Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel

Some people consider George A. Romero to be the father of the modern Zombie genre. I don't know if that's true or not, but his influence on the genre cannot be disputed. Over the years we've seen many different take on the genre, but when it comes right down to it, zombies, for the most part share one unaltered trait. The hunger for human flesh. We've seen comedies, pure horror, apocalypse, you name it involving zombies. For the most part, there is little or no difference in these books and movies. They all share the same theme - the dead come back to life, hungering for the flesh of mankind, and are for the most part slow moving and totally mindless. The variations of these zombies have included sprinters (fast moving and exponentially more dangerous), intelligent (return of the living dead), indestructible with the exception of total destruction (again, return of the living dead). They've also been created through various means. Virus's, (Max Brook's World War Z & The Zombie survival guide), demonic possession (Brian Keene's Rising and City of the Dead), negative energy (Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, or the David Wellington's Monster trilogy) magic (traditional voodoo, again Dungeons and Dragons), chemical (various sources, not to mention Return of the living dead). Just to name a few. Now, the things that most of these books and movies have in common are the fact that it's pretty much put your head between your legs and kiss your rear goodbye, and that they hunger for human flesh. It seems that only after a couple of movies or novels, you'd get bored of these undead horrors. But, like Vampires and Ghosts, Zombies have become indelibly burned into our culture. Look at the rash of novels and movies that have surfaced since the turn of the Millennium. There have been at least a dozen zombie movies produced, of varying degrees of quality (I'm still very partial to Romero's works, and I'm eager to see Diary of the Dead), and recently there has been a virtual tide of zombie novels to choose from. Again of varying degrees of quality. What it comes down to is the basic story, the characters involved and how the author or director handles the zombies. Sometimes they add their own twists to the genre. Occasionally this works, other times, it doesn't. When it comes to personal taste, I prefer what is considered classic zombie stories and movies. You know, the rising of the dead for no explained reason, the fact that they are slow and relatively harmless unless they show up in large numbers and hunger for human flesh. So, I was quite sceptical when I picked up David Wellington's Monster Island last year. Although it did deviate greatly from what I consider to be the true aspect of the genre, I ended up enjoying the novel enough that I picked up the second novel, Monster Nation. I recently finished reading the final novel in his trilogy, Monster Planet. Now, this really won't give away too much when it comes to the nove

The last of the "monster" triology was as much if not more fun than the first two books of the series. The author wraps up the story well. The entire trilogy is well written, and is just fun reading, highly recommend reading all three books.

Wellington is the number one writer in zombie fiction in my opinion. In Monster Planet, he ties up all the loose ends to his story and brings it to an end. Like the other two novels, this is very well written and inventive.

I love zombies. Now that that has been said, Monster Planet is a zombie story. Not quite a zombie story like you would expect with people holing up in a some-what safe place from zombies, as they smash the barricades down. But monster Planet is a story with a lot about what would happen to most of the world with a wide extent zombie takeover. The first book in this series, Monster Island, used to be my favorite book I have read, now this book is. While monster island has a lot more to do with zombies than this book does, this book is more like the story of a couple of the survivors and the liches, and the zombies themselves are thrown in almost as an afterthought. Yes as stated in the other review, this book does have a lot of fantastical elements and even includes magic. But those elements do not take away from a rich story, besides zombies are a fantastical creature any way, as far as the flesh eating un-living varient go. In all I wouldn't really call this "A Zombie Novel", but more of "A Novel with some Zombies." Monster Planet is still an excellent book, and if you have read and enjoyed the first two of the trilogy, you will enjoy this book. If you haven't read either of the other two books, I must suggest you try those first, because many of the characters and concepts behind this story rely on the first two. In all 5 stars for the story and the some-what original ideas.

Monster Planet completes David Wellington's zombie trilogy. A trilogy that became more and more supernatural as it went on and in this book we are treated to a story that steps away from the traditional zombie tale far more than the previous efforts. Monster Island and Monster Nation could only hint at the extent that magic would end up playing in this culmination of this saga. The story takes place twelve years after the zombie plague began and most humans have been wiped out. We are reintroduced to some familiar characters and several new ones. Where the the first two stories were devoted to single liches (zombies who remain intelligent and have special powers) plus an ancient druid and mummies, in this story it starts to become clear that Nilla and Gary were not alone in their state of undead power. The Tsarevich is the most powerful lich of all, able to control massive armies of the undead. He not only controls them but has created other liches as well, Generals in his new army. He too, like the Gary and Nilla, has a love/hate relationship with Mael Mag Och, the ancient druidic ghost whose has been called upon by his ancient god to destroy the world. He has his own agenda and much like the other two that have come before he has a strong tendency to frustrate Mael to no end. David Wellington has crafted a very involved and detailed mythology in this trilogy. His characters in this book, particularly Sarah and Ayaan, are rich and vibrant and are brought to life with a story that is complex and full of unique takes on the zombie genre. Certainly, if you are reading this book I will have to presume that you have read his two previous novels and enjoyed them enough to complete the trilogy. If that is the case then you are probably someone who can step away from the traditional Romero works, even if you (like me) love those stories just as much. David has added several new layers on top of the standard stuff here, which allows the story to take off in totally new directions. If I am to find fault in this book, it is the same fault I have found in the other two novels of the trilogy--some of the elements the author is asking me as the reader to suspend disbelief over are a little bit hard to swallow. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, this realm is rather fantastical. I would dare say that the Monster series, especially this book, weaves a narrow path between horror and fantasy storytelling. Some elements do work and make good sense (such as human cultists who worship the liches and look forward to death so they can better serve them) while others are pretty over the top (some of the varied lich abilities are a pretty big stretch). I guess the key thing to recognize is that despite the tagline on each book being "A zombie novel" the title of each includes the word 'monster'. The monsters in these novels are a bit more diverse than just zombies, as characters such as Erasmus, The Least, and Amanita clearly point out. M