Megs Bela and Lizzy have escaped the Tanaka Institute to roam the Salish Sea in British Columbia. While Jonas and Mac attempt to capture or kill the 2 sisters, Jonas’ son, David, embarks on his own adventure, motivated by revenge. After watching his girlfriend die, David joins a Dubai prince’s ocean expedition tracking a 120 ft Liopleurdon that escaped the Panthalassa Sea.
Meg: Nightstalkers by Steve Alten. Book number 5 in the Meg series. Published June 2016 by Tor. Hardback, 367 pages. I originally read and reviewed this book in March 2018.
So far in the Meg series, each book has had a couple of years in between where the last book ends and the next book begins. Nightstalkers begins almost directly after the events from book 4, Hell Aquarium. I’m pretty happy that Mr. Alten did it this way this time. Book 4 ended with plenty of questions we wanted to have answered right away.
Also for the first time in the series, there are numerous pictures included through out the book. Maps, pictures of vehicles and prehistoric creatures. The artist is Tan Ngo. The maps are a great help since there are a lot of locations in the book that are not as familiar of locations, like Antarctica, areas of Canada, and ocean floors. There are some specialized underwater vehicles and it is really cool getting to see what they look like as well. Nightstalkers introduces us to a couple more prehistoric sea creatures, and we get plenty of pictures of them as well. It really helps the reader get a clearer picture of what exactly these guys look like. All the pictures are in black and white, but they are all very crisp and clear. Very readable and easy to understand.
I love this series, but this was definitely my least favorite of the series. Where were the megs? We hardly see the sisters, who were so interesting! I wanted to see them working more together and we hardly had much of them at all. That was disappointing! Lizzy and Bella were the best part of the book. I enjoyed other prehistoric creatures making appearances, but it seemed like it took away from the megs. I mean, I love a sea creature story, but I’m reading the Meg series for MEGS. It would be better if the author had introduced about about other sea creatures being down there and then use that to start another series that focused on those creatures specifically. There was really too much going on in this book.
It was also disappointing that David was in it again. I don’t like him much because he is such a cocky 21 year old. He is annoying. I just can’t stand how he acts. All. The. Time. AGH. There was just waaaaayyyy too much of him. I get that we are passing the torch between Jonas and his son, but I was just done with David in the last book and to see him as the main focus in this book was just not very appealing.
The author also tried to add a lot of environmental concerns. I like when a book brings to your attention environmental problems, but sometimes it just felt like too much in one book. It was the same problem as introducing more sea creatures. There is just too much going on. It felt over booked.
The last couple of chapters were the best part of the book. The 2 story lines came together, there was a lot of action, and it wasn’t just all David. Much better with as little bit of David as possible. I was so sad about what went down with Bela and Lizzy. 😦 I really grew to love those 2 megs and I would have liked to see something a little less depressing happen with them!
I will read the next book in the series, but I hope David isn’t so annoying in it. >.< He really has become my least favorite part of the series. I wish that there was more with the daughter. She actually turned out to be a decent person but now we hardly see much of her.
While the ending was super entertaining, the majority of the book was frustrating because of David’s cocky, jackass attitude. The Meg series needs to focus more on the megalodons and dial back on having so much crammed in to the books. The meg sisters and the artwork were the best part of the story.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 
What are your thoughts on the movie? I’m guessing the books are better? Also, great review! Making me want to read them, to find out about all those prehistoric creatures.
I had a love / hate with the movie… I enjoyed the shark scenes and there was a lot of fun action, but for some reason they made some odd changes that just made the movie not so good. I think they wanted to make it a family movie, so they added a kid main character that just didn’t fit in well, and they toned down the violence, which is kinda stupid when you have a shark movie. I think if the studio left it R rated like it was supposed to and cut out all the kid stuff, it could have been a lot better. In the books, the author introduces you to a bunch of pretty cool sea creatures… pretty much every major prehistoric sea creature makes an appearance.
Oh dear. I’m not too fond of films straying away from the original material. Making it family friendly just seems to be for the money, to be honest, with little thought to the fans of the books. Such a shame!
I couldn’t agree more.