Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel [Paperback]

David Wellington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2007

Set twelve years after the shambling zombie masses have overrun Manhattan, America, and the world, Monster Planet is the mind-blowing conclusion to what must be the scariest trilogy ever. Oceans of blood, scattered limbs, wanton violence, and general mayhem abound, along with revivified mummies, a Welsh sorcerer, and Wellington's signature brand of cool high-tech weaponry and sly humor — zombies, after all, are the ultimate consumers. What do the undead want, aside from fresh meat? Do the steadily diminishing number of humans who have somehow managed to survive over a decade of living hell stand a chance on a planet where they've been reduced to the status of prey? It all ends here, on Monster Planet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Half horror, half fantasy and totally preposterous, Wellington's conclusion to his apocalyptic zombie trilogy (after Monster Island and Monster Nation) follows the efforts of teenage Sarah, one of Earth's few surviving humans after a global epidemic has turned most people into flesh-eating zombies, to rescue her former protector, Ayaan, from his zombie captors. Her quest brings her from the coast of Egypt to the shore of New York's Governors Island, and sets up the long-anticipated mortal-monster showdown with the Tsarevich, a zombie master whose evil genius and thirst for world domination have generated the series' most outrageously ghoulish contrivances. Fans will relish the monster mash finale, in which a Welsh sorcerer, a horde of animated mummies and a decomposing zombie army engage in a pyrotechnic firefight complete with heavy artillery. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

As Wellington's horrifyingly entertaining zombie-apocalypse trilogy wraps up, the shambling masses have prevailed for 12 years. An army too coordinated to consist of ordinary undead attacks Ayaan's Egypt-based group of the living out of nowhere, and Ayaan falls to the lich commander the Tzarevich. A ghost who taught Sarah how to see the auras of the undead tells her Ayaan is still alive, and she sets out with the pilot Osman and some friendly mummies, who want to rescue those of their number the Tzarevich has captured, to rescue Ayaan or, if necessary, to "sanitize" her so she doesn't return as a zombie. The rescuers follow the Tzarevich's forces to New York and, eventually, the Source, where everyone has plans. The Tzarevich wants to control the Source to rebuild as he sees fit. Mad Welsh sorcerer Mael Mag Och wants to destroy the world. Sarah has to answer a very important question to keep either from having his way. Wellington handles the zombie matter with just the right balancing of tension and humor. Schroeder, Regina

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (June 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560258675
• ISBN-13: 978-1560258674
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Wellington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where George Romero shot his classic zombie films. He attended Syracuse University and Penn State and is currently working towards a degree in Library Science at the Pratt Institute.

Mr. Wellington is most famous for his free online serialized zombie novels, the "Monster Island" trilogy. In 2006 he began serializing "Thirteen Bullets", a vampire novel at www.thirteenbullets.com.

He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A world of magic and dust, June 18, 2007

By 

Patrick S. Dorazio "Author of The Dark Trilogy" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel (Paperback)

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. Magic permeats everything and not only the dead have it, but the living as well.
Overall, I have to give the series the same amount of stars that I gave this book. I liked each one of the books primarily because David Wellington knows how to create interesting and compelling characters that are vivid and fun to read about but at the same time he takes risks, stretching the stories in ways that sometimes works and other times does not, at least for me. I will have to admit that he does pull it all together nicely in the end though, as fantastically wild as this saga became in this third and final act.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review that doesn't try to give the summary of the whole story away..., July 5, 2007

By 

D. Slater "Zomboy" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A let down if ya ask me..., September 26, 2008

By 

Z-Slayer "Aim for the head" (Austin TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel (Paperback)

I got the whole trilogy and read them in order thankfully.
Monster Nation was my favorite of the 3 and developed a few interesting characters and Monster Planet wrapped them up somewhat.

The writing style seemed a bit complex compared to other "undead" based books I have read.
The trilogy one was more in depth and had a supernatural flavor to it. I was looking for a brain-smashing mindless zombie book but this one gave me a different experience. I feel indifferent as it did not satisfy my mindless need for human on zombie violence.

I would definitely read all 3 of the books to get full satisfaction but do not expect a definitive ending! It left me hanging and somewhat unsatisfied.

If you want brain-bashing go elsewhere but if you want interesting characters and a departure from the norm this is a good book/trilogy.