Mass Market Paperback, 371 pages
English language
Published April 17, 1994 by Ballantine Books.
In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge spaceship is discovered resting on the ocean floor.
Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descend together into the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery.
What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old... --back cover
In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge spaceship is discovered resting on the ocean floor.
Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descend together into the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery.
What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old... --back cover
This is my fourth Michael Chrichton book, and I am beginning to understand the template. An expert in his field, pulled away to an isolated location, where humans are meddling with forces beyond their full understanding. The under water setting was unnerving. It worked. I turned the pages.
Quick review.
I've read several Crichton titles, and consider him pretty much a master or adept at the genre. Wasn't sure if Sphere would interest me (even if a book is well done, if it's not your sort of book, it's not for you), but there it was in the pile, so I started reading it about a week ago.
It seemed a slow starter, but that could have been me. The premise is that a team of people are sent to a deep water environment to investigate what turns out to be some kind of space ship (?) or time travel space ship (?) with an alien artifact (?) that has some strange effects on people.
Crichton seems to have done his homework, as usual, in terms of the technical stuff -- a deep-water habitat has its quirks.
This is more of a psychological thriller, although there is definitely …
Quick review.
I've read several Crichton titles, and consider him pretty much a master or adept at the genre. Wasn't sure if Sphere would interest me (even if a book is well done, if it's not your sort of book, it's not for you), but there it was in the pile, so I started reading it about a week ago.
It seemed a slow starter, but that could have been me. The premise is that a team of people are sent to a deep water environment to investigate what turns out to be some kind of space ship (?) or time travel space ship (?) with an alien artifact (?) that has some strange effects on people.
Crichton seems to have done his homework, as usual, in terms of the technical stuff -- a deep-water habitat has its quirks.
This is more of a psychological thriller, although there is definitely a sci-fi tech element.
For whatever reason, I wasn't crazy about it. As I got to the end, instead of suffering anxiety over finishing a gripping book (it really is one that you just keep reading), I was rather looking forward to wrapping it up.
