Book Review: Monster Planet by David Wellington

I was eager to see how the series ended after reading Monster Nation, and stuck straight into Monster Planet, however I was punished for my greediness. I found this book disappointing, irritating and quite dull. Wellington seems to have fallen in love with his own new breed of zombies, which I soon grew tired of as they are all the same and are not as interesting, or scary, as the shambling undead. I also found it hard to have any sympathy or empathy for the characters. Not one of them objected to being zombified and the general impression I got from the series that it is better to be undead than dead, as at least you can still walk around. I can't imagine anything more horrible than being trapped in your body and watching it decay and it would have been nice to see at least ONE character think that way. Also, despite indications in the first book of a spiritual nature, and other occurrances suggesting a spiritual world, Wellington has either changed his mind or chickened out and abolished an after life in his fictional creation. All the characters, without exception, seem to feel it is better to stay death with becoming a zombie rather than enter a void. I find it hard to believe that people who have fought zombies for over a decade, facing death every day, would be so afraid of dying they would rather be an undead corpse. Real life shows that people who are in contact with death all the time are more willing to die when it comes to it and I think the normal human response would be revulsion at the thought of being a zombie. I also found the end of this book very bad. A disappointing final for a series I enjoyed in the first two installments. I can't help but feel this book has soured the other two for me. I want to give it a 2/10 but out of fairness for what has gone before I give it 5/10.

Book Review: Monster Nation by David Wellington

This, as the front of the book proclaims, is a zombie sequel and second in the trilogy of David Wellington's books. While the first book, Monster City, focused on the mission of a handful of people to the undead infested regions of New York, this book travels back in time to the start of the epidemic and explains why it happened. The focus is split between two characters, a not so ordinary civilian who calls herself Nilla and an army man given the task of clearing up the mess. The story is engaging and the research for the zombies is interesting. I would like to know how this fitted in with the second book as regards time line, as it seems to contradict some occurrances in Monster City, but better understanding of the time line might sort that out. As can be expected from all zombie books, especially the second novel in a trilogy, it doesn't end happily but I found it hard to put down. Well done for Wellington in keeping up the momentum. I give it 7/10.

Book Review: Monster Island by David Wellington

This book was recommended to me by Amazon as I bought my copy of World War Z by Max Brooks. It is the first in a trilogy of zombie novels, starting with Monster Island, then continuing with Monster Nation and ending with Monster Planet. The reviews for the book were very positive so I thought I would give it a go. To be fair to David Wellington, he has handled the zombies well in this book. The story, as you might expect, is the end of civilisation brought about by the dead rising again and devouring anything living they can find. The western world, soft and unprepared, is practically destroyed while Africa manages to carve out some sort of existence. A group of female teenage soldiers travel to New York by boat on a mission for their leader, only to be thwarted by the millions of undead residents swarming the city. Wellington's research isn't as meticulous as Brook's and there were times where I felt it weakened the plot slightly. The boat trip from Somalia to New York, wisely, is not mentioned, but the lack of detail seemed to apply an ease which I doubt such a journey could be accomplished with given the circumstances. His writing style and framing devices for the novel did at times clunk along and he failed to explore some of the interesting ideas presented in his tale to my satisfaction. Saying that, there are elements of this novel that still creep me out thinking about them and I applaud him for taking a more spiritual rather than scientific approach to the epidemic. A good read for fans of zombie horror, but be prepared to get nightmares after reading this before bed. 7/10