A Review of (Some) Creature Features

I believe It's being a while since someone posted a list like this so... Here are some of creature novels that I read (or have yet to read) that I think are the best of the genre or are very underrated to help those who wish to find some to read (disclaimer: these are based on my own experience and entertainment while reading them):

Carnosaur by Harry Adam Knight: the THE dinosaur novel before Michael Crichton Jurassic Park where prehistoric animals get loose on rural England. Sadly It never got the same popularity nor a worthy movie adaptation - It has a satisfactory amount of gore and dinosaur attacks, but has also some spicy scenes.

Altar of Eden by Jame Rollins: after finding a shipwreck full with bizarre and genetic enginered animals, the main characters thare share a traumatic past are in a race against time as one of the creatures (>!an genetically enginered white sabertooth/jaguar!<) managed to escape and have to captured It to stop the rising body count. Pretty decent creature feature, recommend everyone who wish to start reading James Rollins creature features.

Ice Hunt by James Rollins: when a secret laboratory base is discovered inside an iceberg, a team o cientists and military personnel must not only survive the battle bettween USA and Russia, as they try to recover the secret inside the base while trying to keep the world from finding out the truth, but also a >!pod of Ambulocetus!< that have been awoken from their deep slumber and are on the hunt. This novel has surprised me as I have never read one story that dealt with this specific creature.

Colony by Benjamin Cross: a group of scientists and military personnel sent to a island in the Russian Arctic must fend for themselves after their ship is destroyed in an act of terrorist and try to survive not only the cold and isolation, but also >!a colony of late-surviving troodontids!<. A severely underrated dinosaur novel, but bewarned, while the creature descriptions and kills are good, the characterization of some of the cast (mainly the female characters) feel shallow sometimes.

Primitive War I & II (third volume still unreleased as of now) by Ethan Pettus: dinosaurs loose on the modern world after a failed experiment from a Russian compound fight a group of American militaries. First story set in Vietnam and Second novel set in Africa. Highly reccomend, especially due to the author not pulling any punches on how and who gets killed, plus the description of dinosaurs.

Congo by Michael Crichton: an expedition sent to Africa discover that an ancient temple and precious diamonds are guarded a group of white gorillas. The novels IS much better than the movie adaptation and I found the tone set better

The Flock by James Robert Smith: a flock of late-surviving high intelligent >!Titanis (or Terror Birds)!< are discovered in Florida and the plot revolves the conflict between those that want to protect the birds and those that want their destruction (a sequel The Clan was announced but I have not heard any updates or know If it was ever released)

The Beast by Peter Benchley: novel with the same premise as It's predecessor but a giant squid instead of a great white.I recommend everyone to give It a go since one could feel the evolution of Peter Benchley writing animal attacks.

Relic/Reliquary by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child: deals with hybrid reptilian-humanoid set loose in a museum. The starter novel to every creature feature lover.

Extinction by Douglas Preston: from the same author of Relic. Set in a sanctuary where prehistoric animals (woolly mammoths, ground sloths, glyptodonts, etc) were brought back from extinction, but a series of murders threaten this sanctuary, later discovered to be >!cloned rogue neanderthals !<that want to take over the world and destroy humans (highly reccomend). More sequels are expected.

Rolling in the Deep/Into The Drowing Deep by MIra Grant: a vessel is sent to the Marianas Trench to discover the truth behind the myth of mermaids, only to discover that reality is much more terrifying

Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child: an frozen mythological creature is set loose on a military base after being disturbed by cientists and a film crew, starts to killing. A mixture of The Terror with The Thing.

The Yeti by Rick Chesler & Jack Douglas: a group of adventures that want to climb to the top of the Himalayas find themselves on the Yeti path of revenge. Pretty decent novel of the Bigfoot subgenre.

Devolution by Max Brooks: after the eruption of a volcano, a small city is cut off from the rest of the world and it's inhabitants find themselves under siege by a clan of sasquatchs. Slight warning: the novel is written as if in first person (with the exceptions of the interview segments) and some people were a little put off by the writing style, but I didn't had a issue with It, recommend to anyone give It a read since is the best sasquatch type novel out there

Abominable by Alan Nayes: a really weird novel that deals with a sasquatch that was found confined on a pod and awoken from It slumber, that can disrupt modern technology due to a chip that was implanted on It's head by either aliens or time faring future people (It's a crazy story and I don't know how to feel about It, but I would say t anyone to give It a shot).

The Meg Series by Steven Alten: Megalodons and other marine prehistoric monstrosities set loose in the oceans after being released from the Mariana Trench (the first and second novel are the ones that I think are the best in my opinion).

The Predation Series by L. J. Vitanza: deals with prehistoric predators (>!dire wolf, sabertooths, short face bears!<) attacking people on the modern world. It felt like every book had a different style of being written but they do connect in some ways (for the best one is the short face bear volume)

Snowblind and Snowblind: The Killing Ground by Michael McBride: a group of people that find themselves under attack by mysterious creatures in the woods. >!The word bigfoot or sasquatch is never mentioned!<. It's very good with the suspense, mystery and kills.

Komodo by John Lee Schneider: a group of tourists find themselves stranded on a island where a rich men is the care taker of large Komodo Dragons. This is a hidden gem of which I found myself relating to some of the characters in parts that hit very deep.

Devour by Kurt Anderson: a cruise ship and It's passengers find themselves under siege not only by a hostile group but also by a large pliosaur that is on the hunt.

Not of This World Hybrid by Gerry Griffiths: hybrid animals (grolar bear, hybrid panthers) are set loose in a rural town and cause havoc. Pretty decent I would say for any creature feature lover.

Titanoboa by Victor Methos: if Anaconda had another sequel and It was set in Fiji. I don't care enough for It, think the author fails in some descriptions of attacks, animal behavior and characterization (feels very shallow). Also, If they wanted a giant snake for this part of the world, don't go with Titanoboa - go with the Vasuki, Gigantophis or Palaeophis, since they would act more accordingly

Novels that I have yet to read (so I can't say much about, only on what type of creatures we are dealing with):

• Carnifex by Matthew Hellscream (marsupial lion)
• Don't Move by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth (giant spider?)
• The Claw Series by Katie Berry (I have no idea only that is some kind of prehistoric beast)
• Amazonia and Subterranean by James Rollins
• Ancestor by Scott Sigler (ancient hybrid creature brought back by scientists)
• Siberius by Kenneth Cran (sabertooth in Russia)
• The Kronos Rising series by Max Hawthorn (Kronosaurus)
• Orca by Arthur Herzog (orca that wants revenge)
• The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly (Jurassic Park but with Dragons)
• The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones (a group of ordinary people find themselves transported to the past and under siege by dinosaurs)

There are many more creature features that I have read but these are the ones that come to my mind when I think of a good read.