Audience: Adult

Format: Audiobook/Owned

 

 

CARCHARODON MEGALODON
The largest and most fearsome predator to have ever existed on our planet. Rumors of its existence in our modern oceans have persisted for centuries. Now, in a new adventure, the rumors explode into brutal and terrifying reality.

 

I enjoyed this one. Cate and her fellow scientists, along with a Russian billionaire, and two crew explore an undiscovered cave, hoping to find a new species. They are underground in a small submarine and are attacked by a giant shark - Carcharodon megalodon. Believe it or not, after that, things get worse. Will they manage to escape the underground nightmare, and is the Carcharodon megalodon truly contained in that cave?

 

It took nearly 50% of the book for the action to get started, but once it did, I couldn't stop listening. The claustrophobic feeling of the sub is magnified by the atmosphere of the underground cave and the fact that we know there is a traitor on board. And what's not to love about a giant killer shark. :)

 

A couple of things bothered me about this book. First, the author used the word "leant" and people seemed to be leaning a lot. Second, we saw through the shark's pov, but only for a short time in the middle of the book, and then never again. Lastly, I was bothered that this giant shark that could easily eat half a whale with one bite would ever bother eating humans. It seems as if a person would be like a crumb compared with the whale. Why would a shark that size chase and eat a bunch of people, when it could easily kill something larger and be satisfied for a week or more?

 

Anyway, a fun giant killer shark story. Now I have to get around to reading Meg.

 

I'm really enjoying this book, but there is one thing that is driving me crazy:

 

Every time I hear the narrator say the word "leant" instead of "leaned." I get that this is the word the author used, but I just don't understand why. I'm not sure if the word is used more often than usual in this book or if I'm just attuned to it. But every time I hear it, I just cringe (and think "leaned" in my head). It was driving me so nuts that I looked online to see if there is a reason to use "leant" instead of "leaned." There isn't. "Leant" is an older form of the word "leaned" and isn't used much in modern language. Modern grammar rules say either word works, but "leaned" is the more appropriate choice unless the book is a period piece and the author is trying to match the language with the time period.

 

So, I ask you Mr. Beck, "WHY???" 

 

The book takes place in modern times - there is no reason to use the word "leant." At least if I was reading instead of listening, I could change the word in my head.

 

Oh, and just now, he used the word leaned - why the change?? I was hoping it would continue for the rest of the book, but it seems like it was a one-time thing. :(

 

Btw, even spell check hates that word, it keeps asking me to correct it to leaned. *rolls eyes*

 

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant. 

Another great book. Well written and researched. Greig Beck is fast becoming a favourite author. Can't wait for The Void.

This review can be originally be found at MissKatiEllen.

 

"Celia is a harbourer of memories, knowing what has already been always seemed so insignificant- until she meets Lo. Lo's memory is drowning in the vastness of the ocean. She's transforming into a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid- terms far too pretty for the soulless monster she's becoming."

 

I cannot stress how much I've been enjoying this series, at this point I would definitely recommend reading the previous two books. In Sweetly it didn't matter if you hadn't read Sisters Red, but there is a thread linking these books together. And it's that tiny thread from Sweetly that becomes the main subject of this book. Ocean girls.

 

From reading the full blurb I thought this was going to be a love triangle, and with a sigh I accepted. The fact that the previous two books weren't like that meant I could get over the love triangle thing. I can gladly say no love triangle, these girls have their own lives, own paths and their interest is Jude is different too.

 

Celia is one of three sisters that possesses a gift, seeing past, present and future. It's not that Celia doesn't want to embrace her gift, she doesn't want to be like her sisters. Using it for their own gain, getting boys to fawn all over them. Plus what use can she be knowing someone's past in an instant?? But then Lo appears and she finally feels useful. She can help this strange, and slightly scary girl to remember who she was, what happened to her and where she came from.

 

Lo. Lo is an ocean girl, knows nothing about who she, or who others like her were. All she knows and understands is the now, to become human again you must take a soul. Easier said than done, a lesson learned early on. But what Lo, and everyone else like her knows is that one day if they're lucky the angels who brought them to the ocean will come back for them, leading them to their new life. Queue Celia throwing a spanner in the works, Lo starts to remember and becomes torn. When she's in the ocean she's happy, it feels part of her, natural. But the small part of her that remembers won't go down without a fight.

 

The theme of these books are all about identity, Lo has to fight to cling on to the memories of her past or let them go like the rest of her kind and Celia is learning there is life outside of her sisters shadow.

This is a quite okay thriller/fantasy book from Greig Beck. It is a wee bit like Jaws on steroids. Big chark…check. Stuck on boat…check. Shark jumps onto boat…check. Shark wrecks boat…check. Shark…oh no, that would be a spoiler. Anyway, I quite liked it.

Greig Beck must have some kind of love for dark and musty places deep under ground and preferably with some underground lake in them. At least it is a recurring theme in his books. Although the shark plays the center role in the book there is a lot more to the book than the shark. The author throws in a little bit of Journey to the Center of the Earth as well. As there often is in Greig Beck’s book there is a bit of scientific explanation as well to make the incredible somewhat less incredible.

I quite liked the characters, especially the Russian billionaire and his female assistant and protector, not to mention the Russian harpooner. Most of the other characters were quite good as well.

There is a nice mix between suspension, mystery research and action as well as a twist or two. I really felt like I wanted to read the next page to see what came next most of the time.

There were a few things that I did not like that much. Mild spoiler ahead. The first one was the use of thermonuclear devices for the dual purpose of sabotage and prevention of future access. Can you say overkill? That was just over the top. No one noticed that someone threw nuclear weapons around, seriously, even in Alaska that is just a joke. Governments all over the world would be up in arms about a nuclear device going off above ground.

The other thing I did not like was the green fanatics showing up sabotaging everything. Apart from the fact that I do not like fanatics very much these ones where possibly even dumber than they usually are. Especially their dumb ass leader annoyed the bloody hell out of me. These green assholes kind of sabotaged not only our heroes’ plans but a lot of the last part of the book for me as well.

Otherwise, as I wrote above I quite liked the book. The ending? Well it was a bit unimaginative. That has to be said. Standard horror movie type ending straight out of the box.