According to author Cassian Eldreth, “Isla Necrosa exhaled an aura of primordial menace, a raw untamed power that whispered of impending doom.” The island was not merely a place of volcanic activity, it was a cauldron of biological chaos, a breeding ground for horrors born of scientific hubris. 

The island was home to a subterranean laboratory run by NeoSynth Labs. Scientists and technicians were hoping to bring back prehistoric life by manipulating ancient dinosaur DNA. Because of sloppy work, arrogance and greed, however, their crazy experiments went horribly wrong. 

They successfully brought dinosaurs back from the past, but they also unleashed an ancient retrovirus, dormant for millions of years, which mutated the beasts into a horrifying menagerie of monsters. The results were a grotesque fusion of nature and nightmare. 

The virus affected all the flora and fauna on the island. Trees and other plants began sprouting scales, armor and osteoderm, but the most overt mutations were the reanimated dinosaurs themselves, two of the most savage were the Crimson Stalker and the Alpha Ravager. 

The Crimson Stalker was a 15-foot-long snake-like creature. Its body was thick and powerful, a coiled spring ready to strike with a venom laced with neurotoxins capable of paralyzing a human in mere seconds. 

The Alpha Ravager, on the other hand, was a super intelligent Tyrannosaurus rex mutant that roamed Isla Necrosa with a predatory grace. “It had intelligence in its eyes that truly set it apart,” said Eldreth. “These weren’t the vacant predatory eyes of a mindless beast; they were sharp and calculating. They held a cold, analytical gleam that spoke of cunning and strategic thinking.”

NeoSynth tried to cover up its malfeasance, but the retrovirus quickly spread across the globe. Mutated creatures resembling horrifying chimeras of humans and dinosaurs overwhelmed the biosphere. Cities descended into panic, hospitals were overwhelmed and governments struggled to maintain order. The world was on the brink of collapse. 

The basic narrative of Cretaceous Curse wraps up pretty quickly. Readers witness the decline, the fall and the ultimate resurgence of civilization in the span of 135 pages. The remainder of the book features a lengthy (and ponderous) postscript commentary by the author on the sociopolitical and ecopolitical fallout from the prehistoric virus. Cassian Eldreth has written a lousy book, but like Edmund Burke, Mary Shelley and Herman Melville, he’s seen the intensity, the divine and the terror in nature. 

[ Cretaceous Curse / By Cassian Eldreth / First Printing: May 2025 / ISBN: 9798283638850 ]