Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31829 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781560258667
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Customer Reviews

You won't like it when they're hungry!
Monster Nation is the second book by David Wellington in a trilogy that started with Monster Island. In the second book, we are taken back to the events and source that cause the zombie outbreak prior to the story told in Monster Island.

Monster Nation starts out with an introduction to a small but varied cast of people in a variety of locales. Two main characters to bring up here are a woman who will later go by "Nilla" and Captain Bannerman Clark of the Colorado National Guard. Nilla is just a pedestrian starting out in the book, but soon her life is changed forever and we end up seeing various locales, feelings, emotions, and actions through her character till the end. Wellington also put a great deal of depth into Bannerman Clark, whose relentless quest for the truth and constant and vigorous challenging of the bureaucratic process during the outbreak made him not only believable, but extremely real.

In Monster Nation, the United States is undergoing a major change. People are dying, only to spring back to life. They hunger. They haunt. They never stop coming. The survivors in places like Los Angeles, Denver, and other locales are quickly left to fend for themselves as government analysis of the situation, coupled with its delayed reactive, then aggressive proactive stance, leads to dismal failure. Bannerman Clark along with a multitude of soldiers tries desperately to save Denver Colorado and its survivors, while Nilla travels with some teenage runaways across the desert, which soon discovers she is not like them. At the SUPERMAX prison in Florence Colorado (infamous for holding the likes of Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and Richard Reid among others) a scientist desperately tries to understand what she can from a dead/undead human while what is left of the prison remains locked down in various areas for the dead to feast on. Time is running out for all survivors involved, and back in the Rockies there is a greater threat that could end up being the source of the carnage.

Wellington's second book does a great job of continuing the storyline from his "Monster Island" and not only ties up a few loose ends but further details the supernatural source of the outbreak. We learn more about the ancient apparition of sorts who goes by "Mael Mag Och". We know some of his past but now we learn more about his true being, what his ultimate purpose is, and where his fate may be decided. Occasionally the author lets his own personal opinions of current political situations seep through into his characters (comments on mad cow disease and gun ownership were a tad off), but he keeps it balanced enough to make sense.

The character driven action never lets up and no matter what the scenario, whether it be a maximum security prison or Pacific Northwest's terrain, he puts a lot of research into his writing that makes it true, talented and of course, FUN. One touch I really enjoyed was the incorporation of various newspaper headlines, radio transmissions, blogs, forums, chat rooms, telephone calls, lab notes, and emails that are dropped in now and again throughout the story. The approach is superb because even though we are aware that this is an atrocity that is happening all over the globe, Wellington brings it home by showing modern technology in communication coupled with growing fear of something that has gone terribly wrong.

I could not put down the first one, and Monster Nation was just as dark, gritty, and fun. Wellington's ability to mesh pulp science with serious characters and storyline equals a wonderful EOW (End of World) series!

A hit for zombie fiction!
I found Monster Island first and really enjoyed the dark desolate overtones that novel put out. So reading the next book in the series was a must.

While Monster Island takes place after the world has been overrun, this novel takes place before and during. The book starts with a bang and just keeps on going at a pretty good pace. There's not too much talking nor is there excessive action. It's a well balanced novel in my opinion.

The author does put his own spin on the rise of the zombies which jives with his first novel. I thought it worked out pretty well given that every zombie novel wants to always deal with "why did this happen?"

I would definitely recommend this novel. And you don't have to start with Monster Island either.

Not as good as Monster Island
Like some of the other reviewers I really enjoyed Monster Island. (If you live in New York City it is interesting to read about the city post-zombification!) I was disappointed with Monster Nation.

The whole idea of the Nilla character being able to become invisible at will was never explained at all and just seemed at odds with the rest of the story. Without giving too much away, the ending was pretty weak and seemed to have no basis in reality. Fine if the whole book was a great big fantasy but most of the time Wellington bases the action very firmly in reality. Some of the characters were well written but most were two-dimensional and didn't really ring true.

This is probably worth reading only if you are interested in learning more about the world Wellington is trying to create. Hopefully the third installment will be better.