3,5

DNF

Abandon ship! A case of too many characters, scene changes and my growing boredom led to this sad state of affairs.

I liked this book. Crichton takes quite a few characters within stories that seem unrelated to each other, mixes in a bunch of factual articles, and by the end comes up with a compelling story about genetic experimentation. Much of this has been superseded, but it is still a compelling story. It is mostly a quick read [it took me a while because of interruptions for other books / other projects - but it was a quick read when I was able to dive into it...]. My main criticism is that there are almost too many characters, too many plot lines to hang on to. It does get a little disjointed for this reason. Otherwise, a good thriller with an interesting premise.

Anything monkey, gorilla... right up my alley.

Un bon thriller médicale sur l'évolution des recherches en manipulations génétiques, le seul hic c'est un vocabulaire plutôt difficile et qu'il avoir fait un minimum de biologie humaine, ce qui n'est pas le cas de tout le monde. 3/5

’This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren't’

*Sniffs* I just think this book is really good and I- *wipes away tear* I’m really sad everyone rates it so low because I had a lot of fun

This book didn't get interesting until page 236, which is too many pages for a book to get interesting. I was hoping for a page-turner beach read kind of book, but the first half was pretty slow. The second half flew by, but looking back it probably wasn't worth the investment. I would've enjoyed a few less storylines in this one - he's got about 20 different stories going on, because he's trying to hit on as many different ways that messing around with genes can and are effecting humanity - but narrowing it down would've amped up the story. At the end he ties them altogether but it's too little too late, and feels goofy by that time.

It's also saying something to note that the only characters I really found intriguing were transgenic animals (Dave - chimp, Gerard - parrot). If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't have continued rearding. I usually have nothing against the ax that Crichton has to grind, and many of the great sci-fi writers wrote with a purpose to foretell and warn, but if you're gonna grind your ax in a novel, it's still gotta be a good novel. I mean, the guy just can't seem to create a multi-faceted, caring, interesting, human character in this book (and most of his books, from what I've read anyway). His characters are either players or played, and it's pretty depressing because neither are particularly happy or hopeful. The played are pitiful bystanders in a fast-moving world, and the players and miserable misers who usually get their comeuppance (and in the case of female characters, they either use sex as a tool to get their way, or they get used by it).

There's potential here, but it's not realized. "Next" could've been two good pieces: a thrilling tech-fi beach read and a scary & informative op-ed type article in something like Esquire.

I thought this was more about Crichton showing the reader he knew all the scientific terms related to DNA, RNA and gene therapy. Way to tedious for me. Not one of his better books.

Not Crichton's best work, but not without enjoyable parts. I had been under the impression that this book would be more heavily science-focused, but it turned out to be a rather 'light' read. If it had more science in it, rather than personal drama (some was necessary, to show the effects of genetic science) but there just wasn't enough science/philosophy/consequences/science to balance it out. It needed more science! There WAS some, but just not enough!

Next isn't the best book ever. It's messy here and there and sometimes it reads more like a comedy than a science fictional novel. What makes it interesting though, is that it allows you to see what scientists could do with your cells if it meant that you loose ownership over it once it leaves your body. Meaning, what if you go for an allergy test and they take a tube of blood, they could basically do anything with it, if it was concidered waste by law.
The interview that followed the book made it even more interesting, especially because of the current Covid-19 pandemic. 15 years after this book was published and the interview was given, Crichton mentions that the fact that diseases are patented and cell structures and DNA are patented and what that can do in times of a pandemic is really interesting. Of course we have seen a lot about it and now actually can see if business does come before lives. but the fact that information is held back from the public still hasn't changed much. He explaines that patients have died from gene therapie and that the institutions involved didn't want the deaths to be reported because they were considered trade secrets. That sounds like human testing and it's scary to think that this was not so long ago, and probably still is going on.
Next is a book that is going beyond the believability of the matter, but that doesn't make it less interesting to read.

Zoals vaak levert Michael Crichton met 'Next' maatschappijkritiek met een weergaloze thriller over wat er zou kunnen gebeuren als de slinger de verkeerde kant op slaat. Hoe absurd dingen lijken te zijn zou alles veel dichter bij de waarheid kunnen staan dan we soms aannemen.

In het nawoord duidt hij ook zijn mening en toont hij aan welke zaken uit dit spannende verhaal nu al gebeuren.

Aanrader!

I really enjoyed this book. I seen that it had mixed reviews but it was absolutely entertaining and interesting and it kept my attention from the beginning to the end. I really liked the parrot lol