Book Review: The Curse of the Viper King by Russell James (Grant Coleman #3)

Paleontologist Grant Coleman and environmentalist Janaina Silva, lost in the Amazon rain forest, discover an isolated logging camp, and the chance to hitch a ride back to civilization. But the workers uncover a fossil of a giant snake, almost fifteen meters long. Grant is thrilled, but the superstitious workers believe they have let loose a demon. That night, the world begins to unravel. A mysterious creature attacks the camp, kills several men, and sinks the only boat that can get them home. Soon Grant and the others are in a battle against colossal spiders and a descendant of that great fossilized snake.

The key to survival might lie in the lost pyramid of the Aztec Viper King, hidden deep in the rain forest. But they need to get there alive, and one member of the crew has an agenda that doesn’t include Grant and Janaina ever getting home. Will anyone survive the curse of the Viper King?

My Review:
This is the third book in the Grant Coleman series and directly follows on from events in book two so I strongly suggest reading Monsters In The Clouds before starting on this one. The first book Cavern of the Damned is a stand-alone adventure and is not connected to the next two books in any vital way.

Grant and Janaina have managed to find a canoe to get them further down the river and to help. However when the canoe starts to sink, they are forced to ask for help at a logging company site, where Janaina has to hide her identity, having had environmental run-ins with the company. The man in charge agrees to take them down the river with the logs in a few days but an attack on the camp by unknown creatures leaves people dead and the workers in a state of superstitious panic, blaming the incident on the release of a demon while cutting the trees down. Grant and Janaina decide to go looking for two missing workers and instead find a walled compound, previously built by an ancient tribe...to keep the deadly monsters trapped inside. Now human greed has releases the monsters.

There are two main plots in this story. The first follows Grant and Janaina as they try to get out of the Amazon but stumble across another monster adventure. The walled city houses the giant serpant who was a servant of an Aztec King, and his enemies were determined to keep that and the giant guardian spiders trapped within. But a greedy man determined to plunder the treasures within the pyramid temple has broken down the walls of the city and unleashed the monsters and the second plot follows the theft plotline, though both are nicely mixed into one overall story. It has a bit about the Aztecs and it doesn't take Grant long to work out that the spiders on the ancient stone tablets are what are killing the workers-but how can you fight mutant spiders? The other worrying aspect of what he reads is the big ancient snake.

I think this might have been my favourite story of the three. I may be terrified of spiders in reality but I like a good story about ancient mutant spiders running around the journey and killing people! The spiders were horrific but it was a fun adventure as the men group together to try and kill a few that are running around. But they make the mistake of taking a stand inside the walled city and barricading themselves in to stop the spiders in the forest attacking them, unaware that the rest of the spiders are actually living inside the city walls, leading to a lot of trouble. Grant and Janaina become more invested in finding the man that caused the whole mess and track him to the pyramid-where they discover that the giant snake is very much alive and very hungry.

It's actually hard to say much more about the story without giving everything away. It is a creature feature book but I like the little bits of ancient mythology and the issues that Janaina has with illegal logging in the Amazon and the damage that it causes. The main characters continue to entertain with misunderstandings of Grant's warped humour at times, and also an insight into the ordinary workers who end up as pawns in the battle between big business and the environmentalists, while all they want to do is provide a better life for their families. It was a pretty quick read by my standards and a fun addition to the series. The story is completed but it hints that there could be a future adventure to come-if the author decides to write it!

Read December 2019
4 stars.