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The Great Zoo of China
It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years.
They have found a species of animal no one believed even existed. It will amaze the world.
Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed.
A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time.
Among them is Dr Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, a writer for National Geographic and an expert on reptiles.
The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will be struck with wonder at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong.
Of course it can’t…
GET READY FOR ACTION ON A GIGANTIC SCALE.
They have found a species of animal no one believed even existed. It will amaze the world.
Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed.
A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time.
Among them is Dr Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, a writer for National Geographic and an expert on reptiles.
The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will be struck with wonder at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong.
Of course it can’t…
GET READY FOR ACTION ON A GIGANTIC SCALE.
481 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2014
683 people are currently reading
8287 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Reilly
68 books6,249 followersBorn in Sydney in 1974, Matthew Reilly was not always a big fan of reading. It was only after he read To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies in Year 10 that he realised reading could transport you to another world. Following this revelation, Matthew soon began creating stories of his own and set about writing his first novel, Contest, at the age of 19 while still at university studying law.
Following rejections from all the major publishers, Matthew self-published Contest in 1996, printing 1000 copies. He produced a big-budget-looking novel which he sold into bookshops throughout Sydney, one shop at a time.
In January 1997, a Commissioning Editor for Pan Macmillan Australia walked into Angus & Robertson's Pitt Street Mall store and bought a copy of Contest. The editor tracked Matthew down through his contact details in the front of the book. Interestingly, those original self-published editions of Contest have now become much sought after collectors' items. One recently sold on eBay for $1200!
Matthew Reilly is now the internationally bestselling author of the Scarecrow novels: Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and the novella Hell Island; the Jack West novels: Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, and The Three Secret Cities; and the standalone novels Contest, Temple, Hover Car Racer, The Tournament, Troll Mountain, The Great Zoo of China and The Secret Runners of New York.
His books are published in over 20 languages with worldwide sales of over 7 million copies.
Since Seven Ancient Wonders in 2005, Matthew's novels have been the biggest selling new fiction title released in Australia for that year.
Matthew has also written several short stories, including Roger Ascham and the King's Lost Girl, a special free prequel to The Tournament which is available online. Other short stories include Time Tours, The Mine and the hyper-adrenalised romp, Altitude Rush.
He owns and drives a DeLorean DMC-12, the car made famous in the Back to the Future movies. He also has a life-sized Han Solo in carbonite hanging on the wall of his office! When not writing or penning a film script, Matthew can be found on the golf course.
Matthew Reilly is currently living in Los Angeles.
(source: Amazon)
Following rejections from all the major publishers, Matthew self-published Contest in 1996, printing 1000 copies. He produced a big-budget-looking novel which he sold into bookshops throughout Sydney, one shop at a time.
In January 1997, a Commissioning Editor for Pan Macmillan Australia walked into Angus & Robertson's Pitt Street Mall store and bought a copy of Contest. The editor tracked Matthew down through his contact details in the front of the book. Interestingly, those original self-published editions of Contest have now become much sought after collectors' items. One recently sold on eBay for $1200!
Matthew Reilly is now the internationally bestselling author of the Scarecrow novels: Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and the novella Hell Island; the Jack West novels: Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, and The Three Secret Cities; and the standalone novels Contest, Temple, Hover Car Racer, The Tournament, Troll Mountain, The Great Zoo of China and The Secret Runners of New York.
His books are published in over 20 languages with worldwide sales of over 7 million copies.
Since Seven Ancient Wonders in 2005, Matthew's novels have been the biggest selling new fiction title released in Australia for that year.
Matthew has also written several short stories, including Roger Ascham and the King's Lost Girl, a special free prequel to The Tournament which is available online. Other short stories include Time Tours, The Mine and the hyper-adrenalised romp, Altitude Rush.
He owns and drives a DeLorean DMC-12, the car made famous in the Back to the Future movies. He also has a life-sized Han Solo in carbonite hanging on the wall of his office! When not writing or penning a film script, Matthew can be found on the golf course.
Matthew Reilly is currently living in Los Angeles.
(source: Amazon)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,449 reviews
March 29, 2015
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. J.R.R. Tolkien
I'm sorry, but this book does read like Jurassic Park fanfiction. At the end of the book there is an author question session where the answer to the comparisons is answered.
I was very aware that my story of a dragon zoo would inevitably draw comparisons with the dinosaur theme park of Jurassic Park. So I endeavored from the outset to make The Great Zoo of China as different from Jurassic Park as I could.
Sorry, but that's not the case.
So the difference is that this book brought in journalists instead of scientists? Big whoo
Then:
But the main difference between my novel and Jurassic Park would be China. The theme park in Jurassic Park was an out-an-out capitalist venture. With their Great Dragon Zoo, China is attempting to do something else entirely: it is trying to usurp the US as the pre-eminent country on Earth.
Whatever is what I say. The story is based on China preparing to unveil the greatest zoo ever. They bring in a vet that has worked with crocodiles and her brother (a photographer who has seen combat action), ambassador, a twitter guy, and I truly forget who else. Once there they behold the dragons.
I did like the dragons. This part of the book was fun and interesting.
Because...dragons.
They are told of course that nothing can go wrong with this state of the art zoo. I've heard that before.
Of course the shit hits the fan.
"We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Chipmunk," Hamish said. "This is even better than when Stephen Colbert took over from David Letterman."
The book is very readable though. Non-stop action but at times it simply got on my nerves. I love some strong woman characters but come on...there is believable and then just over the top. This was way over the top. Too many near saves from the heroine made me wish that a dragon would just eat her ass.
I'm sorry, but this book does read like Jurassic Park fanfiction. At the end of the book there is an author question session where the answer to the comparisons is answered.
I was very aware that my story of a dragon zoo would inevitably draw comparisons with the dinosaur theme park of Jurassic Park. So I endeavored from the outset to make The Great Zoo of China as different from Jurassic Park as I could.
Sorry, but that's not the case.
So the difference is that this book brought in journalists instead of scientists? Big whoo
Then:
But the main difference between my novel and Jurassic Park would be China. The theme park in Jurassic Park was an out-an-out capitalist venture. With their Great Dragon Zoo, China is attempting to do something else entirely: it is trying to usurp the US as the pre-eminent country on Earth.
Whatever is what I say. The story is based on China preparing to unveil the greatest zoo ever. They bring in a vet that has worked with crocodiles and her brother (a photographer who has seen combat action), ambassador, a twitter guy, and I truly forget who else. Once there they behold the dragons.
I did like the dragons. This part of the book was fun and interesting.
Because...dragons.
They are told of course that nothing can go wrong with this state of the art zoo. I've heard that before.
Of course the shit hits the fan.
"We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Chipmunk," Hamish said. "This is even better than when Stephen Colbert took over from David Letterman."
The book is very readable though. Non-stop action but at times it simply got on my nerves. I love some strong woman characters but come on...there is believable and then just over the top. This was way over the top. Too many near saves from the heroine made me wish that a dragon would just eat her ass.
August 23, 2019
I had just picked this book up from the library and was driving home when a Police car flew through the air striking my car, and continued its journey into the car behind me where it proceeded to burst into flames!
In front of me was a large dragon, the size of a Greyhound bus, facing down a police officer with his service weapon drawn. The officer fired, and the dragon's obsidian eyes narrowed to slits. Suddenly the dragon lunged-
And the officer was torn in half, his weapon falling to the ground beside him as his intestines spilled across the pavement.
I threw the car into reverse and slammed on the pedal, as the dragons eyes turned to me, his wings outstretched as he took a flying leap...
Only to land in the spot I had just vacated. I pounded on the brakes, throwing the car into gear and heading in the direction of my home. The dragon roared, bounding after me his large frame bouncing off parked cars left and right. His gaping maw reached for my car and a swipe of a fore claw took out my rear window!
Cranking the wheel, I turned sharply-
Too sharply for him to follow as he scrambled to stop before crashing into a telephone pole, tangling himself in the wires!
I breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly before me loomed.... an even larger dragon! I could see from the indentations on his snout that he was an apex predator, but he was giving the marines a hell of a time as their bullets ricocheted off his hide. I jumped out of the car, rolling to pick up a dropped firearm as the dragon continued his frenzy, blood flying everywhere!
A truck drove past me, its occupants heading on the only road out and I grabbed ahold of it as it drove by, swinging myself up into the bed, rifle tucked under one arm. As the truck sped on the dragon suddenly took to the air!
His powerful wings shooting him towards the truck so close I could see the unadulterated fury in its eyes. I carefully took aim and fired-
And hit it right in the eye. It crashed to the ground striking a car that immediately burst into flame.
It was finally over.
--------
If you liked this action packed story. You will like this book.
However if you found the obsessive use of exclamation points, ellipses and hyphens in order to build suspense rather than using good writing irritating, hopefully I saved you some time and a headache.
Although I started out liking this.
I was expecting the dragons to have been built in some laboratory somewhere, so I was surprised that there was a semi plausible reason why dragons are seen throughout history in different cultures, yet haven't been reported in hundreds of years. I am a sucker for books where the scientific "explanation" could make sense.
However, it started going downhill from there.
The main character is one you have probably seen before if you've read a book. The pretty girl with a solitary "unique" defining physical feature and who is smart and somehow the female Indiana Jones despite no evidence of any training of any kind. But she does have her flaws! Remember that one minuscule unique physical feature?? Awful. Her life is so difficult.
It doesn't matter that her character itself is thin as paper because this woman can balance on the back of a speeding garbage truck that is in a dragon's clutches.
Ouridiotbrave heroine is of course surrounded by a crowd of males and females who might as well have signs on their forehead as to whether or not they are going to survive to the end of the book because there really are no surprises here. Slight connection to heroine? Survive. First mention one paragraph ago? Sorry. You had a good run.
These secondary characters contribute very little to the story, following her around like a pack of lemmings as she comes up with all the world saving plans, until they are inevitably killed off.
The only upside: The cheesy action packed scenes that while physically improbable kept me snorting with laughter to the bitter end.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
In front of me was a large dragon, the size of a Greyhound bus, facing down a police officer with his service weapon drawn. The officer fired, and the dragon's obsidian eyes narrowed to slits. Suddenly the dragon lunged-
And the officer was torn in half, his weapon falling to the ground beside him as his intestines spilled across the pavement.
I threw the car into reverse and slammed on the pedal, as the dragons eyes turned to me, his wings outstretched as he took a flying leap...
Only to land in the spot I had just vacated. I pounded on the brakes, throwing the car into gear and heading in the direction of my home. The dragon roared, bounding after me his large frame bouncing off parked cars left and right. His gaping maw reached for my car and a swipe of a fore claw took out my rear window!
Cranking the wheel, I turned sharply-
Too sharply for him to follow as he scrambled to stop before crashing into a telephone pole, tangling himself in the wires!
I breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly before me loomed.... an even larger dragon! I could see from the indentations on his snout that he was an apex predator, but he was giving the marines a hell of a time as their bullets ricocheted off his hide. I jumped out of the car, rolling to pick up a dropped firearm as the dragon continued his frenzy, blood flying everywhere!
A truck drove past me, its occupants heading on the only road out and I grabbed ahold of it as it drove by, swinging myself up into the bed, rifle tucked under one arm. As the truck sped on the dragon suddenly took to the air!
His powerful wings shooting him towards the truck so close I could see the unadulterated fury in its eyes. I carefully took aim and fired-
And hit it right in the eye. It crashed to the ground striking a car that immediately burst into flame.
It was finally over.
--------
If you liked this action packed story. You will like this book.
However if you found the obsessive use of exclamation points, ellipses and hyphens in order to build suspense rather than using good writing irritating, hopefully I saved you some time and a headache.
Although I started out liking this.
I was expecting the dragons to have been built in some laboratory somewhere, so I was surprised that there was a semi plausible reason why dragons are seen throughout history in different cultures, yet haven't been reported in hundreds of years. I am a sucker for books where the scientific "explanation" could make sense.
However, it started going downhill from there.
The main character is one you have probably seen before if you've read a book. The pretty girl with a solitary "unique" defining physical feature and who is smart and somehow the female Indiana Jones despite no evidence of any training of any kind. But she does have her flaws! Remember that one minuscule unique physical feature?? Awful. Her life is so difficult.
It doesn't matter that her character itself is thin as paper because this woman can balance on the back of a speeding garbage truck that is in a dragon's clutches.
Our
These secondary characters contribute very little to the story, following her around like a pack of lemmings as she comes up with all the world saving plans, until they are inevitably killed off.
The only upside: The cheesy action packed scenes that while physically improbable kept me snorting with laughter to the bitter end.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
April 24, 2015
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
WARNING: IF YOU CONSIDER SOMETHING THAT IS DISCLOSED ON THE FIRST FREAKING PAGE OF A BOOK TO BE A “SPOILER” – YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST MOVE ON.
Seriously – first page:
“Here, there be dragons.”
but reviewers have been trolled for mentioning it??? That’s pure crazy right there. EDIT: I just noticed the new cover has a f*&^%$g DRAGON TAIL on it. Dear Trolls; Your argument is invalid. Alright. Now that that is out of the way, let’s get on with the review.
WELCOME TOJURASSIC PARK!!!!
Errrr, I mean THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA!!!
A zoo of epic proportions and filled with specimens we humans thought were only able to be conjured up by our imagination – or by George R. R. Martin . . .
After journalists like CJ Cameron and various other VIPs tell others about their tour, The Great Zoo will make Disneyland seem like a joke . . .
The Great Zoo of China received a mediocre response from most of my friends here on Goodreads. Leave it to me to be the oddball. What’s a girl to do? I don’t generally read reviews of books I plan on reading (especially ARCs), but I did skim several this time and noticed a running theme. I think my rating might be so high because from having seen their reactions I was already well aware that this would read more like a tribute piece to Michael Crichton – or a FanFic of Jurassic Park, if you will, and I was able to appreciate it for what it was. And holy shit did I appreciate it!
To begin with, the world (a/k/a zoo) that was built was beyond phenomenal. I never got bored reading about how this gargantuan project came to fruition. Although I’m always thankful for any reminders of this . . .
(YAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!! THAT’S ME!!!!!! I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!!!!)
there aren’t enough words in my vocabulary (shut up, Ron 2.0) to describe how thrilled I was that the hero in this story was of the sort who lacked a penis (Hulkboy, if you make a joke about Goldblum lacking a penis I will fly to your house and cut you). Said female hero participated in kicking 100% of all the ass and made sure she also took names.
Speaking of kicking ass - once the proverbial dragon shit hit the fan? This sucker was jam-packed with non-stop action. Sidenote: Did you know if something bites you in half the force is great enough to make your own intestines shoot out of your mouth? I didn’t either (and have no clue if it’s true), but I do know THAT. IT. IS. AWESOME. when it happens in a book. I can’t remember when I’ve read something with a body count this high. We’re talking hundreds of humans and dozens of dragons.WONDERFUL! I mean, sooooo so sad (not).
What can I say? If this is on your TBR know that it is very close to its original inspiration - and I mean VERY close . . .
So just have fun experiencing the magic you felt the first time you read/watched Jurassic Park all over again.
Also make sure to always be thankful for things like luck dragons . . .
and the fact that real-life dragons don’t know how to breathe fire . . .
. . . or do they?
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley! (and sorry it took me so long to read this one)
WARNING: IF YOU CONSIDER SOMETHING THAT IS DISCLOSED ON THE FIRST FREAKING PAGE OF A BOOK TO BE A “SPOILER” – YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST MOVE ON.
Seriously – first page:
“Here, there be dragons.”
but reviewers have been trolled for mentioning it??? That’s pure crazy right there. EDIT: I just noticed the new cover has a f*&^%$g DRAGON TAIL on it. Dear Trolls; Your argument is invalid. Alright. Now that that is out of the way, let’s get on with the review.
WELCOME TO
Errrr, I mean THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA!!!
A zoo of epic proportions and filled with specimens we humans thought were only able to be conjured up by our imagination – or by George R. R. Martin . . .
After journalists like CJ Cameron and various other VIPs tell others about their tour, The Great Zoo will make Disneyland seem like a joke . . .
The Great Zoo of China received a mediocre response from most of my friends here on Goodreads. Leave it to me to be the oddball. What’s a girl to do? I don’t generally read reviews of books I plan on reading (especially ARCs), but I did skim several this time and noticed a running theme. I think my rating might be so high because from having seen their reactions I was already well aware that this would read more like a tribute piece to Michael Crichton – or a FanFic of Jurassic Park, if you will, and I was able to appreciate it for what it was. And holy shit did I appreciate it!
To begin with, the world (a/k/a zoo) that was built was beyond phenomenal. I never got bored reading about how this gargantuan project came to fruition. Although I’m always thankful for any reminders of this . . .
(YAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!! THAT’S ME!!!!!! I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!!!!)
there aren’t enough words in my vocabulary (shut up, Ron 2.0) to describe how thrilled I was that the hero in this story was of the sort who lacked a penis (Hulkboy, if you make a joke about Goldblum lacking a penis I will fly to your house and cut you). Said female hero participated in kicking 100% of all the ass and made sure she also took names.
Speaking of kicking ass - once the proverbial dragon shit hit the fan? This sucker was jam-packed with non-stop action. Sidenote: Did you know if something bites you in half the force is great enough to make your own intestines shoot out of your mouth? I didn’t either (and have no clue if it’s true), but I do know THAT. IT. IS. AWESOME. when it happens in a book. I can’t remember when I’ve read something with a body count this high. We’re talking hundreds of humans and dozens of dragons.
What can I say? If this is on your TBR know that it is very close to its original inspiration - and I mean VERY close . . .
So just have fun experiencing the magic you felt the first time you read/watched Jurassic Park all over again.
Also make sure to always be thankful for things like luck dragons . . .
and the fact that real-life dragons don’t know how to breathe fire . . .
. . . or do they?
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley! (and sorry it took me so long to read this one)
September 23, 2017
I love adventure books and movies. I have no problem with over the top storylines and I can even take some flat characters. But even I have a limit and this book, well its story went over that limit. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, partly, the beginning was fast paced and everything and CJ the main character was OK. I liked the fact that she had scars on her face because perfect good-looking characters are irritating to read about. Her brother Hamish was also OK. But you could fairly easily figure out who would live to see the end of this story and who would not; there was no surprise death, there were no feelings of "oh no they killed off him/her and now I'm sad".
Matthew Reilly really tried his best to write the deaths quite gruesome, but since no character that died really was someone that one cared about was it just "another bloody death". I mean I found the death of getting your lungs sucked out of you by a bomb more awful than being bitten to death by a dragon.
Two things really bothered me, the nice dragon and the fact that there was a child in the story. I knew that the nice dragon would come in handy later on the story (it was) and that the child would need to be rescued (yes that happened). So the bloody storyline was so frustrating predictable that the story lost all excitement.
Still, I liked the beginning. I would read more books by Matthew Reilly. But I was disappointed by this one for I was really looking forward to reading The Great Zoo of China.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
Matthew Reilly really tried his best to write the deaths quite gruesome, but since no character that died really was someone that one cared about was it just "another bloody death". I mean I found the death of getting your lungs sucked out of you by a bomb more awful than being bitten to death by a dragon.
Two things really bothered me, the nice dragon and the fact that there was a child in the story. I knew that the nice dragon would come in handy later on the story (it was) and that the child would need to be rescued (yes that happened). So the bloody storyline was so frustrating predictable that the story lost all excitement.
Still, I liked the beginning. I would read more books by Matthew Reilly. But I was disappointed by this one for I was really looking forward to reading The Great Zoo of China.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
June 30, 2021
Hamish shrugged. “It’s all pretty cool and impressive . . . if you never saw f*cking Jurassic Park. Did you see the fangs on those things? How do we know they’re not gonna go all medieval on our asses and start munchin’ on the juicy little humans?”There’s an interview with the author, Matthew Reilly, at the end of The Great Zoo of China, where he says that Jurassic Park is his favorite novel of all time. He continues:
I was very aware that my story of a dragon zoo would inevitably draw comparisons with the dinosaur theme park of Jurassic Park. So I endeavored from the outset to make The Great Zoo of China as different from Jurassic Park as I could.In some ways, Mr. Reilly attempted an impossible task. A small group of people tours a secret zoo filled with extraordinary, giant creatures just before the zoo is being announced to the world, and then must fight for their lives when the creatures break their containment. Of course everyone will compare this book to Jurassic Park—because at its most basic level the plot here is Jurassic Park but with dragons. There are some plot differences to be sure. For example, having the Chinese government build this zoo, as opposed to a decent if misguided billionaire, allowed for far more sinister attempts to maintain control in the face of the animal uprising.
The main differences between the two books are really intention and tone. Jurassic Park is an elegant, scientifically believable novel that also has a number of action sequences. The cloning, the way the dinosaurs get escape, the different things the dinosaurs can do, are all based upon the then-best available understanding of those dinosaurs and chaos theory. The humans are believable characters with reasonable skill sets, and the raptors are just smart enough to figure out how to open door knobs. The Great Zoo of China, on the other hand, is a pure action novel with just enough science to justify the next scene or twist. The heroine, CJ Cameron, is a herpetologist who’s somehow a combination of John Maclane from Die Hard and Ellen Ripley from Aliens, indestructible and shockingly knowledgeable about everything from military weapons to electrical cable. And the dragons are unbelievably smart—as in, not believable—able to figure out and execute stunning plans to neutralize ultrasonic technology and bring down electromagnetic domes.
But you know what? Armageddon isn’t The Godfather, but I still love every ridiculous second of it. Likewise, The Great Zoo of China may be absurd and silly and over-the-top, but that doesn’t stop it from being pretty entertaining. A guilty pleasure.
July 11, 2016
You can also find this on my blog: https://killerscorpion.wordpress.com/...
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an arc
The Great Zoo of China tried its best to present something extraordinary, but ended up tackling a used plot and modifying it. I would be lying if I say that I don't see any comparison with Jurassic Park, because this was Jurassic Park with Dragons instead of dinosaurs. Nope, Mr. Reilly, simply changing the country, animal, and purpose doesn't make this something new. It was quite good though, but it felt like a reread of JP.
The biggest pro of this novel would be the different types of dragons presented, and the amount of violence. Both made the novel at least a bit more interesting. I was struggling to finish this when I was stuck in the middle part, but it got a bit better along the way. The ending was a bit predictable, but not that bad at the same time. This novel being a standalone, the author gave it a proper ending.
Another somewhat good thing would be the diverse setting. The author is Australian yet he decided to choose China as the setting. I believe it's not easy using another country with different cultures and trying not make them sound so stereotypical.
3/5 stars. Clearly not one of the best novels I've read, but it was short and easy to read once the action started. This novel would be better read by people who haven't read Jurassic Park. Believe me, nothing compares to Jurassic Park.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an arc
The Great Zoo of China tried its best to present something extraordinary, but ended up tackling a used plot and modifying it. I would be lying if I say that I don't see any comparison with Jurassic Park, because this was Jurassic Park with Dragons instead of dinosaurs. Nope, Mr. Reilly, simply changing the country, animal, and purpose doesn't make this something new. It was quite good though, but it felt like a reread of JP.
The biggest pro of this novel would be the different types of dragons presented, and the amount of violence. Both made the novel at least a bit more interesting. I was struggling to finish this when I was stuck in the middle part, but it got a bit better along the way. The ending was a bit predictable, but not that bad at the same time. This novel being a standalone, the author gave it a proper ending.
Another somewhat good thing would be the diverse setting. The author is Australian yet he decided to choose China as the setting. I believe it's not easy using another country with different cultures and trying not make them sound so stereotypical.
3/5 stars. Clearly not one of the best novels I've read, but it was short and easy to read once the action started. This novel would be better read by people who haven't read Jurassic Park. Believe me, nothing compares to Jurassic Park.
January 31, 2023
China wanted a symbol to represent their power for the whole world to see. Now they have it. They invite some journalists and important people to the unveiling of the most jaw-dropping zoo ever created.
CJ Cameron is one of those invited. She’s a reptile expert and she’s happy to write a piece about this mysterious unveiling of a new zoo. She brings her brother along with her, as her photographer. But what she finds there, will blow her mind. And will have her fighting for her life.
In that zoo are the most dangerous predators to have ever roamed this planet: living, breathing massive dragons. The zoo uses incredible technology to keep the guests and the staff safe. But nature is constantly changing, evolving. And the humans quickly realize they went too far in trying to create the perfect killing machine.
Plot-wise, this book is very inspired by Jurassic Park. There are quite a few references to Jurassic Park. It prominently features the same kind of epic moments of awe and amazement. It showcases an abundance of the same kind of thrilling action scenes full of suspense. And it even deals with the same themes. It’s a story about power, technology and man trying to conquer nature. It’s like a love letter or a tribute to the original global phenomenon. It’s also done very much in Matthew Reilly’s trademark style. As soon as the action starts, it doesn’t stop. The story moves at a ridiculously fast pace. And the action scenes are just epic and brutal to say the least.
One thing needs to be said though: Matthew Reilly does not let realism get in the way of a good story or a cool action scene. You really shouldn’t look too critically at the science part. Matthew Reilly definitely did his research and he’s definitely inspired by science, but then his imagination and creativity firmly took over. Basically, realism pretty much gets thrown out of the window in this one.
This reads like a fun, over the top and action-packed tribute to Jurassic Park, but with dragons instead of dinosaurs. If you like Jurassic Park, either the first movie or the book, give this story a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
CJ Cameron is one of those invited. She’s a reptile expert and she’s happy to write a piece about this mysterious unveiling of a new zoo. She brings her brother along with her, as her photographer. But what she finds there, will blow her mind. And will have her fighting for her life.
In that zoo are the most dangerous predators to have ever roamed this planet: living, breathing massive dragons. The zoo uses incredible technology to keep the guests and the staff safe. But nature is constantly changing, evolving. And the humans quickly realize they went too far in trying to create the perfect killing machine.
Plot-wise, this book is very inspired by Jurassic Park. There are quite a few references to Jurassic Park. It prominently features the same kind of epic moments of awe and amazement. It showcases an abundance of the same kind of thrilling action scenes full of suspense. And it even deals with the same themes. It’s a story about power, technology and man trying to conquer nature. It’s like a love letter or a tribute to the original global phenomenon. It’s also done very much in Matthew Reilly’s trademark style. As soon as the action starts, it doesn’t stop. The story moves at a ridiculously fast pace. And the action scenes are just epic and brutal to say the least.
One thing needs to be said though: Matthew Reilly does not let realism get in the way of a good story or a cool action scene. You really shouldn’t look too critically at the science part. Matthew Reilly definitely did his research and he’s definitely inspired by science, but then his imagination and creativity firmly took over. Basically, realism pretty much gets thrown out of the window in this one.
This reads like a fun, over the top and action-packed tribute to Jurassic Park, but with dragons instead of dinosaurs. If you like Jurassic Park, either the first movie or the book, give this story a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
January 10, 2015
Posted to The Literary Lawyer.ca
A Big, Bad and Bloody Good Time - 4 Stars
Most every Matthew Reilly novel has several things in common. Firstly, there are many characters but few are developed. Secondly, most of those characters will die in some bloody or spectacular manner. The first follows the second as there is too much dying to be done to overdevelop any one character. If this has your attention than you might be a Matthew Reilly fan. The Great Zoo of China is Reilly's second recent work that strays from his two ongoing series. Well, technically, there was Troll Mountain but I was so thoroughly unimpressed, I pretend it doesn't exist. While The Great Zoo of China has standard Reilly action, blood and destruction it is packaged differently from his other work.
Plot Summary
China invites a contingent of VIP's from the United States as a well as contingent of journalists to document what they have called The Great Zoo of China. Among them is C.J. Cameron, the foremost expert in reptiles and specifically Crocodiles. Upon arrival at the zoo's secluded location, the party is faced with a facility that dwarfs any zoo or amusement park in the world. The real surprise is that the zoo only features Dragons which the Chinese has rediscovered many years previous and had successfully hidden from the world. In Matthew Reilly style, the blood soon hits the fan as the Chinese are not as in control as they had believed.
Bloody, Bloody, Bloody
This book was freakin ridiculous AND freakin awesome! Think Jurassic Park meets How to Train Your Dragon. The author was attempting to create a wild scenario that could be plausible. I'm not sure he was successful in that regard but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the ride. Reilly has never been afraid to kill off a character or two.... or pretty much all of them. This is no exception. What is surprising is that he manages to make more it bloody than all of his other novels. This will be a major turn off for some readers. There is death on most every other page and the deaths come in various creative and gruesome manners.
The book moves at a breakneck speed and the last 3/4 of the book is essentially a very long chase scene. This is exactly what I am looking for in my Action Adventure novels. I most certainly am willing to suspend disbelief for a genre that is the Die Hard of the literary world. I did not have a chance to feel any boredom in the book as I spent most of the time trying to catch my breath.
I will say that I was a bit surprised in that Reilly DID spend some time on character development. The character of C.J. and later a friend who shall remain unnamed, were quite well developed. The unnamed friend was a very interesting inclusion, and while ridiculous it proved entertaining.
Since we are on the Ridiculous
If you have read any of Reilly's Jack West Jr. novels, you will know that he is no stranger to the absurd. The book was filled with things that stretch the imagination and occasionally proved to be silly. Overall, this minimally impacted on my enjoyment of the novel. That said, Reilly does not always pay attention to the small details and seemingly hopes the reader fails to notice an inconsistency or ill fitting logic. There were quite a few through out the novel but one such inconstancy made me take notice. For your information, you CANNOT leave a puddle of liquid propane as a trap to be ignited. The boiling point of propane is -42.1 degrees Celsius. This means that it is only possible for propane to be in liquid form under much pressure. Liquid propane exposed to the air instantly boils and will likely cause you frostbite. Maybe the average reader won't notice something like this. It just so happens that I had a propane licence for many years. My point is that attention to ALL the details is what sets good writers apart from great writers.
Final Thoughts
This is literary junk food. No doubt about it but man shall not live by bread alone. If you are in the mood for a candy bar in book form, this is a great choice. It is bloody, messy and absurd as well as fast paced, exciting and entertaining. A can't miss combination in my opinion.
CONTENT ADVISORIES
Sex - 1
The closest this book gets to sex is a brief peck on the cheek. This book falls into the category of "No time for sex when the world is going to hell in a hand-basket".
Language
Mild Obscenities - 44 F-Words - 40 Religious Exclamations - 10
Violence - 5
I have to give this a 5. It probably ranks as the bloodiest novel I have ever read. Granted, not all the blood is from the human species but there is enough blood to fill a small lake. The deaths tend to be quick but are often quite graphic. Its as if you passed a bloody car wreck at 120 km per hour (75 miles per hour for my American Friends) on the highway. You can tell it was gross but you were moving so fast it was hard to get the detail.
A Big, Bad and Bloody Good Time - 4 Stars
Most every Matthew Reilly novel has several things in common. Firstly, there are many characters but few are developed. Secondly, most of those characters will die in some bloody or spectacular manner. The first follows the second as there is too much dying to be done to overdevelop any one character. If this has your attention than you might be a Matthew Reilly fan. The Great Zoo of China is Reilly's second recent work that strays from his two ongoing series. Well, technically, there was Troll Mountain but I was so thoroughly unimpressed, I pretend it doesn't exist. While The Great Zoo of China has standard Reilly action, blood and destruction it is packaged differently from his other work.
Plot Summary
China invites a contingent of VIP's from the United States as a well as contingent of journalists to document what they have called The Great Zoo of China. Among them is C.J. Cameron, the foremost expert in reptiles and specifically Crocodiles. Upon arrival at the zoo's secluded location, the party is faced with a facility that dwarfs any zoo or amusement park in the world. The real surprise is that the zoo only features Dragons which the Chinese has rediscovered many years previous and had successfully hidden from the world. In Matthew Reilly style, the blood soon hits the fan as the Chinese are not as in control as they had believed.
Bloody, Bloody, Bloody
This book was freakin ridiculous AND freakin awesome! Think Jurassic Park meets How to Train Your Dragon. The author was attempting to create a wild scenario that could be plausible. I'm not sure he was successful in that regard but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the ride. Reilly has never been afraid to kill off a character or two.... or pretty much all of them. This is no exception. What is surprising is that he manages to make more it bloody than all of his other novels. This will be a major turn off for some readers. There is death on most every other page and the deaths come in various creative and gruesome manners.
The book moves at a breakneck speed and the last 3/4 of the book is essentially a very long chase scene. This is exactly what I am looking for in my Action Adventure novels. I most certainly am willing to suspend disbelief for a genre that is the Die Hard of the literary world. I did not have a chance to feel any boredom in the book as I spent most of the time trying to catch my breath.
I will say that I was a bit surprised in that Reilly DID spend some time on character development. The character of C.J. and later a friend who shall remain unnamed, were quite well developed. The unnamed friend was a very interesting inclusion, and while ridiculous it proved entertaining.
Since we are on the Ridiculous
If you have read any of Reilly's Jack West Jr. novels, you will know that he is no stranger to the absurd. The book was filled with things that stretch the imagination and occasionally proved to be silly. Overall, this minimally impacted on my enjoyment of the novel. That said, Reilly does not always pay attention to the small details and seemingly hopes the reader fails to notice an inconsistency or ill fitting logic. There were quite a few through out the novel but one such inconstancy made me take notice. For your information, you CANNOT leave a puddle of liquid propane as a trap to be ignited. The boiling point of propane is -42.1 degrees Celsius. This means that it is only possible for propane to be in liquid form under much pressure. Liquid propane exposed to the air instantly boils and will likely cause you frostbite. Maybe the average reader won't notice something like this. It just so happens that I had a propane licence for many years. My point is that attention to ALL the details is what sets good writers apart from great writers.
Final Thoughts
This is literary junk food. No doubt about it but man shall not live by bread alone. If you are in the mood for a candy bar in book form, this is a great choice. It is bloody, messy and absurd as well as fast paced, exciting and entertaining. A can't miss combination in my opinion.
CONTENT ADVISORIES
Sex - 1
The closest this book gets to sex is a brief peck on the cheek. This book falls into the category of "No time for sex when the world is going to hell in a hand-basket".
Language
Mild Obscenities - 44 F-Words - 40 Religious Exclamations - 10
Violence - 5
I have to give this a 5. It probably ranks as the bloodiest novel I have ever read. Granted, not all the blood is from the human species but there is enough blood to fill a small lake. The deaths tend to be quick but are often quite graphic. Its as if you passed a bloody car wreck at 120 km per hour (75 miles per hour for my American Friends) on the highway. You can tell it was gross but you were moving so fast it was hard to get the detail.
October 6, 2020
In "The Great Zoo of China" you can expect an exciting adventure like Jurassic Park with dragons! The only fantasy thing in this story are the dragons so don't expect any kind of magic. BUT it was great! (Take that "A Natural History of Dragons"!)
This book reads like a movie where no boredom can arise. Our protagonist Cassandra Jane (C.J.) is a veterinarian and has specialized her research on reptiles such as crocodiles. One day she gets a request to write an article for National Geographic about a new zoo in China. For this she is flown in with a few other people, including her brother as photographer. At this point she has no idea that her life will be in danger in less than a day, because as everyone can imagine, the dragons are more intelligent than they thought (surprise).
I didn't expect that but the author actually gives us a yellow, friendly dragon called Lucky, who doesn't want to kill people. I'm a sucker for all animal companions, so it wasn't much different here, even if she only plays a bigger role in the last third of the story. As soon as there are animal companions in books, movies or TV series I always assume that they will end up dead. Simply because it is always so dramatic and you can break people's hearts easily. Most of the time the animals sacrifice themselves for their caregiver and you want to throw something against the wall. I am very grateful that the author didn't go the typical way but found a good ending for Lucky.
The only "unrealistic" thing is (if you can talk about that in the fantasy genre) that C.J. survives too many attacks. You would think that in a zoo full of highly intelligent dragons they would have to succeed in killing her, because believe me, they tried for 250 pages. However, our protagonist suddenly seems to be a survival expert and is pretty much the only character who can use her brain in dangerous situations.
This book reads like a movie where no boredom can arise. Our protagonist Cassandra Jane (C.J.) is a veterinarian and has specialized her research on reptiles such as crocodiles. One day she gets a request to write an article for National Geographic about a new zoo in China. For this she is flown in with a few other people, including her brother as photographer. At this point she has no idea that her life will be in danger in less than a day, because as everyone can imagine, the dragons are more intelligent than they thought (surprise).
“Holy shit, she thought. The dragons are throwing cars at me!”
I didn't expect that but the author actually gives us a yellow, friendly dragon called Lucky, who doesn't want to kill people. I'm a sucker for all animal companions, so it wasn't much different here, even if she only plays a bigger role in the last third of the story. As soon as there are animal companions in books, movies or TV series I always assume that they will end up dead. Simply because it is always so dramatic and you can break people's hearts easily. Most of the time the animals sacrifice themselves for their caregiver and you want to throw something against the wall. I am very grateful that the author didn't go the typical way but found a good ending for Lucky.
“Are you a doctor?” Li said.
“I’m better than that. I’m a vet. Vets do everything: brain surgery, heart surgery, lab analysis, dislocations”
The only "unrealistic" thing is (if you can talk about that in the fantasy genre) that C.J. survives too many attacks. You would think that in a zoo full of highly intelligent dragons they would have to succeed in killing her, because believe me, they tried for 250 pages. However, our protagonist suddenly seems to be a survival expert and is pretty much the only character who can use her brain in dangerous situations.
“If dragons were real, then in all likelihood they were not graceful, high-chested, noble creatures; rather they would have been dirty, ugly, reptilian and mean.”
January 12, 2015
I found myself on New Year's Day with the same old conundrum that plagues a person who owns one too many books - what should I start the year off with? Christmas netted me even more books so faced with options such as Steven Erikson's Star Trek parody, Willful Child, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven or even Brom's Yuletide tale, Krampus I went and chose something different instead by an author I had heard about but never sampled before - Matthew Reilly's The Great Zoo of China.
In the modern era, China has become a global heavyweight; a country that can build new cities every year, an economy that grows at rates the West can only dream of and has a limitless supply of cheap labour to achieve its goals. Culturally though, China lags behind other countries such as the US and has nothing truly its own – what can you name that China is famous for other than cute and cuddly Pandas and the Great Wall? China is missing its Disneyland so this is where the Great Zoo comes into play. Kept secret for over 40 years, the Chinese are now ready to show off their greatest cultural attraction to the world (populated by a most unique species of reptile) and in order to do so what better way than to invite a few international guests (eg. the Americans) from such well-esteemed publications National Geographic and The New York Times?
Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Great Dragon Zoo of China, where nothing can possib-lie go wrong. Uh, possibLY go wrong. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong...
Right from the start you can see the parallels with Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and an interview with Matthew Reilly at the back of the novel all but confirms that The Great Zoo of China is essentially a homage to that book as A) it’s his favourite novel of all time and B) inspired him to become a novelist in the first place.
Now I have never read Jurassic Park before (I had a run in with Michael Crichton’s Next which left me so pi$$ed off that I’ve never gone back to him since) but I have seen the movie so I knew that this book had a lot to live up to. So while the book started off ok and my mind’s eye was channelling an expensive Hollywood blockbuster flick, those images unfortunately started to be replaced by some low budget, cheap Jurassic Park knock-off that you'd find on the SyFy channel. And if you’ve ever seen one of those movies you’ll know that is not something you want to be compared to...
Words fail me. I don’t know where to start. Let’s start with characters and maybe a quick food analogy. How do you like your pizza crusts? A) Deep pan, B) Stuffed crust, or C) Thin and crispy? If you answered C, then you’re in luck as the cast of characters in this book are wafer thin.
There’s our main protagonist, CJ Cameron, ‘once’ a renowned Herpetologist (an expert on reptiles) who has suffered a ‘life-shattering-incident’ and who now works as a simple vet at the San Francisco zoo. Her brother, Hamish, a warzone photographer who has seen it all and loves to crack lame jokes with his sister. Greg Johnson, an aide to the US Ambassador who just blends into the background, but is ‘more than he seems’. Aaron Perry, the ‘twitter’ guy (using twitter was enough for me to want him to meet a sticky ending but the fact that he’s an obnoxious dick as well and that urge just doubled.) Throw in an obviously morally corrupt scientist, a few psychopathic Chinese politicians and a squillion soldiers (basically a bunch of Red Shirts, pardon the pun and just plain fodder for the wee little beasties) and there’s your cast. And did I give one hoot for any of them? God, no! In fact, it was roughly around the 25% mark that I gave up on all the humans and was rooting for the Dragons to win the day ;)
In Matthew’s own words, he loves ‘big-scale action’ and really I’m down for that. I know that with big action comes an even bigger suspension of disbelief and with most books this is often stretched to its absolute limits with the bungee cord fraying at its edges. This book on the other hand snaps that cord entirely and launches you off into the realms of MacGyver-ness stupidity. Some of the actions scenes were so incredulous that they had me rolling my eyes, snorting my coffee through my nose and giggling like a lunatic while reading out in public all at the same time. And all of them involved our hero CJ Cameron (I pictured Téa Leoni in the lead role in keeping with my "made for SyFy" analogy earlier - an actress that I cannot stand!!). I’ll spoiler protect the next section but since I have taken a bullet for my Goodreads friends by reading this book, I expect you all to take a look. I still can’t decide which of the below is the most far fetched...
Needless to say the ending of this novel was telegraphed a mile off with her ‘shaved knuckle in the hole’ showing up at the last moment to save the day. By this point I couldn’t give a toss what eventually happened but I didn’t get my wish of all the humans dying horrible nasty deaths and CJ getting that smug look torn right from her face. Guess we can’t have everything we hope for...
So, overall this book was a mess. It’s definitely a page turner and I did find myself wanting to know what happened next but that was more some kind of perverse pleasure in seeing just how far-fetched the book could become rather than being even remotely good. A little bit like eating popcorn. You keep on eating handful after handful knowing that you are going to feel rather shit at the end.
Again, I’m not sure how this rates with other books in the Matthew Reilly pantheon but after reading this book I have zero inclination to find out. Matthew Reilly, consider yourself black listed...
1 star...
PS: I did mention that I took a bullet for the team so you don't have to read this abomination but maybe in fact I would like some other poor sucker to give it a go and tell me if I've been too harsh on Monsieur Reilly...
In the modern era, China has become a global heavyweight; a country that can build new cities every year, an economy that grows at rates the West can only dream of and has a limitless supply of cheap labour to achieve its goals. Culturally though, China lags behind other countries such as the US and has nothing truly its own – what can you name that China is famous for other than cute and cuddly Pandas and the Great Wall? China is missing its Disneyland so this is where the Great Zoo comes into play. Kept secret for over 40 years, the Chinese are now ready to show off their greatest cultural attraction to the world (populated by a most unique species of reptile) and in order to do so what better way than to invite a few international guests (eg. the Americans) from such well-esteemed publications National Geographic and The New York Times?
Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Great Dragon Zoo of China, where nothing can possib-lie go wrong. Uh, possibLY go wrong. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong...
Right from the start you can see the parallels with Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and an interview with Matthew Reilly at the back of the novel all but confirms that The Great Zoo of China is essentially a homage to that book as A) it’s his favourite novel of all time and B) inspired him to become a novelist in the first place.
Now I have never read Jurassic Park before (I had a run in with Michael Crichton’s Next which left me so pi$$ed off that I’ve never gone back to him since) but I have seen the movie so I knew that this book had a lot to live up to. So while the book started off ok and my mind’s eye was channelling an expensive Hollywood blockbuster flick, those images unfortunately started to be replaced by some low budget, cheap Jurassic Park knock-off that you'd find on the SyFy channel. And if you’ve ever seen one of those movies you’ll know that is not something you want to be compared to...
Words fail me. I don’t know where to start. Let’s start with characters and maybe a quick food analogy. How do you like your pizza crusts? A) Deep pan, B) Stuffed crust, or C) Thin and crispy? If you answered C, then you’re in luck as the cast of characters in this book are wafer thin.
There’s our main protagonist, CJ Cameron, ‘once’ a renowned Herpetologist (an expert on reptiles) who has suffered a ‘life-shattering-incident’ and who now works as a simple vet at the San Francisco zoo. Her brother, Hamish, a warzone photographer who has seen it all and loves to crack lame jokes with his sister. Greg Johnson, an aide to the US Ambassador who just blends into the background, but is ‘more than he seems’. Aaron Perry, the ‘twitter’ guy (using twitter was enough for me to want him to meet a sticky ending but the fact that he’s an obnoxious dick as well and that urge just doubled.) Throw in an obviously morally corrupt scientist, a few psychopathic Chinese politicians and a squillion soldiers (basically a bunch of Red Shirts, pardon the pun and just plain fodder for the wee little beasties) and there’s your cast. And did I give one hoot for any of them? God, no! In fact, it was roughly around the 25% mark that I gave up on all the humans and was rooting for the Dragons to win the day ;)
In Matthew’s own words, he loves ‘big-scale action’ and really I’m down for that. I know that with big action comes an even bigger suspension of disbelief and with most books this is often stretched to its absolute limits with the bungee cord fraying at its edges. This book on the other hand snaps that cord entirely and launches you off into the realms of MacGyver-ness stupidity. Some of the actions scenes were so incredulous that they had me rolling my eyes, snorting my coffee through my nose and giggling like a lunatic while reading out in public all at the same time. And all of them involved our hero CJ Cameron (I pictured Téa Leoni in the lead role in keeping with my "made for SyFy" analogy earlier - an actress that I cannot stand!!). I’ll spoiler protect the next section but since I have taken a bullet for my Goodreads friends by reading this book, I expect you all to take a look. I still can’t decide which of the below is the most far fetched...
Needless to say the ending of this novel was telegraphed a mile off with her ‘shaved knuckle in the hole’ showing up at the last moment to save the day. By this point I couldn’t give a toss what eventually happened but I didn’t get my wish of all the humans dying horrible nasty deaths and CJ getting that smug look torn right from her face. Guess we can’t have everything we hope for...
So, overall this book was a mess. It’s definitely a page turner and I did find myself wanting to know what happened next but that was more some kind of perverse pleasure in seeing just how far-fetched the book could become rather than being even remotely good. A little bit like eating popcorn. You keep on eating handful after handful knowing that you are going to feel rather shit at the end.
Again, I’m not sure how this rates with other books in the Matthew Reilly pantheon but after reading this book I have zero inclination to find out. Matthew Reilly, consider yourself black listed...
1 star...
PS: I did mention that I took a bullet for the team so you don't have to read this abomination but maybe in fact I would like some other poor sucker to give it a go and tell me if I've been too harsh on Monsieur Reilly...
August 17, 2021
Just as I was hoping, a typical feverishly fast-paced nonstop action-packed Matthew Reilly-read that I had been glued to the book from the first page to the last. After the first hundred pages where all the key players of the story were established as well as the astonishing settings of the Great Zoo, the action started literally with a bang and from then on its one big 'OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!' action sequences after another. And Reilly cleverly continued all the story developments and turns of the plot on the run, like he always do.
Also as per most of the Reilly novels, it is short on proper character developments and depths aside for the two or three central characters of the story, but no shortage on countless close calls, convenience and coincidences (not to mention exclamation marks!). It is also probably one of the MOST violent and bloody books I've ever read, worthless/nameless side-characters were dying left-right and gallons of blood were spilling all over the place! But that's okay, because all of these were happening so fast & furiously that to the reader it felt like whooshing past a gruesome accident hundred miles an hour, you know there's death and carnage but it doesn't leave much affect on you. And that brings up one of my major problems with the book: Even if there are hundreds of deaths, there's not much unpredictability in all that, we could guess who's going to make it out alive, and in the end they did. With all the inevitable comparisons going on with the classic Jurassic Park (Reilly himself referenced it in the story), I have to say, in that book Michael Crichton (and later Spielberg in his legendary movie) created an impending sense of doom perfectly... but here other than some sort of dreaded feelings in the beginning, when the carnage starts, Reilly replaced that chilling quiet dread with one preposterous loud action spectacle after other. Which was all eye candy fun, of course, just didn't tickle the realistic sense of danger bone in me.
But enough of all that nitpicking, The Great Zoo of China is first and foremost a very entertaining fun read, and a blisteringly fast at that! One of the strong points of the story is Reilly tried to create a wildly fantastical situation that could be plausible in real world scenario, and on that regard he was more or less successful in my opinion. He clearly thought these through as most of all the explanations and scientific jargon he threw at us sounded logical, at least to a layman like me. I really appreciated the detailed character development the writer did to couple of the animals which made them far more interesting and evolving than many of the human characters of the book. Another aspect of the book that I like is the human factor used throughout the story, as men think of themselves as the ultimate controller of the world and so much above every other animals in nature that they won't even consider the bare possibilities... these humans were acting without any humanity, handling the animals with utter contempt, breeding-caging-training-using pain-messing with forces beyond their comprehension and whenever anything or anyone gets in their way, they just "solve" it by eliminating them. The whole idea of the zoo is portrayed here as over commercialized, dirty and downright unethical; The idea that humans could cage and train these mythical astonishing creatures for a Disneyland-ish "fun for all family" kind of commercial trip is unthinkably absurd, ridiculous and appalling, and Reilly rightly described the story with that undertone. So much so that when the destruction begins, you almost root for these monstrous majestic beasts to show the obnoxious puny humans their real place in the nature!
One vital point I forgot to mention is that for the first time a female character is the central action heroine in Reilly's novel, and that worked greatly here. The character of CJ Cameron was well detailed with proper depth, development and humanization which was a bit surprising for Matthew Reilly I should add :P Although in the middle of the story she almost turned into an indestructible superhero of sort, in spite of all the unbelievable daring do's, there's still a kind, compassionate heart in her which made me really like CJ as a kind of female-Scarecrow. Here's hoping to see her in future Reilly novels (May be in the future Scarecrow book, as Schofield's partner? One can only dream!)
All in all, I always read a Matthew Reilly novel for its nonstop breakneck fast awesome action and suspense, and in that regard the book definitely didn't disappoint me. The idiom "edge of seat read" might as well be invented for his works because literally most of the time I couldn't even relaxed a bit, the pages almost fly by themselves! This is exactly what I look for in my Action Adventure novels, an acceptable amount of suspension of disbelief with a whole lot of childlike jawdropping wonder and enjoyment in breathless thrillride. The novel is pure fun summer-blockbuster popcorn excitement and entertainment, just what I need from Matthew Reilly. BIG, BOMBASTIC, BLOODY GOOD TIME.
Also as per most of the Reilly novels, it is short on proper character developments and depths aside for the two or three central characters of the story, but no shortage on countless close calls, convenience and coincidences (not to mention exclamation marks!). It is also probably one of the MOST violent and bloody books I've ever read, worthless/nameless side-characters were dying left-right and gallons of blood were spilling all over the place! But that's okay, because all of these were happening so fast & furiously that to the reader it felt like whooshing past a gruesome accident hundred miles an hour, you know there's death and carnage but it doesn't leave much affect on you. And that brings up one of my major problems with the book: Even if there are hundreds of deaths, there's not much unpredictability in all that, we could guess who's going to make it out alive, and in the end they did. With all the inevitable comparisons going on with the classic Jurassic Park (Reilly himself referenced it in the story), I have to say, in that book Michael Crichton (and later Spielberg in his legendary movie) created an impending sense of doom perfectly... but here other than some sort of dreaded feelings in the beginning, when the carnage starts, Reilly replaced that chilling quiet dread with one preposterous loud action spectacle after other. Which was all eye candy fun, of course, just didn't tickle the realistic sense of danger bone in me.
But enough of all that nitpicking, The Great Zoo of China is first and foremost a very entertaining fun read, and a blisteringly fast at that! One of the strong points of the story is Reilly tried to create a wildly fantastical situation that could be plausible in real world scenario, and on that regard he was more or less successful in my opinion. He clearly thought these through as most of all the explanations and scientific jargon he threw at us sounded logical, at least to a layman like me. I really appreciated the detailed character development the writer did to couple of the animals which made them far more interesting and evolving than many of the human characters of the book. Another aspect of the book that I like is the human factor used throughout the story, as men think of themselves as the ultimate controller of the world and so much above every other animals in nature that they won't even consider the bare possibilities... these humans were acting without any humanity, handling the animals with utter contempt, breeding-caging-training-using pain-messing with forces beyond their comprehension and whenever anything or anyone gets in their way, they just "solve" it by eliminating them. The whole idea of the zoo is portrayed here as over commercialized, dirty and downright unethical; The idea that humans could cage and train these mythical astonishing creatures for a Disneyland-ish "fun for all family" kind of commercial trip is unthinkably absurd, ridiculous and appalling, and Reilly rightly described the story with that undertone. So much so that when the destruction begins, you almost root for these monstrous majestic beasts to show the obnoxious puny humans their real place in the nature!
One vital point I forgot to mention is that for the first time a female character is the central action heroine in Reilly's novel, and that worked greatly here. The character of CJ Cameron was well detailed with proper depth, development and humanization which was a bit surprising for Matthew Reilly I should add :P Although in the middle of the story she almost turned into an indestructible superhero of sort, in spite of all the unbelievable daring do's, there's still a kind, compassionate heart in her which made me really like CJ as a kind of female-Scarecrow. Here's hoping to see her in future Reilly novels (May be in the future Scarecrow book, as Schofield's partner? One can only dream!)
All in all, I always read a Matthew Reilly novel for its nonstop breakneck fast awesome action and suspense, and in that regard the book definitely didn't disappoint me. The idiom "edge of seat read" might as well be invented for his works because literally most of the time I couldn't even relaxed a bit, the pages almost fly by themselves! This is exactly what I look for in my Action Adventure novels, an acceptable amount of suspension of disbelief with a whole lot of childlike jawdropping wonder and enjoyment in breathless thrillride. The novel is pure fun summer-blockbuster popcorn excitement and entertainment, just what I need from Matthew Reilly. BIG, BOMBASTIC, BLOODY GOOD TIME.
February 7, 2021
Utter perfection.
Imagine Jurrasic Park with dinosaurs/dragons who are all smarter than Velociraptors and have a serious axe to grind.
The whole book is trash and I loved every second.
Imagine Jurrasic Park with dinosaurs/dragons who are all smarter than Velociraptors and have a serious axe to grind.
The whole book is trash and I loved every second.
March 18, 2019
A little different than Reilly's other books in that this one takes a hundred or so pages to really get going. Most of his books start the crazy action within the first chapter. This book has a full on Michael Crichton vibe and is going to definitely draw comparisons to Jurassic Park. That being said, it's still a great book in its own right. I like how he ties dragons into real history and how the dragons have different clans.
January 8, 2015
Matthew Reilly knows how to make BIG thrillers! I commented once that this novel was like Jurassic Park on steroids, but I have to take that back now. THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA is an altogether different story, that, in my humble opinion, is just as good all on its own merits.
CJ Cameron and her brother, Hamish, are invited among a select group of influential media people to view China's deep-secreted new zoo. The Chinese hope to usurp America's Disneyland with this new attraction of theirs, and the denizens of this particular zoo are just the type to be able to pull that off....
Of course, things do not go as smoothly as planned, and as the Chinese Colonel Bao and Hu Tang rush about in an attempt to restore order, CJ, Hamish, the US Ambassador to China, and a handful of others unfortunate enough to be visiting the zoo that day find themselves fighting creatures that they had only before heard of in fairy tales. In this novel, Reilly's main character CJ Cameron is a female, severely disfigured facially by a saltwater crocodile that she was a renowned expert in the study of. I found her role gave added depth to the thriller, as we were able to look at the zoo enterprise through the eyes and mind of an educated woman in a primarily male-dominated China.
True, there were several scenes that felt repetitive in nature.... (CJ ran.; Hamish ran.; CJ ran.....), but aside from that, I really can't complain. The action was a non-stop thrill ride, and I hated each time I was forced to put the book down. The explanations as to how the zoo's inhabitants came to be, came off as very well researched, and could almost seem plausible the way it was portrayed. It takes an incredible author to be able to pull off something of that magnitude!
Highly recommended!
*I received an advanced copy of this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
CJ Cameron and her brother, Hamish, are invited among a select group of influential media people to view China's deep-secreted new zoo. The Chinese hope to usurp America's Disneyland with this new attraction of theirs, and the denizens of this particular zoo are just the type to be able to pull that off....
Of course, things do not go as smoothly as planned, and as the Chinese Colonel Bao and Hu Tang rush about in an attempt to restore order, CJ, Hamish, the US Ambassador to China, and a handful of others unfortunate enough to be visiting the zoo that day find themselves fighting creatures that they had only before heard of in fairy tales. In this novel, Reilly's main character CJ Cameron is a female, severely disfigured facially by a saltwater crocodile that she was a renowned expert in the study of. I found her role gave added depth to the thriller, as we were able to look at the zoo enterprise through the eyes and mind of an educated woman in a primarily male-dominated China.
True, there were several scenes that felt repetitive in nature.... (CJ ran.; Hamish ran.; CJ ran.....), but aside from that, I really can't complain. The action was a non-stop thrill ride, and I hated each time I was forced to put the book down. The explanations as to how the zoo's inhabitants came to be, came off as very well researched, and could almost seem plausible the way it was portrayed. It takes an incredible author to be able to pull off something of that magnitude!
Highly recommended!
*I received an advanced copy of this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
July 11, 2017
This sentence sums it up perfectly:
Holy shit, the dragons are throwing cars at me
I enjoy Reilly, he's a bit of a guilty pleasure. He went a bit too far with this one. Still an enjoyable romp though.
Holy shit, the dragons are throwing cars at me
I enjoy Reilly, he's a bit of a guilty pleasure. He went a bit too far with this one. Still an enjoyable romp though.
January 4, 2015
“See we have a little problem with the people at McDonald’s..They are McDonalds, we are McDowell’s. They have the golden arch, we have the golden arc. They have the Big Mac, we have the big Mic. They both have two ground beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese but ours don't have sesame seeds” - Coming to America
I felt this running through my head when reading the interview at the back where Reilly explained how he tried to make this book as different to Jurassic Park as possible. Jurassic park has scientists but he has journalists and Jurassic Park was about making money but the Great Zoo is about restoring national pride…. that’s the extent of what Reilly himself is able to give us to differentiate between the two books. JP is such an epic and amazing book that broke new ground in my imagination and opened my world beyond what I knew. The Great Zoo did none of this. For a while he flirts with expanding the universe by constantly reinforcing that, whilst everything is built in China, nothing is designed there but this whole part of the story just disappears like a fart in the wind.
I did like the concept. His explanation of where the Dragons, aka Dinosaurs came from is entirely plausible. His reason’s behind it being the greatest project China has ever undertaken is sound and an interesting way into the story despite the fact it paints a vast amount of the Chinese in charge as being psychotic. I know from the Jack West series how much Reilly likes his Asian characters driven by honour and pride but there has to be more to it than that.
As far as writing, Reilly is always trying to go bigger, faster and more exciting, so why do I feel like his books have been slowing down since Scarecrow. Simply taking the literal meaning of his goals yes dragons are bigger, faster and stronger; they can pick up really big things and drop them really fast; but that does not mean the pace and excitement levels of the writing necessarily follows, and with The Great Zoo of China I found myself all too easily putting it down due to lack of emotional involvement.
Despite various nicknames like Red Face, Smiley, I could not really give a crap about the personal motivations of the individual dragon. It seems that all giving them a moniker means is that despite blowing them up, shooting them and ramming them into the side of a mountain countless times…with a GARBAGE TRUCK , they keep coming back in an effort to amp up the impact of the scene. We are supposed to think, “wow this dragon really hates C.J. (our main character)”. It did not work for me. Despite constantly telling us how super intelligent the dragons are that’s all we ever get, telling. They constantly seem to charge straight into gunfire acting more like mad bulls than the thinking, planning and plotting creature we are supposed to believe they are.
The humans are even less engaging. We have a brother/sister combo to ensure that insta-love does not occur, a random ex secret agent, who is the only remotely interesting character and a girl call Millie in Mickey Mouse ears who is mentioned many times but does not do anything until page 400. Yes. We are supposed to believe that in this communist nation, at the sight of the greatest achievement, that they would allow a small girl to wear the symbol of their biggest and most hated competition. Thankfully this small girl is quite realistic and does nothing heroic or important, she is just there.
There are some positive moments and exciting sequences where our protagonist us flying on the back of her own dragon and there is an element of a symbiotic relationship, and I wish this could have been expanded upon. I mean realistically you are telling these things are the smartest apex predators to have ever existed and you’ve given them amazing weapons but our protagonist is able to look after herself pretty well and every time she is faced with certain death, ie. A dragon two feet in front of her, a timely shot or intervention, of course, saves her.
For me this book did not even get going until 400 pages in. Whilst it is an easy read there was nothing that kept me turning the next page other than loyalties built up from previous amazing efforts so, and with great sadness, as I consider Reilly my man and one of the first authors I truly became hooked on, I must say he has dropped the ball on this one. I know he is moving to the US and I think this might be the final book in his contract or something like that. It's something he sort of wrote but never fully developed.
I’d love to see Reilly go back to smaller and more intimate stories as they can still be thrilling and fast. His next book is going to be a Jack West book and I don’t think I will get it. They character has now saved the world at the each of every one of his books and frankly it is tiresome. In my humble opinion he should write a follow up to Contest and or a book on Aloyisus Knight and go back to his writing roots.
I ordered this book from Australia and had my mate get it signed and personalised so I think that establishes my bona fides as a serious fan and therefore may explain some of my disappointment. I also received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This book sucks. Dont waste your money.
For more reviews go to Www.areadingmachine.com
I felt this running through my head when reading the interview at the back where Reilly explained how he tried to make this book as different to Jurassic Park as possible. Jurassic park has scientists but he has journalists and Jurassic Park was about making money but the Great Zoo is about restoring national pride…. that’s the extent of what Reilly himself is able to give us to differentiate between the two books. JP is such an epic and amazing book that broke new ground in my imagination and opened my world beyond what I knew. The Great Zoo did none of this. For a while he flirts with expanding the universe by constantly reinforcing that, whilst everything is built in China, nothing is designed there but this whole part of the story just disappears like a fart in the wind.
I did like the concept. His explanation of where the Dragons, aka Dinosaurs came from is entirely plausible. His reason’s behind it being the greatest project China has ever undertaken is sound and an interesting way into the story despite the fact it paints a vast amount of the Chinese in charge as being psychotic. I know from the Jack West series how much Reilly likes his Asian characters driven by honour and pride but there has to be more to it than that.
As far as writing, Reilly is always trying to go bigger, faster and more exciting, so why do I feel like his books have been slowing down since Scarecrow. Simply taking the literal meaning of his goals yes dragons are bigger, faster and stronger; they can pick up really big things and drop them really fast; but that does not mean the pace and excitement levels of the writing necessarily follows, and with The Great Zoo of China I found myself all too easily putting it down due to lack of emotional involvement.
Despite various nicknames like Red Face, Smiley, I could not really give a crap about the personal motivations of the individual dragon. It seems that all giving them a moniker means is that despite blowing them up, shooting them and ramming them into the side of a mountain countless times…with a GARBAGE TRUCK , they keep coming back in an effort to amp up the impact of the scene. We are supposed to think, “wow this dragon really hates C.J. (our main character)”. It did not work for me. Despite constantly telling us how super intelligent the dragons are that’s all we ever get, telling. They constantly seem to charge straight into gunfire acting more like mad bulls than the thinking, planning and plotting creature we are supposed to believe they are.
The humans are even less engaging. We have a brother/sister combo to ensure that insta-love does not occur, a random ex secret agent, who is the only remotely interesting character and a girl call Millie in Mickey Mouse ears who is mentioned many times but does not do anything until page 400. Yes. We are supposed to believe that in this communist nation, at the sight of the greatest achievement, that they would allow a small girl to wear the symbol of their biggest and most hated competition. Thankfully this small girl is quite realistic and does nothing heroic or important, she is just there.
There are some positive moments and exciting sequences where our protagonist us flying on the back of her own dragon and there is an element of a symbiotic relationship, and I wish this could have been expanded upon. I mean realistically you are telling these things are the smartest apex predators to have ever existed and you’ve given them amazing weapons but our protagonist is able to look after herself pretty well and every time she is faced with certain death, ie. A dragon two feet in front of her, a timely shot or intervention, of course, saves her.
For me this book did not even get going until 400 pages in. Whilst it is an easy read there was nothing that kept me turning the next page other than loyalties built up from previous amazing efforts so, and with great sadness, as I consider Reilly my man and one of the first authors I truly became hooked on, I must say he has dropped the ball on this one. I know he is moving to the US and I think this might be the final book in his contract or something like that. It's something he sort of wrote but never fully developed.
I’d love to see Reilly go back to smaller and more intimate stories as they can still be thrilling and fast. His next book is going to be a Jack West book and I don’t think I will get it. They character has now saved the world at the each of every one of his books and frankly it is tiresome. In my humble opinion he should write a follow up to Contest and or a book on Aloyisus Knight and go back to his writing roots.
I ordered this book from Australia and had my mate get it signed and personalised so I think that establishes my bona fides as a serious fan and therefore may explain some of my disappointment. I also received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This book sucks. Dont waste your money.
For more reviews go to Www.areadingmachine.com
July 9, 2015
Cue in my super sonic love for all which is cheese.
Hell, yes. That super cheesy goopy Saturday syfy channel cheese. Top it off with aclonebutwithdragonsnotdinos lovely story about dragons wreaking havoc in a Chinese park and there ya go.
Is this extremely similar to JP? Fuck, yes. However, I'm always a softie for blood, heads getting ripped off, and all sorts of other types of dismemberments. The bunnies love it too.
As for me, this bitch is getting psyched up for Sharknado 3. Bring it!!
Until that day comes, this book makes a good appetizer.
2 Ninja bunnehs riding dragons
Hell, yes. That super cheesy goopy Saturday syfy channel cheese. Top it off with a
Is this extremely similar to JP? Fuck, yes. However, I'm always a softie for blood, heads getting ripped off, and all sorts of other types of dismemberments. The bunnies love it too.
As for me, this bitch is getting psyched up for Sharknado 3. Bring it!!
Until that day comes, this book makes a good appetizer.
2 Ninja bunnehs riding dragons
June 4, 2019
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
I thought that this book was a lot of fun! This was actually my first experience with Matthew Reilly's work despite the fact that his books have been on my radar for quite some time. I have had a copy of this book for years but it somehow slipped through the cracks of my review schedule. I am glad that I finally got around to reading this one because it was incredibly entertaining.
I haven't read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton but I have seen the movie several times. I don't usually like to make a lot of comparisons but this book had a lot of similarities to that story. It was different enough that I didn't feel like it was the same story but they had the same feel.
China has built a new zoo. It is a different kind of zoo that will end up changing the world. CJ, her brother, and a group of others are brought to the zoo to see just how different it really is. This zoo doesn't have your average zoo animals. This zoo is filled with all kinds of different dragons. Yes, dragons. During their visit to the zoo, things go very, very wrong.
This was a pretty exciting book that was filled with action which made it really entertaining. There were some real surprises along the way and I enjoyed piecing together exactly what was going on. I liked CJ and liked how her skills as a veterinarian helped her to navigate the situation she found herself in. I also found that I had a lot of respect and couldn't blame them for their actions.
Rich Orlow did a great job with this story. This was a really exciting and often intense book which I think he was able to take up another notch. I thought he handled all of the characters voices very well. I thought he had a very nice reading voice which I found easy to listen to for hours at a time. I think that I enjoyed the story just a bit more largely because of his narration.
I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a highly entertaining tale that read like an action movie. I think those action readers that don't mind some similarities to well-known stories will enjoy this one. I definitely plan to read more of Matthew Reilly's work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.
Initial Thoughts
This was entertaining. I haven't read Jurassic Park but I have seen the movie a few times and this book reminded me of that quite a bit. There was a lot of action in this book, sometimes maybe a bit much. I thought that the narrator did a fantastic job with the story. I am glad that I finally gave this one a try.
I thought that this book was a lot of fun! This was actually my first experience with Matthew Reilly's work despite the fact that his books have been on my radar for quite some time. I have had a copy of this book for years but it somehow slipped through the cracks of my review schedule. I am glad that I finally got around to reading this one because it was incredibly entertaining.
I haven't read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton but I have seen the movie several times. I don't usually like to make a lot of comparisons but this book had a lot of similarities to that story. It was different enough that I didn't feel like it was the same story but they had the same feel.
China has built a new zoo. It is a different kind of zoo that will end up changing the world. CJ, her brother, and a group of others are brought to the zoo to see just how different it really is. This zoo doesn't have your average zoo animals. This zoo is filled with all kinds of different dragons. Yes, dragons. During their visit to the zoo, things go very, very wrong.
This was a pretty exciting book that was filled with action which made it really entertaining. There were some real surprises along the way and I enjoyed piecing together exactly what was going on. I liked CJ and liked how her skills as a veterinarian helped her to navigate the situation she found herself in. I also found that I had a lot of respect and couldn't blame them for their actions.
Rich Orlow did a great job with this story. This was a really exciting and often intense book which I think he was able to take up another notch. I thought he handled all of the characters voices very well. I thought he had a very nice reading voice which I found easy to listen to for hours at a time. I think that I enjoyed the story just a bit more largely because of his narration.
I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a highly entertaining tale that read like an action movie. I think those action readers that don't mind some similarities to well-known stories will enjoy this one. I definitely plan to read more of Matthew Reilly's work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.
Initial Thoughts
This was entertaining. I haven't read Jurassic Park but I have seen the movie a few times and this book reminded me of that quite a bit. There was a lot of action in this book, sometimes maybe a bit much. I thought that the narrator did a fantastic job with the story. I am glad that I finally gave this one a try.
August 19, 2022
So, this book can be explained by the equation:
plus
divided by the square root of
Decades ago, the Chinese find these dragon eggs. So they decide to build this mega-zoo (complete with amusement park and casino) full of dragons in a bid for cultural hegemony. But we know from the prologue there have been deaths and not just from unfortunate workers becoming dragon nom-noms. The military will kill to prevent any bad publicity because this zoo is fixing to open at last and it's gonna blow the ass off of Disney World.
Meanwhile, CJ Cameron, crocodile specialist and multi-hyphenate expert expert, is on a first class trip to China to report on this super secret zoo for National Geographic with her brother in tow, plus a few reporters and diplomats. And you can tell who is going to die first because they are either an asshole or the author didn't bother giving them a personality or both.
Around 100 pages in, the action starts and keeps going till the end.
Is this story ludicrous? Completely ("Hi, I'm CJ Cameron. I'm a herpetologist and a vet and I speak Mandarin and I have a photographic memory. Also, apparently I can fight dragons on the roof of a speeding vehicle and figure out a Chinese grenade launcher, amongst other skills but enough about my ever expanding skill set.")
But is it entertaining? Mostly, if a little too long.
Are the dragons cool? Trick question, dragons are always cool.
Taking more inspiration from Michael Crichton than the obvious, Reilly also peppers the book with some explanation of the science and the Chinese economy.
This was silly and enjoyable and sometimes that's enough.
plus
divided by the square root of
Decades ago, the Chinese find these dragon eggs. So they decide to build this mega-zoo (complete with amusement park and casino) full of dragons in a bid for cultural hegemony. But we know from the prologue there have been deaths and not just from unfortunate workers becoming dragon nom-noms. The military will kill to prevent any bad publicity because this zoo is fixing to open at last and it's gonna blow the ass off of Disney World.
Meanwhile, CJ Cameron, crocodile specialist and multi-hyphenate expert expert, is on a first class trip to China to report on this super secret zoo for National Geographic with her brother in tow, plus a few reporters and diplomats. And you can tell who is going to die first because they are either an asshole or the author didn't bother giving them a personality or both.
Around 100 pages in, the action starts and keeps going till the end.
Is this story ludicrous? Completely ("Hi, I'm CJ Cameron. I'm a herpetologist and a vet and I speak Mandarin and I have a photographic memory. Also, apparently I can fight dragons on the roof of a speeding vehicle and figure out a Chinese grenade launcher, amongst other skills but enough about my ever expanding skill set.")
But is it entertaining? Mostly, if a little too long.
Are the dragons cool? Trick question, dragons are always cool.
Taking more inspiration from Michael Crichton than the obvious, Reilly also peppers the book with some explanation of the science and the Chinese economy.
This was silly and enjoyable and sometimes that's enough.
February 5, 2015
First, I'd like to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of this to read.
I'll start by saying that I love Matthew Reilly, and it makes me happy that he's moving forward with his life. He lost his wife, who had battled with eating disorders and depression for years, to suicide back a few years ago. It shattered him, and understandably so. The selfish part of me is really excited that he's writing again, that he's found a story to tell and the drive to write. She was a big part of his writing process, and I know it's crazy hard for him to jump back in. The selfless part of me is really excited that he's found some peace with that part of his life and is writing FOR HIM, and has even found someone that makes him happy and helps to ease his pain.
Now, to the nitty-gritty. Since he started writing again, he's been a little off his game. Troll Mountain, a well-intentioned/poorly-executed foray into YA and pure fantasy, was one of the few books I've ever DNF'd. EVER. I just couldn't.
But he returns to form in The Great Zoo of China. Yeah, it's got its highly unbelievable events. It's got a borderline abusive number of exclamation points. But it is definitely Reilly returning to his game... because it's FUN. That's the best part of Reilly books. Yeah, there are crazy moments that would never happen, like the falcon knowing how to turn off the trap at the beginning of Seven Deadly Wonders, but non-stop action, easy to read minichapters, and entertaining characters and plots make his books 100% pure fun. That's the Reilly I love. The one who writes to make people have FUN. And he's back to it.
Read this one. Sure, it's got its similarities to Jurassic Park (which he acknowledges), but he did pretty well differentiating it from JP. Plus, this one has a kickass female protagonist (his first) and an awesome, ummm... character, in Lucky (no spoilers!)
I'll start by saying that I love Matthew Reilly, and it makes me happy that he's moving forward with his life. He lost his wife, who had battled with eating disorders and depression for years, to suicide back a few years ago. It shattered him, and understandably so. The selfish part of me is really excited that he's writing again, that he's found a story to tell and the drive to write. She was a big part of his writing process, and I know it's crazy hard for him to jump back in. The selfless part of me is really excited that he's found some peace with that part of his life and is writing FOR HIM, and has even found someone that makes him happy and helps to ease his pain.
Now, to the nitty-gritty. Since he started writing again, he's been a little off his game. Troll Mountain, a well-intentioned/poorly-executed foray into YA and pure fantasy, was one of the few books I've ever DNF'd. EVER. I just couldn't.
But he returns to form in The Great Zoo of China. Yeah, it's got its highly unbelievable events. It's got a borderline abusive number of exclamation points. But it is definitely Reilly returning to his game... because it's FUN. That's the best part of Reilly books. Yeah, there are crazy moments that would never happen, like the falcon knowing how to turn off the trap at the beginning of Seven Deadly Wonders, but non-stop action, easy to read minichapters, and entertaining characters and plots make his books 100% pure fun. That's the Reilly I love. The one who writes to make people have FUN. And he's back to it.
Read this one. Sure, it's got its similarities to Jurassic Park (which he acknowledges), but he did pretty well differentiating it from JP. Plus, this one has a kickass female protagonist (his first) and an awesome, ummm... character, in Lucky (no spoilers!)
June 20, 2015
Only Matthew Reilly would write a book about a zoo full of dragons. I will admit I am a huge fan of his books. I take each one as it is and I usually come out a happy camper. In this case, I have to give him a thumbs up. Let's face it, Reilly either works for you or he doesn't. He unashamedly writes escapist fiction that makes the reader feel as though they are immersed in a summer blockbuster movie. And he does it well.
I wasn't a big fan of the "Jurassic Park" book. I didn't finish it because it felt like the characters only existed to be dinosaur food. I don't care much for 'sacrificial lamb' characters. However, I find it interesting that this is Reilly's favorite book of all time. Even though I liked the movie version more than the book, I'd have to thank Crichton for inspiring one of my favorite authors in that way. So for me, I don't mind that the idea of a dragon zoo was inspired by "Jurassic Park." With all due respect, I'll take dragons over dinosaurs any day of the week.
Clearly Reilly is aware that this book would be compared to Jurassic Park and he understood that fact. I think I can get into this book because while I am a fantasist, I love the idea of real, live dragons. However, Reilly takes the fantasy version of dragons and gives it a very real, very gritty spin. I like that Reilly put so much thought into bring dragons into a millennial setting in a believable way. Many of the reasons it's a bad idea to have a dinosaur park are evident in why it was a bad idea to have a dragon zoo, but maybe even worse. Dragons don't mix well with humanity. Especially Reilly's dragons. The creators of the zoo believe that have concocted a fool-proof plan with their zoo that will supplant China over the United States as the arbiter of cultural consciousness. However, they neglected to consider that while dragons are animals, they are fiercely intelligent, and are the ultimate of predators. Frankly, I think people who believe all animals are stupid aren't paying enough attention to the natural world and clearly do not have pets. Humans like to think of themselves as the ultimate of predators, but in nature, when the odds are evened, we aren't. Even a microbe can wipe the floor with humans, case in point.
Reilly is in his high action, high gore mode, and I know I'd be covering my eyes if this was a movie. Reading the book had many wince-worthy moments, but also the awe of majestic dragons. While I didn't want the dragons to be eating people, I felt wowed by the fact that they were real and they did a lot of what dragons do. Like our intrepid heroine, CJ, I felt like the whole thing had BAD IDEA!! Written on it in huge block letters. Even with the ingenious plan the zoo creators had to keep the dragons in the zoo, I had a feeling that they dragons would find a way around it, yet their strategizing gave me a huge feeling of awe.
I think books should stand for themselves and authors shouldn't have to defend themselves for what they've written outside of the book. But at the same time, I find it very interesting to see what the thought process behind their writing is. I enjoyed reading Mr. Reilly's Q&A at the end of the book and I can see that he put a lot of hard work into writing this book. His goal is to make a book that is easy to read and enjoyable, and that's evident. At times, when I wondered why he phrased things a certain way, it made sense when I read the Q&A and saw that this was why he did it.
I loved CJ as the lead character. She is a buttkicking character and what makes it cool is that she is a woman. She proved very clearly that an action lead doesn't have to be male to own a story or to save the day. But anyone who has ever seen "Aliens" or "Alias" knows what I'm talking about. I like that CJ was the type who observed and assimilated information and acted on that information in a logical way instead of losing her cool. But at the same time, she's not just an academic. She knows how to go into action and it saves her life and others around her many times in this book. Her backstory really informs who she is a person and makes it clear that she's in the right place at the right time.
I liked the other characters, especially Hamish (CJ's brother) and Greg. But the scene-stealer is Lucky. I was a bit jealous of CJ, except for the flying parts. Not for me, that. Oh, I just adored Lucky!
I think Reilly brought it big time with this book. I'd give it 4.5 stars because I had a couple of quibbles. I won't go deep into those because they are spoilers, but I wish the ending was slightly different. I see why Reilly ended things the way he did, but part of me was still sad about that.
I wasn't a big fan of the "Jurassic Park" book. I didn't finish it because it felt like the characters only existed to be dinosaur food. I don't care much for 'sacrificial lamb' characters. However, I find it interesting that this is Reilly's favorite book of all time. Even though I liked the movie version more than the book, I'd have to thank Crichton for inspiring one of my favorite authors in that way. So for me, I don't mind that the idea of a dragon zoo was inspired by "Jurassic Park." With all due respect, I'll take dragons over dinosaurs any day of the week.
Clearly Reilly is aware that this book would be compared to Jurassic Park and he understood that fact. I think I can get into this book because while I am a fantasist, I love the idea of real, live dragons. However, Reilly takes the fantasy version of dragons and gives it a very real, very gritty spin. I like that Reilly put so much thought into bring dragons into a millennial setting in a believable way. Many of the reasons it's a bad idea to have a dinosaur park are evident in why it was a bad idea to have a dragon zoo, but maybe even worse. Dragons don't mix well with humanity. Especially Reilly's dragons. The creators of the zoo believe that have concocted a fool-proof plan with their zoo that will supplant China over the United States as the arbiter of cultural consciousness. However, they neglected to consider that while dragons are animals, they are fiercely intelligent, and are the ultimate of predators. Frankly, I think people who believe all animals are stupid aren't paying enough attention to the natural world and clearly do not have pets. Humans like to think of themselves as the ultimate of predators, but in nature, when the odds are evened, we aren't. Even a microbe can wipe the floor with humans, case in point.
Reilly is in his high action, high gore mode, and I know I'd be covering my eyes if this was a movie. Reading the book had many wince-worthy moments, but also the awe of majestic dragons. While I didn't want the dragons to be eating people, I felt wowed by the fact that they were real and they did a lot of what dragons do. Like our intrepid heroine, CJ, I felt like the whole thing had BAD IDEA!! Written on it in huge block letters. Even with the ingenious plan the zoo creators had to keep the dragons in the zoo, I had a feeling that they dragons would find a way around it, yet their strategizing gave me a huge feeling of awe.
I think books should stand for themselves and authors shouldn't have to defend themselves for what they've written outside of the book. But at the same time, I find it very interesting to see what the thought process behind their writing is. I enjoyed reading Mr. Reilly's Q&A at the end of the book and I can see that he put a lot of hard work into writing this book. His goal is to make a book that is easy to read and enjoyable, and that's evident. At times, when I wondered why he phrased things a certain way, it made sense when I read the Q&A and saw that this was why he did it.
I loved CJ as the lead character. She is a buttkicking character and what makes it cool is that she is a woman. She proved very clearly that an action lead doesn't have to be male to own a story or to save the day. But anyone who has ever seen "Aliens" or "Alias" knows what I'm talking about. I like that CJ was the type who observed and assimilated information and acted on that information in a logical way instead of losing her cool. But at the same time, she's not just an academic. She knows how to go into action and it saves her life and others around her many times in this book. Her backstory really informs who she is a person and makes it clear that she's in the right place at the right time.
I liked the other characters, especially Hamish (CJ's brother) and Greg. But the scene-stealer is Lucky. I was a bit jealous of CJ, except for the flying parts. Not for me, that. Oh, I just adored Lucky!
I think Reilly brought it big time with this book. I'd give it 4.5 stars because I had a couple of quibbles. I won't go deep into those because they are spoilers, but I wish the ending was slightly different. I see why Reilly ended things the way he did, but part of me was still sad about that.
July 7, 2024
Много готин и динамичен фентъзи трилър! Китайските власти тайно са направили огромна драконова зоологическа градина, без да се интересуват от жертвите покрай нейното създаване. Към даден момент решават да поканят в Китай група американски учени и журналисти, за да им представят грандиозния си проект. Драконите обаче се оказват изключително опасни и разходката в зоопарка се превръща в шеметно и страховито премеждие...
January 21, 2015
Dr Cassandra Jane (CJ) Cameron, a veterinary surgeon with the San Francisco zoo and expert on reptiles, plus a writer for the National Geographic had been invited to China to view their newest creation – The Great Zoo of China. The zoo had been built over a period of many years under utmost secrecy – the world had no idea what the Chinese were hiding; what the Chinese government had kept close to their chests for so long. But the small group of VIPs and journalists from the US, along with Chinese dignitaries were to be the first to view the unique phenomenon. CJ had been devastated by the death of her mentor Bill Lynch in the recent plane crash in China – that was why she, and not Bill, was heading to the zoo in the company of her brother and photographer Hamish.
As the members of the elite group of visitors exclaimed in awe, their hosts couldn’t hide their obvious pleasure in the reactions of their guests. From the very beginning of their visit, it had all been amazing; the Chinese had certainly pulled off a coup of massive proportions. So why wasn’t CJ convinced? Why was she uneasy at what she saw? As the group ventured deeper into the massive structure of the Zoo, their amazement continued…
But what would happen if these magnificent creatures were not under the control of their handlers? CJ and her group were assured that nothing could possibly go wrong. They had worked long and hard to make sure this was the case – they wouldn’t show the outside world their fantastic achievements unless they were totally sure of it all – now would they?
I haven't read Aussie author Matthew Reilly in quite a while, and I had forgotten the full-on action packed race from start to finish that he employs. I also found I had to completely suspend belief!!! Which I remember is another Reilly trait... The Great Zoo of China is a fast paced, action packed, fun and at times gruesome adventure novel with huge elements of science fiction throughout. A novel which will be enjoyed by young and old alike, especially if you are a Reilly fan. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
As the members of the elite group of visitors exclaimed in awe, their hosts couldn’t hide their obvious pleasure in the reactions of their guests. From the very beginning of their visit, it had all been amazing; the Chinese had certainly pulled off a coup of massive proportions. So why wasn’t CJ convinced? Why was she uneasy at what she saw? As the group ventured deeper into the massive structure of the Zoo, their amazement continued…
But what would happen if these magnificent creatures were not under the control of their handlers? CJ and her group were assured that nothing could possibly go wrong. They had worked long and hard to make sure this was the case – they wouldn’t show the outside world their fantastic achievements unless they were totally sure of it all – now would they?
I haven't read Aussie author Matthew Reilly in quite a while, and I had forgotten the full-on action packed race from start to finish that he employs. I also found I had to completely suspend belief!!! Which I remember is another Reilly trait... The Great Zoo of China is a fast paced, action packed, fun and at times gruesome adventure novel with huge elements of science fiction throughout. A novel which will be enjoyed by young and old alike, especially if you are a Reilly fan. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
August 27, 2015
I had high hopes for this book, and for the most part it was satisfying. Some of the elements in the plot line about the "secret animal's" origins were really intriguing and well thought out. Reilly really did his research on animals, reptiles in particular, and I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the animals in addition to the inner-workings of their species' abilities and intelligence. It was interesting to see how the story played out, and I was happy that it wasn't as predictable as I first thought it might be. As the story unfolded and the characters progressively found themselves in precarious situations, I often had to remind myself that I was reading a fictional adventure/thriller novel; otherwise, I found myself questioning the plausibility of some of the outcomes of the formidable scenarios CJ and her cohorts experienced. Before I read the book, I read many reviews which compared The Great Zoo of China to Jurassic park, and while there are definitely some inevitable similarities, the overall impression I got from this book was very distinct. This the first book I've read of Reilly's, and I'm kind of interested to see what else he's written. This book is a quick read and I would really recommend it to anyone.
November 7, 2018
The newest book by Matthew Reilly and definitely different too. Since I'm a huge fan of "Jurassic Park" I was first afraid it would just be some sort of copy - especially since I know how much the author likes Michael Crichton's book as well! However, the idea of dragons being real was too tempting so I gave it a try.
I was astonished to see that there was no lab where the dragons had been created, but that there was a "scientific explanation" for all the myths. I kind of fell for it. However, that initial thrill soon evaporated unfortunately.
Again, the author delivers action, but this time it was just too much. At some point my suspension of disbelief just can't go any further.
The characters of "The Great Zoo of China" are enfuriating - and not in a good way. They are just too flat. I mean, if you have a Marine or an ex-soldier, you can imagine where the their instincts and reflexes come from. But this book's heroine was simply working with wild animals - nothing that would even only remotely qualify you for the stuff she's suddenly doing in this book.
I usually like to see a woman kicking ass, but not this way. Also, apparently she had to be hot (because she's a woman, you know) but also have a flaw and a somewhat troubled past. Well, sorry to say, but it wasn't THAT awful - it sounded more like a half-hearted attempt to make her more complex.
And don't even get me started on the stereotypical badbadbad Chinese people, who can build a city in no time at all and keep it all secret because of their form of government and who don't care about any lives at all as long as the party is happy.
Oh, and of course our heroine has a similarly hot brother and a guy who falls for her and she for him. All while fighting off one dragon after another, one bigger and meaner than the one before. *sigh*
One thing I really liked was the following passage:
"Fairytales cleanse and sanitise what were once true stories. In fairytales, knights are chivalrous, clean-shaven and wear shining armour - when in truth they were swarthy, filthy rapists and thugs. [...]"
A very interesting (and very true) statement, and quite meaningful too (even when taken out of this book's context).
And there were funny passages too. But maybe they were only so funny because they were so incredibly unrealistic even for this genre (*thinking of Lucky*). ;p
But all in all, I can't give more than 2 stars. Sorry.
I was astonished to see that there was no lab where the dragons had been created, but that there was a "scientific explanation" for all the myths. I kind of fell for it. However, that initial thrill soon evaporated unfortunately.
Again, the author delivers action, but this time it was just too much. At some point my suspension of disbelief just can't go any further.
The characters of "The Great Zoo of China" are enfuriating - and not in a good way. They are just too flat. I mean, if you have a Marine or an ex-soldier, you can imagine where the their instincts and reflexes come from. But this book's heroine was simply working with wild animals - nothing that would even only remotely qualify you for the stuff she's suddenly doing in this book.
I usually like to see a woman kicking ass, but not this way. Also, apparently she had to be hot (because she's a woman, you know) but also have a flaw and a somewhat troubled past. Well, sorry to say, but it wasn't THAT awful - it sounded more like a half-hearted attempt to make her more complex.
And don't even get me started on the stereotypical badbadbad Chinese people, who can build a city in no time at all and keep it all secret because of their form of government and who don't care about any lives at all as long as the party is happy.
Oh, and of course our heroine has a similarly hot brother and a guy who falls for her and she for him. All while fighting off one dragon after another, one bigger and meaner than the one before. *sigh*
One thing I really liked was the following passage:
"Fairytales cleanse and sanitise what were once true stories. In fairytales, knights are chivalrous, clean-shaven and wear shining armour - when in truth they were swarthy, filthy rapists and thugs. [...]"
A very interesting (and very true) statement, and quite meaningful too (even when taken out of this book's context).
And there were funny passages too. But maybe they were only so funny because they were so incredibly unrealistic even for this genre (*thinking of Lucky*). ;p
But all in all, I can't give more than 2 stars. Sorry.
April 7, 2019
A by-the-numbers action packed romp.
An interesting concept, well executed with all the Matthew Reilly trademarks of super-action and massive derring-do, but nothing special, remarkable or memorable that stands out.
The characters are thinly drawn, which kinda irks me, but is also a Matthew Reilly trademark. The dragons are more interesting than the MCs.
Read it once, and it's enough.
An interesting concept, well executed with all the Matthew Reilly trademarks of super-action and massive derring-do, but nothing special, remarkable or memorable that stands out.
The characters are thinly drawn, which kinda irks me, but is also a Matthew Reilly trademark. The dragons are more interesting than the MCs.
Read it once, and it's enough.
July 3, 2015
3.5 stars
A nicely crafted tale that petered out near the end for me...
The prologue isn't long but sets up the danger quite well and had me wanting to at minimum kick the people in charge. As I said in a status update, I was hoping the whole time they would get eaten by the dragons.
I didn't feel sorry for them at all when the shit started to hit the fan (which it does in a spectacular kind of way). It drops you right into what's going on and doesn't take it's teeth out of you (several sequences would be amazing when /if this would hit the big screen ).
The dragons are beautiful/intimidating/cold/intelligent. .. I can imagine the havoc they would wreak if they truly did exist.
It did have the vibe of a certain other film somewhat, but it weaves its own path quite nicely. I loved the idea of the Zoo, and the secrecy the creators were able to achieve was impressive (still wanted to smack them all before throwing them to the lion's den (so to speak) at times.
The concept of dragons here I thought was well done and kept my interest. Like C.J. though, I was waiting for the ball to drop so to speak. One incident that happened had me questioning how they had not entertained the possibility at all.
There was one part of the story with the birthing process of the dragons that disturbed me some though,
We don't get to deep into the characters aside from C.J. and her brother (who I kind of pictured as Chris Hemsworth )... Johnson was cool though as well. I never really formed an attachment with the others.
It put me in mind of Warren Fahy's 'Fragment' at times with the vibe of the danger and exotic-ness of the setting. (A book I loved btw the way so I didn't mind).
Towards the end somewhat, the action and suspense still had me going and rooting for my favorites but it started to seem overlong and dragged out to me a few times. It wasn't rushed or anything but I think a few sequences could have been tied up quicker.
The ending made me smile in two points, and one part near the end had me snickering
Surprisingly excellent book, I enjoyed it more than I would :).
It's probably the type where you'll love or not, not much middle ground. A nice escape from the real world, would recommend, a fine summer read.
Happy reading!
Would I see a movie of this? Probably, seems like the type of thing Michael (my brother), Mary (cousin), and Jessie/Stephanie (Soul-Sisters) would enjoy. The special effects would be amazing if done well.
A nicely crafted tale that petered out near the end for me...
The prologue isn't long but sets up the danger quite well and had me wanting to at minimum kick the people in charge. As I said in a status update, I was hoping the whole time they would get eaten by the dragons.
I didn't feel sorry for them at all when the shit started to hit the fan (which it does in a spectacular kind of way). It drops you right into what's going on and doesn't take it's teeth out of you (several sequences would be amazing when /if this would hit the big screen ).
The dragons are beautiful/intimidating/cold/intelligent. .. I can imagine the havoc they would wreak if they truly did exist.
It did have the vibe of a certain other film somewhat, but it weaves its own path quite nicely. I loved the idea of the Zoo, and the secrecy the creators were able to achieve was impressive (still wanted to smack them all before throwing them to the lion's den (so to speak) at times.
The concept of dragons here I thought was well done and kept my interest. Like C.J. though, I was waiting for the ball to drop so to speak. One incident that happened had me questioning how they had not entertained the possibility at all.
There was one part of the story with the birthing process of the dragons that disturbed me some though,
We don't get to deep into the characters aside from C.J. and her brother (who I kind of pictured as Chris Hemsworth )... Johnson was cool though as well. I never really formed an attachment with the others.
It put me in mind of Warren Fahy's 'Fragment' at times with the vibe of the danger and exotic-ness of the setting. (A book I loved btw the way so I didn't mind).
Towards the end somewhat, the action and suspense still had me going and rooting for my favorites but it started to seem overlong and dragged out to me a few times. It wasn't rushed or anything but I think a few sequences could have been tied up quicker.
The ending made me smile in two points, and one part near the end had me snickering
Surprisingly excellent book, I enjoyed it more than I would :).
It's probably the type where you'll love or not, not much middle ground. A nice escape from the real world, would recommend, a fine summer read.
Happy reading!
Would I see a movie of this? Probably, seems like the type of thing Michael (my brother), Mary (cousin), and Jessie/Stephanie (Soul-Sisters) would enjoy. The special effects would be amazing if done well.
June 21, 2015
'Jurassic Park in China' may sound like a bad trip, but it also sounds awesome. It conjures up anticipation. This book came at the right time, at a time when nobody is jumping on the dragon bandwagon. Everything that's exciting or fun can have its ridiculous side. The author embraced the ridiculous aspect of the premise and wrote a book which, I feel, took all of the author's limited talent to make happen. To make happen?
The fast pace of the book is like Formula one, minus the boredom. The characters that die are all expendable. As a result none of the deaths tell heavily. In fact one of the casualties - at the very end! - doesn't make sense at all. Because none of the humans gets fleshed out, it doesn't really matter who gets eaten by the dragons.
The Great Zoo Of China is slick, gawky, self aware and lastly, it's mindless fun for people who are in the mood for it or who haven't watched most of the relevant movies that lie on the spectrum between Jaws and Anaconda. The crucial reason why this book didn't get 4 stars from me is that the segments between the action didn't have enough substance. Otherwise it's a book crafted by a hardworking and resourceful author.
May 24, 2018
This book was such a thrilling ride!! CJ is on an assignment with Nat'l Geo. to report on a new Zoo in China. Dragons! But, dragons don't want to be caged. Its like Jurassic Park in its excitement, but more. CJ may be a little too much superhero sometimes (the human body can only take so much) but, like Bruce Wiilis in Die Hard, she keeps going. Want more from this author!
July 18, 2021
7/17/21 - Ditto all the other times.
4/13/20 - always great to be back with CJ & Lucky, and I realize I said that before. :) Wow, I last read this almost a year ago!
4/23/19 - After starting and DNFing two completely different books, I was sick of crap and fell back to a favorite. Always wonderful to read, even knowing it so well. Love it again and again!
8/8/17 ~ always good to be back with CJ & Lucky!
5/1/17 ~ Always a wonderful re-read. The over-the-top action is fun and engaging and keeps going through the whole book. I adore Reilly's books, now I just need a new one!
I wish it was 9:30 this morning and I was just waking up to find out I received this awesome ARC and I could start reading it all fresh and new again!!!
Finished ~ The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
Completed 11/11
5 of 5 stars
544 pages
I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
Original Review found on my blog, KaKiJoKoJa.
If I used gifs (I don't, because I hate them) mine now would be an exuberant person yelling or screaming, some kind of fangirling, because I FINALLY got to read The Great Zoo of China, and I'm only sad that it's over.
I'm a pretty big Matt Reilly fan. My husband introduced me to him years ago when he suggested I read one of his favorite books by Reilly ~ Ice Station. Ice Station was really my first book into the action adventure type book. Before that, I had been mainly a romance or sci-fi reader (Star Trek), so I tried the Reilly and loved it. It's basically an over the top GI Joe meets Indiana Jones type thing and I loved it. My husband hasn't kept up with the Reilly books (though he wants to get back to them) but I have. I've read all the books in the Scarecrow & Jack West series, as well as Contest and now The Great Zoo of China. Only The Tournament and Troll Mountain aren't my cup of tea, but since it's Reilly, perhaps I'll give it a try at some point.
On to The Great Zoo of China, which was FANTASTIC. When I saw it available, I requested it right away. TGZoC was released in Australia but not here in the States, and isn't slated for release here til Jan which STINKS but since I got my hands on this ARC, I'm contented. :)
The Great Zoo of China is, as the title describes, the greatest zoo ever constructed, with animals never before seen ~ Dragons. I don't consider telling you it's dragons a spoiler because 1 ~ there's a tail of one on the cover of the book, and 2 ~ you really find out right away. This massive Zoo was built in the wilds of China, under complete secrecy. With the beginning of the book, the Zoo is soon to open to the public but first they want to share the zoo with some of the top VIPs of the world and the best journalists. Enter CJ Cameron, an expert on reptiles and a writer for National Geographic. She, and her photographer brother Hamish, are whisked away to China to see this zoo that they know nothing about, and nothing they could have imagined could have prepared them for what they find there.
But as with all great action adventure books, it can't be as easy and good as it seems and soon after entering the zoo, though being assured they are completely safe, all hell breaks loose. The zoo is in chaos and it takes all of CJ's wit and skill to keep her group safe and alive while both man and beast want her dead.
Reilly's books are over the top in action. They aren't realistic, if the dragons didn't give that away. They defy so much, but they make the world you are reading SEEM completely believable. As I sped my way through this book, I was right there in the middle of the action. I wanted to jump in and experience it all myself, even if it was a ton of destruction and death. The Great Zoo of China is pure Reilly but definitely makes you think of Jurassic Park and the 1998 Godzilla. Even while it's similar to Jurassic Park, it's completely unique and stands on it's own as a fantastic story, great characters and fantastic beasts!
I devoured this book in a day, and was only sad when it was over, because I wanted to read it all again for the first time. Few books grab me so much and don't let go, but this one did from the beginning. While the first part is learning about the zoo, it's still interesting and then once the action starts, it doesn't stop until the end!!
If you haven't tried Reilly before and like action even a tiny bit, I HIGHLY recommend his books and I definitely recommend starting with The Great Zoo of China. I think it's his best, and I've loved all his books, though Contest wasn't a favorite but I read that back when I was still pretty picky about books and it was out there for me, at the time. But TGZoC is definitely a fantastic start. It's Reilly on a grand scale and it's just a fantastic and enjoyable, completely unrealistic read. It's fabulous. I definitely recommend The Great Zoo of China to fans of action adventure. Any men who love their books with gun blazing and things blowing up will definitely become a fan of this book and of Reilly himself. While us ladies who like those kinds of books are fewer, I know there are others of you out there who would love this. If Jurassic Park is one of your favorite movies, or books, definitely pick The Great Zoo of China up. It'll only be better if they make a movie of it, and I REALLY hope that they do!!
The Great Zoo of China is FANTASTIC!! Read it now!!
Setting = A+
Plot = A+
Conflict = A+
Characters = A+
Theme = A+
4/13/20 - always great to be back with CJ & Lucky, and I realize I said that before. :) Wow, I last read this almost a year ago!
4/23/19 - After starting and DNFing two completely different books, I was sick of crap and fell back to a favorite. Always wonderful to read, even knowing it so well. Love it again and again!
8/8/17 ~ always good to be back with CJ & Lucky!
5/1/17 ~ Always a wonderful re-read. The over-the-top action is fun and engaging and keeps going through the whole book. I adore Reilly's books, now I just need a new one!
I wish it was 9:30 this morning and I was just waking up to find out I received this awesome ARC and I could start reading it all fresh and new again!!!
Finished ~ The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
Completed 11/11
5 of 5 stars
544 pages
I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
Original Review found on my blog, KaKiJoKoJa.
If I used gifs (I don't, because I hate them) mine now would be an exuberant person yelling or screaming, some kind of fangirling, because I FINALLY got to read The Great Zoo of China, and I'm only sad that it's over.
I'm a pretty big Matt Reilly fan. My husband introduced me to him years ago when he suggested I read one of his favorite books by Reilly ~ Ice Station. Ice Station was really my first book into the action adventure type book. Before that, I had been mainly a romance or sci-fi reader (Star Trek), so I tried the Reilly and loved it. It's basically an over the top GI Joe meets Indiana Jones type thing and I loved it. My husband hasn't kept up with the Reilly books (though he wants to get back to them) but I have. I've read all the books in the Scarecrow & Jack West series, as well as Contest and now The Great Zoo of China. Only The Tournament and Troll Mountain aren't my cup of tea, but since it's Reilly, perhaps I'll give it a try at some point.
On to The Great Zoo of China, which was FANTASTIC. When I saw it available, I requested it right away. TGZoC was released in Australia but not here in the States, and isn't slated for release here til Jan which STINKS but since I got my hands on this ARC, I'm contented. :)
The Great Zoo of China is, as the title describes, the greatest zoo ever constructed, with animals never before seen ~ Dragons. I don't consider telling you it's dragons a spoiler because 1 ~ there's a tail of one on the cover of the book, and 2 ~ you really find out right away. This massive Zoo was built in the wilds of China, under complete secrecy. With the beginning of the book, the Zoo is soon to open to the public but first they want to share the zoo with some of the top VIPs of the world and the best journalists. Enter CJ Cameron, an expert on reptiles and a writer for National Geographic. She, and her photographer brother Hamish, are whisked away to China to see this zoo that they know nothing about, and nothing they could have imagined could have prepared them for what they find there.
But as with all great action adventure books, it can't be as easy and good as it seems and soon after entering the zoo, though being assured they are completely safe, all hell breaks loose. The zoo is in chaos and it takes all of CJ's wit and skill to keep her group safe and alive while both man and beast want her dead.
Reilly's books are over the top in action. They aren't realistic, if the dragons didn't give that away. They defy so much, but they make the world you are reading SEEM completely believable. As I sped my way through this book, I was right there in the middle of the action. I wanted to jump in and experience it all myself, even if it was a ton of destruction and death. The Great Zoo of China is pure Reilly but definitely makes you think of Jurassic Park and the 1998 Godzilla. Even while it's similar to Jurassic Park, it's completely unique and stands on it's own as a fantastic story, great characters and fantastic beasts!
I devoured this book in a day, and was only sad when it was over, because I wanted to read it all again for the first time. Few books grab me so much and don't let go, but this one did from the beginning. While the first part is learning about the zoo, it's still interesting and then once the action starts, it doesn't stop until the end!!
If you haven't tried Reilly before and like action even a tiny bit, I HIGHLY recommend his books and I definitely recommend starting with The Great Zoo of China. I think it's his best, and I've loved all his books, though Contest wasn't a favorite but I read that back when I was still pretty picky about books and it was out there for me, at the time. But TGZoC is definitely a fantastic start. It's Reilly on a grand scale and it's just a fantastic and enjoyable, completely unrealistic read. It's fabulous. I definitely recommend The Great Zoo of China to fans of action adventure. Any men who love their books with gun blazing and things blowing up will definitely become a fan of this book and of Reilly himself. While us ladies who like those kinds of books are fewer, I know there are others of you out there who would love this. If Jurassic Park is one of your favorite movies, or books, definitely pick The Great Zoo of China up. It'll only be better if they make a movie of it, and I REALLY hope that they do!!
The Great Zoo of China is FANTASTIC!! Read it now!!
Setting = A+
Plot = A+
Conflict = A+
Characters = A+
Theme = A+
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,449 reviews