Monster Island : A Zombie Novel (edition 2006)

This was one of the best books I have read!!
this guy if a phenomenally good writer I'm telling you. I like to call my self a big critic when it comes to horror novels! I really know what it takes
to scare the b-jesus out of someone. This book most definitely does!!
It's a story about a character named Dekalb . One month after a global disaster thid Zombie epidemic had struck all over and there is only a pocket full of humans left. Dekalb happen to be not in the US, but in Somalia . Now as a prisinor with a small child , a little girl that happens to be his daughter. It also happens to be all he has left as far as family goes.The glorious free army of the Free Woman's Republic leader is ill with aids and sends him on a mission to find her medication. The only place he can think to go , is N.Y ! We all know how huge the city is , I can only dream to imagine how many zombies are roaming around there. See he has to ge to the U.N Head quarters Building "The Secretariat building in NY, in America. He has no choice on this or we wont get to see the only person who means everything , his daughter. He is then escorted on to a ship with guards that are mainly females. That are teens in catholic girl school uniforms with AK47's hanging off there shoulders.
This book had me not wanting to ever place it down!! This author has other titles that I think are really worth getting in. Along with the sequels to Monster Island : ( )

David Wellington originally published Monster Island, as well as many of his other books, online in a serial format. Had I realized that before buying the book, I would have checked out his website first, as it is still available as a free read.

As I've said many times in the past, I am not a zombie purist. I love when authors get creative with the mythology and traits of their zombies, just as long as they still want to eat people. Monster Island has cannibalistic zombies, which immediately put it ahead of some others I have read. It also have a very original story line including a UN weapons inspector who has left his daughter behind in what was once Somalia under the care of a female warlord, while returning to New York in search of drugs which will ensure both of their freedoms.

The book was progressing nicely when one of the zombies showed awareness. If done well, in a realistic fashion, this can make a book outstanding. Unfortunately, Monster Island's intelligent zombie went beyond awareness and became something more, something further along the line of supernatural with powers previously unseen in my zombie readings, and sadly it just didn't work for me. While still a zombie novel at heart, strayed too far away from the monsters at its core and became something other.

Monster Island is well written and is a good horror story. As a strictly zombie story, it leaves something to be desired. Had I known going into the reading that the story would evolve into something different, I may have enjoyed it more, but for much of the book I was left wondering when we were going to get back to the real zombies. I'll most likely skip the rest of the trilogy. ( )

The monsters are zombies. The island is Manhattan, which is kind of like a giant roach motel: the zombies check in, but they don't check out...that is, unless they are shot through the brain, decapitated, or otherwise have brain functions terminated.

Dekalb, a former UN weapons inspector who was caught in Somalia when the shit hit the fan is on a mission. He and his young daughter were lucky enough to be taken in by a group of girl soldiers who serve a female warlord. The price of Dekalb and his daughter's continued well-being hinges on Dekalb's ability to find the drugs the warlord needs to treat her AIDS. Unfortunately, all of the UN outposts in Africa Dekalb knows of have long since been looted. So Dekalb and a team of girl-soldiers set sail on a commandeered ship to the only place in the world Dekalb is sure there will be a supply of the necessary medicines.

New York, when they get there, is every bit as bad as they could have imagined. Not only were the zombies unable to check out, neither were the living. It's a mess, and the odds are against them, but they set out in search of the drugs. Along the way Dekalb and the girls meet up with Gary, who's dead. Or Dead, I guess. Gary, who had been a medical student--although he tells people he was a doctor--saw the writing on the wall and killed himself after ensuring that his body and brain would be properly preserved. Consequently, unlike his Dead brothers and sisters Gary is able to think and speak.

For a while he's even on the side of the Living, but things change.

Monster Island, originally published serially online, is a lively take on the zombie mythology. Although the origins of the plague are apparently of the usual biological sort (although I haven't read Monster Nation, the second book in the series which is a prequel explaining the plague's origins), somewhere around the middle of the book it takes a turn for the supernatural, and it ends on a bizarre and disturbing note. All in all, a fine entry in the zombie canon. ( )

In a zombie infested world, only third world countries, those who have suffered constant military insurgencies, have been able to sustain themselves, the heavily armed population able to hold the undead back. Somalia is one of these countries, but the warlord in charge has aids and medicines are in short supply. Dekalb, a UN official and his daughter have been promised safety within Somolia if he can bring the warlord the medicine she needs.

In desperation, he leads a troop of school girl soldiers to the UN building in New York, where he is sure the medicine can still be found. But the tiny island of Manhattan is swarming with the undead and something else, something even more dangerous, waits as well.

Despite my huge love for zombies, this one didn't catch me or draw me in like I had hoped. The concept of the militarized school girls is rather cool, but because this is written from Dekalb's point of view, the girls themselves become little more than backdrop. Dekalb is a complex enough character (though kind of a weakling and not all that interesting to me), but the girls are indoctrinated card board cutouts without much personality themselves. Something I find to be highly disappointed.

And while the writing is good, I'm not all that thrilled with the "twist", nor with the direction the plot ultimately took. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, but the concept just didn't appeal to me. The result that I occasionally found myself bored with the novel and switching to other books on my tbr list. ( )

Monster Island by David Wellington is a post-apocalyptic zombie novel the takes place in New York City. Zombies completely overrun the city and most of the world. One zombie, who retains his ability to think, organizes and leads the zombies. A few hundred human survivors take refuge in the subway concourses and tunnels. A group of mostly teenage girl soldiers from the Somalia arrive by boat to try to acquire HIV drugs from abandoned medical facilities in New York. A Druid and a handful of museum mummies rise from the dead and try to take control of the zombies away from the conscious zombie. Oh, and zombie pigeons attack from the sky. Well, the title is Monster Island, not Zombie Island; and it is kind of a fun and interesting read. However, I guess I’m a purist when it comes to my zombie stories. They should focus on zombies vs. humans. Druids, mummies, and zombie pigeons just push the believability limit too far for me. Of course, is believability a valid concern for a zombie novel? In any case, it’s still an interesting novel, but I liked Wellington’s vampire books and his werewolf books much better. ( )