My favorite book I read this year is Prey by Michael Crichton. Published in 2002, the novel details the nano-robotic industry’s business transactions that destroy the relationship between protagonist Jack Forman and his wife Julia. After being hired by Xymos, a big nano-bot company, Jack is hired to restrain and destroy a destructive and quickly evolving swarm of black nano-particles that systematically and swiftly suffocates and consumes the flesh of the animals and of the workers of the Xymos fabrication plant at which the particles are made. The plot is filled with many surprises and is relatively unpredictable. This was one of the books that I just could not stop thinking about. The strongest aspect of this novel is Crichton’s fast-paced and suspenseful writing style, which strongly appealed to me because Crichton always left me wondering what would happen next. Characterization was not extremely important, but the plot is extremely well developed, and it definitely involves a number of exciting cliffhangers, violent deaths, and explosions. The biological and technological aspects of the evolution of a learning swarm are thoroughly and carefully explained and applied so that I, the reader, was interested but not overwhelmed by the scientific information. In fact, I think Crichton made a very bold move by including all the scientific data; by explaining the reasons behind the swarm’s evolution, the general plot of the novel became more interesting and more coherent. On account of its thrilling plot and interesting scientific information, Prey has definitely earned its spot as my favorite book this year.
