Zombie's Rules!

   I'm actually a pretty big zombie fan. At a young age, I picked up the game Resident Evil for the Nintendo Gamecube and was set. Usually if something has zombies in it, I'll be interested. That doesn't mean I'm not picky about it and the zombies in Monster Island kind of aggravated me in a way. Because of Resident Evil, I like the Romero type zombie. The zombies in the book followed that almost to a tee, but as soon as the “undead network” or whatever was involved, I started to lose interest. That's not to say I hate all other zombies except Romero's believable zombies, I just hate the mixture of the science and what seemed like magic.

   That being said, I did enjoy the novel. The idea of being able to control an undead army just by thinking about it is fairly interesting and the human main character was also interesting, although somewhat dull in comparison. One of the biggest things I enjoy about zombie stories is seeing how the survivor reacts to the situation. I try to decide if I'd act that way or what decisions I'd make. Movies like Zombieland for instance I particularly like because I know I'd probably react to things just like Jesse Eisenberg's character, Columbus, reacted. That and it was an hysterical movie, but in a way, it's the character's reaction to things that make it funny. The scene in the novel where they're cornered in Central Park and Dekalb shot an RPG at oncoming armored zombies is actually funny to me. I know if I were in that situation, I'd try the same thing.

   Probably the weirdest part of the novel to me was the zombie character, Gary. I looked forward to reading his part in the story each chapter, but his character seemed unbelievable. It didn't take much for him to be overtaken by the urge to feed and to become the villain, but at the same time, I loved every minute of his villainy. He definitely milked it with his one liners and ways of killing people. I was like watching a comic book super villain. I especially loved it when he said a one liner to the survivor on the boat and was interrupted by the survivor trying to be welcoming to him. I could imagine the look on Gary's face when he threatens him and is answered with “You want some coffee?”

   Overall, it was a fun read that kept me mostly interested all the way through. I just don't agree with the type of zombie lore they were portraying. I'm very picky about my zombies and I like them to be believable and explained somewhat, whether it be a virus outbreak or some other kind of disease. Magic works too, but it has to remain separate. Don't put magic in my science when it comes to the walking dead.