This was my first time reading a zombie novel. It's not that I don't like zombies, I've just never gotten into reading about them but I was surprised that I liked Monster Island as much as I did.
I had a feeling I would like the book because the title is pretty intriguing but I liked it much more than I thought I would. The story was very well developed and I find it so interesting that he wrote the book as a blog. I think it'd be quite challenging to write an entire book, and series, in the form of a blog. It just seems like you type out all of your ideas and then go back and read the book as a whole to make sure it makes sense. Since he did each chapter separately it's quite amazing that the story flowed so well. I enjoyed how the chapters switched off between the two narrations, but perhaps that worked for his benefit since he wrote it as a blog. Where one chapter would be about the main character and the next would be about the main zombie character. For most books this type of format would be distracting because it wouldn't follow the story as nicely but I think it worked for this book because the chapters were on average about 4 pages in length. Every time I came to a new chapter it didn't feel as if I was confused but more like I was moving to a different place in the city of New York, where the main action takes place. I know someone in class mentioned that it felt like they were reading a scrip which in some aspects I can understand that. Since the chapters were short and they switched characters it felt like in a movie when the scenes change.
I enjoyed the story of Monster Island. This idea that the most civilized places would be the first to be overcome by an epidemic is interesting. It's defiantly a new take on aspects and zombies. Such as the Gary who is highly intelligent but is still a zombie. Or the teenage females who protected the adult males. This book had a lot going for it when it switched up how must ideas are viewed. I would really recommend, and have already, to anyone who is of course into zombies or people who like adventure, or suspensive stories.
I think the biggest theme for this novel is survival. Even though the characters didn't have much left to fight for they continued to try to do what was necessary to survive. For most of the characters we never really found out what they were fighting for. Especially when considering the younger girls who were trained to fight since they were even smaller. It makes you wonder what they felt they had to go on for. We know that in the main character's case he had a daughter to keep living for, other than that maybe he wouldn't have thought life was worth fighting for anymore. Considering the doctor who turned himself into a zombie, he did it for survival as well. He knew that with such a decline in the number of people surviving that his chance of ever being saved were slim. Then being one of the few zombies with a brain he decides it's best to team up with another smarter zombie to rule over the other zombies. Which if he had that power is a really smart idea when considering how your going to keep going. It meant that he would always be fed before the others.
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