Micro: A Novel
Written by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
Narrated by John Bedford Lloyd
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the bestselling novels The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Sphere, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear, Next and Dragon Teeth, among many others. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into forty languages, and have provided the basis for fifteen feature films. He wrote and directed Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway, Looker, Coma and created the hit television series ER. Crichton remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year. Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and author of the New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as ten other books. He recently wrote the Earth 2: Society comic book series for DC Comics. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He has published over a dozen scientific papers and holds four patents. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.
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Reviews for Micro
661 ratings58 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Seriously, this is kind of silly. If you want to read a really good thriller with cutting edge science and technology that is believable, I recommend you read The Deep Zone by James Tabor. I had an ARC and it was great. Out in early April. More when I actually finish the book. Too bad we couldn't all get the same unfinished manuscript Preston got and see what we can do with it ourselves...Well I am done now and it remained annoying. Character development was....absent. Seemed at the end some of the characters were being set up for a possible sequel. I advise against it. Please don't tell me when the movie comes out!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent story and a worthy addition to the Crichton collection. Worth your time if you enjoy sci-fi adventure tales.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Got 100 pages in and, unfortunately, it’s not my cup of tea. DNF, because I’m not wasting time on books I don’t enjoy anymore.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love this author. I love how he mixes Thriller, action, and science together. This book was one of the best ones that I have read from him so far and will continue reading the books that he wrote. This book is highly recommended.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crichton is an amazing story teller. He mixes enough science-fantasy with science-reality to create believable stories. He also has the ability to create interesting characters the reader will like.
When I read (or listen to) one of his stories I’m always asking “what happens next”? - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In spite of the Doctor Who science from the beginning, the book ended up being a good adventure. Not Crichton's finest novel, neither the worst. A lukewarm farewell to the author.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I bought this book for my dad for Christmas. We're both fans of Michael Crichton, so it was one of those self-serving gifts, because I knew I would get to read it next. Much like Jurassic Park and Timeline, Micro sees a set of people thrown into an unknown environment. In this case they are shrunken and deserted in a rain forest. Insects become monsters in this micro-world and even at the height of half an inch, the people find mites, which are as tiny to them as a flea or chigger is to a person of normal size. One of my favorite parts is when they go swimming/bathing and one woman finds a paramecium, one-celled organism with cilia all around it to propel it. She holds it in her hand and feels the cilia brush against her fingers.As per normal for Crichton, there is a company which has developed amazing technology but has been doing some shady business as well. When certain people learn about this, they disappear. Then the disappearances start to pile up drastically, which is how the students (being recruited to work for the company) find themselves stranded in the rain forest--they are meant to die there. Many do, of course, but the bad guy has a hell of a time getting rid of them. My dad pointed out how much the reader learns about bugs while reading this book. That's what I always love about Crichton: I always learn new things in his books and feel smarter for having read them. In this case I learned just how important pheromones are to creature of tiny proportions, that that certain wasps lay eggs in a host, that mites exist just about everywhere, and that tiny creatures seem have seeming enormous strength because gravity has less of an effect on them (hence an ant being able to cary objects that weighs twice its own weight).I don't know if Crichton left any other unfinished works before he passed, but I rather selfishly hope that he did. I really liked this book and hated how short my lunch break was while reading it at work. If you enjoy Crichton, read it. If you like adventure stories, read it. If you like science and technology, read it. If you like bugs, read it. Basically...just read it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Micro is book much like the many that have come from Michael Crichton. Sadly, he died before he finished the novel, and Richard Preston picked up from where he left off. While Micro is still part of Michael Crichton's work of novels, it doesn't feel the same as the rest. Richard Preston did a great job on trying to recreate the same feel, but it doesn't live up to the other books. I could see the ideas and promise of the book, but the actual book only grazed the surface of what could have been.The premise of the book is simple. A high tech corporation develops groundbreaking technology: they can shrink living creatures and objects down to the micro world (hence the title). Something goes wrong and now a group of graduate students are thrown into an unfamiliar and dangerous world, fighting for their very survival. If this sounds very familiar, it should. The basic plot of the book very similar to that of Timeline, another of Crichton's stories. The whole idea of going into the micro world has endless potential for a thrilling book.The book starts off fairly slow. There is a lot of build up to the main plot of the book. Almost all of the characters are thrown at you at the very beginning of the book, creating a very confusing first quarter or so of reading. While the very act of introducing these characters early on is not that bad, the personalities of them are what make it so hard. Some characters are very well developed throughout the story, while some just are dragged along for the ride. Vin Drake, the chilling investor in the company is one of the better characters. Preston found a way to really bring out his cold and calculating mind and I felt a real loathing for him. Many times I found myself angry at what he did. But, Preston left some of the characters really underdeveloped, such as Danny Minot, one of the graduate students thrown into the dark, dangerous world. He was a bit plain and although Preston tried to bring across his personality, it seemed a bit forced and unnatural.Preston did, however, bring in a lot more scientific fact into the story. Micro is littered with small passages explaining some nuance of insects or poisons. While not exactly boring, I found these little tidbits a bit distracting from the hectic pace of the story. I am intrigued by science behind the characters actions, but it didn't feel like they added a whole lot to the story. They were added in more for the sake of having something to talk about than to explain bigger ideas.All in all, Micro doesn't exactly feel like a Michael Crichton book. I can see his influences in the writing and in the whole idea, but Preston didn't execute the whole idea perfectly. During some parts of the book, I was well into reading, but I just couldn't connect with some of the characters. While not the very best book, Micro is still a good read. It has suspense and action, but feels a bit short on character development.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The author’s writing style. Concept, science, insect behavior and biology, time in rain forest.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Sorry I wasted money on this. I had hoped for something original. Miniaturization of people? That's at least as old as "Fantastic Voyage" from the 1960s! Not to mention, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" etc. I was willing to overlook writing that wasn't that great if the ideas were stimulating. No such luck. Gave up on it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It took too long to get into this book and there were far too many stereotypes with regard to Hawaiian culture. I did rather enjoy the descriptions of the micro world like many other Crichton books, however Preston was not a good choice to complete it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I've read most of Crichton's novels and this is probably the worst. The plot seems to lurch from one badly thought out set-piece to another. Whilst the original idea for miniturisation is a great one, the scientific principles behind it are too easily fudged and seem to be bent to fit the plot points rather than have a well crafted plot that fits the science.The main protaganists are characterless and unlikeable with far too little character development and you early on get the impression they are just filling the 'Star Trek Landing Party' members you haven't seen before prior to being bumped off earl in the episode - sadly some of these last far to long into the novel.Even the main character is not fleshed out enough to make you bat an eyelid when he is killed off halfway through. The villian is equally badly characterized and by the time I got to the end I really didn't care who was the victor.To its credit I did finish it and I'm reading that it will shortly be made in to a movie but as most of Michael's books are better than the resulting movies I'm not adding it to my must-see list
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Not really written by Crichton, finished after his death by Richard Preston.
You can see the skeleton of a Michael Crichton novel here, which is what Preston started with. But what he constructed around that skeleton is one of the most godawful stories I can remember reading.
Characters don't develop over time, they undergo complete personality changes between paragraphs. Some are clearly caricatures of people we met in previous Crichton novels.
The main plot point is straight out of the 1960's Batman TV series - "I'll do something incredibly complicated and by no means sure to work, then leave them alone and hope they die!"
The world would be a better place, and Crichton's legacy would be much shinier, if this book had never been published. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Some great stories from Michael Crichton. I always think that this is my favourite ... until I read one of the others! I love them all.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not the best Michael Crichton book I ever read...
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston is a techno-thriller that relies on an all too familiar theme of a greedy capitalist exploiting a technological breakthrough that could benefit humanity. In this story, a shrinking machine and mini-robots are being used for evil instead of for good and anyone who gets in the way ends up murdered.When a group of visiting grad students stumble on the truth, they are shrunk down to tiny beings and left in the Hawaiian wilderness to die. As the 7 shrunken characters battle giant beetles, wasps and spiders, one can’t help but be reminded of the Walt Disney movie, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Of course as the story progresses, they are a number of grisly deaths each one progressively more horrifying than the last one.I understand this this was an unfinished novel of Crichton’s that was completed by Richard Preston and unfortunately this combination of nature against technology doesn’t really work. A story of this nature needs to embrace it’s silliness and so should have had more humour and a lighter touch. I did enjoy some of the survival aspects of the story but the villain was an over-the-top cartoon, the science was ridiculous and the plot felt rehashed from previous books.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was taken aback when I first started reading this; it had a distinctly unfinished feel to it. Then I discovered the book had been incomplete at the time of the author's death and was finished by another author. I suspect as much of the original material was conserved as possible, but it's resulted in sections of stilted dialogue, characters that at times are more caricatures, repetition, and areas where the pacing is out.Either it improved in later parts of the book or I got used to it. The book is good enough to keep you interested, full of action and twists. If the author had lived to polish the story himself, it would have been an excellent book. As it stands, it has its faults, but its a good tale, and still better than a lot of books out there. The science has been well researched too, which is always good to see.If the plot appeals, stick with reading the book.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Excellent premise by master crafter Crichton, sophomoric execution by another. Crichton is dearly missed.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Reading it now... too many flashbacks to "Honey I shrunk the kids". And at least so far the villin is too 1 dimensional.
I finally stopped about halfway through... Interesting idea, way to melodramatic. Actually now that I really think about it once the only character I liked was killed, I decided to stop reading. I finished by reading the summary on Wikipedia. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sadly for what might have been Crichton's last (pre-posthumous mostly finished) work, I feel I'm being generous giving this 3 stars. Its not a HORRIBLE book by any means.... but basically if you've read any of his previous works, you could foresee where this was going.
Also, if you've seen any formulaic Hollywood action movie.... you know exactly how this pans out. Nothing really to throw out there, other than technology and different insects at you.
I think the only "loop" that is thrown is the survivors of the students who get shrunken down. As an opposite to this, it was pretty obvious that Eric was never really dead.
It was a decently fun romp, that, apparently took me roughly a year to finish. Didn't quite realize I let this shelf so long and gone back to read other books. This was pretty much just a typical action book that was set in the "micro" world, and because of that, it allowed Crichton/Preston to use insects almost like aliens, where throwing out a different random bug to attack or a bird, or Vin Drake who was mustache-twirling evil, just to try and throw "curveballs out of nowhere" at the protagonists. But sadly it was all too pretty much straight forward and formulaic. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Three stars for a book from a talented author who knows how to tell a story, but in this case he has put together a ridiculous premise which his excellent writing can only go so far to ameliorate the story. Jurassic Park, while fantastic, was believable and so was the Andromeda Strain. MICRO is not. Once you start with a silly premise, even the best writer, and I believe Crichton falls into that category for sheer escapism, will find it hard to put together a cogent story. Yes, there were some interesting events portrayed skillfully by the author, but to make them at all palatable, you had to swallow the premise, which I found difficult to do. Three stars for the writer, zero stars for this book
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In Micro, an evil nanotechnology company with its dastardly and malevolent CEO, Tim Drake, are killing off employees. They go on a recruiting mission to lure the young minds of the future into their evil clutches, when one of the scientists’ brother, Eric Jansen, who is an executive of with this company, goes missing and warns his brother not to come to the island. This leads to Drake shrinking the young scientists to a half inch in size and forcing them to fend for their lives in the wilds of Hawaii. Drake is hunting them down, which shouldn’t be difficult given their small stature. They have to use their scientific know how and resourcefulness to survive ants, bees, spiders, and other miniature predators.At the heart of this novel, it’s a solid adventure story. If you can get past some of the sketchy science behind the nanotechnology and being able to shrink people, there’s some cool scenarios that the scientists have to overcome. There are, however, some flaws in the novel. One is characterization. Tim Drake is a bit cliché and over the top. Even the young scientists needed a bit of work, as they often come off as very winy and annoying, especially the character Danny, who I couldn’t wait until he got killed off. The writing itself is very flawed. There is way too much viewpoint jumping and dialogue that leaves a bit to be desired. In the end, I think this is a readable novel that can be enjoyable provided that you lower your expectations first.Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5So many bad or unbelievable ideas, that I could not make it past the first half of the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No matter what anyone else says, I enjoyed this book. As I was reading it I felt like it could be a movie. It makes you wonder, are there people out there creating the equipment to shrink people, can you really survive out in the world that small and are there really crawly things that small in the dirt? Yikes. I thought it was an enjoyable read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Preston did a great job of finishing what Crighton started. I could definitely see this going to the big screen
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Well, I've got to say it was sort of bizarre. I thought at first it was a children's book - and I was close to stopping but was intrigued by the story line.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This read like miax of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (aka And Then There Were None) and the old movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. No, seriously. Gory and fantastical and fun.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The writing was done well, but it lost me in some places .
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, a nice surprise. Crichton's last book that I read, Next, to me, was an absolute turd. I threw caution to the wind and gave this a try, as I have read a couple of Richard Preston books in the past and enjoyed them. The result of this combined effort produced an imaginative, tight, page-turning thriller. What would YOU do if you were shrunk down to 1/2" height and plopped down in the middle of a tropical rain forest? I only wish Crichton were still alive to produce more stuff like this.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Micro has some good up to date science in it. It would also make an excellent movie.