Devour

Kurt Anderson's Devour is a bit unusual for a crypto-creature novel. Anderson spends a great deal of time on his humans. Indeed, there are times when his pliosaur is off screen for whole chapters, mentioned only as a looming shadow over the human drama that occurs on several vessels, but mainly on a crippled gambling-excursion ship. In this novel, pliosaurs have always been with us, sparking occasional sea-serpent reports, They have long lives, hibernate in the ice, and are a bit too big and smart for what we know of such animals, but this is fiction, and Anderson doesn't take the inventiveness further than is necessary for the story. He clearly knows a lot about ships and boats: he also knows a lot about high-stakes private gambling, an interesting sidelight. His people are deeply drawn, 3D characters, which is greatly appreciated: no one is here just as pliosaur fodder. The human drama does get drawn-out at times, and some characters are not consistent (the captain of the gambling ship in particular). Anderson has a big cast engaged in a variety of schemes and sometimes you can forget who is siding with who.Overall, though, this is one tension-filled cruise. Humans play out their dramas on a ship that is slowly sinking, as a monster nudges it, picks off people foolish enough to get near the rail, and makes the chances for survival and rescue look increasingly bleak. Devour is a worthy addition to the sea-monster thriller genre.- Matt Bille, author, The Dolmen (Wolfsinger, 2014 ([...])

I loved the complexity of the story! How each main character had their own prospective as events unraveled; from shady backroom dealings, a fishing captain trying to do the right thing and a little girl trying to survive.Lets not forget the monster! Watching the creature evolve and adapt to its new environment was something else and I can't even imagine what it would take to survive.

This book is kinda middle of the road for me. When you're doing what amounts to a Jaws story you need two things to really sell the story. You need good characters and situation and you need good monster action. This book fails at the latter. The story is a basic set up for this sort of thing, there's a predatory creature on the loose, people don't know its out there, a situation occurs that puts people into the path of the monster and they cant easily escape. So the story is nothing new, now the characters involved are pretty interesting and honestly, this story would have worked just as well without the monster at all, it just needed some other catalyst to put some of these folks in conflict with one another. The characters are well defined, have interesting back stories and good arcs to them. The protagonists are likable and the villains suitably unlikable and there's even a couple of guys who straddle that middle ground whom you end up rooting for.Its the premise of the book, the prehistoric monster, that doesn't work for me. It's not because I cant suspend my disbelief in a giant marine dinosaur surviving into the modern era to prey on hapless humans, but rather its the fact that the monster scenes are poorly executed. You read Benchley's Jaws or Chriton's Jurassic Park and you know these authors have done their research. They know how to write these scenes with these creatures because they understand their capabilities, limits and motivations. Unfortunately, this author seems to forget how large his monster is, the description of its size are inconsistent at best and worse he gives the beast more and more humanlike characteristics as the story progresses. Instead of treating it like a dangerous animal with a believable level of intelligence it becomes a monster driven by a personal vendetta rather than a need to feed its massive body.Its a real shame because, for me, it made what was otherwise a pretty engaging book with a good story and a great subplot into a sort of "meh" experience. Im still glad I read it for the story elements I liked but I'd have rather checked it out from a library then have paid for the experience.

Devour isn't a great book, but it's an entertaining potboiler that moves along at a good pace. The plot is a combination of the film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (a dinosaur awakens in the Arctic and comes south via ocean currents to terrorize mankind) and Jaws (a fisherman becomes obsessed with getting revenge on the beast). It's not a bad mishmash, but a lot of subplots are thrown in that muddy the waters a bit (evil gamblers, neglectful parents, a disgraced ship's captain, etc.). [Trigger warning: one subplot involves child endangerment with implied molestation.] There are also short chapters from the beast's point of view, which actually enhance the reader's interest somewhat. Overall, a good beach or airplane read.

Congratulations Mr. Anderson. Nice job on your first effort. You have an interesting mind for story lines. This was two or three books all in one adventure. I read a lot. A least a book a week and I enjoyed the thrill ride in DEVOUR. I usually do not like a story that relies on a fantasy for the basic theme, but this worked for me because of the interaction between the players. I will look for your next book. There is one little annoying thing and it seems to happen a lot in novels. You seem to have a great deal of knowledge about various things and the research must have taken some time to complete...A bit more work on researching fire arms is all that is needed. Thanks for a fun read......john king

There was potential with the fishing, native lifeways, and creature sections, but the bulk was mob action that felt out of place and was completely disinteresting to me. I'll probably try something else by the author, if available, but I don't think this one would hold up to a re-read.

Not a bad story, just doesn't seem to have much to it. If you can get it cheap, then it's worth a read.

Just okay for me.

Very well written. A very enjoyable read.

I liked this book. The story was decent and it was well written. As monster books go, it was well worth the read.

disapointing