Monster Island- David Wellington

Of all the supernatural beings, zombies creep me out the most. I have tried to avoid zombie-related movies, books, and games but to no avail. There is something about their decomposing bodies that bothers me, not so much their hunger for living flesh. I have a very vivid imagination, and so it such descriptions concerning the dead make me imagine the worst possible images.

Wellington does a great job of fleshing out each individual character, from their personalities, histories and appearance. His use of imagery had me grimacing quite a few times though. Explanations of the deterioration of each of the zombies' bodies and the use of analogies makes me want to gag. There was a recurring theme of food. There was the food that Gary was desperate for, finally settling on stealing the essence of the living. And of course the food analogies. Wellington constantly compared food substances to the most vile and grotesque things. Least to say, I didn't have much of an appetite after reading these parts. 

I did enjoy the irony of the nature of the main characters, Dekalb and Gary. Prior to the Epidemic, Dekalb's career was primarily focused on weaponry and as it turns out he had no combat knowledge. Gary, who was once a doctor, had chose to become a zombie and later made his sole purpose to devour mankind. I liked the dark comedy that was sprinkled throughout each chapter, as well as the cynical attitude of some of the characters. Additions such as that kept it from being a taking itself too seriously, so I had an easier time accepting such ridiculous notions as controlling the dead with mind control. That dark humor coupled with all of the unexpected turns in each chapter engaged my attention. There wasn't one point where I was bored reading this story, which is very rare in the many books I have read. Most of the time I reach a point a novel where the pacing slows down and I lose interest.

I was a tad disappointed that the setting for the novel was New York City. It seems that every time there is an apocalypse story, whether it be novel or movie, New York City becomes it's stage. I have never been there myself, but I guess it seems like the perfect American city to survive. Personally, if I was caught up in a zombie apocalypse, I'd choose a rural environment. There would be less places for them to hide, and at least you would see them approaching across the wide open spaces.

The aspect of the entire book that I particularly enjoyed was the back and forth of the different perspectives. It was clear that the protagonist was Dekalb, since he was narrating his own story. But it was a little unclear as to who was telling Gary's story, which was told third-person. So it was a pleasant surprise to find out the reasoning behind these perspectives, that Dekalb had become just like Gary, retaining his mind in his undead state.

This book changed my outlook on the zombie genre... in novels at least.