Kua'Mau: Kaiju Mother Of Wrath

by Mark Onspaugh

The Spider Islands. A mysterious ship has completed a treacherous journey to this hidden island chain. Their mission: to capture the legendary monster, Kua'Mau. Thinking they are successful, they sail back to the United States, where the terrifying creature will be displayed at a new luxury casino in Las Vegas. But the crew has made a horrible mistake - they did not trap Kua'Mau, they took her offspring. Now hot on their heels comes a living nightmare, a two hundred foot, one hundred ton tentacled horror, Kua'Mau, Kaiju Mother of Wrath, who will stop at nothing to safeguard her young. As she tears across California heading towards Vegas, she leaves a monumental body-count in her wake, and not even the U. S. military or private black ops can stop this city-crushing, havoc-wreaking monstrous mother of all Kaiju as she seeks her revenge.

Genres: Science Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2015

Reviews

[Tobey Crockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very creative monster read with quite a variety of unexpected elements. You never read about monsters with their own bio tribulations, but this gets covered here. (Eww!) A refreshing, fast paced popcorn pleasure of a beach read! So cinematic. This would be a great movie, complete with a perfect ensemble cast. Almost reads like a kaiju version of an Irwin Allen style disaster film along the lines of The Poseidon Adventure, but with Las Vegas as the ship. Super fun!

[David Hersh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm...

Well, I made it to the end. Didn't think I would because one of the things that frosts me is when stories with a large military component are populated by ignoramuses that can't get anything right. In this day and age you have to look hard to find national guard troops that don't have lots of combat experience.

Then there's the monster that can absorb calories from concrete and rebar. It's as if the author first came up with situations and then imbued the monster, suddenly, with a super power to combat that situation.

Finally, my biggest gripe is the never ending roll call of people that we had to read about, but added absolutely nothing to the story. All the, mercs, pilots (with call signs), and incidental wedding party attendees (complete with their role in the ceremony) got be way to much.

I will not say that that this is book to be avoided, but I'm glad I got it through KU.

[Grant Bowser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story begins with a ship headed towards the Spider Islands, so they can capture the legendary beast Kua’Mau, and bring it back to Las Vegas to display it in a new casino/attraction. The protagonists find a massive beast that fits the description of Kua’Mau, captures it (while angering the natives), and they head back to the States with their prize. But there’s one problem. That’s not Kua’Mau. Its her baby. As most mothers will tell you, they would kill to protect their children. And so, they are followed by the real Kua’Mau who is dangerous in the way that eating several Big Macs at every meal for 5 years is unhealthy.
This book was great, and showed that Kaiju are not just giant incarnations of death, but are living creatures with emotions. I really also liked how it not just focused on the main protagonists, but also focused on smaller characters to see how the average person would react to this situation.

[Danw · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellently written book, contains both vivid character development to the exact degree needed to make the character feel real and not just cardboard standees, but it doesn't dwell on it beyond what's necessary to paint a vivid picture and move on to the next set of characters. It starts with a great sense of foreboding and draws you right in with ominous occurrences, and keeps you hooked with continuous (without overdone) action sequences. The only reason I didn't give it five stars are two gratuitous, though short sex scenes that didn't advance the plot or were integral to the story in any way. Other than that, this is the best kaiju book I've read so far.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of giant monster stories in general, I found this to be quite thrilling. Mark Onspaugh has done a fantastic job bringing us a monster that could very well stand toe to toe with some of the hardest hitting Kaiju around. Not only was the action in the story top notch, but the story itself was something that kept me turning pages until the end. I know I've found a good read when I can't seem to stop and breathe. This delivered on all counts. I would highly recommend this to all fans of Kaiju and monsters in general. You WILL NOT be disappointed.

[James Bodden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced, action-packed, and bloody journey from a patch of terra icognita in the middle of the Pacific to the gaudy lights of the Vegas Strip documenting the path of destruction of a raging, radioactive-powered Kaiju. Disaster film fans, and bad-ass monster lovers should give this book a read.