Title: The Andromeda StrainAuthor: Michael Crichton
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis: A piece of NASA's equipment returning from space brings along with it a deadly organism the likes of which mankind has never seen. A secret team created for the purpose of dealing with just such emergencies is called into action to figure out how to deal with this threat to humanity.
My Thoughts
This is the fourth novel I am reviewing from my mystery 10 pack from Discover Books!
The premise of this book is super intriguing and I have enjoyed another book by this author (The Great Train Robbery
), but unfortunately what should have been successful and thrilling was boring and overexplained. The reader could read the first two chapters, quickly skim chapters 3-13, and come back in at chapter 14 and still not really feel like anything was missed. The amount of scientific exposition was exhausting (and I'm a science teacher). I have to believe the only reason for such overbearing scientific explanation for the author to parade his scientific knowledge and to convince the reader that this could all really happen.
This is a science fiction novel, readers of science fiction are willing to suspend disbelief to an extent and many of them understand basic scientific principles. If they came across something they didn't understand and wanted to I can almost certainly guarantee they would take the time to look it up. I understand that at the time it was written the internet wasn't a thing, but encyclopedias, science texts, and libraries were.
This one was hard for me to get through, and I did not look forward to reading it each night. It is super disappointing because the bones of a good story were all there, the execution was just inadequate.
Maybe pick up another book you may have heard of by this author, Jurassic Park,
instead.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
This is the fourth novel I am reviewing from my mystery 10 pack from Discover Books!
The premise of this book is super intriguing and I have enjoyed another book by this author (The Great Train Robbery
), but unfortunately what should have been successful and thrilling was boring and overexplained. The reader could read the first two chapters, quickly skim chapters 3-13, and come back in at chapter 14 and still not really feel like anything was missed. The amount of scientific exposition was exhausting (and I'm a science teacher). I have to believe the only reason for such overbearing scientific explanation for the author to parade his scientific knowledge and to convince the reader that this could all really happen. This is a science fiction novel, readers of science fiction are willing to suspend disbelief to an extent and many of them understand basic scientific principles. If they came across something they didn't understand and wanted to I can almost certainly guarantee they would take the time to look it up. I understand that at the time it was written the internet wasn't a thing, but encyclopedias, science texts, and libraries were.
This one was hard for me to get through, and I did not look forward to reading it each night. It is super disappointing because the bones of a good story were all there, the execution was just inadequate.
Maybe pick up another book you may have heard of by this author, Jurassic Park,
instead.Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
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