The Great Zoo Of China By Matthew Reilly – Here Be Dragons!
I read The Contest by Matthew Reilly a few years ago and it was daft, but really good fun. The Great Zoo of China is similar.
I don’t know if this will annoy Mr Reilly or fans, but the book is essentially Jurassic Park with dragons. It just is. But that’s not really a bad thing. It was a description I’d read elsewhere, and the reason why I bought the book.
What’s it all about?
Here is the blurb from the back of the book:
It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years. They have proven the existence of dragons—a landmark discovery no one could ever believe is real, and a scientific revelation that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing findings within the greatest zoo ever constructed.
A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see these 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 the dragons are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong. Of course it can’t…
Intrigued? I was. I had just finished an epic 1000-page book, and this was exactly the kind of shallow, ludicrous fun I was after.
Review: The Great Zoo of China – Matthew Reilly Unleashes Jurassic Park with Dragons
The synopsis above sums up the plot pretty well. Just think of a group of people, some expert scientists, some not, getting chased all over a park by dragons and barely escaping death repeatedly.
What I liked about it
It’s ridiculously, almost relentlessly, exciting. There were some quieter moments, but I read the book in a couple of days. Looking back, it felt like a sequence of short chapters, with every one of them ending in a perilous situation. Like the sucker I am, I just had to know what happened next. Matthew Reilly can certainly make you turn a page.
There are some incredible set pieces that all felt like someone describing a preposterously CGI explosion-filled ending to a high budget film. When you have an angry dragon that can throw a car, plus a disposable army that works for the baddies, you’re all set for epic scenes of carnage.
CJ is a pretty decent protagonist. She is capable and believable, and keeps a cool head no matter how desperate and hopeless things seem (which is how things seem most of the book). I also liked one of the dragons, but that might venture into spoiler territory.
What I wasn’t so keen on and you might not like
I don’t want to be mean to Matthew Reilly, but he had previously mentioned in interviews how much he loves Jurassic Park. And it shows. However, as I said, this description is why I bought the book and it delivers. It does mean that the story kind of has to develop with identical story beats, though. Experts are flown in, everything is explained, things go tits up, narrow escapes from huge but cool monsters, etc.
Most of the characters are stereotypes that just seem to serve a purpose. Some are also so blatantly going to turn out to be bad guys that there aren’t really any plot twists. Still, complex character arcs and development are unlikely in this kind of book.
As I’ve mentioned, and as you’ll expect, The Great Zoo of China is exciting, with the protagonists regularly getting into some seemingly impossible to escape scenarios. And then escaping. It’s a page turner, but it can get a little tiring at times.
The cliff hangers also result in some escapes that are almost 60s-TV-Batman levels of unlikely. There’s a scene on a jetty that was just… I can’t go on because of spoilers, but it was a stretch. You will need broaden your acceptibility of what’s plausable further than usual. Having said all that, it was kind of fun. Imagine an excited group of male teens told to invent a series of action scenes that just look cool. But in written form.
Final thoughts
If you have read a Matthew Reilly book before and enjoyed it – you’ll enjoy this. If the premise of a Jurassic Park but with dragons sounds awesome – you’ll also like it. I did. It might not win awards for subtlety, but if you want dragons and carnage and death-defying escapes, The Great Zoo of China doesn’t disappoint.