Helpful Score: 9
I really loved Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain and Prey, so I thought I'd love this. Wow, was I wrong. This book was terrible!! First off, it was just plain boring. Crichton seems to be writing an editorial against global warming rather than a novel. I don't want to read page after page of his opinions on science, I want to read a story. Plus the characters were cardboard cutouts of people and weren't interesting. They were just stock characters, stereotypes with no depth at all and weren't even likable. The book was just plain awful. I couldn't get through it. This was one of the most disappointing books I have ever attempted to read. I hated this so much, I may never pick up a Crichton book again. I want my money back!
I'm not a huge proponent of global warming, but this was a case of a man with an agenda trying too hard to weave it into a thriller, and failing. Far too many inconsistencies and inaccuracies, not to mention way over the top, plot-wise. I finally put it down because these things were just too irritating. My first Crichton book since that "Congo" to find the junk heap.
Helpful Score: 8
I was hoping for a thrilling adventure story with some sound scientific ponderings to keep me thinking. Instead, what the author has given us in "State of Fear" is a poorly disguised rant.
Look, whether or not you "believe" in global warming, this is a poorly written effort. The characters are cardboard, one-dimensional. If the characters believe in global warming, they are superficial, ignorant and pompous. You hate them. If they don't believe, they are superficial, suffer from superiority complexes, and arrogant. You hate them. Then there are the few characters that don't even reveal THAT much in the way of personality; all they do is lecture. A lot. To the point of tears.
The story part of the book is added as an afterthought. Most of the time is spent flying somewhere (usually a very long flight) and having the characters lecture until the plane lands.
Oh, and Michael...that throwaway comment about the anthropologist who wrote the book on cannibalism? I read that book too. It was fascinating, and not nearly as black and white as you portrayed it for your purposes. What a shame. The minute you mentioned it, I KNEW the fate of your character Bradley. You should have just written a non-fiction book on the environment and been done with it, rather than torture your devoted readers.
Look, whether or not you "believe" in global warming, this is a poorly written effort. The characters are cardboard, one-dimensional. If the characters believe in global warming, they are superficial, ignorant and pompous. You hate them. If they don't believe, they are superficial, suffer from superiority complexes, and arrogant. You hate them. Then there are the few characters that don't even reveal THAT much in the way of personality; all they do is lecture. A lot. To the point of tears.
The story part of the book is added as an afterthought. Most of the time is spent flying somewhere (usually a very long flight) and having the characters lecture until the plane lands.
Oh, and Michael...that throwaway comment about the anthropologist who wrote the book on cannibalism? I read that book too. It was fascinating, and not nearly as black and white as you portrayed it for your purposes. What a shame. The minute you mentioned it, I KNEW the fate of your character Bradley. You should have just written a non-fiction book on the environment and been done with it, rather than torture your devoted readers.
Helpful Score: 4
Good story and well-written, quite the page-turner. Also, good follow-through with ending that ties everything up better than some of his other books. May change your entire outlook on the environment, or at least make you re-examine your stance on it.
Helpful Score: 4
A complex and compelling book. You just have to stick with it through the setup phase and pay close attention to the long list of characters and how they all fit together. It's rare to find a piece of fiction that is entertaining and also educational (with resources and footnotes to help keep the facts straight).
