Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

10/10

Let me just state that while Jurassic Park is a science fiction novel, it has elements that could be considered urban fantasy. Now, I have to say that this review will be super biased because this is the book that started my love of science fiction and intensified my love of fantasy.

Dr. Alan Grant and grad student Ellie Sattler are paleontologists at the forefront of their field. John Hammond, an eccentric millionaire, has funded their digs, for unknown reasons. Grant and Sattler are on the verge of discovering a complete juvenile Velociraptor skeleton—the first of its kind— when Hammond calls and essentially demands they come visit Isla Nublar where he has built a nature preserve. The two reluctantly agree, and fly out to the island with Dennis Nedry, a computer technician, and Ian Malcolm, a chaos mathematician.

Malcolm insists—even without knowing what is housed on the nature preserve—that due to chaos theory, the nature preserve will fail. Upon landing and seeing the results of InGen's bioengineering, Malcolm's predictions turn dire. Hammond has also invited his grandchildren, Tim and Lex, to come visit the preserve as well. The group begins to tour the facilities, and that is where the complications begin to arise.

No matter how many times I read this book, Crichton's writing manages to still give me a feeling of dread and keep me on the edge of my seat. The use of his medical knowledge combined with the fantastical element of dinosaurs as the villains really makes it come alive. In fact, until last summer, I had refused to watch the movies because I felt that there was absolutely no way for the movie to even come close to portraying the story.

This is definitely a modern classic. This is the book that I recommend to anyone that asks me for a book to read. There are very few books that I can actively read over and over again and still find them as amazing as I did the first time I read them, and this is definitely one of those books.