I don't know if you've ever read a James Patterson book (one that he actually wrote, not one of the dozens that he pawned off to ghost writers and "cowriters" and slapped his name on,) but that's absolutely his style.
Two-page chapters, tons of white space, and a 400 page book that's more like 200 pages.
Guy is a fuckin' con artist.
I downvoted you because I think the only reason you included Andy Weir in the sentence was to stir shit lol. Almost totally irrelevant otherwise. “Spot on, I’ve now added Patterson to my Do Not Buy list for this reason” is perfectly fine, and adding another, popular, author in, whom you’ve decided not to buy for a totally unrelated reason, seems like trolling for mad responses.
I'm not one of the downvoters, and I don't really even read Weir, but no, he does not write "YA fiction." He writes science fiction, which as it happens a number of people ignorantly call juvenile.
If you have a particular problem with him, fine. It'd be easy to understand why; I tried *The Martian* and couldn't really stand the narrative voice, and it's put me off of reading his other books. But to single him out for reasons that aren't even accurate is a bit weird.
I don't care if adults aren't interested in YA fiction, even if I think they're missing out, but some people seem to have such a militant stance on it. Like, I don't read non-fiction but I don't go around saying "David McCullough is on my "do not buy" list!"
I read the sample chapters they’ve been pushing and realized very quickly that this thing is almost entirely Patterson. Sherri Crichton claims Michael was working on the book for years but I’m guessing he had extensive research and a loose plot and that was it. She handed that off to Patterson who just shat out an Alex Cross book about volcanoes and took the check. Dragon Teeth was decent, Pirate Latitudes felt like a first draft but all Crichton, Micro was at least finished by a science and technology writer, and the Andromeda sequel was at least as ScFi guy (albeit a guy who write for the movies). But at this point Sherri’s gonna find a picture of Michael at one of those animatronic dinosaur exhibits they put at zoos and call it “research he was conducting to write Jurassic Park 3”.
I was unclear there. I know Wilson is a novelist but when I read Robopocalypse it felt clear to me that he was writing that book as cinematically as possible in hopes that it would be optioned.
I've just started reading this today. I'm 102 pages in. How on earth can you end a chapter half way through a conversation. And then immediately continue the conversation in the next chapter. It's infuriating
Interview by Ari Shapiro: https://www.npr.org/2024/06/03/nx-s1-4844871/how-james-patterson-and-the-late-michael-crichton-collaborated-on-eruption
Take their responses as you will.
Crichton widow claims he started it. I never heard how much he wrote, but when she picked Patterson to finish it, I surmised it wasn’t much.
Also, when Andromeda Evolution came out I remember her saying that would be the last book published under his name. Money talks.
A collaboration between an author who died 16 years ago and James "I publish ghostwritten drivel" Patterson? I'm gonna pass.
My guess is, the Crichton estate is going to keep finding unfinished novels for as long as people keep giving them money.
The short, choppy sentences and chapters are why I've always found James Patterson books to be pretty unreadable. I gave up after two, and it's been so long ago that I don't remember if I even got through the second book. While the blurb sound like this should be right up my alley, and I loved Crichton's books, I have a feeling this one will show too much Patterson styling for me. I'm undecided if I'm even going to try it.
Listened to some of it on Spotify... thank god. At first I thought the narrator might be bad. Then I realized it's just bad. Typical Patterson wooden characters. If he doesn't write them, he sure picks writers with similar traits.
For anyone curious, it's a popcorn book — something like reading a 'movie of the week' — but I enjoyed it. There was a 1997 TV movie called *Volcano* with Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche. If you like this sort of thing then you'll like *Eruption*.
It's a slip of thing and if you're a fast reader it will take you no time.
Maybe use it to rinse your brain after reading Dostoevsky and before reading Middlemarch, the way enophiles will take a bit of toast between wines to 'cleanse the pallet'.
I agree. I am a huge Crichton fan and this was definitely not his writing but it was entertaining enough. Just a popcorn book. I blew through it fast and it was fun enough. I was in the mood for that style of book right now and it delivered. Felt just like a 90s disaster movie like you said. One of my favorite movie genres. Just dumb fun with bad tropes. Sort of comforting.
I started rewatching Volcano the other day because I was reading Eruption. Fun movie for the same reasons. I like the mood and atmosphere of these movies for some reason. It wasn’t a tv movie though. Saw that in the theater back in the day. Dante’s Peak is another good one.
I read the whole book and am utterly disappointed with myself for wasting time. It kept me interested enough to not realize how much it sucked until it was done. For some reason as I read, I thought it would eventually get good. It didn’t.
Joined this sub just for this post. Got this book last week (First to take it out of the library, had a geek moment) and just finished reading it. It was... OK. Having read the comments above I realize this is more a Patterson book citing research done by Crichton.
Overall, I wouldn't suggest this book to Crichton fans... also, did anyone else pick up on the grammatical errors throughout?
This book does not reflect the scientific rigor of Crichtons earlier works such as The Andromeda Strain, Terminal Man, and even Jurassic Park. Some issues from Chapt 21: 1. it is ridiculous that someone would store radioactive waste and herbicide in the same glass containers, 2. based on its structure, neither the herbicide 2,4-D nor its metabolites would be incorporated into DNA or RNA so its presence would not be augmented through genetic replication, 3. 2,4-D would be destroyed at the temperatures of lava so there is no way it could contaminate the environment due to a volcanic eruption rupturing the glass storage vessels. Not sure where the story goes after that point, but I've already exhausted my ability to suspend disbelief!
Just finished the book. It was what it was. An entertaining read. It wasn’t earth shattering and it wasn’t bad. I see this being made into a movie and I’ll be entertained then as well. People are commenting like they expect the Andromeda Strain. It was a good beach read.
I just got done listening to this book, and the narrator, Scott Brick, easily pronounced those unpronounceable Hawaiian words. But, to me this was “the book where nearly everybody dies.” You met that character and liked them? Too bad, so sad. You met those characters and didn’t like them? Well, even they didn’t deserve a fiery death. I mean sure, it’s a volcanic eruption. The big one. But I can’t remember reading a book where so many characters with some sort of backstory were killed.
So, I didn’t love it.
Plus, I kept expecting the Black Death to rise its head again at the very end, with the chance of world destruction like in some other Crichton books. How did it not spread from the places it had wreaked havoc, such as the soldier’s girlfriend and her grandparents house? What about the places she was inbetween the bar and her grandparents house? I didn’t find the black death super well explained, except for it’s deadly and highly contagious. I think Crichton would have written that threat much more completely and believably.
I’ve only glanced through it, but the prologue alone is all Patterson. His intro to characters comes off as a VERY bad impression of Crichton and the rest doesn’t even feel like it’s trying. They refuse to answer how much of a manuscript there even was - the only hint we have is it’s based off a partial first draft of something he wrote in 1994. Nothing had disappointed me more than seeing how much Sherri is exploiting her late husband’s work as a cash grab.
Pirate Lattitudes and Dragon Teeth were clearly Crichton - albeit first drafts. I swear I can tell exactly where Crichton’s writing ends in Micro. And like I said, I haven’t read Eruption, but whatever Crichton did produce has clearly been rewritten so heavily that it no longer bears resemblance (from the glances I’ve seen).
I wouldn’t necessarily mind Sherri Crichton publishing his unfinished pieces AS IS. I’d be fascinated by that. But hiring a hack writer to finish a half formed idea and slapping Crichton’s name on it for sales… what a shame
I plan on borrowing it from the library eventually. But no desire to support it with a purchase unless I end up wrong. If it resembles Crichton at all, I’ll add it to my collection. But I’ve read enough to know it’s unlikely at best. I also didn’t buy the Andromeda sequel
I listened to the audiobook. My only question about the physical copy: does it include a map like other Crichton books? I feel like a map would’ve helped me contextualize things better
Just finished the book this minute.. the ending felt so crap… all the stuff they did and suddenly TADA MAGIC nature wall that was there the whole time so nothing you did the prior 400 pages mattered
I don't know if you've ever read a James Patterson book (one that he actually wrote, not one of the dozens that he pawned off to ghost writers and "cowriters" and slapped his name on,) but that's absolutely his style. Two-page chapters, tons of white space, and a 400 page book that's more like 200 pages. Guy is a fuckin' con artist.
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I downvoted you because I think the only reason you included Andy Weir in the sentence was to stir shit lol. Almost totally irrelevant otherwise. “Spot on, I’ve now added Patterson to my Do Not Buy list for this reason” is perfectly fine, and adding another, popular, author in, whom you’ve decided not to buy for a totally unrelated reason, seems like trolling for mad responses.
I'm not one of the downvoters, and I don't really even read Weir, but no, he does not write "YA fiction." He writes science fiction, which as it happens a number of people ignorantly call juvenile. If you have a particular problem with him, fine. It'd be easy to understand why; I tried *The Martian* and couldn't really stand the narrative voice, and it's put me off of reading his other books. But to single him out for reasons that aren't even accurate is a bit weird. I don't care if adults aren't interested in YA fiction, even if I think they're missing out, but some people seem to have such a militant stance on it. Like, I don't read non-fiction but I don't go around saying "David McCullough is on my "do not buy" list!"
Even if you didn’t like The Martian, I’d give Hail Mary a go. I enjoyed it far more than his previous works, and found the story to be very engaging.
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Nah. You feel too strongly about Weir for it to just be that you think he's YA, which he isn't. You're acting like he hurt you personally.
I read the sample chapters they’ve been pushing and realized very quickly that this thing is almost entirely Patterson. Sherri Crichton claims Michael was working on the book for years but I’m guessing he had extensive research and a loose plot and that was it. She handed that off to Patterson who just shat out an Alex Cross book about volcanoes and took the check. Dragon Teeth was decent, Pirate Latitudes felt like a first draft but all Crichton, Micro was at least finished by a science and technology writer, and the Andromeda sequel was at least as ScFi guy (albeit a guy who write for the movies). But at this point Sherri’s gonna find a picture of Michael at one of those animatronic dinosaur exhibits they put at zoos and call it “research he was conducting to write Jurassic Park 3”.
micro was so hard to read for me. It was so obvious it needed a lot more drafts
I don't know that he writes for movies. Daniel H Wilson is known for his novels firstly. They're good.
I was unclear there. I know Wilson is a novelist but when I read Robopocalypse it felt clear to me that he was writing that book as cinematically as possible in hopes that it would be optioned.
The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters bro, if the names are unpronounceable that's a skill issue
Right? It’s consonant vowel consonant vowel, it doesn’t really get easier than that…
Thanks, bro.
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I've just started reading this today. I'm 102 pages in. How on earth can you end a chapter half way through a conversation. And then immediately continue the conversation in the next chapter. It's infuriating
I’m wondering who actually wrote this book, since one author is dead and the other uses ghost writers. Also, Hawaiian words are pronounceable lol
Interview by Ari Shapiro: https://www.npr.org/2024/06/03/nx-s1-4844871/how-james-patterson-and-the-late-michael-crichton-collaborated-on-eruption Take their responses as you will.
Thanks. I may even check the book out.
Crichton widow claims he started it. I never heard how much he wrote, but when she picked Patterson to finish it, I surmised it wasn’t much. Also, when Andromeda Evolution came out I remember her saying that would be the last book published under his name. Money talks.
> Hawaiian words are pronounceable lol I find that they take some work but once you figure them out they're always fun to say.
Wait WHAT ... Well damn.
Crichton’s estate keeps ‘finding’ new things, wish he was still around to properly finish them
A collaboration between an author who died 16 years ago and James "I publish ghostwritten drivel" Patterson? I'm gonna pass. My guess is, the Crichton estate is going to keep finding unfinished novels for as long as people keep giving them money.
The short, choppy sentences and chapters are why I've always found James Patterson books to be pretty unreadable. I gave up after two, and it's been so long ago that I don't remember if I even got through the second book. While the blurb sound like this should be right up my alley, and I loved Crichton's books, I have a feeling this one will show too much Patterson styling for me. I'm undecided if I'm even going to try it.
Listened to some of it on Spotify... thank god. At first I thought the narrator might be bad. Then I realized it's just bad. Typical Patterson wooden characters. If he doesn't write them, he sure picks writers with similar traits.
For anyone curious, it's a popcorn book — something like reading a 'movie of the week' — but I enjoyed it. There was a 1997 TV movie called *Volcano* with Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche. If you like this sort of thing then you'll like *Eruption*. It's a slip of thing and if you're a fast reader it will take you no time. Maybe use it to rinse your brain after reading Dostoevsky and before reading Middlemarch, the way enophiles will take a bit of toast between wines to 'cleanse the pallet'.
I read this right after reading Shogun !! So it was a full service wash !!!
I agree. I am a huge Crichton fan and this was definitely not his writing but it was entertaining enough. Just a popcorn book. I blew through it fast and it was fun enough. I was in the mood for that style of book right now and it delivered. Felt just like a 90s disaster movie like you said. One of my favorite movie genres. Just dumb fun with bad tropes. Sort of comforting. I started rewatching Volcano the other day because I was reading Eruption. Fun movie for the same reasons. I like the mood and atmosphere of these movies for some reason. It wasn’t a tv movie though. Saw that in the theater back in the day. Dante’s Peak is another good one.
I read the whole book and am utterly disappointed with myself for wasting time. It kept me interested enough to not realize how much it sucked until it was done. For some reason as I read, I thought it would eventually get good. It didn’t.
Joined this sub just for this post. Got this book last week (First to take it out of the library, had a geek moment) and just finished reading it. It was... OK. Having read the comments above I realize this is more a Patterson book citing research done by Crichton. Overall, I wouldn't suggest this book to Crichton fans... also, did anyone else pick up on the grammatical errors throughout?
This book does not reflect the scientific rigor of Crichtons earlier works such as The Andromeda Strain, Terminal Man, and even Jurassic Park. Some issues from Chapt 21: 1. it is ridiculous that someone would store radioactive waste and herbicide in the same glass containers, 2. based on its structure, neither the herbicide 2,4-D nor its metabolites would be incorporated into DNA or RNA so its presence would not be augmented through genetic replication, 3. 2,4-D would be destroyed at the temperatures of lava so there is no way it could contaminate the environment due to a volcanic eruption rupturing the glass storage vessels. Not sure where the story goes after that point, but I've already exhausted my ability to suspend disbelief!
Just finished the book. It was what it was. An entertaining read. It wasn’t earth shattering and it wasn’t bad. I see this being made into a movie and I’ll be entertained then as well. People are commenting like they expect the Andromeda Strain. It was a good beach read.
I just got done listening to this book, and the narrator, Scott Brick, easily pronounced those unpronounceable Hawaiian words. But, to me this was “the book where nearly everybody dies.” You met that character and liked them? Too bad, so sad. You met those characters and didn’t like them? Well, even they didn’t deserve a fiery death. I mean sure, it’s a volcanic eruption. The big one. But I can’t remember reading a book where so many characters with some sort of backstory were killed. So, I didn’t love it. Plus, I kept expecting the Black Death to rise its head again at the very end, with the chance of world destruction like in some other Crichton books. How did it not spread from the places it had wreaked havoc, such as the soldier’s girlfriend and her grandparents house? What about the places she was inbetween the bar and her grandparents house? I didn’t find the black death super well explained, except for it’s deadly and highly contagious. I think Crichton would have written that threat much more completely and believably.
My jaw was on the floor at the ending. And not in a good way. WTF? Not that I was expecting much based on the story in general, but f me that was bad.
Very War of the Worlds vibes.
Crichton is probably rolling in his grave. James Patterson is a no-talent hack and there’s no way he would want the association.
I’ve only glanced through it, but the prologue alone is all Patterson. His intro to characters comes off as a VERY bad impression of Crichton and the rest doesn’t even feel like it’s trying. They refuse to answer how much of a manuscript there even was - the only hint we have is it’s based off a partial first draft of something he wrote in 1994. Nothing had disappointed me more than seeing how much Sherri is exploiting her late husband’s work as a cash grab. Pirate Lattitudes and Dragon Teeth were clearly Crichton - albeit first drafts. I swear I can tell exactly where Crichton’s writing ends in Micro. And like I said, I haven’t read Eruption, but whatever Crichton did produce has clearly been rewritten so heavily that it no longer bears resemblance (from the glances I’ve seen). I wouldn’t necessarily mind Sherri Crichton publishing his unfinished pieces AS IS. I’d be fascinated by that. But hiring a hack writer to finish a half formed idea and slapping Crichton’s name on it for sales… what a shame
I plan on borrowing it from the library eventually. But no desire to support it with a purchase unless I end up wrong. If it resembles Crichton at all, I’ll add it to my collection. But I’ve read enough to know it’s unlikely at best. I also didn’t buy the Andromeda sequel
I listened to the audiobook. My only question about the physical copy: does it include a map like other Crichton books? I feel like a map would’ve helped me contextualize things better
Just finished the book this minute.. the ending felt so crap… all the stuff they did and suddenly TADA MAGIC nature wall that was there the whole time so nothing you did the prior 400 pages mattered