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Antarctica
One year ago, a startling discovery was made in Antarctica. The massive body of a creature that could only be called a kaiju was found frozen in the ice. A joint military and corporately funded research team was dispatched to study the kaiju out of a fear that more such creatures might still exist, hidden from the world of man. The truths they uncover may very well lead to end of all mankind.
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 27, 2017
About the author
Eric S. Brown
250 books108 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 30, 2022
So when I set out to read a "Kaiju Thriller," I sort of expect, well, kaiju. What Eric Brown's "Antarctica" delivers is a very simple base-under-seige story featuring the personnel of a military installation under attack by a hoard of hungry creatures. It reminds me of James Cameron's "Aliens," as well as a dozen other similar projects, but a kaiju story this is not.
Now, to be fair, the story we do get is incredibly fast-paced, tense, and gruesome. There's no fat to trim off this steak. But the book is so lean that there is very little more to this than a series of gory descriptions of soldiers getting slaughtered by a variety of teeth and claws.
The frozen corpse of a 600-foot tall monster is found in Antarctica, and a nerdy "kaiju-expert" (who has never seen a kaiju in his life) is recruited to help the military figure out where it came from and whether there could be any more of these creatures alive to worry about. Before he has a chance to do anything useful, dozens of man-sized monsters start crawling out of the corpse of the giant beast. It seems the kaiju was pregnant and the babies were merely in hibernation. Armored with practically impenetrable scales and moving with swift cunning, the monsters make swift work of the crew.
I suppose I must give credit to the author for trying something different with the kaiju genre other than having a giant monster stomping a city, but the end result is not very unique. It is primarily military science fiction. Lock and load. Kill a bunch of alien "mother pus buckets." Starship trooper kind of stuff. Lots of shooting and explosions and flying blood. Not a lot of intriguing science, or characterization, or drama, or kaiju mythos. Just incredibly fast-paced action.
I read this book pretty much in one sitting, and it held my interest because it is unrelenting. But it was so absurdly simple, if not childish. The writing was completely stiff and straightforward with no real sense of humor or irony. Brown tries to be "meta" by constantly having the characters refer to monster movies throughout the narrative, but it wasn't done cleverly at all. And the book could have used an editor. The worst offense was when, in his character dialogue, the author clearly forgets where his story is set, despite the title. Eric, "the Arctic" is not the same as "Antarctica."
Similarly, "Kaiju" is really not synonymous with "monster." The Predator is not a kaiju. There are no kaiju in the Romero zombie movies. The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are not kaiju. But this book had more in common with those properties than anything from the mind of Eiji Tsuburaya.
Honestly, I'm not really sure what was the point of this publication. It felt like Brown was simply practicing here, as though he compiled a string of experiments in pacing and action for one of his creative writing classes. This didn't feel like an actual original product. It just was a copy-and-paste of the greatest action scenes from every one of Brown's favorite movies.
But I fell for it. At least I can try to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake. Maybe if you are 12, you might enjoy this more, but even then, I can't really recommend this book--it is the equivalent of watching my son slaughter a bunch of rag doll Freddy Fazbears in Garry's Mod.
If you want a really original idea based on a similar premise, check out the new film "What to Do With the Dead Kaiju" slated for release within a week of this writing.
SCORE: Two stars for the sheer non-stop brutality that numbed my brain for a few hours. But there's nothing really to see here, least of all any actual kaiju.
Now, to be fair, the story we do get is incredibly fast-paced, tense, and gruesome. There's no fat to trim off this steak. But the book is so lean that there is very little more to this than a series of gory descriptions of soldiers getting slaughtered by a variety of teeth and claws.
The frozen corpse of a 600-foot tall monster is found in Antarctica, and a nerdy "kaiju-expert" (who has never seen a kaiju in his life) is recruited to help the military figure out where it came from and whether there could be any more of these creatures alive to worry about. Before he has a chance to do anything useful, dozens of man-sized monsters start crawling out of the corpse of the giant beast. It seems the kaiju was pregnant and the babies were merely in hibernation. Armored with practically impenetrable scales and moving with swift cunning, the monsters make swift work of the crew.
I suppose I must give credit to the author for trying something different with the kaiju genre other than having a giant monster stomping a city, but the end result is not very unique. It is primarily military science fiction. Lock and load. Kill a bunch of alien "mother pus buckets." Starship trooper kind of stuff. Lots of shooting and explosions and flying blood. Not a lot of intriguing science, or characterization, or drama, or kaiju mythos. Just incredibly fast-paced action.
I read this book pretty much in one sitting, and it held my interest because it is unrelenting. But it was so absurdly simple, if not childish. The writing was completely stiff and straightforward with no real sense of humor or irony. Brown tries to be "meta" by constantly having the characters refer to monster movies throughout the narrative, but it wasn't done cleverly at all. And the book could have used an editor. The worst offense was when, in his character dialogue, the author clearly forgets where his story is set, despite the title. Eric, "the Arctic" is not the same as "Antarctica."
Similarly, "Kaiju" is really not synonymous with "monster." The Predator is not a kaiju. There are no kaiju in the Romero zombie movies. The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are not kaiju. But this book had more in common with those properties than anything from the mind of Eiji Tsuburaya.
Honestly, I'm not really sure what was the point of this publication. It felt like Brown was simply practicing here, as though he compiled a string of experiments in pacing and action for one of his creative writing classes. This didn't feel like an actual original product. It just was a copy-and-paste of the greatest action scenes from every one of Brown's favorite movies.
But I fell for it. At least I can try to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake. Maybe if you are 12, you might enjoy this more, but even then, I can't really recommend this book--it is the equivalent of watching my son slaughter a bunch of rag doll Freddy Fazbears in Garry's Mod.
If you want a really original idea based on a similar premise, check out the new film "What to Do With the Dead Kaiju" slated for release within a week of this writing.
SCORE: Two stars for the sheer non-stop brutality that numbed my brain for a few hours. But there's nothing really to see here, least of all any actual kaiju.
September 4, 2017
Quick read that focuses on plenty of action. Pretty much a standard format for one of Mr. Brown's Monster Stories.
September 15, 2017
I didn't make it past the third chapter. I picked it up for the kaiju adventure but ran aground on the convention that the female lead is 34 (looks 24!), has a Ph. D., is well known in her field and looks like a supermodel. I appreciate the effort to offer a woman with a brain, but it takes many years to get a Ph. D., so 34 is pretty young to be well established in the profession. But maybe that makes her super smart (and still young enough to be super hot!). I know this is peripheral to the main plot, Brown is participating in a convention (albeit one I find annoying) and it is a monster story so realism is not a high priority. That said, I'm probably not his target audience, so he and I will just part ways.
November 15, 2017
Kaiju
Antarctica is a fast paced kaiju tale, something Mr. Brown has become all too familiar with. Even though I’m used to them, I was a little disappointed by the abrupt ending, yet I enjoyed the story. If you want a quick creature feature read, check this out!
Antarctica is a fast paced kaiju tale, something Mr. Brown has become all too familiar with. Even though I’m used to them, I was a little disappointed by the abrupt ending, yet I enjoyed the story. If you want a quick creature feature read, check this out!
October 24, 2017
Thrilling
If you like Cloverfield, you will like the ending. Not much of a plot. Just a lot of random killing. Those people never had a chance. Boo. No character development.
If you like Cloverfield, you will like the ending. Not much of a plot. Just a lot of random killing. Those people never had a chance. Boo. No character development.
January 8, 2018
Kaiju with a difference
Well written kaiju novel, but with a difference. Decent character development, a lot of fighting and mayhem. For all kaiju lovers.
Well written kaiju novel, but with a difference. Decent character development, a lot of fighting and mayhem. For all kaiju lovers.
February 9, 2018
I did not care for this book. I love SF but could not suspend the absurdity of these creatures.
September 3, 2020
This story was done well enough and I did enjoy it for the most part. Didn't care for all the different creatures coming out of the corpse. Pick a creature and stick with it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews