The Great Zoo of China

by Matthew Reilly

Overview

Now in mass-market—the action-packed thriller in the blockbuster and bestselling tradition of Jurassic Park from #1 internationally bestselling author Matthew Reilly!

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…

“Plenty of action....For over-the-top adventure addicts, a Reilly novel is like a new roller coaster opening at Great America. Lines form, fans swoon” (Booklist).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476749570
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	178,493
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 4.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Matthew Reilly is the New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Four Legendary Kingdoms, The Tournament, The Great Zoo of China, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Six Sacred Stones, Seven Deadly Wonders, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, and Scarecrow Returns, as well as the children’s book Hover Car Racer and the novella Hell Island. His books have been published in more than twenty languages in twenty countries, and he has sold more than 7.5 million copies worldwide. Visit him at MatthewReilly.com and at Facebook.com/OfficialMatthewReilly.

Editorial Reviews

11/10/2014
In this entertaining if derivative science thriller from bestseller Reilly (Scarecrow Returns), Chinese officials invite a group of Americans to the opening of a new, groundbreaking zoo in Guangdong Province. On arrival, the guests—who include the U.S. ambassador to China, a New York Times columnist, and the book’s plucky heroine, herpetologist CJ Cameron, who’s covering the event for National Geographic—are stunned to discover that the Chinese have somehow managed to populate the zoo with a “unique kind of dinosaur.” Cable car rides enable people to be right in the middle of flying dragons. Of course, electricity-based protective measures are supposed to insure their safety, but, inevitably, system failures send CJ and the others scrambling to survive. While some readers may consider this more of a rip-off than an homage to Jurassic Park, Reilly makes both the existence of the legendary beasts and the Chinese motivation to launch the project plausible. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-11-06
Dragons, crocodiles and Communist Party bureaucrats abound in Reilly's (Scarecrow Returns, 2012, etc.) latest thriller."China does big better than any other country, including America," says New York Times columnist Seymour Wolfe, one of a handful of Americans invited by the Chinese government to tour a new zoo, a massive project to rival the Great Wall in ambition and splendor. Also on the tour is CJ Cameron, who was a renowned herpetologist until an alligator attack left her scarred and wary of large reptiles. Little does she know how much she'll need to rely on her scientific expertise when the star attractions of the zoo are revealed to be 232 dragons living under electromagnetic domes in a man-made "primordial valley." There's little action in the first hundred pages of the book while the author tries to establish the scientific plausibility of dragons that have escaped detection in the modern world. The dragons are said to be archosaurs—with similar features to pterodactyls—that survived extinction 65 million years ago by hibernating beneath thick layers of nickel and zinc deposits. The Chinese have been working on observing, raising and training the dragons for 40 years, but of course, they underestimate the intelligence of these beasts, and things go horribly wrong. Despite the many encyclopedic explanations of reptilian biology and behavior, as well as maps and illustrations of the zoo's various areas and control rooms interspersed throughout the book, no amount of plausibility can overcome the lack of character development or the monotony of relentless action sequences. Although CJ is a smart and brave heroine, the other characters are virtually indistinguishable from one another, and none of the relationships are deepened. This is Jurassic Park retold, without enough of a twist to make the retelling seem necessary.

Kirkus Reviews

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