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A review by soaliha
Micro by Michael Crichton by Michael Crichton
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Jurassic Park meets Honey I Shrunk The Kids….
I found this novel in a second hand book store and was instantly enamoured with the concept. With Jurassic Park being all about large, organic animals, I was excited about the idea of Crichton exploring the opposite of this: minute, mechanical creatures. The shift from macro to micro seemed promising, because truly, tiny threats are so much scarier than big ones — something we all seem to have realised during the pandemic. I’m assuming this was as far as Crichton’s influence got though, because the plot of this novel is so much more bananas than expected. And this is probably the doing of Richard Preston.
There are no tiny bug bots as implied by the misleading blurb of this book — instead, PEOPLE are shrunk into miniature sizes so they can man tiny robots that farm micro fauna. Our MCs are shrunk to 1cm tall, and then must find their way through a rainforest while surviving various insects and other predators that are now monstrous in size to them. So, basically Jurassic Park but with ants instead of dinosaurs.
Don’t bother wondering how this works scientifically, because this is never adequately explained. Even more offensively, the novel actually acknowledges its own plot holes by making one of the characters ask: “but how can we breathe in the same molecules as we did when we were big when our own atoms have shrunk? We should not be able to breathe or even interact with anything around us.” Spoiler alert: this question goes unanswered, and that character is promptly killed off.
I’d actually respect this book more if it owned its plot holes and rolled with it, but trying to forgive its own flaws by writing them into character dialogue — essentially beating you to its own roast — is pathetic.
The novel reads like it is written ready-made for a summer blockbuster movie adaption, and one of the characters is clearly meant to be a knock-off of Ian Malcolm. It smugly thought it would be a cash cow, and its similarities to Jurassic Park feel desperate.
But look, despite how absolutely ridiculous the premise of this book is, and it’s high levels of bullshit, I still read it in one sitting. It’s an adventure, despite how improbable the plot is, and how unlikeable most of the characters are. With the exception of our Ian Malcolm knock-off, of course(who has an enemies to lovers arc hehe). So, I guess I had fun?
If you want to be entertained during a rainy afternoon with a quick and effortless read, then I recommend this. But if you want actually good science fiction, this is not the book for you.
I found this novel in a second hand book store and was instantly enamoured with the concept. With Jurassic Park being all about large, organic animals, I was excited about the idea of Crichton exploring the opposite of this: minute, mechanical creatures. The shift from macro to micro seemed promising, because truly, tiny threats are so much scarier than big ones — something we all seem to have realised during the pandemic. I’m assuming this was as far as Crichton’s influence got though, because the plot of this novel is so much more bananas than expected. And this is probably the doing of Richard Preston.
There are no tiny bug bots as implied by the misleading blurb of this book — instead, PEOPLE are shrunk into miniature sizes so they can man tiny robots that farm micro fauna. Our MCs are shrunk to 1cm tall, and then must find their way through a rainforest while surviving various insects and other predators that are now monstrous in size to them. So, basically Jurassic Park but with ants instead of dinosaurs.
Don’t bother wondering how this works scientifically, because this is never adequately explained. Even more offensively, the novel actually acknowledges its own plot holes by making one of the characters ask: “but how can we breathe in the same molecules as we did when we were big when our own atoms have shrunk? We should not be able to breathe or even interact with anything around us.” Spoiler alert: this question goes unanswered, and that character is promptly killed off.
I’d actually respect this book more if it owned its plot holes and rolled with it, but trying to forgive its own flaws by writing them into character dialogue — essentially beating you to its own roast — is pathetic.
The novel reads like it is written ready-made for a summer blockbuster movie adaption, and one of the characters is clearly meant to be a knock-off of Ian Malcolm. It smugly thought it would be a cash cow, and its similarities to Jurassic Park feel desperate.
But look, despite how absolutely ridiculous the premise of this book is, and it’s high levels of bullshit, I still read it in one sitting. It’s an adventure, despite how improbable the plot is, and how unlikeable most of the characters are. With the exception of our Ian Malcolm knock-off, of course(who has an enemies to lovers arc hehe). So, I guess I had fun?
If you want to be entertained during a rainy afternoon with a quick and effortless read, then I recommend this. But if you want actually good science fiction, this is not the book for you.