Jurassic Park Wiki
Register
Advertisement

This page needs serious attention!


Stub
This article does not currently meet the standards set at
Park Pedia: The Jurassic Park Wiki. Please feel free to edit it, and pose any
questions you might have on the article's talk page.

The Evolution of Claire is an American Young-Adult novel written by Tess Sharpe that is a prequel to the movie Jurassic World and is canon to the Jurassic Park movies. The novel follows Claire Dearing, protagonist of the Jurassic World movies, in the year 2004 when she was an intern at the famed park. Largely showing her backstory and character history it also sees Claire grow from a mere university student into the capable woman whom eventually becomes Park Manager of Jurassic World.

The Evolution of Claire ​​​​was released on June 26, 2018, four days after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Plot[]

The Evolution of Claire begins with a prologue set in present-day 2018 describing Claire's post-traumatic stress. She moved back to her hometown after the incident at Jurassic World, partially to escape the government investigations and online conspiracy theories, but also to escape the nightmares she had been having every night since then. While unpacking in her new apartment, she finds an old box of mementos from her internship at Jurassic World, including her intern badge, postcards from Karen, an amber pin in the shape of a cicada, and her notebook, which housed a flower Justin had given to her. While looking at the pin, she realizes she needs to revert to the woman she was when she was nineteen—the woman she was before she went to Jurassic World.

After the prologue, the story starts during summer break in 2004 as Claire is packing up in her college dorm room, where she lives with her pet, a bearded dragon named Sally Ride, and another student, Regina. Claire and Regina reminisce about their time living together and then exchange gifts; Regina gives the amber cicada pin, and Claire gives a 1950s copy of Rumi’s Masnavi. Claire explains she wouldn’t have passed Professor Gillian's Poetry 101 class without Regina’s help, and Regina commends Claire for her determination to study politics and go to law school to champion better animal protection laws.

Karen arrives and meets Regina for the first time, relaying in a covert manner to Claire that their mother has been complaining Claire is too busy to see her family anymore. Claire wants to visit more often, but doesn’t have the funds or a car, and was chosen to be mentored by Professor Broadhurst, something very rare for a freshman. Claire is unsatisfied with the thought of living a small life like her sister. She wants a life that isn’t boring; one that always has a challenge for her, one where she always has an answer to every problem.

When Regina’s parents arrive, Regina and Claire make plans for next semester and say their goodbyes. With Regina gone, Claire and Karen reminisce about a time Claire brought a wounded fox to Karen’s dorm, which freaked out Karen’s roommate at the time. That brings up a memory of Claire’s childhood home, a little house on the outskirts of town next to a white beech grove, where her dad would farm bees and fix trucks. She finishes packing up and leaves with her sister.

On the ride, Claire says she’s applied to four law firm internships and one with a Ninth Circuit judge. She’s holding off on choosing until she hears back from the Masrani Corporation. She and Karen talk about boys, Zach, and their parents’ marital issues, making Claire feel even guiltier about not coming home more often. They eventually move on to Claire’s internship with the Masrani Corporation. Claire was twelve when pictures of John Hammond’s dinosaurs first surfaced and information on Jurassic Park was released. Karen reveals that despite all odds, Claire has been accepted into the Bright Minds program.

Claire and Karen arrive at their parents’ house, where Claire reunites with her family, including her dog, Earhart. Claire notices her mother isn’t exactly thrilled that she got accepted into the Bright Minds program during dinner, but this is only because she's incredibly worried. Alone in her room at night, Claire wavers between going through with the internship or choosing one of the others that will keep her closer to her family. In the morning, Claire and her mother have a conversation where Claire explains her reasoning behind her decision. She tells her mother that she’s going because it’s an incredibly unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but in truth, she wants to get close to Simon Masrani because he’s a very powerful man with a lot of connections that could aid her in her political venture. Claire confirms her choice later that day with Karen, and the two go shopping to prepare for living on Isla Nublar.

Claire boards a plane the next day, where she meets Justin Hendricks, who’s almost late for takeoff. Justin is a business major with an interest in chemistry. The two converse about the Bone Wars, and then segue into a discussion about Justin’s mother. The plane lands and the two part ways, only for them to both meet again by the shuttle for the ferry.

Claire and Justin meet Jessica, who is the assistant to Ms. Beverly Jamison, the director of the Bright Minds program. Justin asks how many species of dinosaur are on Isla Nublar and Jessica answers that there are five different herbivore species: a herd of Triceratops, four Brachiosauruses, over a dozen Parasaurolophuses, six young Ankylosauruses, and several Gallimimuses. She makes no mention of the carnivores, despite the public knowing there are carnivorous species on the island. She says they plan on opening with a total of eight herbivore species the following year. They reach the shuttle, meeting twins Tanya, a botanist, and Eric, a video enthusiast.

At the dock, Claire saves Tanya from a net full of fish that breaks above their heads. They’re introduced to another intern, Wyatt, who laughs at their near misfortune. Once in the ferry, Claire joins the large buffet set out, and sees that there are also vet technicians, trainers, scientists, and other Jurassic World personnel aboard. Claire reunites with Justin as they get their food, and they find a table with the rest of the interns, meeting Ronnie, a girl entering the United States Military Academy after summer break. The group gets into an argument with Wyatt for making sexist comments, ending when Justin steps in and warns Wyatt. With dinner finished, the interns are called to the front by Beverly, where she introduces herself and lets them know they’ll be arriving in twenty-two minutes. They’re able to see the lights and general shape of the island from the boat, and soon finally reach their destination, Isla Nublar.

At the island, the staff introduce themselves and the group goes to see their first dinosaur. From here, they fulfill various tasks such as feeding the Tyrannosaurus, rescuing a Triceratops stuck in thorny bushes and helping the islands lead geneticist Dr. Henry Wu incubate dinosaurs. Whilst at her hotel room, Claire finds a notebook hidden in the bedframe in her bed. The notebook details a previous interns fascination with the park's Brachiosaurus and her studies upon them. The journal also details the strange sickness the park's Brachiosaurus get when they eat strange types of food. Claire's stress invades her consciousness as she sees weird streaks of purple dart in front of her. Claire and Justin find the source of the strange sickness (a type of algae in the water supply).

As a new Velociraptor is shipped over, Claire and Justin suspect Wyatt is up to something sinister. Standing in front of a large fuse box are Tanya and Eric. Eric's wire cutters slip and cut the main power. The large steel gate in front of them opens and out of the darkness comes a hungry Velociraptor that had just woken up. All four of them run for a tree large enough to hop the walls of the training enclosure. Eric and Tanya make it safely but Justin and Claire don't have enough time. They run to the end and Justin sacrifices himself so that Claire can run. She remembers in the corner of each paddock is a box containing tasers, sent masking sprays and other weapons. Claire arms herself, hunts down the Velociraptor and successfully downs. Justin dies of his injuries and Claire is hospitalized. The twins motives are explained as espionage. If they succeeded, a pharmaceutical company would be able to heal their younger sister of her fatal heart conditions.

Claire and Simon speak at the Brachiosaurus Paddock some days after Claire's recovery. Claire confronts Simon over the diary she discovered and Simon reveals the truth. The Bright Minds Internship was not the first internship program and Masrani Global did cover up its existence. However, it was abandoned during a storm because she helped protect her favorite animals, the Brachiosaurus, instead of evacuating. This was in order to save them from their ailment the Park hadn't resolved. Claire is asked to keep her silence of what she has learned and she agrees but tells Masrani to pay for Eric and Tanya's sister's medical treatment as Claire agrees that Jurassic World is making strides and shouldn't be shut down. Masrani agrees and in turn offers Claire a job at the park and to stay on working for his company.

Claire accepts Masrani's offer to stay on Isla Nublar and turns to the Brachiosaur Pearl. Thus begins Claire's career which eventually leads to the woman she would become in Jurassic World.

Characters in the book[]

Species in the book[]

Trivia[]

  • The Evolution of Claire is one of two pieces of Jurassic World media which forgoes the brand name in its official title alongside Battle at Big Rock.
  • The Evolution of Claire reveals several key pieces of information regarding Claire Dearing and her background prior to Jurassic World:
    • Claire is revealed to have a phobia of needles and heights.
    • Claire had a pet blue tongued skink named Sally Ride and a dog that lived at home with her parents.
    • Claire's age is confirmed for the first time in canon. In 2004, she is stated to be 19 years old which would place her birthyear either in 1984 or 1985 and make Claire 30 years old in 2015 (during the events of Jurassic World), 33 years old in 2018 (during the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), and 37 years old in 2022 (during the events of Jurassic World: Dominion).
    • When Claire was twelve, she rescued a dog named Roo from a neglectful owner. It took six months to accomplish this, and that's when she made her decision to get into politics so she could make changes to the law.
  • The Evolution of Clarie is also the first time in the canon of the film series that Isla Nublar's Tyrannosaurus rex is called "Rexy" by the characters. Her name for years had been prior only known through promotional material and social media.
  • While the prologue is clearly set after the events of Jurassic World, the events of the novel are largely a prequel to that movie and take place three years after Jurassic Park III.
  • Claire mentions that it would take about ten years for a Brachiosaurus to reach full maturity. This would appear to conflict with the growth rate of Brachiosaurs in the first film, as those were adults by 1993 and were born in 1986 by the earliest, making them seven years old at most. Jack Ewins, one of the DPG writers, explained that this could be due to how the Brachiosaurus genes were manipulated.[1]
  • The Evolution of Claire is the first expanded media novel that is canon to the Jurassic Park film series. Jurassic World series producer Colin Trevorrow has also acknowledged the novel as film canon[2].
  • On page 261, Claire asks Masrani about the dinosaur population on Isla Sorna and his response is that "there are enough." He elaborates that, after Hammond's death, the greatest threat to the populations on both Nublar and Sorna was poaching rather than anything within the ecosystems themselves. 
  • There were no Velociraptors in Jurassic World until about eight months before the park opened, and they were first transported from Isla Sorna.
  • According to Bertie, every time an animal is transported from Sorna to Nublar and has settled in, Masrani holds a champagne toast at the top of the educational center, which everybody is required to attend.
  • Chapter 21 introduces a scent masking spray created by Dr. Wu and his team for the trainers and vets to use. It would make the humans smell as if they were part of the jungle, making it more difficult for predators to pinpoint their location. It is odorless and absorbed quickly into the skin.
  • There are five waterfalls on Nublar, of which three would be accessible to guests during the park's operation.
  • Nine months before Jurassic World opened, there were only five herbivore species integrated into their habitats (Ankylosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus, Parasaurolophus, and Triceratops). The  T. rex and Dilophosaurus were the only carnivores presently on the island until a Velociraptor was introduced about a month later.
  • Concept art and John Hammond's models of the original park were released to the public at some point prior to 2004.
  • The first hint of Masrani's plan to open Jurassic World came in the form of random packages delivered to journalists, social media influencers, actors, pop stars, and leading professors and minds of the world. The packages contained amber-handled archaeological tools. When the buzz began to spread, the packages started being delivered to random people, containing a card with a T. rex skeleton stamped onto it. A select handful of people received two more packages. The second package contained a compass with the T. rex skeleton carved into the back of it. The third package contained a jagged tooth, a curled piece of parchment with a sketch of a gate in spidery ink, and an old-fashion-looking key that wasn't made to open anything in particular. When the pieces of the puzzle were assembled, a hidden hologram displayed the message: They're coming. May 30, 2005.

Continuity Errors[]

  • While the Velociraptor on the front cover is a male, the one described in the book is called a female.
  • In Jurassic World, Karen's husband and Zach's father's name is Scott Mitchell. In the book, Karen's husband and Zach's father's name is Pete.
  • According to the novel, Claire was 19 in 2004 and Zach was a toddler, whereas the film canon suggests he was 6 years old and Gray was 2 years old.
  • An interesting change is that the Tyrannosaurus paddock is placed miles away from Main Street despite the film depict the attraction being placed closer to it in the film canon. Even more so, the characters state how putting the T. rex so close to the visitors and smells of the main park would be a bad idea.
  • Wyatt claims that Olive, Dot, and Agnes were transferred from Isla Sorna to Nublar. This could conceivably contradict the DPG report that stated there were 5 Brachiosaurus still active on Nublar during the 1994 cleanup mission.[3]

References[]

Advertisement