The Monster Series by David Wellington

I am going to admit off the bat that I love David Wellington’s Monster series. Originally, these books were published as online serials. You can find the links off his homepage here. If that wasn’t cool enough, the books are actually really good. Like incredibly good. Like read them now good. But be warned, these novels aren’t for the faint of heart. The VBG level (violence, blood, gore) is at an all time high. So if that’s not your bag and you gross out easily then you should probably find something else on the shelf. But for those who do read these books you will find lots pf action, plenty of survival adventure, and really good character development. These books are recommended for anyone who loves zombies, and are appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Monster Nation is the second book published but first in the story’s chronology. The story revolves around a young woman in California who was bitten by a deranged man, and subsequently collapses at an oxygen bar. She has no memory of her name or her life. She quickly discovers though that she isn’t actually alive, but she isn’t actually dead. And she isn’t the only corpse to become reanimated. But she is, as far as she knows, the only zombie who can still think. She sets off to find out why people are coming back from the dead, but more importantly to discover who she was before she died.

Monster Island is the first book published in the series but actually happens to be the second in the story’s chronology. Dekalb works for the UN in Somalia when the zombie apocalypse goes down. He seeks refuge with a warlord and promises her that he can recover the AIDS medication she needs from the UN building in Manhattan in exchange for protecting his daughter. He is attached to a platoon of the warlord’s fiercest fighters, but they soon realize that while getting to Manhattan is fairly easy, getting across the island and it’s ravenous zombie horde might be next to impossible. Dekalb and crew also encounter the zombie named Gary, who can think, heal himself at will, and control other zombies. Dekalb’s journey to the UN building just got harder.

Monster Planet is the last in the series so far. In the previous two installments we have encountered zombies that who continue to think like humans after dying and being resurrected. These zombies are known liches (rhymes with ditches). Liches are super zombies who retain their personalities and gain magical abilities. Monster Planet features the lich king, who wants to conquer the whole world, and enslave both humans and zombies. It’s up to Dekalb’s daughter, now a young woman, to save the world.

Wellington does a great job at combining the old with the new in his Monster series. The action sequences are great. The humans are just the right amount of desperate, the zombies are just the right amount of hungry and the liches are just too cool for school. Again, it’s highly recommended!

Posted under a librarian reads, review