Review: Monster Nation by: David Wellington
“Monster Island is a novel posted in blog format. It is set in Manhattan, one month after New York has been overrun by zombies. The novel is complete and commenting is closed (to prevent spam) but you may still contact us via email.
Monster Island is the first volume in a trilogy. The second volume, Monster Nation, is also online. Monster Nation tells the story of how the epidemic began and how it spread so rapidly, and is available in print from Thunder’s Mouth Press.â€
Monster nation is a prequel to Monster Island, which was one of the first books I reviewed on this site. I was eager to review Monster Island because it was the novel that got me into reading zombie literature, because it was an incredibly written novel with a riveting plotline.
Monster Nation is a prelude to the zombie apocalypse that completely devastates the globe. He showcases how it spread and how the military responds to this, which he does with a realistic touch.
Plot: David Wellington is the master of unpredictability. The odds of somebody actually predicting the ending to any of his novels is nil. He develops a great premise and he cleverly uses POVs to keep the story at an excellent stride, as well as composes eloquent descriptive sequences. Perfect balance between pace and descriptions, you will find no other writer who can do it quite like David Wellington does. Monster Nation is a strong prequel, and his foreshadowing for the third installment (Monster Planet) is appropriately placed, he didn’t bombard you with it not did he leave you hungry for more, Wellington yet again, creates a perfect equilibrium.
Characters: In the first installment, the secondary characters were a little hard to connect with but the characters of Gary and Dekalb are brought to life through Wellington’s superior dialogue and realistic view of reactions. The dialogue of Gary and Dekalb was crisp, brimming with personality, and he wrote it realistically, which is a big bonus in my opinion. The dialogue fit the criterion for each characters persona, and he managed to have each character’s reactions compliment his dialogue, which is something seldom seen in zombie literature.
Gore: David Wellington only uses gore when he wants to disturb the reader as opposed to just wanting them to vomit. I have mentioned his superior writing skills and he could have used this to leverage a great deal of gore into his story, but he avoided this and kept the plot and characters the focal point of his writing. He does have gore in the novel, but he uses it wisely and appropriately, timing it perfectly.
Writing: I have mentioned before that I consider David Wellington’s writing style to be superior, and in a lot of ways it is. David Wellington’s writing style is one I admire, and I want people to see just how strong a writer he is. Poe is my idol when it comes to writing style, but Wellington is a strong second. Wellington is a prime example of a writer who doesn’t just writes stories, he crafts stories.
Overall: This is strong installment in one of the best zombie trilogies in circulation. I am not usually a huge fan about what he is doing with the zombie, but he writes such an appealing story that it doesn’t matter to me, and I don’t think it should matter to the rest of you. I have the utmost respect for David Wellington because he cares about the art of writing and not profit. He serialized the Monster Island trilogy (as well as a lot of his other stories) online for free, for everybody to read. It was only after he established a great following that he was approached by a publisher who wanted to publish such a compelling novel. Most writers won’t give away their work for free but Wellington is more of an artist than just a writer. (Which projects fondly in his novels) I implore you to out and buy a copy of any of David Wellington’s novels. When I saw that I was able to read the novels for free online, I decided that I would purchase the physical books instead, because I have a lot of respect for an author who cares about the art, and I wanted to support him. Go out and read his book! You won’t soon forget it, and I can easily see David Wellington becoming a contender for the Bram Stoker award in a few years.
Available from Amazon.
