Sep 22, 2003 11:59 PM
3479 Views
(Updated Sep 22, 2003 11:59 PM)
Prey is an absolutely wonderful novel penned by Michael Crichton. It is a story about how intelligence evolves in an artificially created species.
A group of people go on to fabricate nano-particles which act for a specific purpose. ( Read the novel to find more ). The particles now are released into the environment. ( Why ? ) However , the unexpected befalls. It becomes the predator and the human race is the prey. Why this happens and how is where the genius of Crichton lies.
The rest of the novel is what is done to remove this swarm of particles. Whether the hero ( there is always one in a Crichton novel ) saves the human race or not is what it is all about.
On the whole, it is a wonderfully written piece in which Crichton excels in his technical insight. Prey probably might rank just up there with Jurassic Park or The Lost World for the sheer technical brilliance of Crichton. The ending could have been better for it is a bit sombre.
As usual Crichton tries to dump upon his readers his views. Artificial intelligence, networks, distributed intelligence may make sense to a techie but to an ordinary reader, this is what makes the book boring at times.
The book is definitely worth a read.
