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Burrunjor
A horrific beast stalks the bush of Australia’s Northern Territory. For centuries it has devoured any who have crossed its path. The native Jawoyn have a name for this prehistoric horror . . . BURRUNJOR!
Famed cryptid hunters Jack and Karen Rastun are on their honeymoon when the monster attacks their tour group. Cut off from the outside world, they flee deep into the forest, with the Burrunjor in pursuit.
This time, Jack and Karen do not have state-of-the-art weapons or equipment, nor do they have a team of experienced soldiers and scientists to back them up. The two adventurers must rely on their wits and ingenuity, and a collection of civilians unprepared to battle one of the deadliest predators in history.
Famed cryptid hunters Jack and Karen Rastun are on their honeymoon when the monster attacks their tour group. Cut off from the outside world, they flee deep into the forest, with the Burrunjor in pursuit.
This time, Jack and Karen do not have state-of-the-art weapons or equipment, nor do they have a team of experienced soldiers and scientists to back them up. The two adventurers must rely on their wits and ingenuity, and a collection of civilians unprepared to battle one of the deadliest predators in history.
- GenresHorror
156 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2022
150 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
John J. Rust
26 books16 followersBorn in Hamilton Township, NJ, Rust graduated from Nottingham High School before obtaining degrees in communications from Mercer County College (NJ) and the College of Mt. St. Vincent (NY). He worked as a reporter for New Jersey 101.5 FM before moving to Arizona, where he became the sports director/sportscaster for KYCA-AM. Rust published the military sci-fi novel "Dark Wings," the baseball-related books "Arizona All-Time Baseball Team" and "The Best Phillies Team Ever," the cryptozoological thriller "Sea Raptor," and several short stories, including "The Art of Fear" starring the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, which appears in the anthology "Halloween Dances with the Dead."
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 14, 2024
No meaningful spoilers. DNFed at 20% though I suspected I'd need to by 5%. I love monster and dino books and movies, especially free ones, but this is some of the laziest writing I've read. The ML whose perspective it's written from was immediately offputting: judgemental and set up as extremely able in all things, judger of lesser men and women. In his first few pages he expressed irritation several times at a teenager for being on her phone and judged her parents for being unable to discepline her. It's easy to, they're exceptionally cut out, flat, unrealistic characters you're supposed to hope get eaten soon and will clearly need saving by the super competent main couple. But God imagine spending time on your honeymoon being constantly annoyed by the existence of your fellow tourists and thinking about how you'll be a much better stepdad and of course your new wife would back you up to shut down any rudeness from her kid. Because the wife is one of the Good Characters who aren't luggage.
Even the mystery of what was stashed in the opening chapter wasn't enough to keep me reading, which I figured I'd at least be interested in skimming to get to. I really hoped this story would turn around when it got to the creature, because maybe that's what the author truly wanted to write and would work harder at. Nope, it shows up and the MC is just immediately burdened by the stupid and inept characters.
Pros: Quickly gets to the monster mayhem. No obligatory disbelief about cryptids existing, it's a Tuesday for the main couple. The Korean tourists were genuinely described in a fun way, eagerly leaning out to hopefully catch sight of a crocodile and generally being characters I was invested in because they felt like realistic tourists.
Cons: the characters and the uninspired writing. Especially grating was that the MC seemed to overvalue his opinion of others, especially other men. Either they're solid guys or they're pushovers or weak or fools. One passenger is a badgering wife who, like the teen and her family, just serve to annoy and feel vaguely sexist. It would have been cool if the side characters got to show who they are through their actions, rather than the MC's judgement. I'd have loved if the teen turned her behavior around when shit got real, contributed something useful she found out from consuming content on her phone all the time. That would have been a cool subversion of the wooden stereotypes. Nope, she intentionally breaks her phone, gets reassured by her simpering parents they'll get her a new one, and with disbelief asks what she's supposed to do until then. After a monster attack. That was when I jumped ship.
I'm sorry to say don't waste your time, friends. Read Murray's Into the Mist for a better outback dinosaur horror thriller, or Amazonia by Rollins for jungle monster suspense, or Abyss by Beck for animal horror, or Subhuman by McBride or Terminal Freeze by Child or Relic by Preston and Child for better monster horror and suspense.
Even the mystery of what was stashed in the opening chapter wasn't enough to keep me reading, which I figured I'd at least be interested in skimming to get to. I really hoped this story would turn around when it got to the creature, because maybe that's what the author truly wanted to write and would work harder at. Nope, it shows up and the MC is just immediately burdened by the stupid and inept characters.
Pros: Quickly gets to the monster mayhem. No obligatory disbelief about cryptids existing, it's a Tuesday for the main couple. The Korean tourists were genuinely described in a fun way, eagerly leaning out to hopefully catch sight of a crocodile and generally being characters I was invested in because they felt like realistic tourists.
Cons: the characters and the uninspired writing. Especially grating was that the MC seemed to overvalue his opinion of others, especially other men. Either they're solid guys or they're pushovers or weak or fools. One passenger is a badgering wife who, like the teen and her family, just serve to annoy and feel vaguely sexist. It would have been cool if the side characters got to show who they are through their actions, rather than the MC's judgement. I'd have loved if the teen turned her behavior around when shit got real, contributed something useful she found out from consuming content on her phone all the time. That would have been a cool subversion of the wooden stereotypes. Nope, she intentionally breaks her phone, gets reassured by her simpering parents they'll get her a new one, and with disbelief asks what she's supposed to do until then. After a monster attack. That was when I jumped ship.
I'm sorry to say don't waste your time, friends. Read Murray's Into the Mist for a better outback dinosaur horror thriller, or Amazonia by Rollins for jungle monster suspense, or Abyss by Beck for animal horror, or Subhuman by McBride or Terminal Freeze by Child or Relic by Preston and Child for better monster horror and suspense.
August 14, 2022
Not so good
This is basically a soap opera with a dinosaur jumping out and killing people at random. I will not try this author again.
This is basically a soap opera with a dinosaur jumping out and killing people at random. I will not try this author again.
January 2, 2023
Burrunjor was a great dinosaur icky bug set in the Australian outback. I had a great time following the cast of victims as they tried to get back to civilization and out run the monster.
The writing was top notch with solid third-person past-tense writing. The narrative was brisk and the chapters and scenes short. The story moved at a fast pace with just enough characterization to give the characters some depth.
This is quality creature feature icky bug. Highly recommended.
The writing was top notch with solid third-person past-tense writing. The narrative was brisk and the chapters and scenes short. The story moved at a fast pace with just enough characterization to give the characters some depth.
This is quality creature feature icky bug. Highly recommended.
December 28, 2022
Originally published on the book blog of Creature From the Black Lagoon.
"A horrific beast stalks the bush of Australia’s Northern Territory. For centuries, it has devoured any who have crossed its path. The native Jawoyn have a name for this prehistoric horror…Burrunjor!
Famed cryptid hunters Jack and Karen Rastun are on their honeymoon when the monster attacks their tour group. Cut off from the outside world, they flee deep into the forest, with the Burrunjor in pursuit.
This time, Jack and Karen do not have state-of-the-art weapons or equipment, nor do they have a team of experienced soldiers and scientists to back them up. The two adventurers must rely on their wits and ingenuity, and a collection of civilians unprepared to battle one of the deadliest predators in history."
So, before starting this book, I was already confused! So, this is book # 2?? Maybe?? But the books don’t have series name??? Ummm. Why is it so confusing?? Am I just blind and missing something? :/
Burrunjor is a standalone (??), but clearly I was missing a bit of backstory. This would not ruin the enjoyment of the book – For most people. Now, I had fun with this book, yes, but I spent so much time at the start of the book trying to figure out if I was reading the book out of order….? I was feeling frustrated before even really getting anywhere!!
But……………….
DINOSUARS!!! 😀 Yay! I do love me a dinosaur adventure. It is great that the plots gets pretty much straight to the crazy dino shit going down. Just a little set up, then BOOM, things get weird!!
There are a lot of characters and I did have a hard time at first remembering who is who. One of the reasons this book didn’t feel like a standalone is because some of the characters are written like we SHOULD know them already….? :/ It is never fully explained or even very clear if we have or not?? It felt like part of their story was just missing :/
The narrator is kind of EH. Most of the time it was ok, but there were accents being used that I had noooo idea what they were….? Other than odd…
Burrunjor focuses heavily on guns and military. The more the better felt like a motto. Still an entertaining action story. Not the best dino book, but not the worst! This is pretty middle of the road. Still fun, but yeah, MID.
"A horrific beast stalks the bush of Australia’s Northern Territory. For centuries, it has devoured any who have crossed its path. The native Jawoyn have a name for this prehistoric horror…Burrunjor!
Famed cryptid hunters Jack and Karen Rastun are on their honeymoon when the monster attacks their tour group. Cut off from the outside world, they flee deep into the forest, with the Burrunjor in pursuit.
This time, Jack and Karen do not have state-of-the-art weapons or equipment, nor do they have a team of experienced soldiers and scientists to back them up. The two adventurers must rely on their wits and ingenuity, and a collection of civilians unprepared to battle one of the deadliest predators in history."
So, before starting this book, I was already confused! So, this is book # 2?? Maybe?? But the books don’t have series name??? Ummm. Why is it so confusing?? Am I just blind and missing something? :/
Burrunjor is a standalone (??), but clearly I was missing a bit of backstory. This would not ruin the enjoyment of the book – For most people. Now, I had fun with this book, yes, but I spent so much time at the start of the book trying to figure out if I was reading the book out of order….? I was feeling frustrated before even really getting anywhere!!
But……………….
DINOSUARS!!! 😀 Yay! I do love me a dinosaur adventure. It is great that the plots gets pretty much straight to the crazy dino shit going down. Just a little set up, then BOOM, things get weird!!
There are a lot of characters and I did have a hard time at first remembering who is who. One of the reasons this book didn’t feel like a standalone is because some of the characters are written like we SHOULD know them already….? :/ It is never fully explained or even very clear if we have or not?? It felt like part of their story was just missing :/
The narrator is kind of EH. Most of the time it was ok, but there were accents being used that I had noooo idea what they were….? Other than odd…
Burrunjor focuses heavily on guns and military. The more the better felt like a motto. Still an entertaining action story. Not the best dino book, but not the worst! This is pretty middle of the road. Still fun, but yeah, MID.
November 18, 2022
As both a fan of creature stories and an Australian expat, this book was appealing. A dinosaur running around in the outback? What more could you want for a fun monster story? It kept me entertained throughout. It's pretty funny how the characters are repeatedly ambushed by an 18 foot tall couple of ton dinosaur that no one ever seems to see or hear coming, but you don't read this kind of story with realism in mind.
The biggest flaw for me didn't even have to do with the story. The more I read this, the more it felt like to me it was part of a series, with constant references to the main characters previous encounters with cryptids and their organization that searches for the creatures. There's no series mentioned anywhere on the cover or in the description, but I checked out the author's page and sure enough there's more books with these characters there. I guess I'll just have to find the earliest one to start at Book 1. If I'd known that I probably wouldn't have read this first. Would have been nice if this was made a little clearer. These are clearly stand alones, but I'm the kind of reader that always likes to start at the beginning.
The biggest flaw for me didn't even have to do with the story. The more I read this, the more it felt like to me it was part of a series, with constant references to the main characters previous encounters with cryptids and their organization that searches for the creatures. There's no series mentioned anywhere on the cover or in the description, but I checked out the author's page and sure enough there's more books with these characters there. I guess I'll just have to find the earliest one to start at Book 1. If I'd known that I probably wouldn't have read this first. Would have been nice if this was made a little clearer. These are clearly stand alones, but I'm the kind of reader that always likes to start at the beginning.
October 21, 2022
5 Stars
Good Dinosaur story. This one in Australia where a tour group is attacked by the monster. Jack and Karen Rastun known monster hunters happens to be part of the group, and now find themselves trying to get the group to safety. Good book I'm still wondering why they didn't eat the snake.
Good Dinosaur story. This one in Australia where a tour group is attacked by the monster. Jack and Karen Rastun known monster hunters happens to be part of the group, and now find themselves trying to get the group to safety. Good book I'm still wondering why they didn't eat the snake.
September 29, 2022
It took me a while to get into this book and then when I did, it was mainly to see what happens to the 2 or 3 people in the story that I was hoping would die a horrifying and painful death. By the end of the story I was quite happy with it.
December 10, 2022
not bad
As far as a survival novel goes this one is pretty good. On the monster/cryptid side I would have to say it was lacking some. What was missing I think was the buildup and the details of the creature. But it was an enjoyable read
As far as a survival novel goes this one is pretty good. On the monster/cryptid side I would have to say it was lacking some. What was missing I think was the buildup and the details of the creature. But it was an enjoyable read
July 4, 2022
Allosaurus
Way too much cursing. Interesting plot, but way too much cursing. Skimmed over the gore. Never did completely explain why Adam was so angry.
Way too much cursing. Interesting plot, but way too much cursing. Skimmed over the gore. Never did completely explain why Adam was so angry.
September 13, 2022
This book was action packed from the get go to the end..... good weekend read.
May 20, 2023
Good book
Good book kept you interested and was a good story line the action was great the author did a good job at keeping you entertained
Good book kept you interested and was a good story line the action was great the author did a good job at keeping you entertained
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews