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Kronos Rising #4

Kraken: Volume 3

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"Max Hawthorne's climactic finish to his award-winning Kraken trilogy latches onto you with all the power and ferocity of its legendary namesake and doesn't let go. A truly heart-pounding and well-crafted conclusion."
-G. Michael Hopf, bestselling author of The End

If you're fans of dinosaur books for adults like Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Lost World, must read adventure books like Greig Beck's To the Center of the Earth series, or amazing action stories a la Steve Alten's Meg franchise, you're going to LOVE the Kronos Rising series!

THE MOST FEARED MONSTER IN HUMAN HISTORY IS MAKING HUMANS . . . HISTORY.

Tartarus has earned its name. Having tracked a mortally wounded Sam Mot back to the Tube’s entrance, the revenge-obsessed Octopus giganteus female launches a ferocious assault on the submarine base. Its goal is to slaughter every living thing, including the facility’s caged pliosaurs.

As Tartarus’s woefully inadequate security forces engage the invading Kraken, an oblivious Dirk Braddock watches in horror as his body succumbs to the most virulent Cretaceous cancer strain of all – the one that destroyed his father.

While Dirk fights for his very soul, an infuriated Captain Natalya Dragunova arrives in Tartarus, armed and looking for payback. She plans to avenge her murdered crew and, per Garm Braddock’s last wishes, rescue his brother Dirk in the process.

Unfortunately, the tough-as-nails sub commander has no idea what she’s walking into. Nefarious forces are waiting to put an end to her and everyone she cares about. Soon, she and Tartarus’s beleaguered survivors will be forced to confront the base’s most terrifying a weapon designed to bring mankind’s tenuous mastery of the planet to an abrupt and apocalyptic end.

And around every corner, the Kraken waits.



Kronosaurus is back in . . . the Kronos Rising series!

532 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2020

112 people are currently reading
114 people want to read

About the author

Max Hawthorne

15 books86 followers
Max Hawthorne is an American author. He grew up in Philadelphia, where he graduated with a BA from Central High School and a BFA from the University of the Arts. He is the author of Memoirs of a Gym Rat, an outrageous exposé of the health club industry, as well as the award-winning Kronos Rising novel series.

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5 stars
149 (58%)
4 stars
82 (32%)
3 stars
19 (7%)
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Máire.
18 reviews1 follower
May 24, 2022
Finally over

Continuous questions I had throughout this novel (and series):
Has this author ever interacted with an actual woman and is this what he thinks women think like?
Was this book written by a 13 year old boy?
Did Joey Tribbiani write this while playing with the synonym function in word?
Why introduce multiple plot lines, characters, and backstories to have them serve NO actual purpose? (You are not GRRM)
11 reviews
March 23, 2022
Felt like this book left you hanging.
Didn’t really finish the story that it started since 1st book.

Extremely poor ending to the series.
Was a disappointing read for me.

329 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2021
A Terrific End to a Great Series---Almost.

I flew through this whole series because the story was terrific! It was "Jaws," "Jurassic Park," and "Journey to the Center of the Earth," all rolled into one. Mr. Hawthorne is a wonderful writer with a real feel for pacing. He defines people well and is also good at setting scenes. He overuses his thesaurus from time to time. "Brobdagnagian" is a word that should be used once in the series to prove you know what it means, not in all five books. There are lots of synonyms for "gigantic."
This is a terrific action series. Unfortunately, like most action series, it assumes that women aren't going to be interested, or at least, will be the minority audience. Mr. Hawthorne is woefully ignorant about the attitudes and behaviors of women. His depiction of the thoughts and behaviors of the character of Natalya in the third book of this series were offensive and so out of character with her depiction otherwise that it really ruined the series for me. He wrote a character who was smart, strong, brave and emotionally invested in Garm. Garm had just died bravely before her very eyes. Within two pages, Mr Hawthorne has Natalya behaving like a complete slut with another man. As a military officer in command of others and an honorable woman, she would NEVER have done such a thing! As a former U.S.Army major who commanded troops during Desert Storm, I can state categorically that the kind of trash talk Mr Hawthorne has Natalya talking right after her paramour died couldn't and wouldn't have happened. Women officers are still held to a much higher standard than our male counterparts. Besides, its just in extremely bad taste! Mr Hawthorne, you really pissed me off! Here I am, two books later and I'm still mad about it despite how great the series is. Yes, I know I am a feminist. That's not a dirty word. It just means I demand that all women be treated with the same dignity as is shown to men, even the characters in books. Your pictures and writing show you to be a pretty nice guy on the outside. Underneath, the writer in you seems to be a misogynistic asshole. Maybe you should work on that. Especially since that guy is such a good writer
Profile Image for Wayne Murphy.
87 reviews7 followers
August 11, 2020
Well the ending caused me to scream out an expletive or 4!

From the beginning this book began with action and it ended with action and there where more than a few moments of gruesome horror for the horror creature feature fan's! I had a blast reading this book Mr. Hawthorne from beginning to end, but about that ending surely the devil is truly a liar because rumor is this is the last book?! No way not with that ending! I do hope Max continues in this genre whether it's with the sea beasties or something new I don't care because he brings much needed freshness in a genre that's kinda gone stale. The human monster interaction is amazing and tense, and bringing back a certain major favorite character of mine from the first book was such a treat this character had so much unfinished bidness as the late great Dusty Rhodes would say. Thank's to the author and I can't WAIT for the next book whether in this world or a new one.
Profile Image for Richard.
379 reviews4 followers
October 4, 2022
An absolutely amazing climax to a monstermental series of books. Every chapter is packed with action and story telling. The braddocks and Natalya are immense and every person and animal ia integral. Interestingly there are unanswered questions which could still come back in possible future tales. Garm, Derek, Stacey, Amara, Jake, Tiamat, Typhon, Kraken, Megladon. Thank you for being a stunning read. For me, an author that eclipses Matthew Reilly in terma of action. Looking forward to what comes next.
Profile Image for Alexa.
695 reviews
December 7, 2022
Too much fun!

We had the same page turning action, decent character continuation and pretty good wrap up for the character ark.
Lots of dinosaurs, kraken and general monstrosities creating tons of mayhem and gore.

I liked the little twist at the end, I saw one of the two surprises coming from a LONG ways away but it was still a good end.
Creature feature writing at its finest, I hope I still have all these books on my shelves in 10 years so my baby boys (then terrible teens) can enjoy these.
4 reviews
August 9, 2020
This is Max's best work yet. It is Hawthorne's own vision of what could happen when scientific research mingles with a desire for power. Max enters into the realm of a terrifyingly plausible future. It is brilliantly written, well researched and executed in a writing style that will keep you up reading into the wee hours of the night and beyond. Highly recommended along with the entire Kronos series.
Profile Image for Shawna.
7 reviews1 follower
July 11, 2020
So I know that this was supposed to be the last in the series, but I still have some unanswered questions. Also, this book needs another editing. There are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. Most were easy to figure out but there were a few that were just gibberish. Overall the book pretty much met my expectations.
Profile Image for Linda.
286 reviews2 followers
February 23, 2021
This was the best one of the bunch...if you like blood and gore. Pretty disgusting actually. The action was non stop and the fights with and between monsters was good. Hawthorne has some interesting and sexist ideas swimming around in these books though. And he showed his true colors when a brilliant scientist used the term “wuhan virus” rather than “COVID”.
404 reviews2 followers
October 13, 2023
Review of this book.

This book was even better than the last book. The series just keeps getting better as it goes on. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Each one is better than the book before it. I cannot wait to see where Dirk ends up going or being for that matter.
97 reviews1 follower
August 20, 2025
Another brilliant read

This continues the story of our hero Dirk Braddock, and his quest to survive and get revenge on the death of his mother, brother and friends. Again a great twist at the end.
I hope that this series gets to the silver screen, as I think it would give the Jurassic park series a run for its money, definitely better than " The Meg "
Profile Image for Aurora Rayn.
11 reviews
July 20, 2020
This book is absolutely fantastic! Max Hawthorne doesn't disappoint with any of his books and that rings true for this installment to the Kronos Rising series. It's action packed from the opening paragraph to the closing paragraph. I will most Definetly be reading this book again.
8 reviews
May 24, 2021
Loved loved loved

Yet again, Max keeps you on the edge of your seat with every page he writes, and leavings you wanting more. I can not begin to say enough about how wonderful of an author he is, plain and simple.
15 reviews
June 13, 2021
What an imagination Max!!!

Again, another volume and I am caught in the books long reaching tentacles!! It won't let go of me, nor I of it!! What a story, what a ride, so much depth, I am addicted to this Kraken crack. Please tell me there's another one??!!
Profile Image for Patt Lisenbee.
141 reviews
October 18, 2022
Kronos Rising: (Kraken vol 3

Ongoing in the Kronos Rising series, the Braddock family and team members continue living in the world of seamonsters ruling the oceans and human monsters ruling the rest.
A series of books worth reading from start to finish without a break!
570 reviews3 followers
July 26, 2020
Loved it


A very good read. Well written and fun to read. Full of intense action and great characters. I definitely recommend it.
Profile Image for FictionFreak.
268 reviews7 followers
July 28, 2020
Fantastic

KRAKEN volume 3 is the trilogy climax we’ve been waiting for. If you’ve read this far in the series, there’s no point in stopping now! Full speed ahead!
Profile Image for Nathan Bryant.
27 reviews
December 2, 2020
Just wow

Been waiting on this book for quite some time. And when it finally came out, just wow. Well worth the wait. Can't wait for possibly more books to come out of this series.
Profile Image for Bee Lee.
12 reviews
March 4, 2021
This was a big miss for me. I couldn't connect to character.
68 reviews1 follower
May 17, 2021
Excellent series

Loved reading this series and sad to have reached the end. I recommend it to all people who enjoy a scary monster type read.
11 reviews
June 4, 2022
Other authors pale in comparison! Another great book added to my collection!
1 review
March 23, 2023
very good

Very good read will read all the books in the series this year on kindle or paper back books u
Profile Image for Paige Turner.
1,119 reviews22 followers
March 24, 2023
Good Lord! Just how many times can people "almost" die but miraculously make it after all? Like all the books in this series, a silly, yet fun, read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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