else. It is, in fact, the key decision, and his alighting on nanotechnology is inspired.
added by stephmo | editThe Guardian, Nicholas Lezard (Dec 14, 2002)
 
But ''Prey'' blazes enough trails that no one will mind that none of them are literary.
 
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Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles - micro-robots - has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.

As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence-in a story of breathtaking suspense.

Prey is a novel you can't put down.

Because time is running out.

.

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Book description
Deep in the Nevada desert, the Xymos Corporation has built a state-of-the-art fabrication plant, surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but cactus and coyotes. Eight people are trapped. A self-replicating swarm of predatory molecules is rapidly evolving outside the plant. Massed together, the molecules form an intelligent organism that is anything but benign. More powerful by the hour, it has targeted the eight scientists as prey. They must stop the swarm before it is too late…
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Average: (3.45)
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