Micro

Do you believe in redemption?

We often abandon authors once they disappoint us, and Michael Crichton never really found his way again after 1990's Jurassic Park. In fact, in his later works Crichton seemed to spiral out of control, so I'd more or less given up on him. And I don't think I was the only one. Thankfully, Crichton's new book Micro could easily be adapted for film, suggesting that he had returned to form before he passed away in 2008.

There will be a temptation to compare Micro to Prey, Crichton's novel about the dangers of nanotechnology swarms with artificial intelligence. Here, it is the people, as opposed to the machines, that are shrunk down to miniature size -- thanks to the power of magnets. However, we might get further comparing it to Jurassic Park. Once they are in the "micro world," our scientists are forced to traverse a rainforest that is crawling with gigantic predators: insects.

The writing is often atrocious and it's easier to forget that characterization and motivation exist than it is to expect either, particularly with our villains. Still, I found it helpful to remember that Micro was an unfinished novel (completed by Richard Preston). I also reminded myself that we would eventually reach that ironic moment in Crichton's techno thrillers where scientists battle the creatures they would normally study in labs.

It would seem that the retreat of scientists to the laboratory is the general inspiration for the novel. In his introduction, Crichton criticizes the scientific community for failing to do field work and for relying on computer models. Crichton suggests that it is difficult to capture the awesome complexity of nature on a computer screen. So, read a book about scientists actually getting their hands dirty as they wrestle with mites, the intelligence of ants, and the chemical weapons of beetles. Actually, anyone that's afraid of insects will be more likely to retreat to the lab than to hike through the rainforest after reading Micro.

Regardless of his aims, Crichton's narrative premise is solid. The insects are often quite spooky, the micro-sized tools that the scientists come up with to survive in the micro world are pretty cool, and the pace is fast. In other words, he's covered all the bases.

Still, Micro is not as good as Crichton's greatest techno thrillers: Congo, Sphere, and Jurassic Park. But having finished Micro, I like to think that Crichton ended his career on a high note.....

Three stars for the novel and one extra star for flipkarts delivery which was as usual fantastic....:-)

I bought Micro from Flipkart, by pre-ordering the book, waiting in anticipation for the literal roller-coaster ride with the book. The last Posthumous work by Michael Crichton viz. Pirate Latitudes , was fantastic with all the old charm of Crichton books.
most annoyingly its release was delayed twice. And when it was finally published, the excitement was over way back.
The Micro has all the ingredients that made Michael Crichton books a wholesome read, but the end result is not quite "Crichton"ised.
The story has group of youngsters, big Jargon, Gruesome deaths, the unexpected help near the end and possibility of sequel in the end, but it still feels like the the characters are shallow.
When you read the book, you feel like you are watching "Honey, I shrunk the kids", with the same childish sense.
Well, It was filled with sci-fi stuff and all, but then literature is not just a text book.
Please stop writing in the name of Michael Crichton, if its not really written by the genius himself. We don't want another Bourne elastic series, where people write in the name of late Robert Ludlum and try to glorify crap books.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Book stands quite fatter than expected.
Approximate Pp - 660
About 26 Lines of text per page (the lowest I have observed in a paperback so far)
Paper quality and Print - Very Good
Font Size and Line Spacing - Excellent
Binding and Cover - Excellent

ABOUT THE CONTENT:
1. As described by everyone else, the idea is not new. However, the book does provide with some facts about insects, venoms, and other aspects of nature, albeit not too much.
2. Reading this story does help to perceive an understanding from a visually miniaturized point of view. The world does seem as deadly and dangerous at that scale.
3 The book definitely provides us with a food for thought about how exploration can be a virtue at the smaller scale, but also with how miniaturization and nanotechnology can be dangerous for the humankind, in terms of its usage in violence & war, or towards anything in nature for that matter.

I have been an avid Michael Crichton fan and have read all his novels. Consequently, Micro is a big let-down. Crichton's forte has been bringing to life scary possibilities in advanced science in a very realistic way and creating plausible situations that may arise from that. Micro is rather like a write-up of 'Honey I shrunk the kids'. The 'scientific' explanations are hardly detailed or believable and so make Micro a childish read. Scientific concepts Andromeda Strain were believable and scary, those in Jurassic Park or Congo may have been far-fetched but were written about in a much more realistic way. Micro fails to impress in either of those areas. The 2 stars are for pure entertainment value, the kind where you enjoy if you allow your brain not to think.

Though this was supposed to be his last novel, MC is not quite able to pack the punch that was expected from him.There are quite a few reasons for this. First, the plot in itself is not an original one. This just seems to be the adult'ish' version of Honey,I shrunk the kids. Second, the setting of the plot seems somewhat been there,done that. MC's obsession with Hawaiian settings is repetitive. All in all, it makes State of Fear a more compelling read. But for all those die-hard MC fans who were shocked by his death in 2008, this is a nice collector's item. It quite justifies why you need to buy this. Farewell MC.

PS: A word about Richard Preston. He seems to be the next big thing in suspense writings.