Customer Reviews

Godzilla Returns

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once again, Marc Creasini has written an entertaining Godzilla novel. Though not as good as the "Godzilla Returns"(mainly because the author tries to put too many plot strands into a relatively small space), this book is still a Godzilla fan's dream come true. The monsters, Rodan, Varan, Mothra, Kamacuras, King Ghidorah, and Godzilla, are all treated with respect and are rendered quite realistically. The writing is of the highest quality. We can really relate to and root for the various characters. The battles with the monsters are positively exhilirating and, once again, lodge themselves into the reader's memory. Best scenes: the discovery of Varan's victims, the initial assault of the Kamacuras, and King Ghidorah's arrival on the planet Earth. This novel will hold you in its spell until the very end!!

Marc Cerasini has written GODZILLA 2000, a story of the millennium, apocalypse and giant monsters. But this is not just a giant monster book. As Robert Price of Crypt of Cthulhu notes, Cerasini has taken these monsters and rid them of their taint of cartoonism.

This book continues the story of Godzilla who has appeared twice before (as seen in the movies Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Godzilla 1985). Some asteroids that pass through our system every 65 million years are coming around again. This time it looks like they will strike the Earth. But the asteroids are not the only threat. A Japanese research team has located Godzilla and he is awakening. Resources are now split between dealing with the asteroids and speeding up production of defenses against Godzilla.

Soon the first of the asteroids arrive and new monsters are seen to walk the Earth. A giant reptile crawls out of the Gulf of Mexico and terrorizes the Yucatan. An asteroid fragment causes insects in Kansas to mutate horribly. A researcher among the Alaskan Natives learns of a prophecy involving the Firebird. The Earth Spirit tries to contact various humans to warn that Godzilla is an ally and the Destroyer of Life is coming.

This almost reads like an DC Comics' Otherworlds tale. Imagine Rodan as the legendary Firebird or Mothra as the embodiment of the Earth Spirit. While old monsters are seen in a new light, Cerasini delivers a fast-paced tale full of action. If you enjoyed the old Japanese monster films you just might want to pick up this book and see the old monsters fresh as the day they were created.

Long after I've forgotten Devlin and Emmerich's effects laden lizard-fest, I'll still be thinking fondly of Marc Cerasini and his Godzilla novels. Reading these books is like taking a peek into a better world, where Godzilla movies are unencumbered by budget, unfettered by cautious studio executives, and where they can finally tell the stories we've been waiting to see.

There's a scene in this book, where a plan to contain Godzilla goes badly wrong, and a helicopter literally bounces down the creatures back. It's so vividly written and paced that I found myself forgetting to breath as the images came alive in my mind. Cerasini's love of the subject matter is obvious, and his skill in telling a tight and exciting tale is just as hard to deny. What's more, he manages to avoid some of the absurdities present in even the most recent Godzilla movies from Toho. The world in Cerasini's novels is one that will forever be marked by the emergence of the monsters, and the effects are progressive and remain evident from book to book.

Though the book is listed as being for "young adults", it has plenty to recommend it to "slightly older adults". Pick it up while you still can - then hassle Random House to bring out "Godzilla and the Lost Continent".

This is a great book with action and suspense! The only problem was that they kept switching to a different story every few minutes. But still a great book!

This book is this movie all the G-fans really wanted the team of Emmerich and Devlin to deliver. Chock full of monsters and mayhem, a properly somber tone (the monsters actually kill and eat people) and, most importantly, a serious repect and deep love for the subject matter, Godzilla 2000 is the perfect read for any Godzilla fan of any age. An essential G-book.

Godzilla Returns is about a gigantic atomic monter that destroys Tokyo. In 1956,an atomic monster rises out of Tokyo Bay. It levels the metropolis and returns towards the water. The buildings are left crushed beneath the flames, and many are dead. Now,back in 1996,a 13 year old boy watch in disbelief,as the so called myth destroys the city! If you want to know the ending,please purchase this book for yourself. I would rate this book,on a 1 to 10 scale,a 9. It was very neat, and full of suspense. It is a very interesting book.

One of the best books I have read. Marc Cerasini is truley a great writer. This book give's Godzilla more of a real world feel. The best of all the Godzilla books.

My son has become a fanatic since originally being introduce to Godzilla and monsters of that genre. He needed to do a book report on anything of his choosing, and he chose Godzilla 2000. This was for his 7th grade English class... and I believe that it may be his first book that he read the entire thing. SO, speaking for my son... 5 stars, loved it!

As a longtime Godzilla fan, I truly enjoyed this book. It stayed true to the source material and would make a great movie. Brian Shimura is a reporter for INN news and covers Godzilla's reemergence in Japan. This book reads as if the only movie in canon is the original b&w movie. It mentions Raymond Burr's reporting as factual, a nice touch.

The Godzilla series has its own, built-in, mythology. All G-fans study the movies to the last detail, & most debate various monster vs monster match-ups.

Cerasini is one of us, & knowns every detail of the equipment & creatures of Godzilla's Pantheon of Radioactive Horrors.

This book recounts Godzilla's return in finely-crafted detail.

I only wish Marc could get to write "This is Tokyo", ostensibly by Steve Martin, the fictional journalist who witnessed Godzilla's first appearence in the 50's.

The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!