I'm really torn about "Sphere". I've read books that I instantly loved and ones that I disliked and stopped reading. "Sphere" somehow managed to keep me in the middle ground all the way to the end. I disliked many things, but the story and pace was interesting enough to keep me going. "Sphere" got me really hooked in the first half. Throw in some mystery from outer space, some future science and black holes with time travel and I'm instantly hooked on your book. But at the same time I already didn't like the cliche characters and the dialogue. But the action had a good enough pace to keep me going and I hoped for the best that the characters wouldn't get in the way too much. But oh boy did they get in the way. Michael Crichton had a firm idea how his story needed to advance and play out and disregarded logic and character actions. Illogical actions and implausible reactions to nearly all situations are really a common theme throughout the whole book. Although this really damped the story for me, I didn't stopped reading because I wanted to know how this all plays out. In the end my time with "Sphere" was worth it, but this story could've been so much more.