I have to say, "The Lost World" really lost me (badum tish).

In terms of what it does right, the novel does have a number of really great world-building elements. An ecosystem that contains both dinosaurs and extinct mammalian megafauna - now that's a dope setup. The fact that there are humans (Homo sapiens) living simultaneously with ape-men (Australopithecines?) is also a really cool scenario from an anthropological point of view. Ultimately, the problem lies with the lame humans traversing this otherwise-exciting environment.

Anticipating that the lens of the narrative would most likely be seeped in colonial-era paternalism, I sincerely tried to set aside moral relativism and understand the characters within context. Well at their core they suck; Challenger is an arrogant blowhard whose propensity for macho shenanigans would get him killed in a real-life expedition, and Malone is the quintessential, self-proclaimed 'nice guy.' Seriously, these guys had me rooting for the ape-men.

Similar to how Malone cannot figure out how to appeal romantically to Gladys (dude, she's just not that into you), the prose is prosaic and does not really elevate the material. I really thought I was going to like this story, at least aesthetically, so this was a bummer.