Monster Island (novel)
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| Author | David Wellington |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | David Wellington's Monster trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Horror novel |
| Publisher | Thunder's Mouth Press |
| Released | August 2004 (online) April 2006 (print) |
| Media type | E-book & Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 272 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-56025-850-0 |
| Followed by | Monster Nation |
Monster Island is a Zombie novel by David Wellington, published in serial online in August, 2004 and in print in April, 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Monster Island takes place in Manhattan one month after New York City has been completely overrun by the undead.
A former UN employee named Dekalb, whose daughter is being held by a warlady in Somalia, enters the zombie-infested island with a band of East African child soldiers in order to retrieve precious AIDS medication. After surviving numerous zombie attacks, the group encounters Gary Fleck, an undead medical student who has managed to retain a high level of consciousness and self control unlike other zombies.
The novel is notable for its fast-paced, cliffhanging chapters, which were originally written as blog posts, and its unusual take on the zombie apocalypse genre.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
Monster Island received mixed reviews.
- Library Journal Reviews: "Horror lovers should find this tale to their liking."
- Booklist: "There are many layers to this zombie apocalypse, and this book just gets things rolling."
- Publishers Weekly: "Page by page, the story is inventive and exciting as Wellington exploits his familiarity with New York's nooks and crannies as settings for flesh-chomping battles and narrow escapes. As a whole, though, the book satisfies less since the author selectively forgets anything about the situation or the characters that would inhibit further gross-out episodes. Still, the novel offers some provocative thoughts about the purpose of life and death underlaid with some ultra-dark humor."
- The Washington Post "...not even...George Romero's most devoted fans will have the time or patience to read Monster Nation or Monster Planet."[1]
[edit] Release details
- 2004, USA, Brokentype e-book
- 2005, USA, Thunder's Mouth Press ISBN 1-56025-850-0, Pub date 28 March 2006, paperback
[edit] About the trilogy
Monster Island is the first in a trilogy of online serial novels.
The second novel, Monster Nation, tells the story of the origins of the epidemic and its rapid spread across the United States.
The third novel, Monster Planet, describes the results of the global outbreak.
In Monster Island, Mael, a reanimated mummy leader, makes referece to the two other characters later in the trilogy:
- [Gary asks] “I can’t be the only one, though. You found me from a distance, you must know if there are others like us.”
- Mael nodded. "A few...There’s a boy in a place called Russia. Very promising. Struck down in a hit and run. He suffered for months with machines pumping his heart for him but his parents wouldn’t let the doctors pull the plug. Another one here in your country. In California...A yoga teacher hiding out in an oxygen bar..."[2]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Monster Island. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
- ^ Monster Island, Chapter Eleven. brokentype.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
