Micro

★★★☆

[SPOILER ALERT]

This is a fun book to read for when travelling by train or for idling away a couple of days on the beach.  Come to think of it, I really should read Michael Crichton more often since I am partial to the bio/syfy genre.  I have read the Jurassic Park years ago so my memories of it are very fuzzy.  But I suspect Micro isn't quite on par with Crichton's best efforts.  It is a shame he passed away before completing this task because I truly think the central concept of this story is fascinating.  But the writing just falls short of my expectation.  Nevertheless, I read it with gusto.  Overall, I enjoyed it.

Shrinking people and anything material to the size of insects -- the idea isn't new.  I immediately thought of the movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids".  I thought one hurdle the authors had to overcome is the comedy overtone of the idea of zapping people to toy soldiers and narrating their adventures of battling giant ants and spiders, and flying corkscrewing little airplanes.  It sounds like one of those safety-guaranteed-thrillers where the characters, oftentimes kids, find themselves dealing with what in reality are life-and-death situations, yet they manage to beat impossible odds while surviving till the end unscathed.  Micro has all the right setup.  A group of seven bright grad students, rising stars of tomorrow, are given a tempting job offer, an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to potential fame and fortune.  They arrive in Hawaii for their job interview and things start spiraling downward from there at a blinding speed.  Before they had a clue, they find themselves stranded in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by enormous trees, boulders, buildings, and people of murderous intent, as well as life-threatening and fascinating lifeforms of endless variety, any one of which could and would have them for juicy snacks without hesitation.  

The idea could be as ground shaking as Jurassic Park, if executed with finesse, care and a lot more details.  But unfortunately, the writing falls short in Micro.  Readers would be experiencing vicariously all the bewildering sensations and events through the grad students, but I just didn't experience the "initial impact" of getting shrunk.  The story feels rushed, the characters way too ready for this adventure.  The writing is almost like a synopsis of a more complete version. 

As a side note, Micro aroused my interest in doing some further readings on plants and insects.  I think I will enjoy the plant books more, unless I could overcome my inherent queasiness for bugs.  But hey, I actually thought the insect steak the grad students ate in the book could be really tasty.  When a bug is the size of a cow, you'd probably feel like you are eating a cow anyways.