Kronos Rising: After 65 million years, the world's greatest predator is back.

Why hasn't this been made into a movie or mini-series yet? It should be immediately! This book reads in a very visual way. What I mean is that as you read the story, you can practically see the action happening. Mr. Hawthorne writes that well. I can't wait to read the rest of the series and someone needs to put this on film immediately. Mr. Spielberg, sir, are you busy for 2021?

As a lifelong fan of paleontology, and an avid reader of ‘monsters of the deep’ books, I thoroughly enjoyed this first in the Max Hawthorne ‘Kronos’ series. Since i first saw ‘Jaws’ as a kid, I’ve always been frightened and fascinated by what dangers lie 'beneath the waves'. I read all the ‘Meg’ books. Liked those as well, but the ‘Kronos’ series offers a departure from the now-routine giant shark saga by making the key villain a prehistoric reptile, a pliosaur, no less, that can actually rise above the waves and pluck a hapless victim from off the deck of a ship. Hawthorne does a good job providing an adequate amount of science to make it plausible. He also gives us interesting characters with wounded pasts that allow us to care for them in their plight. And those action scenes: killer whales vs. sea-monster, sea-monster vs. mercenaries. It makes the threat very real. I’ll be reading book two very shortly.

I purchased Kronos Rising based on other Amazon reviews and comments made by Max Hawthorne's readers on social media. I was skeptical at first, but once I began to read the book, I was blown away! Max displays his knowledge of the sea while weaving a masterful tale of pure terror. Once you get started on the book, it gets harder to put down! It's a quick read filled with surprises at every turn. You'll never be able to look at or swim in the ocean the same way again. If you're a fan of dinosaurs, or movies and books like Jaws, you do not want to pass this up! If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself quickly ordering Kronos Rising: Kraken once you finish this book.

Every stereotype and cliche you could possibly and no lack of technical errors. A diesel-powered submersible? Seriously?! And virtually every character is seriously broken in some way, not to mention them all being cardboard cutouts. Everything in the story was pretty much predictable...no real “Wow, I didn’t see that coming!” moments. This book would make a good B-movie to be shown on Svengoolie’s horror movies.

There are many novels about prehistoric creatures surviving into the present and traumatizing the human characters. But few of them are done with the level of realism, detail, and quality storytelling that Max Hawthorne brings to Kronos Rising. His first novel is a brutal locomotive of a book, with blood and seawater staining nearly every page.In terms of suspending disbelief, he fully justifies the scenario of an almost invincible prehistoric monster wreaking havoc on humanity, given a carnivorous marine reptile nearly the size of a blue whale. This beast poses a credible threat to the entire ocean's ecosystem, since it chases sharks out of their normal feeding grounds and shoves whales even closer to extinction every time it feeds. Hawthorne's protagonists are well-developed and relatable. Many of their flashbacks are, from an emotional standpoint, very hard to read. Any rereads will probably mean I'll skip over those parts, but that's a testament to their effectiveness. The action is written in a riveting style, and he takes his time to set up the spectacular climax. In a lot of good ways, it reminds me of the huge action climaxes from 80s and 90s movies.If there were any issues, it's a few instances of dialogue where the characters get very verbose, even in split-second life or death situations, and one of the antagonists goes overboard with the "crazy man quoting the Bible" routine towards the end (it's always the Bible; just once, I'd like to see a villain go insane and quote the Vedas, or Beowulf, or something).If you want to see a novel that is intelligent, hard-hitting, and shows you an oceanic killer that makes Jaws look like your aunt's goldfish, Kronos Rising is exactly what you're looking for. Enjoy!

This book is a suspenseful page-turner for readers who love marine reptiles, romance and suspense. The author creates characters with depth, villains you’ll love to hate, and heroes you’ll root for. The only reason I gave this book four stars is due to the excess slaughter of animals and the way he tied up the romantic element at the end. Without exposing too much of the story, I felt that the reader gets the idea of how badly humans are destroying the earth through the actions of Haruto and his exploits. The insight into Amara’s past is so hellish that I almost quit reading the book at that point (early on in the story). I understand the greater message of the horror man bestows on animals and the thousands of lives humans have wiped out. I didn’t see the necessity to literally “beat it over our heads,” excuse the pun.The issue I had with the romance aspect is not what other readers have expressed. I enjoyed the romance between the two protagonists and the author’s telling of it. But toward the end of the novel, the scenes between Amara and Jake become less descriptive. For example, wth happened between them at the height of the conflict? It’s hard to explain without spoilers. Let me just say are we to gather that three years is a very long time and the volcano wasn’t the only eruption, lol?I’m about to read Kraken, but I am already disappointed that I won’t get to see Jake and Amara again after investing so much time with them in Kronus Rising. That is usually why authors carry their protagonists through their series. But if you love suspense, monster-chasing, and sheer terror, this book is definitely worth a read.

As a fan of Steve Alten's MEG series, I thought this would be right up my street. However, the author's tendency towards overblown metaphor ("Amara's midnight locks streamed behind her like the mane of an Andalusian stallion" was a particular classic) and endowing the creature with a range of remarkably human feelings and reactions, was the killer. Oh, and continually referring to the central character, a sheriff, as "the lawman", as in a second rate Western. A good premise undermined by rather hokey prose. The review title says it all.

Monster flicks authors worst enemy are physics and scale. It is nice to make creature bigger than life and imagination, but very hard to properly justify it, and extremely hard to keep size limitations in mind all the time. As a result we have creature larger than blue whale, capable of speed of 45 knots (probably with couple of rocket engines build into digestive tract) and ability to climb ashore to lay eggs (I know this may be considered as spoiler but it shows just how silly the creature is when you combine all properties described).And there is so much action that it becomes annoying. And the worst thing is that author is serious. A bit of humor may excuse a lot in this story, a bit of moderation will also do it good, but it is flashbang rollercoster concentrated action and a lot of it. With cop with drink problem, sexy environmentalist, blond villain and Japanese poachers. Oh, and Russian mercenary and crazy US senator are there also.If you can switch off the brain to enjoy this kind of story, you will like it. Any grain of salt will spoil the experience.

The book overall is a pretty good read, gripping with a few curve balls thrown in, but the juxtaposition of calm to thrilling moments can at times be a bit clunky, not quite working as was provably intended. But I enjoyed the book a great deal and thats what matters most. :) looking forward to reading the rest of the series ^^

Very good read with plenty of action, a little too much unnecessary drivel about exes and childhood issues constantly whipping backwards and forwards spoiling the pace of the story but otherwise a great book.

Leave your sensibilities at the door and enjoy a thoroughly entertaining book. Ever since Jurassic Park and Jaws I have read numerous dinosaur/giant marine animal books and can honestly say this was one of the best I have read. It started off at a great pace that it maintained to the very end, you cheer on the good guys and boo the bad guys, the characters were belivable and the action kept me gripped. Thank you Max for a great start to what I am sure will be an awesome series.