Monsterland

Being a self-confussed wuss I don't read much in the way of horror stories, but I was so intrigued by the premise of Michael Okon's Monsterland novel that I decided to give this one a try. The story does get pretty graphic in places, however it is a young adult read so I didn't find the violence too grim and, to be honest, I felt most of the scares came from Okon's clever way of drawing readers into tense scenes where I knew something bad had to happen soon and was waiting for it to burst from the pages.

Once the main characters have been introduced, Monsterland keeps up an exciting pace which suits the story well. There's a fairly large cast of characters to keep track of and we frequently see events from the monsters' viewpoints which I appreciated. I found the singled out zombie's attempts not to completely lose his mind, and therefore himself, to be particularly poignant and a good counterpoint to the anger of both the werewolves and the vampires. I was impressed by the thought Okon had put into the different areas of the Monsterland theme park. The idea of diseased and maimed people being put on show reminded me of Victorian freak shows and I think they often used the same 'education purposes' ruse to justify their exhibits.

Overall Monsterland is a fun yet dark story of misfits trying to find their place in the world, both those outside the park as well as those in it. Perhaps, personally, I could have done without so much angsty teenage romance however I do realise I'm several decades past Monsterland's target audience so this aspect would probably appeal more to readers of a similar age group to the characters. I enjoyed reading this story and would recommend the book to action story and horror fans. It's quite a fast read so fitted well as an exciting refresher between heavier literary works and I am looking forward to reading the sequel which is already awaiting me on my Kindle!