phungus's Full Review: David Wellington - Monster Island: A Zombie Novel
Monster Island is the first book in a trilogy by author David Wellington. This story actually began as an online blog that eventually grew into a full length novel that was published in April 2006. The two following books, Monster Nation and Monster Planet, have already been released, so you can now read the entire trilogy without having to wait.
Zombies are very popular right now, and have been for a number of years. I think it all got started again with the excellent Dawn of the Dead movie remake that came out a few years ago. Since then, there have been several movies and books published which deal with zombies and the idea of a zombie holocaust where the world is overrun with undead and only a few small groups of living humans survive. Just look at the latest Resident Evil movie as an example.
This book jumps right into the action with a group of survivors taking a boat to New York City in order to raid medical supplies from an office building known to be full of some much-needed medication. The problem is that the city is full of zombies and this small bunch of people will have to fight through them, get the meds, then fight their way back out. It never goes into much detail about how the zombie thing got started, other than to call it an Epidemic (with a capital E) and mention how things went south very quickly once it began.
The main villain in this story is a zombie who can think and speak. His name is Gary, and in his ‘living’ life he was a medical student who had a bright idea about the zombies. He thought the reason why they stumble around and moan so much was because they suffered extreme brain damage from lack of oxygen during the process of death and reanimation. Since Gary had access to the equipment, he hooked himself up to a ventilator to keep the oxygen flowing after he was bitten and infected. Although he still became a zombie, he still had some human qualities about him.
The author plays the vampire angle with Gary in how he describes an overwhelming hunger that cannot be satisfied or controlled, and this is what compels all zombies. This book takes a somewhat supernatural approach to the subject, saying that zombies crave anything with a lifeforce because they are able to absorb some of that life when they eat it, and this is what keeps them going. This means that after eating all the humans they could find, the zombies went after all the plants and animals, too. They turned Central Park into a big mud hole.
Once the group of survivors get to the city and start pushing their way through, they first encounter Gary and are intrigued by a zombie that can talk. Of course, a zombie is a zombie, and some things happen. Later on, a large community of survivors are found living underground, and they all band together to take on the zombie army that seem to be led by some mummies that woke up from the local Natural History Museum. Yeah, this story is crazy.
This book is so short that it’s barely long enough to call a novel, so it can be read in a few hours. I read the last half of it in one sitting. The author wrote it in three main parts, each consisting of a bunch of short chapters. Even though the paperback is almost three hundred pages long, there is a lot of white space. Despite the short length, the author writes very fluidly and quickly establishes the characters and the setting, thank to his extensive knowledge of New York City. Imagine Times Square at night with no electricity and the streets filled with zombies. That would make an interesting movie.
I checked out the author’s website and he has posted all of his work on the Internet, so it can be read for free or bought in printed form. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to read an entire book online, but it is cool to have the option. I would suspect the online success of his blog led to a publishing deal, and now the two go hand in hand. I was so impressed by his work in this book that I plan on reading his other stories as soon as I finish this trilogy.
Although I’ve only read this first book, Monster Island, I have at least checked out the plot synopsis for the next two books in the series. Where this story jumps right into the middle of the action, the next book is actually a prequel of sorts that tells how the world got into the zombie mess. The last book wraps everything up. I’ve heard that this first book is the best of the trilogy and that the last one isn’t so great, but I’ll just have to see for myself. Don’t worry, I’ll write the review as soon as I finish reading them.
It's one month after a global disaster. The most "developed" nations of the world have fallen to the shambling zombie masses. Only a few pockets of hu...More at HotBookSale
It s one month after a global disaster and the world has fallen to the shambling zombie masses. In New York City, the walking dead are driven by an in...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.