Reviews

Meg: Hell's Aquarium by Steve Alten

alleybam's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

3.0

foxtrevert's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

skribbelgrl's review

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

This series is about as B movie as you can get, and I LOVE it. This series has just been an entirely guilty read that gives enough tension and gore to keep things trucking along. And that's saying a bit since in this one, Megs are not the only prehistoric beasts to be haunting the deep seas. We're talking magical Liopleurodons, Charlie!

You cannot take these books seriously at all. Alten does a good job of trying to fluff up some science terms and all to make it sound more plausible, but you really have to suspend reality to actually enjoy these. If that's not something you find fun when reading, then this series should legitimately be a hard pass for you.

There's 3 more books in the series and then the prequel, so I'm going to be trying to finish out all of them before the end of 2025. We'll see how that goes haha.

grizzly0211's review against another edition

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2.0

Again, shark stuff 100% but the way the author "writes" women and anyone who isn't a white straight guy is just plain bad, especially as he's married with kids so I'd like to think he's had some experience of women as multidimensional human beings and not just shallow, personality-less model/porn caricatures. Though the book does make me feel even more sorry for straight ladies because, as someone infinitely wiser than me put it, the bar is a trip hazard in hell.

I did really enjoy the megalodon et al. sections, though. It's just a shame that his people characterisations are terrible.

remkosiak's review against another edition

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4.0

lost count of the editing errors and yet still four stars what is wrong with me

hexed's review against another edition

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3.0

Nobody ever learns in these books. They just....keep building Jurassic shark theme parks....

thelotr11fan's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5⭐️:this may be a minor complaint but besides the Nigel Marvin history lesson prologue. Everything else was good. Nothing more need be said. Also I was bit caught by surprise Steve Alten killed Angel.

cincylaw's review against another edition

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4.0

Good vacation mindless story for something light.

nozzony's review against another edition

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3.0

This is the fourth book in the MEG series. It was a decent, but rather long read. It was filled with plenty of carnage and the Megs got to eat a lot of people. Also everything that can go wrong, does, as what is normal in Steve Alten's books. I have a feeling that this may have been the crossover book for Jonas Taylor's son, David, to be taking over the role as the hero of the next MEG book.

clairecalderwood's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5