It was just two months ago that Dr. Mark Hudson and his cryptid investigation team saved Los Angeles from being destroyed by a group of quarreling giant monsters (read my review of Gore vs. the Cryptid Kaiju here). And now, after a brief respite back home at Area 51, Hudson was called back into action again.

Only this time, the stakes were even higher. Famine, one of the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, was making a play to destroy the cosmos—or, at the very least, reshape reality in his own image. 

At his command was Gore, the 400-foot-tall super wendigo from the previous novel. Gore was the ultimate avatar. With the she-beast by his side, Famine (known biblically as the Black Horse) felt unstoppable. “There was a reckoning on the way,” warned authors Zach Cole and Cody Bratsch, “one that would put Famine and Gore directly up against the great pantheons that ruled over the cosmos.”

It was time for the earthly gods to assemble their celestial warriors—the avatars! Here the avatars are human beings transformed into kaiju-like monsters by the gods. Said the Great Spirit, a Native American divinity: “We endow a chosen mortal with the power to be able to change into a great beast at will. In these forms, most avatars end up being even more powerful than the gods who chose them in the first place.” 

Because of Dr. Hudson’s past experience fighting kaiju in L.A., the Great Spirit chose him to be his personal avatar. The process was pretty straightforward—there were no tricky sigils or incantations involved. A syringe of “magical blue energy” was injected into the back of Hudson’s skull and (voilà!) he gained the ability to transform into a Divine Beast named Thunderbird. There was no scientific logic to it—the gods themselves barely understood how the transformation worked.

The avatars then enter into a Shōnen Jump-like tournament to prepare for the coming war. This is where the authors introduce the eight celestial warriors to the reader. Along with Thunderbird, there’s Scylla from Greece, Jorogumo from Japan, Fafnir from the Norse pantheon, Camazotz the Mayan, Naga the Hindu, Osiris from Egypt and Behemoth, the Christian representative. For the record, Scylla and Fafnir are considered the mightiest of the bunch. 

Each of the avatars has unique powers and a distinct personality. Despite their foibles and quarrelsome temperaments, they make for a fun mix of characters. Gold star to the authors for creating this winsome cast. 

As seen in the previous novel, Gore was a brute. But here she continues to evolve physically. The antlers atop her head have become thicker and now point forward (“better for skewering,” said the authors). Armor adorned her arms and legs, making her more durable. And at some point, monstrous spider legs sprout from her spine.  

But she wasn’t just a cipher or a tool. Gore suffered from an inner turmoil and angst that motivated her. Said the authors: “Never again would Gore let herself fall victim to someone else as had happened in the past. Back when she was a human named Callista, she was helpless and meek and vulnerable to the world around her. Now she was the mighty Gore and she had the power to make the world crumble before her very feet and the will to make it happen.”  

[ Gore: Avatars of the Gods / By Zach Cole & Cody Bratsch / First Printing: July 2026 / ISBN: 9798182224093 ]