Herman de Bruine
Blown away, one of the best books I've ever read. Horrifying, sad, compelling and alot of words falling short to describe this masterpiece.
Contains spoilers
The movie is much better. I looked forward to this book but it doesn't make much sense. Most characters are naive and just go about their day. People and children missing on an island with dinosaurs on the loose? You would expect panic, but no. It just doesn't seem urgent to anyone.
Lex is annoying beyond believe, she goes from shocked to the core to completely forgetting the danger she is in withing a page. She, Tim, Grant are in great danger, wounded, exhausted, hungry but she's just there being naive. I have no other way to describe it.
The ending is weird, all of the sudden they need to count nests? What for? They've just survived, a lot of people died, and what do they do: crawl into a raptors nest (who all of the sudden don't notice them). It felt like the writer was short of words to finish the book and fabricated this weird ending.
The movie is nothing like the book, it's way better. It's what the book should have been. And, although there are some great parts, the pacing being really good it just doesn't strike as much fear, wonder, shock or desperateness as the movie.
I found it very confusing, I lost track over who is where and what is happening to who quite a few times. It feels somewhat rushed, like 2 books cramped into 1. The story is beautiful, the horror very real and the idea is great. For me it just needed more explaining, and the jumping back and forth between different locations is confusing. Children of time felt a bit more structured, and maybe the idea of children of ruin is that it is meant to be as confusing as the octopus's are (than hats off great job!), but it feels like it needed to be 2 books to me.
Even reading it feels cold and desolate. I loved the description of the ships, you truly het a good sense of what is where on the them and how it works. Weird, terrifying story though. Leaves you wondering.
It reads like someone else gaming who is explaining the game along the way. Not bad, but it never really feels like you're part of the story.
A bit too funny for a dire experience. Reading is fun though, bursting out laughing guaranteed. Just don't dive in the math / chemistry / calculations those are mind boggling but very well done.