Customer Reviews

MEG: Hell's Aquarium

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

There's no denying that Steve Alten is a good writer. His take on the whole 'does Megalodon still exist' business as an entertainment for the masses weaned on JAWS (and its numerous imitators) was a brilliant one - at least to begin with. MEG was good, THE TRENCH even better and I very much looked forward to the third book PRIMAL WATERS, which was a disappointment. Why? It seems Mr. Alten is not content with writing a good book, rather a screenplay masquerading as a novel. Does this have anything to do with Disney and New Line Cinema passing on the option to make the first film or maybe he's just hoping to add an enthusiastic producer (or two) to his readership - who knows? The fact remains, the problems that marred PRIMAL WATERS repeat themselves with HELL'S AQUARIUM. Though I applaud the attempt to develop the characters beyond the simple heroics of the first book, HELL'S AQUARIUM misses the dark complexity the character of Celeste and her cronies gave THE TRENCH and loses a great deal of its tension through too much discription and liberal use of exclamation marks. If someone is about to get eaten by a steam locomotive with a mouth-full of steak knives, I think it safe to assume the result would be fatal. For a mature reader well versed in this sort of thing, it never fails to irritate. Despite its flaws, HELL'S AQUARIUM is a decent enough read, with plenty of inventive action for the devoted topped by a ending wide enough for another book. Great - I just hope its better than the last one

As an enthusiast of both paleontology and ichthyology the MEG series has been a staple of my literary diet. The first book established a mythos that I adored, the second remains one of my all-time favorite novels, and the third is quite plainly a fun read of non-stop excitement.

For the sake of candor, I should admit that since having read the third book and the preview for Hell's Aquarium online, I have been apprehensive regarding this book and specifically the newest terrifying denizen of the deep in the MEG series - the Liopleurodon. In point of fact, I think the only reason that I didn't enjoy the third book as much was because I couldn't get around the fact that there was supposedly a predator existing in the depths of the Philippine sea in excess of 120 feet! Immediately a nagging voice was unearthed in the back of my mind, screaming, "There is no such creature known to exist!" Following that, the online free preview both tantalized me with Steve's writing style and the characters that I have come to adore, and caused me to be still more unnerved, discovering the 120-foot monster to be a Liopleurodon with a skull in excess of 30 feet! I became confused instantaneously; the series with such an eye to attracting fans of prehistoric aquatic fauna is featuring a grossly paleontologically inaccurate specimen, hyping the Liopleurodon to more than twice the size of what we know for even the largest specimen of this pliosaur? However, with tens of millions of years for this animal to evolve if left undisturbed in a subterranean sea, who is to say that its size couldn't increase? I remained hopeful that Steve would provide an explanation... and provide he did! My one fear and quibble for the book laid to rest in an evolutionarily plausible fashion, I may now go back and reread Primal Waters so that I can fully appreciate that book without being concerned with an inaccurate leviathan of ludicrous proportions!

With "the bad" (if the above worry could even have been considered as much) out of the way, I should move on to the good... which literally is the ENTIRE book. Hell's Aquarium is the singularly most enthralling novel I have read since The Trench, steering the series into uncharted waters of infinite possibility. Angel is back in all her rapacious, cantankerous glory, but the creatures I found myself yearning to read about just as much as Angel were her offspring, particularly her larger two female pups, Belle and Lizzy, referred to by the Tanaka Institute staff as "the sisters". What's compelling about the sisters is that we see them not only as Megalodons but as animals with distinct personalities which make them memorable and enticing for the reader. Long have we seen Megalodons as fiercely territorial and solitary; now we see the sisters in a symbiotic predatory relationship. Belle is the brawn to Lizzy's brain. Lizzy appears strategic and calculating in attacks, while Belle is pure, unbridled primal fury.

All of the main characters are back, with David now 20 years old and donning the mantle of main protagonist (Jonas coming in at a close second). This book seems to groom David as the Taylor we'll be following most closely in future books as Jonas advances in years and becomes less capable of taking on these apex predators and coming out unscathed. A glut of new and memorable characters are present, including bi-polar Monty whom David befriends on his trip to Dubai, their relationship echoing that between Jonas and Mac. From the Monterey bay to Dubai, this book ceaselessly churns out intrigue and action in a manner that fans of the series will swarm about as if it were chum!

Steve's research on prehistoric sea monsters is beyond belief. Then being able to wrap an exciting,entertaining,informative and suspense filled fictional story around all this fact made this the best MEG in the series. If you thought MEG's were really bad, just wait till you see what Steve presents in this episodic adventure in "Hell's Aquarium". The first half sets you up, the last half you can't put it down. Be prepared for one Hell of a Ride !!

Call it 2.5 stars!

I've enjoyed the previous 3 books in Steve Alten's MEG series. Each book has a variety of pros and cons but when all is said and done they're proven page turners.

Meg: Hell's Aquarium continues the tradition of being a flawed and yet entertaining page-turner. There's nothing better to read by the pool, ocean, or toilet (any body of water will suffice) than a book where hapless humans will be devoured gruesomely by giant sea creatures. This time around Alten delivers some classic cinema worthy moments and paints some truly stellar imagery of enormous sharks and other beasties.

The problems that Alten faces (as he has faced with his previous novels and why he lost some stars in my review) are triple fold: EDITING, SCIENCE, and WOMEN.

Hell's Aquarium definitely needed another pass by an editor with a red pen. There are some glaring errors in grammar. When words are missing letters and when sentences have extra words...there's a problem. The first error hits on Page 3 and the mistakes come at a decent enough pace to possibly label the work amateurish. With published novels it's all in the delivery and there are some mistakes here.

Now I realize that in books of this nature we're almost talking science fiction...but even I understand that humans need to decompress before returning from deep levels in the ocean...and yet here not so much the case. I think Alten would be well serviced to hire some form of scientific fact-checker on his next book to at least catch the glaring errors. Giant monsters I can handle.

Women...oh boy. Steve Alten would be better off if none of his novels ever contained a woman...ever again. Every female character in the MEG series has played out exactly the same way: they are attractive (bordering on HOT), they come on to the male way too fast, they are smart and cocky, they don't listen, and then they need to be rescued (usually by a male). Heck in Primal Waters the main character of Danielle Taylor was so annoying that in this novel she's limited (and rightfully so) to less than 15 pages...that's the best move Alten has managed with females. I didn't buy the core relationship in Hell's Aquarium because it just felt "been there done that" and yet too much of the story needs us to accept this bond between characters to truly experience the journey.

Now, with all that said you'd probably think I hated this book. Nope. In fact I read it through in a couple of sittings, had a smile on my face and was entertained. However, the drawbacks would probably keep me from recommending this book to my friends. If you've never read the series stick to MEG and THE TRENCH and you'll have a better time.

Admittedly, I'll read anything that has to do with sharks, but this is by far Steve Alten's finest offering in the MEG series. Steve has a knack for keeping you on the edge and turning just one more page before you put the book down for the night (which in my case was only two nights). I guess my only complaint about the book would be that it was too short. C'mon MEG 5: Night Stalkers!

Here's a great video promo for MEG: Hell's Aquarium
[...]

Meg: Hell's Aquarium is the 4th novel by Steve Alten in his series of cryptozoological fiction novels dealing with the discovery of giant megalodon sharks, terrifying apex predators that became extinct millions of years ago. Although it does work very well as a standalone novel, with little to no prior knowledge of the characters or previous events needed, if you want to read the books in chronological order, follow the list below:

Meg: Origins (Prequel read this after "The Trench."
MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror
The Trench
MEG: Primal Waters
Meg: Hell's Aquarium
Meg: Night Stalkers (To be published in 2012)

Hell's Aquarium centers on Jonas Taylor, the protagonist from the previous books, now an aging director of the Tanaka Institute and Aquarium, which houses Angel, the giant megalodon shark featured in MEG: Primal Waters, and her 5 pups. The overcrowded institute must find a new home for the smaller megs, and turns toward a Dubai prince who is building a huge aquarium and wants to purchase two of the litter. We are also introduced to Jonas' 21-year old son, David Taylor, who is pretty much described just like Jonas was in MMEG: A Novel of Deep Terror.

Hell's aquarium follows the same formula that Alten used in his last two books. I don't think I'm spoiling too much to say that people get killed, Jonas hunts megs, and there are human villains as well. If you have read any other cryptofiction before, you will see that this is what ALL writers in this genre do. In the dozens of books like this I've read, I don't think I've seen an outline that differs very far from this structure. The difference is that Alten backs his novel up with spectacular action, well-developed characters, an easy-to-read style, and a somewhat plausible theory. Of course, you have to suspend your disbelief when reading books of this type, but he's done his research, and his theories as to why megalodons (and other sea creatures) are still alive can be fairly convincing from an entertainment point of view, as long as you don't get too deep into the science of it. I KNOW there's no way any of the events in the book could ever really happen or go undiscovered for so long, but I never actually thought about that while reading. I was too consumed with a desire to find out what is going to happen next. While there is some incredible action and behaviors exhibited by the megs, Alten thankfully leaves out any incidents of sharks breaching the water and swallowing helicopters, or swallowing entire subs, a la previous books. This is not to say that Alten doesn't take some creative liberties. I think at one point a liopleurodon is described in the novel as 120 feet long. This is at least twice as big as what most scientists believe was accurate. But Alten can get away with this because he is dealing with animals that no one has ever seen or studied. Who is to tell him he's wrong? And besides, who wants to read about a 25 foot long liopleuridon or a 40 foot long meg, when you can have a 76 foot monster chasing you through the ocean depths?

I would probably rank Hell's Aquarium as my second favorite book in the series, behind only The Trench, which as most other readers will agree, is hard to beat and definitely the best of the series. I did not find the character contest, where Alten awarded about 50 fans the opportunity to have their names in the book, to be too distracting, with the exception of referring to every character by their full name. And I was looking for it so I don't think most readers will find it a problem. The suspense in this books was almost on par with "The Trench," although I do feel that the lead villain could have used a little more development. I also didn't buy the romantic angle in the story. It was a little too convenient and a little too forced. Do people actually fall in love that fast? Can this guy not see he is being played? I found it very suspect until the last page of the novel, at which point I realized yes, apparently they do (in fiction novels at least).

Lastly, I only had one real problem with Hell's Aquarium, and one reason for giving this book 4 stars instead of 5. That is the absolutely awful editing. I noticed over 30 grammatical and spelling errors in this book. For a book that is not self-published, by a bestselling author, it is unforgiving to have so many mistakes. I don't understand the editing process, but did no one else read this book before it hit the presses? I have no idea how the editing process works, but if I was a publishing company, I would give the book to at least 3-4 people to read before hitting it with the "okay" stamp. How is it that I noticed so many errors and no one else did? I find it very annoying to be reading a book and see two instances within 20 pages of each other of "your" used instead of "you're." Or apostrophes used incorrectly followed by duplicate words. I noticed this same problem while reading Kronos, another book published by Variance Publishing LLC, so I am laying the blame with them. I am not obsessive about it and understand mistakes happen, but I believe a professionally-published book should have no more than one or two mistakes, not the dozens contained in Hell's Aquarium. However, I wouldn't want to hold that against Alten or prevent any future readers from enjoying what is otherwise a fun and thrilling read.

Grossly paleontologically inaccurate specimen? Who cares this is a book of fiction not Holy Writ! Its a perfect book to escape reality and enjoy. Inacuracies are a part of fiction. When books become to realistic they get boring thank you Steve for keeping it Gargantuan and fun!

I had high hopes for this novel. Hard to go wrong with giant
prehistoric shark vs humans vs. enormous (and now, gilled) reptiles.
It was enjoyable, but far from fullfiling.
Too many characters were too one dimensional----eg all bad, all stupid,
all greedy.
Too many chapters ended with silly scenes (obviously meant to
be a screen play), that a thoughtful 6th grader could see coming.

Wait for the paperback, and save your money and wait for the paperback.

Or maybe the coming sequel will be better written.

gary

WOW! I really enjoyed the previous books in the MEg series, and this one certainly delivered! If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, look no furthur! There is also just enough scientific facts thrown in to help really set the stage for the story. The only down-side, now I'm too scared to ever go diving in the ocean, and it's only a fiction book! When you start this book be prepared to read it all the way through in one sitting, you won't want to stop all the action.

Read it in one night. Highly recommended.It will read better if you've read the other 3 MEG books first.
No point in repeating what other reviewers have said. Get them all
Hollywood needs to wake up, this is franchise material.