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The Great Zoo of China
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Reilly, Matthew - The Great Zoo of China - Informal Buddy Read; Start January 12, 2015
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Excited about a new Matthew Reilly! Glad I got a Netgalley. :)
Athena (Shardbearer) wrote: "I'm in."yesssss!
I just won a copy of this today, if this arrives soon I would love to join!
Jump in when you can. We will all use spoiler tags to protect the secrets!!!
I just got a copy of this through Netgalley too. Unfortunately, I won't be able to start with all of you in January, but I'll pop in later. It sounds so interesting, I can't wait to read it.
Wow!! Can't believe y'all are doing this. That's great. Unfortunately I can't join in, I just read it in Nov. Best book released in 2014, in my opinion.Are those of you who are reading it Reilly fans, or with this be your first? I've read him for years, and have read everything he's written, except The Tournament & Troll Mountain: The Complete Novel. I'll probably still follow y'all reading it. I loved it so very much!!
I purchased this on the weekend. Have already started it and up to page 116 already. I can not put it down.
Aaargh! No! I so want to read this as my husband bought us a copy some time before Christmas but I haven't been able to fit it in yet and have way too many other books lined up for January.Hopefully if I can get to it by Feb someone else might still be reading and willing to discuss it then....
Karsyn wrote: "Wow!! Can't believe y'all are doing this. That's great. Unfortunately I can't join in, I just read it in Nov. Best book released in 2014, in my opinion.Are those of you who are reading it Rei..."
Karsyn: I'm definitely a big Reilly fan. I've read quite a few of his books now and love them. My husband used to read him before we met and got me onto him and I've never looked back.
He has an amazing talent of packing in so much action in a single book (even though it's nowhere near believable!)
Michelle - I'm not able to discuss it in January either (Feb will even be a tight squeeze!). I have too many book obligations already. I'll discuss it with you later. :)
Karsyn - This is my first Reilly book. It sounds so good, I can't wait to read it. I may have to check out more of his stuff later.
Michelle I totally agree... Unbelievable but completely and amazingly FUN! I love the Jack West Jr books
This will be my first book I read of his! So excited!
This will be my first book, I'm eagerly awaiting it's arrival!
Steven wrote: "Michelle I totally agree... Unbelievable but completely and amazingly FUN! I love the Jack West Jr books"Yes, those books were awesome. I read them all nearly back to back and felt sad when it all ended.
I was sad too. I think I read somewhere that he has considered doing more in the future. I hope so. I like them better than the Scarecrow ones
Gonna read a chapter or two of this tonight, but *really* want to start Firefight tonight too. :)Firefight
Michelle wrote: "Karsyn: I'm definitely a big Reilly fan."My hubby also got me into Reilly! When we first got together he had me read Ice Station, still his favorite Reilly book and I've been reading him ever since. I love both Scarecrow and Jack West and I look forward to more of either.
I only haven't read The Tournament and Troll Mountain. They aren't normally my kind of books, but I'm going to try to read them at some point, just because it's Reilly.
I definitely look forward to re-reading Great Zoo at some point. I hope to get it on audio, and listen to it, it should be fun to listen to.
Nice to see so many new to Reilly people. Great Zoo was unputdownable. I barely got up the day I got it from NetGalley. :) Can't wait to hear what you all think.
Put all the other books down and get to this one, you won't regret it. Plus, a female main character is GREAT. It's a change from Shane & Jack. It's great!
I need to get back to Scarecrow, as I've only read Ice Station. Maybe this will inspire me! I also have Contest and haven't read it. And not really interested in the Hover Car ones. (Don't get me started on Troll Mountain. DID. NOT. LIKE.)If you like Matthew Reilly, you'd probably like James Rollins and Steve Berry :)
Steven wrote: "I need to get back to Scarecrow, as I've only read Ice Station. Maybe this will inspire me! I also have Contest and haven't read it. And not really interested in the Hover Car ones. (Don't get ..."Contest was the 2nd of his books that I read and the only one I didn't like. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Hover Car Racer. It's definitely middle school level, but it's such a feel good book. I stayed up all night listening to it on audio. It's definitely a change from the rest of his books, but it was very enjoyable for me.
I'm worried I won't like Troll Mt or The Tournament, just because they aren't my kind of books, but I'll give 'em a try, at some point.
I haven't tried Rollins or Berry yet. I have a Rollins to try. The most similar author I've found I enjoy are the Andy McDermott's.
You have to try Rollins. One of my top favorite authors ever. His books are very Reilly-esque, but with less of the implausible moments (ie the falcon turning off the trap at the beginning of Seven Deadly Wonders).
Read about 15% last night. Really fun intro, though it is really, really similar to Jurassic Park. But I'm okay with that because (view spoiler)I agree that it's nice he finally wrote a strong female protagonist. It's about time!
Steven wrote: "Read about 15% last night. Really fun intro, though it is really, really similar to Jurassic Park. But I'm okay with that because [spoilers removed]I agree that it's nice he finally wrote a str..."
I'm already 5% in and enjoying it. The hint of dragons..reptiles is so interesting.
I've gotten up to about 22%ish. I've just not been in a reading mood for like a week. If you hadn't noticed, I've been awol! X)
Steven wrote: "I've gotten up to about 22%ish. I've just not been in a reading mood for like a week. If you hadn't noticed, I've been awol! X)"Lol, I totally understand. I've actually been really really busy working. And I've missed all my books. I'm going to catch up some more today.
I have finished and loved it ★★★★
My copy came in the mail today - looking forward to starting!!
Got back to this last night. Read from 22% to ~40%. Non-stop action.I don't feel like it's as well-written as some of his older stuff, but it's still fun. Plus, (view spoiler)
Steven wrote: "Got back to this last night. Read from 22% to ~40%. Non-stop action.I don't feel like it's as well-written as some of his older stuff, but it's still fun. Plus, [spoilers removed]"
I agree with the writing. It sometimes seems childish, but I am enjoying the story. (view spoiler)
(view spoiler)It's weird that after his wife died, Reilly's writing got REALLY bad. I couldn't even get through Troll Mountain, and this one just doesn't seem polished or adult-like in it's writing.
Makes me wonder how much involvement she had in his writing... my brain thought up that maybe SHE wrote the stuff but wanted HIM to be the "face" of it... and now she's gone and he's still around and trying to pick up the pieces and live up to the name. X) Weird thought, I know.
Steven wrote: "[spoilers removed]It's weird that after his wife died, Reilly's writing got REALLY bad. I couldn't even get through Troll Mountain, and this one just doesn't seem polished or adult-like in it's ..."
No, that makes total sense. I've never read any of his other work but that could of been it. This writing so far is childish..I hate to admit it, but doesn't mean that its not engaging.
He's always been over the top, for sure, but this one he's abusing exclamation points and such HAHA
Steven wrote: "Makes me wonder how much involvement she had in his writing..."I never thought of that, but I think this is the first I've read since then. Tournament and Troll Mt aren't my kind of books so though it's him, I've had trouble finding interest in reading it.
I bet it's just her death that's affected him, in every way. I don't know how he can function after all that and how it all played out. He's incredible.
I'm glad everyone is loving the book so far. The over the top stuff is what I love.
I tried my first Rollins, Steven. I read Sandstorm and found it very boring. :( I'll give one more a try at some point, but he definitely wasn't on par with the full out action I enjoy of Reilly and McDermott.
Push on in the series, Karsyn. I didn't care for Sandstorm much at all, but had already read some of his standalones which I liked a lot, and Map of Bones really kicks it up a notch! In fact, Sandstorm is probably my least favorite of ALL of his books!!!
Okay, so I finally finished this last night. Was it my favorite Reilly book? No. But was it FUN? Yes, it was. It was loads of fun. Not the best written, not my favorite of all his works, and by far not the most believable/realistic. But my biggest expectation with a Reilly book is FUN, and he definitely hit the mark.
I ended with a 4 star rating -- 3 stars for overall and an extra star for a strong female protag and an awesome yellow dragon (Lucky).
I have to say that I did like CJ and Lucky is awesome cute! I want her!!!! It was over the top but I think its was great entertainment.
Athena (Shardbearer) wrote: "I have to say that I did like CJ and Lucky is awesome cute! I want her!!!! It was over the top but I think its was great entertainment."YES! Who wouldn't want a Lucky??? :D
Steven wrote: "Athena (Shardbearer) wrote: "I have to say that I did like CJ and Lucky is awesome cute! I want her!!!! It was over the top but I think its was great entertainment."YES! Who wouldn't want a Luck..."
She was totally cute and badass.
As I said in my update, I read Jurassic Park for the first time 2 months ago. (I haven't seen the movie either). So it's very fresh and exciting in my mind...not a fond memory from 25 years ago. This book would better if Jurassic Park were a fond memory. It's like the generic version of Jurassic Park, the same but not as good. So far, nothing unexpected has happened. It's incredibly predictable, without deep character development to set that off.
I've only read one Matthew Reilly book prior to this, Ice Station. That's not a big enough sample for me to say that his writing has suffered since his wife's suicide, but I can't imagine coming out of that unscathed and it's just been a relatively short period of time since.
I still have a bit to go, so maybe he'll pull something out of his hat.
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Firefight (other topics)The Tournament (other topics)
Troll Mountain (other topics)
The Great Zoo of China (other topics)
Book Synopsis:
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.