The Great Zoo of China

If you didn’t know this already, I am a big Michael Crichton fan. We own several of his books, so I’ve been working my way through them, and the ones that I read are completely thrilling. Prey and Next and OF COURSE Jurassic Park. I mean, he basically wrote the book on dinosaurs, right? Fiction anyway.

So when I started reading The Great Zoo of China, and a crocodile expert gets invited to this brand new mysterious “Disneylandesque” park in China…of course my radar is going off like crazy. I’m practically screaming, “WE DID THIS ALREADY!!!!!!!”

And then the author goes and freaking references Jurassic Park. HELLO. How much more obvious can you get? We know your book is exactly like Michael Crichton’s. Please, give me something different.

Ok. So, there is something different, and awesome and fun about this book. I can’t really tell you what is different, because that will give away the surprise. And, I enjoyed the book…because it is reaaaaally similar to Michael Crichton…obviously. Any fans of his are going to enjoy this book too. You’re just going to be yelling the whole time because, well, you’ve seen this movie already.

Matthew Reilly’s book is for sure a page turner, and is full of action. The main character is a kick ass female too, which is always a plus. Even though it’s a familiar plot line, I still recommend it. It was a fun read, and I really liked the twist on an old favorite.

 

Disclaimer:  Received for free from NetGalley

Fulfills PopSugar #13: A book set in a different country

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Misson: Impossible

Time for this week’s edition of The Husband Book:  How Much Will She Hate It?

To be honest, Mission:  Impossible wasn’t so bad, really. The best part…it was super short–just over 200 pages. It was also one of the easiest reads I’ve had in awhile, so it was a nice break from all the French Lit I’ve been battling with.

Mostly though, it’s a book based on a movie. That’s not a pattern I generally enjoy. Movies based on books? Absolutely. Books have all the details, and movies give us the big picture. But try and take that big picture and put into a novel? It doesn’t work so well. There’s a lot of emotion missing from this, and I guess…for the average action hero guy who would pick this up…it’s probably all that is required.

 

I didn’t hate this one, but I didn’t love it either. Nice, easy read full of American action. It’s exactly what you expect it to be, and if you’ve seen the movie, you know everything about this book already. Mostly just another notch in my book post.

Dorothy Must Die

I

Am

Screaming.

Ok. So not out loud. At least no more than my husband is. (Notre Dame is playing Stanford right now. In the rain. It’s not going well.)

But holy cow. Dorothy Must Die is a tornado.

Where Wicked is a prequel, this is the sequel. The story of after. After the four defeat the Witch of the West and get their gifts. After Dorothy goes back to Auntie Em’s farm.

Guess what? She comes back. That farm life just wasn’t good enough for her. And she comes back in a BIG way.

This book is action, fantasy, dystopia, all wrapped up in one crazy book. Something is incredibly wrong in Oz and everyone has their own views on fixing it.

I really liked how Danielle Paige used the modern day version of what Dorothy Gale would be–a lonely, rebellious pink haired girl from the trailer park. She used that same gumption and turned it into badassness.

I’m looking forward to reading the sequel on this! I definitely want to find out what happens next!