Raiju by K. H. Koehler

ISBN: 9780982676103

I bought this book.

An off-beat book, Raiju is part teen urban fantasy, part classic monster movie. Kevin is a teen reeling from the utter destruction of San Francisco by a mutated shark. His best friend and mother both died in the attack and he and his father both emerged different people.

Now Kevin is trying to start over at a new school in New York, but being half Japanese and a hothead makes fitting in hard. And of course there’s a girl, Aimi, a gothic lolita singer with a temperamental sidekick and a dark secret. Beneath the city another monster grows, and it seems to be coming after Kevin. Kevin has his own secret. He’s a Keeper, the guardian of an ancient kami-god, one that could help him defeat the mutated monster lurking in New York’s sewers, or tear the city apart in its rage.

While much of this book appears to be straight out of a Godzilla flick, Koehler puts a wonderful new spin to it, infusing the mutants and science-gone-wrong explanations with an enticing Japanese mythos. An exciting book, it’s a shame it’s not longer (or that there’s no sequel out yet.) Definitely a book for people looking for more flavor to their paranormal fiction.