Jurassic Park: Dead Islands

by Fabien Delage

Dig up the past and jump into action with this captivating prequel to Jurassic Park. Do you have what it takes to unlock the secrets of the Five Deaths? Summer of 1984. Australian forensic Kenneth Turner and his 10 year-old daughter Aileen are flying back home when something terrible happens. After a nightmarish time lost at sea, they are eventually rescued by fishermen off the coast of Central America. Turner and all other survivors are then taken to an island shrouded in mystery. There, they are placed under quarantine. But why are they kept under lock and key in the medical center? And what are those electrified fences for? The crash survivors are going to learn the hard way that a paramilitary group is occupying the premises. The soldiers all work for an enigmatic company called inGen. What is going on in this facility? What are they really up to on site C? Why is the archipelago marked as “maximum security prison” on the maps? Something out of this world is happening on Isla Matanceros, something beautiful and dangerous. Turner and his daughter are going to find themselves at the heart of a hazardous operation involving more than just politics and science. Groundbreaking medical treatments, futuristic food-processing solutions, mass rearing and technology patents are just the tip of the iceberg. What if inGen was hiding a far more spectacular discovery? A discovery that could change the world of genetics forever. But things will not go as planned and the survivors will have to face hardship as South American arms traffickers decide to visit the island. The threat is real. Go back to where it all began, 8 years before the events of Jurassic Park! Find out who the scientists, rangers and inGen workers involved in the creation of the iconic park were. The path is littered with pitfalls and, although the islands look magical, they also turn out to be deadly. Jurassic Dead Islands introduces brand new characters encountering new dinosaur species in hostile territory. How will they tackle these terrifying situations? InGen creatures may be young, but they are definitely lethal… Yet the real monsters may not be the ones roaming the forest. Will Kenneth and Aileen manage to escape safe and sound? Sign the non-disclosure agreement and enter the world of Jurassic Park. The legend unfolds before your very eyes and, like all legends, it’s made of blood, sweat and tears. Will you survive the origins of the myth?Includes never-before-seen original artworks by Robert Jack, Aram Papazyan & Yerlik Zharylgapov

Genres: Adventure, Science Fiction

371 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Chad Diehl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great storyline but the format and misspelled words really throw the reader off, especially when there's more than one person talking. Not sure if the author even knows how to properly format in the manuscript, much less the publishing company... Unless it's self publishing? Either way, once I saw how the book was treated in such a manner, I found myself to be very disappointed but had to read it still. Like I said, great storyline.... But everything else format-wise sucked.

[Michael J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It reminded me of a first draft.

The formatting was bad. The punctuation was bad. The name usage changed, making it confusing. The story was clunky. It could've used a decent editor reading it before publishing. It seemed like fan service more than anything.

[Brookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

How do you make a book about DINOSAURS boring? Read this book and find out.

[Mkittysamom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was okay

It was cool to see the beginnings of ingen. I’m confused to who the characters are supposed to be though, beside the very last 2. I think this was supposed to be a prequel to Jurassic Park..? I felt elements of all the movies blended together in this story.. and kinda wish one would’ve gotten eaten in funnier ways like the guy hiding on the toilet! I guess at this point.. the cycle of islands and disasters is getting old..since it’s always a parent seeking a lost child or family members and then people trying to survive till help arrives. Makes sense that other companies are trying to get their hands on ingen’s tech.. but if it’s soooo secret how does anyone know..that’s never explained. Also the goofy plot line with a random pirate stumbling on the island is new but not very interesting. I feel like certain “scenes” in the book were familiar, as I’ve seen them played out onscreen or in the books. And really there isn’t much new info.. I mean the same story to how the dinosaurs are made is the same as told by Mr. DNA. I liked Mr. DNA better than the scientists. Oh and “Life goes on..” or “Life finds a way..”. I think my fav part was the triceratops birth, but how do you compare a dino with a beak to a puppy? Come on! And the little girl barely gets to touch her! I forgot her name it starts with an A.. I dunno.. it was just ok. Not necessarily needed yet kinda wrapping up some things.l wish there was a map though of the islands because it’s hard to picture all the sites especially the one that was super hidden? 5 islands 2 bought by ingen and 1 island nobody knows about I think?

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this book expecting to enjoy it, but was sadly disappointed. The story has a good foundation, but it’s poorly executed. It would have profited from a thorough edit prior to release for grammar, spelling, and formatting, but the real shame is the one-dimensional and shallow character writing.

I never expected it to be Chrichton-level, but it was not really even passable. Two stars because of the artwork in the back of the book, and the kernel of enjoyable story that was, sadly, so poorly executed.

[Joe Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this book was free, it may have earned a second star. I wish someone would have edited this. Riddled with misspellings and exclamation points. I regret purchasing this. There were seeds of an interesting story, but it was full of pointless gore, poorly written dialogue, and exclamation points. Everything was explained through dialogue, no matter who the characters were or how much we knew about them. In this 300 page book, there are roughly 3,000 exclamation points, conservatively estimating. Avoid.

[Cristian Espinoza · Rating 1 out of 5]

This comes across as Jurassic Park fan fiction. Littered with spelling errors and the way the dialogue has been formatted leads me to believe this was self published. I can’t believe any publishing house would have released this book in this state. Story was ok but poorly executed. A lot of narration between characters described as doing any kind of action so when the author wrote, “she said,” I had to read back a few paragraphs to find out who was actually speaking, cannot recommend this at all.

[John Friend · Rating 4 out of 5]

If your a jurassic park fan this will not waste your time. I did find the characters to be easily confused but maybe that was just me, and I think they used the one smuggler to create too many situations. I found that part to be frustrating. Like someone or something kill this guy already!!!!

[Will Gibbs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Needs major editing. Lots of issues with formatting, pacing, character development, etc. The formatting of the book was borderline unreadable, especially with conversations.

[Alicia Thistle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story! I'm a fan of anything dinosaur and Jurassic Park related. I found the descriptive writing a little lacking and some detail could have been omitted. I often couldn't figure out the dinosaur being described. The illustrations at the back of the book were helpful. Overall, it was a good read with the last third of the book being the most action-packed.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25⭐️. Please get a proofreader!

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

An airplane crashes.
The five survivors end up on an island.
Site c
Stuck in a bunker where no one will tell them any answers, but the five try and find out answers on their own. Two sneak off in different ways, finding the answers they have been seeking… but will they want those answers after all?
This is not very scientific, but it’s on Kindle Unlimited, and it was a very quick read. I enjoyed it. And liked the pictures at the end of the book. Overall, a solid 3.

[Aaron Krell]

This book even though it isn't considered cannon. I think it is one of the best, as I like how it might be considered a prequel to the Jurassic Park novel. The reason I say novel is cause the way that some of the dinosaurs are; is like how they are in Jurassic Park the novel. Such as dilophosaurus being the exact size, and the carnotaurus have the camouflage ability. If you are a fan of Jurassic Park the novel, then give this book a read.

[Marie Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh

I had such high hopes for this as well. The basic premise was great but the execution was poor. Badly written and rushed in places with a lack of description in important parts of the story

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

So hard to read with bad formatting and grammatical errors. This really could have done with another edit and less information being introduced at the last minute.

[Veronica Gochnour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had great potential but needs heavy editing and help holding attention

I was really excited to read this, I just finished another book written by one of Micheal Crichton’s protégés as a follow up to “The Andromedia Strain” (forgot the name of book and actual author because I just read to much and it’s hard to keep that technical part of a book straight in my mind but it was very good and should be easy to find if you are interested) and was happily surprised at the quality and work that went into that book to make it feel like it was written by Crichton himself. I had extremely high hopes for this book but unfortunately it just didn’t live up to any of them. I am not one of those people easily bothered by spelling mistakes, however after a certain amount they start to bother me IF they are due completely to a lack of hitting basic spellcheck at all (I am more forgiving of books that at least hit spellcheck but has mistakes that would require an actual human reading them like “they” accidentally input at “the” and “he” instead of “her” the type that spellcheck misses because they are actually words, I know not all new authors can afford an editor but basic spellcheck mistakes like this book repeatedly has just start annoying me after a while. Had that been the only issue honestly I wouldn’t have minded too much, but it was just the beginning of the problems for this book. The writing itself was just… subpar. Not awful but not even close to what I was hoping for as a prequel to something like Jurassic Park. I found myself wishing the book would end which is very unlike me, and felt the urge to just stop reading and start something else (which unfortunately I can only do in the most extreme cases of bad books and movies, I am that person who finishes the whole movie when everyone else has walked out). The characters had potential, the storyline had potential, the writing itself had potential but still nothing felt finished, or perhaps it felt rushed, I really just don’t know how to put into words EXACTLY what was missing but it was something important (and that’s in addition to an editor).
I feel like this book COULD some day be a 4 star book if the author were to get an editor and possibly join a writing group to help fix that something that it needs (I am a reader not a writer so I don’t claim to think I know what that something is).
Overall I can’t honestly say I enjoyed reading it but I also can’t say I hated it. I do think that for some people this could and would be described as a good book as some people are not as picky as I am when it comes to reading prequels and sequels of great books (I think I expect more than I would from a totally new concept).

[Asa Castaneda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that it was an okay book. If you enjoyed the original Jurassic park book/ movies then you’ll probably enjoy this too. I felt like the book kept changing. The plot was very inconsistent. We started from being locked in some medical lab where they didn’t want the characters to see what they were really doing on the island. Then out of no where they want to show them EVERYTHING that their doing on the island. Which stuff like that happened several more times. Then in the middle of the book this group of Hispanic “pirates” go onto the island to look for their treasure. And basically end up destroying everything on the island to where they decide to just give up on the island. Then they go to another island and THE SAME THING HAPPENS. I felt like no matter what nothing could kill these pirates(except for the dinosaurs). But seriously, when billets were flying at these guys they hit everything but the pirates. And also the characters were very hard to keep track of. I couldn’t tell who was speaking half the time. Most of the time when I read I picture what’s happening in my head. But I could barely do that due to not knowing what was happening most of the time. Overall if you’re bored, or just love the Jurassic park series, I would recommend this book.

[Reuben George Stell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected…

I expected a Jurassic Park book not a mediocre action story set in the Jurassic park universe. It’s not even a particularly good action story and it has very little to do with the Jurassic Park universe. I expected a story about the early stages of the park and the difficulties and problems with the initial batch of Dino’s. Maybe problems with the DNA or something along those lines. What I got was a story involving armed drug runners that kidnapped a couple of guests and then the rescue of said guests. What does any of that have to do with Jurassic Park?! Nothing at all. Not recommended.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Avoid. At all costs.

It doesn't matter how hardcore a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise you think you are, I promise you, you don't like it enough to push through this. There is nothing to recommend.

This book - and I hesitate to use that term, because this is clearly just a self-published fanfic - made me question my no-DNF policy about ten pages in and it never let up.

I cannot believe this thing has as high a rating as it does on this app. I really wish goodreads allowed partial stars in their ratings. A full star seems too generous.

[Brit (Circus_of_Damed) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Jurassic park, both the books and movies, so when I saw this on Kindle Unlimited I had to pick it up. However this didn't land for me personally. The dinosaurs were lacking and the novel focused instead on plane crashes and smugglers invading. All the characters felt one dimensional and flat. The formating of the ebook was a little strange as well. Overall just not for me, mostly because I was hoping for more in a Jurrasic Park or dinosaur novel.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a really good book

I loved that they had so many dinosaurs and as a Jurassic park fan myself I really liked this book and a lot of dinosaurs that were not even in the novels for both of the Michael Creighton books! Overall I think it was a thrilling book that kept you at the edge of your seat the whole time from near death experiences with the characters and dinosaur fights it was honestly very exciting and it was kind of gory.

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's decent enough for fan fiction. I enjoyed being able to consume more of the Jurassic Park universe, even if it's not canon. Dead Islands doesn't have the same flavor as Crichton's novels. I enjoyed the "side projects" that the author imagined for Site C, but the story lacked the scientific rigor and philosophical undertones that Crichton's work was known for. This felt more like a rough screenplay than a novel. Could definitely use some copy editing. I'd be curious to see how the author handles their own original story rather than fan fiction.

A better spin-off than The Cursed Child, haha.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alot happened in this book which seems to be a prequel to Jurassic Park.... most of the story takes place on "site c".
There were tons of characters and many small side plots and it took some getting used to format for conversation. Some of the side plots and their endings seemed a bit rushed. Still not a bad book if your into Jurassic Park stuff.

[Nicholas Grylls · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was very interesting and had the Jurassic Park feel. However, there was an issue with the writing. Either the original writing, the translation to English or amazon’s process of converting from book to digital went widely astray. Major grammer issues and improper word usage made the great story very difficult to read.

[Katy Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Read for Jurassic park fans

It's a great new look at how the islands started and the characters are interesting and makes you want to root for their survival. It would have been 5 stars apart from some grammar mistakes that made it slightly harder to read at times but there story is so good it doesn't matter!

[Kat McGowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the variety of dinosaurs in this book. The formatting though was unbearable I feel like the ebook accidentally published the rough draft version. The were also a lot of situations where the plot either resolved itself or didn’t really go anywhere. Really disappointing since I’m a huge fan of the franchise even the bad movies were entertaining this wasn’t.

[Tracy L. Mateer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining prequel

This is basically a prequel to Jurassic Park which gives insight into the start of the whole thing with InGen. There are typos and punctuation errors aplenty but it is worth a read. Didn’t know, until I finished the book, that there were illustrations at the end of the book! Might’ve been nice to have those where the creatures appear

[Deana Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lack of editing means DNF

Despite the hideous grammar errors and even the professional omission of the main character in the book description, I gave the book a chance, but the grammar and formatting errors were only part of the problem. At about 30%, you get slammed into the B story with no preparation, no indication there even was a B-story in the offing, and I gave up.

[Daniel L Kalyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but loads of typos

The title says it all. Sometimes half of the stuff didn't make sense. Sentences would repeat parts, be spelt entirely wrong e.g: "He was was scohkd."
That needs to be fixed
Other than that, good book!

[Jess Yaukey-Witter · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a dinosaur/jurassic park fan, I’m happy I read it but it was definitely a slower pace read than I expected and I didn’t find myself wanting to pick it up. Maybe just wasn’t in the right mood when I read it!