Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: There's better sci-fi around

I found Sphere to be pleasantly diverting for a few days, but I guess I'm spoiled by reading novels of late that are actual "literature". Crichton's writing here just doesn't make the cut. His characters are cardboard (even though he tries to give some a PC twist, like the black mathematician), his prose is utilitarian, terse and vocabulary limited (e.g., he used the word "uneasy" twice in two pages to describe one character who was lying and one who had a stomach ache), and much of his "science" is hokey (I say that as a scientist). On the plus side, he does know how to concoct a clever, suspenseful story and reel out just enough of it at a time to keep you turning the pages. My advice if you like sci-fi adventure: your time is better spent reading real writers like Asimov, Verne, Wells, Bradbury, Heinlein and many others.