The Great Zoo of China
“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 and cheese but ours dont have sesame seeds”
This scene above is from the movie Coming to America and has a proud father explaining why his restaurant totally different to McDonald’s and 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. In my opinion he did not do enough. 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.
I 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 not met the heights that many of his previous books have reached.
I’d love to see Reilly go back to smaller and more intimate stories and make them bigger, faster etc. 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 recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
