Meg: Origins by Steve Alten

Summary:

Commander Jonas Taylor is tasked with piloting the US Navy's most advanced submersible, the DSV Sea Cliff, to the bottom of Challenger Deep — 36,000 feet below the surface — into what is very much an undiscovered country. What he finds there — a remnant population of luminous, prehistoric Megalodons — will change the course of the rest of his life.

In this prequel to his New York Times Bestseller, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, Alten sets the stage for the popular suspense series to follow. Fans of Meg will find it a must for offering insight into key characters' backstories, but the novella-length work also stands alone as a bite-sized tale of deep-sea suspense.

Summary taken from GoodReads.com

Length: 74 pages (approx.)

Source: E-book purchased from Kindle

Publication Date: August 16th 2011

So now we finally know about Jonas Taylors past in this prequel to the best selling Meg series by Steve Alten...it's about bloody time! I've been reading this series since 2005 and I've been dying to know exactly what happened to him while in the Marianna Trench.

For me while this book was lacking in length, it made up for it in the simple fact that it was from the Meg series. True I didn't like it as much as the novels but I would think that that is a given because its only about 74 pages long. I do wish that the author would have elaborated on some parts of the story though because sometimes it jumped around a wee bit too much for my liking and I felt as though I were left standing at the side of the road like I had just missed the bus or something.

What I liked was how Steve Alten stayed true to his writing style and focused on different characgters from the series at different times. For me it was nice to see how Mac and Jonas met and true to form they got into some shananigans when at the end of the book they stole an army helicopter from the mental hospital on the army base they were left at. Those two should not be left unattended in any circumstance because they'll just get into all sorts of trouble.  

While the writing of this isn't superb it's still a quick read for monster enthusiasts but I recommend reading the rest of the series first before you read this one since it will make it easier to follow.

★ ★ ★