I ordered a copy of Monster Island based on two factors: this review and the fact that I love zombie movies and fiction.The thing about this novel is that it drew me in right away, the narrators wit prevalent from the get go and at one point it even made me tear up!
The story is mainly a first person narrative by Dekalb (a UN Weapons Inspector) and his search through Manhattan for the AIDS medication needed by the warlord who has his daughter at that very moment in Somalia. He is accompanied by a group of young Somali girls who are heavily armed to Manhattan to retrieve the only available stash of drugs that combat HIV where he encounters not only the usual hoard of zombie but also Gary, who found a way to become one of the living dead but keep his faculties intact.
The first person narration made it easier to understand, the character voicing all the things you are wondering, from why the dead don't just eat themselves to why they were walking down a dark tunnel in a city full of the undead, an element of hilarity in the tone that he uses. However I didn't feel much empathy (or sympathy) for Dekalb and his plight, he wasn't a very likeable character.
Gary, the smartest dead man, however, is one of the vilest characters that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Its biggest failing, in my eyes, is that it wasn't one of those books that I just had to sit up until three in the morning to finish. This could have something to do with the fact that I know it is the first part of a trilogy and I can't get the second installmentnt until September (unless I read it online, which I don't want to do) Or it could be that parts of it seemed disturbingly reminiscent of Stephen King's latest, Cell. I am not sure which came first, Monster Island or Cell (I think it was Monster Island, published in blog format), nor do I expect them to be completely independent of each other because zombie ideas can only go so far, but much of it felt too similar to one another. If I did have to say which was the better of the two, Monster Island wins hands down.
I did feel a little cheated by the ending, but when you think about it, it makes. I can't wait to get my hands on Monster Nation.
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Labels: David Wellingston, End of the World, Zombies
