Taking a Bite Out of the Godzilla: King of the Monsters Novelization

The wait is finally over, after 5 years of dormancy the King of the Monsters has arisen once again to take his place in the annals of American cinema. Along with this resurgence (and no we’re not talking to original American title for Shin Godzilla) comes a lot of tie-in merchandise. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is having a huge push in the marketplace: with new Godzilla toys, comics, art books, and of course a brand new Novelization. That’s what we’re here to talk about today. The most niche of the niche in terms of fiction novels. It may be surprising to some that they’re still making movie novelizations, however, every film in the Legendary’s Monsterverse has gotten a tie-in novelization. What’s interesting about Godzilla: King of the Monsters: The Official Movie Novelization is that it attempts to bring the entire scope of the Monsterverse together in one succinct film. It does a great job of bringing together all of the disparate elements of the universe introduced in the films and various tie-in materials. As a result, unless you’ve fully engrossed yourself into the Monsterverse, you may find yourself a tad lost.

First and foremost if you want to get the most out of this book it’s recommended that you read both Godzilla: Awakening and Godzilla: Aftershocks, the two Godzilla tie-in comics. They offhandedly reference the Shinomura creature from Awakening and when the novel delves into Serizawa’s (Ken Watanabe in the film) past it is important to understand his relationship to his Father. The same can be said about Doctor Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga in the film) and the lengths she’s willing to go to prove the worth of the ORCA. Russell ruminates on the aftermath of Godzilla: Aftershocks from the first chapter and other characters judge her character because of it. This is all incredibly impressive from a movie novelization. Having just read both comics I did not expect them to be so intertwined with this story. It works incredibly well as it sets up the Monsterverse as a living world. The same can be said by the novel’s use of Kong, it’s short but his inclusion helps to bring the interconnectedness of the world together. Unlike some of the more problematic uses of fanservice in the film itself, these references are more relevant. When some of the more emotional segments of the novel come into play, having these touchstones in a character’s history make the moments more poignant.

If you’ve been following the critical reception of King of the Monsters the general consensus is that the human stuff is terrible, while the Monster sequences are beautiful. The novel has almost the opposite problem. The monster fights aren’t nearly as successful without Bear McCreary’s epic score or the minor bits of characterization you get through the visual medium. King Ghidorah feels menacing in the novel to be sure, however, he doesn’t feel as fully realized without the imagery of the occasionally bickering three heads. That being said the novel does detail Ghidorah’s seemingly random healing element you see in the film. Ghidorah needs to use radiation to recover, a point which makes scenes in the film itself make a lot more narrative sense.

They manage to get the moments of majesty right. They give more moments to Rodan and Mothra which are great additions. You feel the majesty of Mothra even more strongly and Rodan is all the more sinister. Rodan and Ghidorah are working in tandem during this novel in a way that really makes the world tremble. They describe Rodan flying throughout the world, setting off giant volcanic eruptions, which helps to threaten a full ecological collapse. Ghidorah is not just using Rodan as his lackey, Rodan is helping him terraform the world. We are also granted glimpses of monsters never seen in the film, which is a huge selling point for the novel if you’re a monster fanatic. There is a terrifying Elephant like creature in Sudan and a truly fascinating Kracken. The other monsters who get a tiny appearance in the film are given a greater chance to be fleshed out. You find out the containment areas and the ways that Monarch scientists ruminate on the creatures in their care. Weirdly enough the only creature that gets no fanfare and honestly seemed to be completely absent from the novel was the new Muto we see in the film. The only time the Muto even appears in the novel is in the very last chapter.

The human characters and their motivations are truly where the novel shines. You get a palpable sense of loss when characters die and you care about the cast. They even offer a POV chapter for certain humans just trying to survive in the face of catastrophe. Had these added scenes or background been added to the film we got in theatres, there is a good chance that critical reception would have been vastly different. For example, in the novel, Jonah (Charles Dance) is an ecoterrorist with depth. He lost a daughter in a truly horrific manner, which scarred him, and changed his outlook on life. He is even shown to have an attachment to his men. These details make his blatant rejection from Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) heartbreaking. There are also small moments with Serizawa dealing with the death of a close confidant. It really draws in the film and the book’s themes about the fractured family unit. Just as King Ghidorah and Godzilla are in a battle to be the Alpha, so are the Russell’s battling to become the Alpha of their fractured family unit.

With all of the time taken for small human moments and the expansion of the world, it’s still baffling the issues that the novel doesn’t fix. The appearance of the Oxygen Destroyer still comes out of nowhere, the nuclear message is still completely skewed, and Doctor Stanton (Bradley Whitford) is still intensely cringy. The misplaced fan service is still there in spades and all of these elements could have been fixed in the novel with just a little work. We do seemingly get a fate for Admiral Stenz (David Strathairn) as he seemingly meets his end during the battle of Washington.

If you enjoyed Godzilla: King of the Monsters and want more, than this is definitely the novel for you. There are tons of small details at play here that make Legendary’s Monsterverse feel complete. Characters who get minimal screen time now feel fleshed out and you’ll have new Titans to theorize over. Unfortunately due to King of the Monsters poor box office performance we may not get much more insight into this world. If you’re even a remote fan, now is the time to seek this material out. Author Greg Keyes puts a great spin onto the world of Godzilla.