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August 19, 2003
Book: Prey
In Crichton's latest techno paranoid vision of the future, Prey, he offers a powerful commentary on the emerging field of nanotechnology, embedded inside a wonderfully readable story.
Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Author: Michael Crichton
Prey is an extremely readable story which I believe anyone can enjoy, as Crichton has skillfully managed to balance the science and the story.
Crichton takes on modern tech in Prey, linking nanotech, A Life, genetic algorithms and distributed computing. I was impressed by the way he tied them in nicely to create a tight story. The premise of Prey's story is primarily the ill effects of nanotechnology and I got the feeling Crichton feels pretty strongly about it. Nanotech is very real and he correctly states the kind of danger humanity faces if the development of this field does not occur in a regulated manner.
Prey starts off innocuosly with a first person account of Jack's life, our protagonist, who leads a domestic life as he has been unemployed for a while. Crichton introduces the family and the nanotech facility, briefly giving clues about the central story.
Although the story takes a while to get started, the initial reading is not too drab and Crichton gets on with the story at just the right point of time. I'll not give away much of the plot, but it will suffice to say that Crichton explains the whole
nanotech deal, not just the usual 'tiny robot' thingy. He goes into great details to explain the mechanics of how nanotechnology will work and it is very interesting reading.
My only criticism of Crichton is that he writes books so that they can be made into movies. The book moves predictably as it comes to a close, and I thought the ending wasn't great. It felt like I was watching some corny ending to a horror flick.
Crichton has an uncanny ability to understand technology like no other author in his field. I was thoroughly impressed by his technical details in Airframe and Timeline and Prey was just as impressive. He does follow a cliched plot of 'what happens if tech goes wrong', which I feel he should take a break from!
Overall, Prey has an excellent story which combines the right amount of science fiction and story telling to create a compelling book that will fascinate any reader.
Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Posted by amitc at August 19, 2003 04:06 PM