Lords of the Earth

by David Bowles

AFTER FOUR BILLION YEARS, THEY HAVE EMERGED

When the volcano Popocatepetl erupts, a massive, reptilian monster crawls out of the caldera and begins attacking Mexico City. Unable to stop it, the military calls on Elena Baz, a disabled physicist who consults with the Mexican Army. Dr. Baz gathers a team of the greatest scientific minds, searching for a way to bring the behemoth down. But as the kaiju leaves a swath of destruction across Central Mexico, other volcanoes grow more and more active. Now the nation’s only hope lies with Alfonso Becerra, an indigenous anthropologist with radical fringe ideas. Elena and Alfonso will have to overcome their personal traumas and long-standing feud in order to work together. For only a blend of science and myth can save Mexico from the ancient Lords of the Earth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Novella, Mythology, Adventure

181 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from south Texas. He has written several award-winning titles, most notably THEY CALL ME GÜERO and MY TWO BORDER TOWNS

His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, Strange Horizons, School Library Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature.

Additionally, David has worked on several TV/film projects. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which has negotiated greater Latinx representation in publishing. He is presently the president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Reviews

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally satisfies both the kid in me who grew up on monster movies, an the aging Father of Chicano Science Fiction that I became.

[Ian Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Bowles' short kaiju novel, Lords of the Earth, is quite standard in most respects but does offer a Mexican flavour tinged with Mesoamerican mythology that hasn't been done to death in English language fiction or Japanese-style kaiju films.

The book is good enough that it deserved a copy editor who gave a damn, which sadly isn't the case. A book of 160 pages shouldn't be packed with dozens of obvious typos, including missing words and punctuation and incorrect tenses, all serving to pull the reader out of the flow of the action. Severed Press aren't doing themselves any favours with such unprofessional publishing, when most of these could have been fixed in a single proofread.

Such problems aside, Bowles can write. Jeremy Robinson would take two or three times this word count in a kaiju novel, so Bowles is much more economical while still telling a complete narrative arc. He adopts the popular technique of rotating through the perspectives of four characters for one chapter each, one of whom is in 1938, with the rest in a vaguely-defined present or near-future (Donald Trump's anti-Mexican views expressed in the 2016 US election are referenced, although he's not named, and the book was published before the election day itself.)

The action scenes are pretty decent, being descriptive and moderately exciting. I've still yet to see a writer truly knock it out of the park with describing kaiju action, though I live in hope.

The characters are alright, and the three most important ones were reasonably well developed given the brevity of the story. Their backstories were perhaps a little on the cheesy side. Still, cheese is forgivable in a kaiju book and Bowles finds a good balance of light and serious tone.

The love/lust story aspect felt a tad forced and unnecessary, though perhaps it's in keeping with the melodramatic tradition of Mexican popular fiction and telenovellas. It's also more erotic than one might expect from an Anglo-American work of this kind, which suggests the Latino perspective on sexuality.

The military aspects didn't ring true at all and came across like a thoroughly non-military personal trying to write about it. I had to keep reminding myself that the main character of 'Marco' was actually a general, as people communicated so informally and all the civilians addressed him by his first name.

For me it's the Mesoamerican mythological, cultural and linguistic aspects that are the highlight of the book and it is these which make it worth reading for any kaiju fan.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not familiar with Mexican politics, so reading bits and pieces about them was actually something of a breath of fresh air. The interactions between American scientists and their government have gotten so totally stereotyped (with reason, admittedly) that I hate reading about them. This was new and interesting, especially as various criminal cartels decide the government is failing and thus get involved–usually making things even worse instead of better.

It would have been easy for the relationship between Elena and Alfonso to fall into a stereotype of the bitchy woman and the hard-working guy who eventually brings her around. Instead, they’re both just strong, intelligent people who happened to hit it off badly the first time around. This is a nice dynamic. The characters in general have plenty of depth to them and don’t fall prey to stereotyping. Alfonso’s contribution of various bits of legendry makes things intriguing. There’s a small amount of adult material, and things do get a bit gory.

The litany of destruction definitely would have meant more to me if I were familiar with Mexican landmarks, but it was still impressive. It did make the beginning seem a little one-note, however, so the story took some time to draw me in. It also took some time before the monsters became anything more than just mountains on legs, effectively, which also prevented me from getting hooked right away. They turn out to have some fascinating biological aspects to them that make them more interesting later on.

While this book didn’t wow me, it got better as it went on. If you’re a bigger fan of the Kaiju genre, or would get more out of the descriptions of damage throughout Mexico than I did, it might suit you better.


Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/02/r...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volcanic eruptions herald the arrival of two monsters that go on a rampage throughout Mexico. A team of scientists are brought together to stop them, including a physicist who hosts a science show and an unconventional archeologist. As it turns out, the physicist and the archeologist have clashed before on TV. A great mashup of kaiju-style monster mayhem with Mexican mythology and folklore plus a look at politics from a Mexican perspective. One minor quibble I had was that one character was referred to as a Nobel nominee. While it's true there are Nobel nominees, the nomination process is confidential and nominees aren't publicly disclosed.

[Scott Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might look at the book cover and description and say, wow cool, Godzilla in Mexico! But you’d be wrong, it’s cooler than that. Lords of the Earth is not a tourist Kaiju in a Hawaiian shirt sipping mojitos on the beach. It’s a Mexican Kaiju, a monster derived from Mexican culture, the religion of ancient Mesoamericans, and the clash with modernity, much as Godzilla was derived by atomic trauma in Japan. The monster is born from an ancient volcano and the military and science is at a loss to stop it. With the threat of the US’s willingness to use nukes if this colonial architecture busting Kaiju beast crosses the border, the country turns to an indigenous archaeologist who has found reference to giant “lords of the Earth” in native oral traditions, and perhaps a method native ancestors used to stop it. Can enough be gleaned from the effluvia of the lost traditions and can a connection to indigenous culture be enough to end the destruction? The lords of the earth could be our indigenous past rising against colonialism, tradition versus modernity, perhaps role of women in a patriarchal society. The tension is satisfying, the narrative is involved and fun. David Bowles is a professor of Classic Nahuatl and the language and the basis for Mesoamerican monsters and the research into them seems real and adds to the enjoyment. There are robot hands, mini-monsters, sea creatures, elders singing, buildings crashing, government corruption, and two people at odds admitting their attraction to one another. I didn’t realize that I needed to read this book and I’m glad now that I have.

[Joe Zanetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Bowles’ “Lords of the Earth” packs quite a punch. You get plenty of kaiju action: landscapes razed, buildings destroyed and reduced to slag, and just all around devastation. More than that, though, there are themes of anti-imperialism (Western dominance), remnants of colonialism, women in positions of power, and corruption. I especially loved the importance placed on anthropology and archaeology, in the context of not letting Mesoamerican myth and culture become effaced from existence; there’s very much a commentary on the preservation of traditions, rituals, and languages, all in danger of being erased and forgotten, often by more dominant, outside cultures.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in the Latinx SFF Story Bundle.

At first, I wasn't sure about the characters. However, as the story went on, it became a really fun romp.

The pacing was great and the descriptions of city-destroying chaos were very cinematic. Honestly, this is a book that might have worked out even better as a Movie Script rather than a book.

If you enjoy monster stories where smart and brave people have to work around natural disasters, you'll enjoy Lords of the Earth.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first foray into reading kaiju and I especially liked the way the story built on Mexican myth and folklore. The writing seemed well-adapted to a movie genre : fast-paced, more full of action than description. The final battle was pretty heavily foreshadowed, but the monsters themselves kept me guessing.

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was lots of fun. The best bits, and also the funniest, were Charlotte's story from the 1930s, but it was all pretty enjoyable. Kaiju in Mexico! And it's all derived from actual mythology about which I was ignorant. I also enjoyed the sneaky decolonization narrative as the monsters destroyed pretty much every monument to the nation's former masters 8)

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat amateurish, but still enjoyable, giant monster book. It has a really fast pace that is hampered by predictable beats, and the characters are pretty thin. However, the Meso-American mythology was refreshingly unusual for books like this, and the stompy action was satisfying.

[Jessica Raab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, fast read

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently reading action scenes doesn't really work for me.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like reading a movie. In a good way. basically exactly what you'd want from a kaiju book.

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never read a kaiju tale before, and while I may not be running off to immediately grab another one, I enjoyed it as well as learning more about Mexico, its heritage, and myths.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright

Was not the best nor the worse book I've read. More myth than science. Not really good character development, but there were one or two that stood out. Average read, but not one to burn up the net with. You can read it but don't break the bank to buy it.