Like most children, when I was young I was fascinated by dinosaurs. And I still am. Their massive bodies, strong legs, razor-sharp teeth, and deafening roar all scare and intrigue me. A few years ago a movie called Jurassic Park appeared, based on the novel by Michael Crichton, and the popularity of dinosaurs soared even higher with kids and adults alike. The movie became the highest grossing feature ever, and, of course, a sequel was planned. Crichton was handed a deal by Universal Studios to write it, and the result is the newest novel to grace the bestseller lists: The Lost World. So the book is spectacular, right? Wrong. It's far from spectacular. In fact, I would be surprised if anyone would give the sequel more than an "okay."

The setting for The Lost World is a remote island where the original dinosaurs of Jurassic Park were genetically manufactured. It is six years after the disaster and suddenly, new lizard-like life forms are appearing on the islands around the Lost World. What follows is a long adventure as nine people try to investigate the island where dinosaurs roam. Like before, the dinosaurs terrorize the humans and almost half of them die.

Sound familiar? It should. The plot basically is the same as Jurassic Park, as the characters include the mathematician Ian Malcolm (a new scientist to replace Alan Grant), a tough woman to replace Dr. Sattler, and two children to replace the former kids. Crichton also brings back the tyrannosaur and the raptor, and replaces Malcom's theory of chaos with his theory of evolution.

Dinosaurs are intriguing to everyone, but even they can't save the tedious plot and writing that lack originality. The book starts slowly and develops without suspense. It took me two days to read Jurassic, but three weeks to read this one. Only at the end does the story take off, as new dinosaurs are introduced (including one that can camouflage with a chain-linked fence), but by then it's too late. I don't recommend this one unless you have a lot of time on your hands. I suggest waiting for the movie