Jeremy Robinson’s Kaiju Series
I came across the first book in this series via the Storybook Bundle.
This is the story of giant monsters (Kaiju) that emerge from Earth’s history and reign havoc across the globe. After the first book, more emerge and the real battle begins. Told in first person from the point of view of John Hudson, these combine horror, adventure and science fiction in an enjoyable and thrilling ride.
For me, the visuals were provided from the film ‘Pacific Rim’ (2013)
(From Wikipedia)
Kaijū (from Japanese “strange beast”) is a film genre that features monsters, usually attacking a major Japanese city or engaging other monsters in battle. It is a subgenre of tokusatsu (special effects-based) entertainment.
Related terms include kaijū eiga (monster movie), a film featuring giant monsters or a single monster; kaijin (referring to roughly humanoid monsters); and daikaiju (giant kaiju), specifically meaning the larger variety of monsters.
Godzilla is an example of a daikaiju; others include Gamera, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Daimajin. The term ultra-kaiju is longhand for kaiju in the Ultra Series.
Toho has produced a variety of Kaiju films over the years (many that featured Godzilla and Mothra) but other Japanese studios contributed to expanding the genre in Japan by producing Kaiju films and shows of their own, studios including Daiei Film Co., Ltd., Kadokawa Pictures, Tsuburaya Productions, Shochiku, and Nikkatsu studios.
- Project Nemesis (Kaiju #1)
Jon Hudson, lead investigator for the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center-P, thinks his job is a joke. While other Fusion Centers focus on thwarting terrorist activity, Hudson’s division is tasked with handling paranormal threats to national security, of which there have been zero during his years at the DHS. When yet another Sasquatch sighting leads to a research facility disguised as an abandoned Nike missile site in the back woods of Maine, Hudson’s job becomes deadly serious.
Hudson and the local Sherriff, Ashley Collins, suddenly find themselves on the run from a ruthless ex-Special Forces security team, but the human threat is short-lived as something very much not-human destroys the facility and heads for civilization, leaving only a single clue behind–a name scrawled in blood: Nemesis. Working with his team at Fusion Center-P, Sherriff Collins and a surly helicopter pilot named Woodstock, Hudson pursues the creature known as Nemesis, attempts to uncover the corporate secrets behind its creation and accidental release and tries to comprehend why several clues lead to a murdered little girl named Maigo.
But as the body-count explodes, along with the monster’s size, it quickly becomes clear that nothing short of a full military response can slow Nemesis’s progress. Coordinating with every branch of the U.S. military, Hudson simultaneously searches for clues about Nemesis’s origins and motivations, and leads the counterattack that will hopefully stop the monster before it reaches Boston and its one million residents.
2. Project Maigo (Kaiju #2)
Jon Hudson, head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center – Paranormal division, is haunted by Nemesis, a three-hundred-foot tall monster. Hudson has helped prepare the United States against future attacks. But no one is prepared for what rises from the depths.
3. Project 731 (Kaiju #3)
In the wake of a Kaiju assault that leaves cities in ruins, Jon Hudson, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center – Paranormal, is preparing his team for an uncertain future. While hiding Lilly, a chimera cat-girl rescued from Island 731 a black ops organization within DARPA, Hudson attempts to raise an orphaned girl. But the two strange girls can’t be protected from what comes next.
4. Raising the Past (Origins #2)
At the end of the previous book, the author mentions that this is the origins storyfor the next episode, so I read this next.
A mammoth, flash frozen in solid ice 10,000 years ago is brought to the surface by a team of scientists.
An act of sabotage frees the giant from its icy tomb and reveals the secret held inside. The body of an ancient woman, cloaked in furs, slides out of the mammoth’s belly. But it is not the woman that holds the team’s attention…it is the object she is clutching…a device created by an advanced civilization. THE HUNT IS ON. . . The device is accidentally activated, summoning forces who seek its destruction. It is the key to mankind’s salvation and freedom from the men behind the curtain, pulling the strings and leading humanity towards destruction.
5. Project Hyperion (Kaiju #4)
Back to the main story arc.
Jon Hudson has become more than just the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center–Paranormal. He is now a husband and a father, surrounded by a team who have become a family. So when a series of strange new threats rise from the depths and fall from the sky, the stakes are higher than ever.
6. Island 731 (Kaiju 0)
Next comes the prequel to the series, where it all began.
Mark Hawkins, former park ranger and expert tracker, is out of his element, working on board the Magellan, a research vessel studying the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But his work is interrupted when, surrounded by thirty miles of refuse, the ship and its high tech systems are plagued by a series of strange malfunctions and the crew is battered by a raging storm.
When the storm fades and the sun rises, the beaten crew awakens to find themselves anchored in the protective cove of a tropical island… and no one knows how they got there. Even worse, the ship has been sabotaged, two crewman are dead and a third is missing. Hawkins spots signs of the missing man on shore and leads a small team to bring him back. But they quickly discover evidence of a brutal history left behind by the Island’s former occupants.
