If you’re a fan of big monsters, this is definitely a story for you. Max Hawthorne’s “Kronos Rising” takes readers on a roller coaster ride of gigantic scale. We’re talking prehistoric big.
The heroes of the novel are Jake Braddock, the sheriff of a small coastal Florida town, and Amara Takagi, a marine biologist.
Then there’s the monster. The first clue readers get about its size comes from Amara researching a fragment of the creature’s tooth. According to her calculations, the whole tooth would weigh about 8 pounds. The approximate size of the monster, when we finally encounter it, is more than twice the length and width of a typical city bus. This titanic beast is fast and vicious — at one point it takes down a massive bull sperm whale with little effort.
However, the greater monsters in the book are the humans who want to hunt the beast down and kill it. These characters were your standard two-dimensional bad guys who early on seem destined to end up as monster chow by the end of the book.
For the most part, “Kronos Rising” is a solid read. Hawthorne is good at writing action sequences and keeps the story moving at a brisk pace. That said, Hawthorne’s handling of characters in the story was rather simplistic and two dimensional. But this is a book about a giant monster. I wasn’t expecting Hemingway.
Reminiscent of “Jurassic Park” or “Jaws,” “Kronos Rising” shows Hawthorne really did his homework to bring the creature to life in the story. He occasionally writes from the viewpoint of the monster in a way that pulls readers in.
Overall, this is a book worth picking up, especially if you’re a fan of monsters or prehistoric animals. It’s a good adventure story and a pretty easy read, which doesn’t slow down or bore the reader. I would give it 8 and a half out of 10 giant fossilized teeth.
“Kronos Rising” is published by Far From the Tree Press Publishing. For more information, visit kronosrising.com or maxhawthorne.com.
— Dave Graham
