I love Michael Crichton's books. I have read almost everything he's written. Since his death in 2008, I have kind of hoarded the books that I have not read, saving them or times when I have read a string of below average works and need something really satisfying.
I was excited when Micro was initially published, but when I heard that 35% to 50% of the book was finished by another writer, I was hesitant. While I did enjoy Pirate Latitudes, I didn't think it was among Crichton's best work, and had the feeling that the last book also would not be as good. Then I started seeing rather average reviews and lost interest for several years.
Recently, a friend gave the book a good recommendation - not one of Crichton's best books, but definitely a solid story. I was also encouraged by the fact that the bibliography included three books by Thomas Eisner, who was an authority on insects and their defense mechanisms against predators, particularly those involving chemicals. He is kind of famous for putting a bombardier beetle in his mouth to see what would happen. Many years ago I had the chance to meet Dr. Eisner when my wife and I visited him in Ithaca, New York - he was my wife's adviser at Cornell Universy for several years. My respect for him as a researcher gave me more interest in reading the book.
I have to say, it definitely reminded me of the movie Fantastic Voyage - but instead of being shrunken to the microscopic level and being injected into the circulatory system of a human being, they are shrunk to about an inch in height and then stranded in the Hawaiian rain forest. The hexagonal design of the "shrinking machine" (which is use as the header for the title pages of the three parts of the story) definitely seems like a nod to Fantastic Voyage, which used a similar design. There shouldn't really be any spoilers here - the cover of the book does show human footprints being followed by a spider.
The science is interesting - the micro world is very different, surprising, and dangerous. I did enjoy this book, but I do agree that it is not one of Crichton's best books. I felt that the story did not grip me as quicky as either Prey or Timeline, and then once it did get really interesting, it kind of slowed down in the middle, and then the ending started to feel a little rushed, which was unexpected for a 500+ page book, and is probably sign of Richard Preston's influence in the book. While this wasn't a fantastic read, there were some really neat things to learn about the micro world, and what it might be like to live in it.
Now unfortunately, my list of Crichton fiction books to read has dwindled to only three - all of them published before Pirate Latitudes.
