If you go into this book expecting something similar to the original Jurassic Park novel, I'm afraid to say that you will be disappointed. However, if If you go into this book expecting something similar to the original Jurassic Park novel, I'm afraid to say that you will be disappointed. However, if you go into it expecting a YA novel explaining Claire Dearing's character, you'll be pretty happy with it.
GOOD PARTS: 1. THE MYSTERY: I can't go very far into this without spoiling it, but the conspiracy over an intern's disappearance was entertaining to read about and an unexpected addition to the main romantic plotline. The revelation at the end was surprising and interesting, and unlike many plot twists in the Jurassic World franchise, it made sense.
2. CLAIRE This book was created primarily to explain Claire's sudden shift in personality between the two Jurassic World movies, and it does that well. The reader can see elements of both Claires, and the author does a good job of combining the two. You can see how Claire's personality changes over time, and after you've read this book, her character in Fallen Kingdom makes a lot more sense. I did genuinely like Claire in this book. She truly cared about the dinosaurs, wanted to make a difference, and was very clever.
3. DR WU, SIMON MASRANI, AND THE OTHER EMPLOYEES Picturing Dr. Wu's obvious annoyance with interns and deadpan delivery of lines only added to my reading experience. It was great that he got more attention and character development in this book; we don't get to see much of him in the movies, despite the fact that he's responsible for the dinosaurs in the first place. Watching him warm up to the interns(sort of) was lovely. We didn't see much of Mr. Masrani in Jurassic World either, but I believe that Tess Sharpe stayed true to his character. Though he wasn't exactly central to the plot, his personality is well-fleshed-out. I also liked the other employees, namely Bertie. They were primarily background characters but still fun.
4. WYATT Wyatt's brattiness was entertaining to read about, even though he's a nasty person. As other reviewers have pointed out, he's a generic Draco Malfoy, right down to the my-father-will-hear-about-this, but he was still a fun character. Seeing him get put in his place by the other interns was very funny.
5. THE DINOSAURS Not much can be discussed about the dinosaurs without spoilers, but Pearl and Lovelace were wonderful. Claire trying to solve Pearl's Gyrosphere problem and forming connections with the animals was very sweet. Rexy and the raptor were also really cool.
THE BAD PARTS: 1. THE ROMANCE: Okay, I know that the romance is kind of the main point of the book, but it felt like an average teen YA romance. I also realize that that's kind of the point, but I'm here for the science and the dinosaurs. (I did really like Justin, however.) Disclaimer - this "bad part" isn't going to be bad for every single reader. Some of you might really like this kind of plotline, but it's just not my thing.
2. SOME OF THE OTHER INTERNS: Overall, the characters are well-written, but I had a bit of trouble keeping all the interns straight. Wyatt, Justin, Tanya, and Eric were memorable, but the rest of them felt like very generic and annoying college students: Their personalities were uninteresting, they were very typical for their type of characters, and as Dr. Wu would say, interns break things. (Looking at you, Eric.)
3. THE TECHNOLOGY: The tech in this book was straight out of 2018, though the book is set in 2004. I can excuse most of it, as it is established quite clearly that Mr. Masrani is filthy rich, and he could easily afford top-notch, vaguely futuristic equipment for his dinosaur theme park. What cannot be excused is the frequent references to YouTube, which did not exist back then.
In conclusion, this was a very good book. It was funny and light-hearted(at least until the end), and a good addition to the shelf of any Jurassic World fan. It does a great job of fleshing out characters and making them seem like real people. It does a lot for Claire and explains her personality flip between the two Jurassic World movies....more
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