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Dead Island
Based on the terrifying new video game, a novel of the zombie apocalypse Welcome to Banoi, a tropical island where you can leave the stresses of the world behind. The Royal Palms Resort offers its guests from around the world the ultimate in luxury and relaxation, a holiday paradise where your dreams should come true—but where a nightmare is about to begin. A mysterious epidemic has suddenly, and without warning, broken out across the island. The local islanders, hotel guests, and workers alike are struck down—only to rise again, craving the flesh and the blood of the still living. For four of the vacationers and a handful of others scattered around Banoi who are seemingly unaffected by the plague, they must face the awful, terrifying reality of a zombie apocalypse. Now there is only one thing left to survive. Welcome to Dead Island—a paradise to die for.
334 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
34 people are currently reading
1038 people want to read
About the author
Mark Morris
133 books239 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range.
His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award.
His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range.
His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award.
His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
May 9, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. The games are fantastic!🐯👍
I had no idea that this was adapted into a book when I saw it on a used book stall at a market in Salisbury a few years back. I absolutely enjoy playing the games, they are simply brilliant. The game engine is very similar to Fall Out franchise. Making weapons and modifying them. First class. This book is true to the games, not sure what came first. Anyhow, well worth the read it one is a fan of the Zombie genre like I am. 👍🐯
I had no idea that this was adapted into a book when I saw it on a used book stall at a market in Salisbury a few years back. I absolutely enjoy playing the games, they are simply brilliant. The game engine is very similar to Fall Out franchise. Making weapons and modifying them. First class. This book is true to the games, not sure what came first. Anyhow, well worth the read it one is a fan of the Zombie genre like I am. 👍🐯
November 11, 2016
A page-turner novel with well developed characters.
Really not bad for a book based on a survival-horror videogame franchise.
Far better than expected.
February 7, 2017
3.5 stars
Dead Island marks my first video game to book adaptation I have ever read. You've seen these types of books. Imagine your favorite video game or franchise getting a book. I wasn't expecting one from Dead Island though.
For those of you who don't know, Dead Island (the video game) is about a group of 4 survivors who are at an island called Banoi, enjoying the tropical scenery when BAM, zombies appear. Now they must fight their way through hordes of zombies in order to escape the fresh hell known as paradise.
That's the summary of the game. The novel version is loosely based off of the game plot albeit, some slight alterations.
Now, if you've never played Dead Island or heard of it, you can google it and it'll give you a straight forward plot of what happened.
The best way I can describe this adaptation is 'simple.' By simple, I'm not saying it's bad (though some people don't like simplicity and want more, which I understand), but the plot is just them going around Banoi, killing zombies, rescuing a few people along the way, and that's about it. If you played the game, that's pretty much what happens in the book.
While the book was simple, I did enjoy some parts and was entertained. The characters could've used some development (the same can be said about the game as well), the plot could've been more fleshed out, and that's about it.
Note: This is the first time I have ever read a video game to book adaptation because while the idea of a favorite video game being turned into a book is great, there's always a chance the book will not live up to the expectations of many gamers. The same can be said for movie to book adaptations. So even if you're excited to read a novelization of your favorite video game, always go at it with a grain of salt.
Verdict
A simple but entertaining book. Not the best adaptation (though I haven't read other video game novelizations) but if you're a fan of the game or like zombies, check it out.
Thanks for reading my review!
-Cesar
February 8, 2017
I never finished the game because the gameplay bored me, but I found the plot interesting so I thought I'll read the novel instead.
The book is an easy read and the story stays interesting and entertaining from beginning to the end, but there were a few things that bothered me.
The characters didn't have any depth, lacked any emotion and behaved very unrealisticly in a lot of situations. The worst of the main characters was Logan Carter, an annoying sexist jerk who made stupid jokes all the time. Gladly he didn't have much to say throughout the book.
The ending was a bummer, at least for me. It was very abrupt and somewhat disappointing or rather unsatisfying.
It's not a bad book but it isn't a good book either.
The book is an easy read and the story stays interesting and entertaining from beginning to the end, but there were a few things that bothered me.
The characters didn't have any depth, lacked any emotion and behaved very unrealisticly in a lot of situations. The worst of the main characters was Logan Carter, an annoying sexist jerk who made stupid jokes all the time. Gladly he didn't have much to say throughout the book.
The ending was a bummer, at least for me. It was very abrupt and somewhat disappointing or rather unsatisfying.
It's not a bad book but it isn't a good book either.
September 7, 2014
I finished Dead Island the novel today. I wasn't expecting the changes they made to the story in the video game. Then again how does one craft a story around a game full of crafting magical weapons that can shoot lighting out of it?
Taking a more serious route with the story was a smart choice. Though a sequel to the book is unlikely I would of enjoyed it if this was made into a series. I will add that I actually cared about these main characters, where in the video game I couldn't of cared less about them.
As a Dead Island fan I give this book a four out of five stars.
Taking a more serious route with the story was a smart choice. Though a sequel to the book is unlikely I would of enjoyed it if this was made into a series. I will add that I actually cared about these main characters, where in the video game I couldn't of cared less about them.
As a Dead Island fan I give this book a four out of five stars.
May 16, 2023
Honestly, 1.5 stars
What started off as a relatively promising book fleshing out the world of Dead Island quickly nose dived into "did this author play the game?" Now, I'm reading this many years after both titles have been released, in fact, I've just finished up playing Dead Island 2 which came out very recently to give people an idea of the time frame we're talking about here. I think the developer had set this novel up to be released simultaneously with the game, because I can't seriously believe the author had access to a finished copy of the game or even played the game in order for this book to be the outcome. Instead, I assume they were given some synopsis or storyboarding details, but not much beyond that. Some of the changes Morris employed are just absolutely maddening to read.
First off, I just want to say, this game had no need to be novelized. The game isn't particularly hard, nor is it all that scary. Scary survivalist horror would be something on par with Dead Space, but Dead Island is a zombie shooter/action RPG game really. I was ramping up for the release of Dead Island 2 and decided to revisit the first game in preparation. I'm kind of glad I did, because the second game has some small details from our first adventures on Banoi. I also had a copy of the book, so I figured, why not, I'll dive into this as well. They never wrote any other novels in the Dead Island universe, and after reading this, I can sort of see why.
If you've never played or heard of Dead Island, the basic gist of the story is that the player characters arrive on the island of Banoi a tropical island near Papua New Guinea. Your character wakes up the next day in the hotel to the aftermath of a zombie outbreak that ravaged the island overnight. The outbreak is so fast it's just terrifying in that regard, but we soon find out that our intrepid heroes are actually immune to the virus. There's a lot of overlapping story lines, one of which involves a cannibalistic tribe where the disease may have originated from, however, there is a shadowy organization that seems to know a lot more than it should about the whole affair. Deep mysteries that are later brought up more in Dead Island 2. In any event, your character now need to fight their way through a city of zombies to try and find a way off of the island. As someone who doesn't care much about zombies or zombie stories, I actually rather enjoyed this game and it won me over with enough different things to make it fun.
Honestly, I had high hopes for this book at first, even if I didn't need the story of the game re-told to me. Morris started off by fleshing out the characters and a bit of the background of their arrival on the island. The details he fleshed out here along with the first stages of the outbreak at the hotel were wonderful! I was pretty excited because it was shaping up to be a solid four star read, especially if he could capture the fast paced action of the game. I was curious how we would incorporate some of the side quest components, but at this point I was confident it would be a fun light read. But then we got into the thick of it... after our player characters leave the hotel this novel is pretty much all downhill. Character development kind of takes a back seat, which is a real shame, because if the game lacked anything, it was a deeper look at our characters. But since the author couldn't have played through the game, he wrote their post hotel forays rather poorly.
When the zombies first appear, Morris spends way too much time explaining what the various zombies look like. Pages upon pages of these descriptions whenever the group encounters a zombie and this just gets extremely tedious to read after a while. It also makes the book feel extremely unbalanced, because about half way through he stops doing this. (Granted, I was thankful he stopped.) In the second half of the book he just has the crew running around blowing away zombies with very little description of them. It would have made more sense to sift his detailed descriptions throughout the book, because as it's written, it just feels overwhelming at the beginning... not to mention boring after a while.
He gets hung up on strange details as well. For example, in many of the encounters the team has with zombies there are often child zombies in the group. Now, there are no child zombies in the game, for rather obvious reasons. Granted, Morris is probably accurate in his portrayal that child zombies would certainly exist on this resort island and their existence isn't really where I have a problem. It's the fact that he dives into the details describing the child zombie and then how the characters kill or destroy the child. Like, it comes up a lot in this book, way more than it should. I think he was trying to use it as a "growth" concept for his characters where they needed to do truly horrible things to survive... and I guess that's fine, but you only really needed to explain it to me once.
The first NPC you really run into in the game is a life guard named Sinamoi. He and a decent sized group of people are holed up in a building on the beach. Sinamoi wants your help to get these people to a better location in the lifeguard tower. Sinamoi is basically an Australian guy working for the resort. In the novel... we first run into him at the hotel and he's by himself. This single event made me have all kinds of red flags about where this was going. Furthermore, Sinamoi didn't speak English very well, and didn't seem to understand everything and seemed to generally be a nuisance for our characters after a certain point. Meanwhile, in the video game Sinamoi spoke great English and he was a very capable leader. In the book, the rescue of other people is pretty much entirely forgotten... except for Jin.
The true downfall with the story hits when we encounter the character Jin. In the game Jin is a young NPC who our characters have the opportunity to rescue. She ends up following us to different safe zones in the game and she even comes with us to end sequence. Jin's character is a bit of a tragic case, because we first encounter her and her father, but her father had been recently bitten. However, we need his help to outfit a vehicle, since he's a mechanic, and we need him to do it before he turns. He agrees to help us, as long as we agree to take his daughter Jin to safety with us. Obviously we agree. All of this happens in the book, except that we seem to not have a vehicle nor have no need for one. Instead the main characters just agree to help Jin. (The in game characters would agree as well, but the RPG aspect/quest concept to get materials to outfit the truck is part of the fun.)
Once you get into the greater city, the safe zone is a church. Once we get in there, we basically park Jin in there with all the people in the church. In the novel, there are very few people in there and the characters don't talk to many of them. However, Morris does give us a nice glimpse into the world of side questing when the people at the church ask the characters to go and get a cache of guns at the police station. In the game, you do go to the police station, but it is overrun by zombies already and you are there for a totally different reason. In the book they take Jin to the police station with them instead of leaving her at the church for...uh... reasons? Well, Morris had a reason. Inside the police station are three escaped convicts that are holed up there. The characters stupidly tell them they have a code for the armory and can get them access to more guns. The convicts tell the characters to go get them food and leave Jin and the guy who knows the codes behind as insurance? Then they'll make the trade. This entire setup literally makes no real sense, but it happened and the reason it happened was so that Jin could be raped by all three guys while the player characters go get food. So now, Jin has lost her father and has been raped... this never happened in the video game mind you. The worst part of the book is that later on Logan tells a rape joke and it's just so out there, because he never did such types of comments before and at this point in the story he was supposed start becoming a more redeemable character. You know, still sort of an asshole, but not as bad. So, it felt like the author just went out of their way to tell a rape joke at the expense of a new victim.
Jin is actually kept behind by prisoners in the game, but it is not at the police station referenced in the novel. It is in the actual prison at the end of the game, but, once again, nothing bad actually happens to her there. She's also there with someone else and they aren't harmed either. Jin at the police station is a complete fabrication by the author.
Now fast forward a little more into the story, we get to a point in the game/story where we encounter the cannibal tribe I referenced above. Part of that arc involves rescuing a tribe girl named Yerema. Part of the rescue you find out that she too was imprisoned and ritually raped by her tribe. At this point, this theme is getting frustrating and getting into generally bad writing territory. Every woman doesn't need this to happen in order for them to be relevant characters in a story. In fact, Morris addresses this aspect of the characters so poorly I just wanted this book over with and I was glad when it wrapped up somewhat quickly.
When we get to the prison we run into Kevin and he is presented as the leader of the prisoners. This is not true in the game. Someone else is in charge and Kevin is sent to help us do certain tasks. The main points of the ending are entirely changed and just wind up being way different from the game. I don't know why the ending was changed, but the book has a way worse ending. Some portions of it are the same, but major story implications are not. To the point where I can't believe they said it was fine, if they had a say at all, which they might not have.
In the end, if you are a fan of Dead Island, skip out on this book. It really wound up being a one star toward by the end. I'm giving it two, because I did actually enjoy the beginning of the book. That part was great fun, but then it started to quickly drop to a three star. Then two... and finally one when we get to the botched ending. I can see why no other novels were made. Honestly, they should have written a novel that wasn't about the main characters, but instead fleshed out the universe a bit more. In fact, they should have never opted for a simultaneous release and instead commissioned a novel later and hired an author that had played the game so they could capture the real story and atmosphere of the outbreak. Remember, the game is fun, the novel is not.
What started off as a relatively promising book fleshing out the world of Dead Island quickly nose dived into "did this author play the game?" Now, I'm reading this many years after both titles have been released, in fact, I've just finished up playing Dead Island 2 which came out very recently to give people an idea of the time frame we're talking about here. I think the developer had set this novel up to be released simultaneously with the game, because I can't seriously believe the author had access to a finished copy of the game or even played the game in order for this book to be the outcome. Instead, I assume they were given some synopsis or storyboarding details, but not much beyond that. Some of the changes Morris employed are just absolutely maddening to read.
First off, I just want to say, this game had no need to be novelized. The game isn't particularly hard, nor is it all that scary. Scary survivalist horror would be something on par with Dead Space, but Dead Island is a zombie shooter/action RPG game really. I was ramping up for the release of Dead Island 2 and decided to revisit the first game in preparation. I'm kind of glad I did, because the second game has some small details from our first adventures on Banoi. I also had a copy of the book, so I figured, why not, I'll dive into this as well. They never wrote any other novels in the Dead Island universe, and after reading this, I can sort of see why.
If you've never played or heard of Dead Island, the basic gist of the story is that the player characters arrive on the island of Banoi a tropical island near Papua New Guinea. Your character wakes up the next day in the hotel to the aftermath of a zombie outbreak that ravaged the island overnight. The outbreak is so fast it's just terrifying in that regard, but we soon find out that our intrepid heroes are actually immune to the virus. There's a lot of overlapping story lines, one of which involves a cannibalistic tribe where the disease may have originated from, however, there is a shadowy organization that seems to know a lot more than it should about the whole affair. Deep mysteries that are later brought up more in Dead Island 2. In any event, your character now need to fight their way through a city of zombies to try and find a way off of the island. As someone who doesn't care much about zombies or zombie stories, I actually rather enjoyed this game and it won me over with enough different things to make it fun.
Honestly, I had high hopes for this book at first, even if I didn't need the story of the game re-told to me. Morris started off by fleshing out the characters and a bit of the background of their arrival on the island. The details he fleshed out here along with the first stages of the outbreak at the hotel were wonderful! I was pretty excited because it was shaping up to be a solid four star read, especially if he could capture the fast paced action of the game. I was curious how we would incorporate some of the side quest components, but at this point I was confident it would be a fun light read. But then we got into the thick of it... after our player characters leave the hotel this novel is pretty much all downhill. Character development kind of takes a back seat, which is a real shame, because if the game lacked anything, it was a deeper look at our characters. But since the author couldn't have played through the game, he wrote their post hotel forays rather poorly.
When the zombies first appear, Morris spends way too much time explaining what the various zombies look like. Pages upon pages of these descriptions whenever the group encounters a zombie and this just gets extremely tedious to read after a while. It also makes the book feel extremely unbalanced, because about half way through he stops doing this. (Granted, I was thankful he stopped.) In the second half of the book he just has the crew running around blowing away zombies with very little description of them. It would have made more sense to sift his detailed descriptions throughout the book, because as it's written, it just feels overwhelming at the beginning... not to mention boring after a while.
He gets hung up on strange details as well. For example, in many of the encounters the team has with zombies there are often child zombies in the group. Now, there are no child zombies in the game, for rather obvious reasons. Granted, Morris is probably accurate in his portrayal that child zombies would certainly exist on this resort island and their existence isn't really where I have a problem. It's the fact that he dives into the details describing the child zombie and then how the characters kill or destroy the child. Like, it comes up a lot in this book, way more than it should. I think he was trying to use it as a "growth" concept for his characters where they needed to do truly horrible things to survive... and I guess that's fine, but you only really needed to explain it to me once.
The first NPC you really run into in the game is a life guard named Sinamoi. He and a decent sized group of people are holed up in a building on the beach. Sinamoi wants your help to get these people to a better location in the lifeguard tower. Sinamoi is basically an Australian guy working for the resort. In the novel... we first run into him at the hotel and he's by himself. This single event made me have all kinds of red flags about where this was going. Furthermore, Sinamoi didn't speak English very well, and didn't seem to understand everything and seemed to generally be a nuisance for our characters after a certain point. Meanwhile, in the video game Sinamoi spoke great English and he was a very capable leader. In the book, the rescue of other people is pretty much entirely forgotten... except for Jin.
The true downfall with the story hits when we encounter the character Jin. In the game Jin is a young NPC who our characters have the opportunity to rescue. She ends up following us to different safe zones in the game and she even comes with us to end sequence. Jin's character is a bit of a tragic case, because we first encounter her and her father, but her father had been recently bitten. However, we need his help to outfit a vehicle, since he's a mechanic, and we need him to do it before he turns. He agrees to help us, as long as we agree to take his daughter Jin to safety with us. Obviously we agree. All of this happens in the book, except that we seem to not have a vehicle nor have no need for one. Instead the main characters just agree to help Jin. (The in game characters would agree as well, but the RPG aspect/quest concept to get materials to outfit the truck is part of the fun.)
Once you get into the greater city, the safe zone is a church. Once we get in there, we basically park Jin in there with all the people in the church. In the novel, there are very few people in there and the characters don't talk to many of them. However, Morris does give us a nice glimpse into the world of side questing when the people at the church ask the characters to go and get a cache of guns at the police station. In the game, you do go to the police station, but it is overrun by zombies already and you are there for a totally different reason. In the book they take Jin to the police station with them instead of leaving her at the church for...uh... reasons? Well, Morris had a reason. Inside the police station are three escaped convicts that are holed up there. The characters stupidly tell them they have a code for the armory and can get them access to more guns. The convicts tell the characters to go get them food and leave Jin and the guy who knows the codes behind as insurance? Then they'll make the trade. This entire setup literally makes no real sense, but it happened and the reason it happened was so that Jin could be raped by all three guys while the player characters go get food. So now, Jin has lost her father and has been raped... this never happened in the video game mind you. The worst part of the book is that later on Logan tells a rape joke and it's just so out there, because he never did such types of comments before and at this point in the story he was supposed start becoming a more redeemable character. You know, still sort of an asshole, but not as bad. So, it felt like the author just went out of their way to tell a rape joke at the expense of a new victim.
Jin is actually kept behind by prisoners in the game, but it is not at the police station referenced in the novel. It is in the actual prison at the end of the game, but, once again, nothing bad actually happens to her there. She's also there with someone else and they aren't harmed either. Jin at the police station is a complete fabrication by the author.
Now fast forward a little more into the story, we get to a point in the game/story where we encounter the cannibal tribe I referenced above. Part of that arc involves rescuing a tribe girl named Yerema. Part of the rescue you find out that she too was imprisoned and ritually raped by her tribe. At this point, this theme is getting frustrating and getting into generally bad writing territory. Every woman doesn't need this to happen in order for them to be relevant characters in a story. In fact, Morris addresses this aspect of the characters so poorly I just wanted this book over with and I was glad when it wrapped up somewhat quickly.
When we get to the prison we run into Kevin and he is presented as the leader of the prisoners. This is not true in the game. Someone else is in charge and Kevin is sent to help us do certain tasks. The main points of the ending are entirely changed and just wind up being way different from the game. I don't know why the ending was changed, but the book has a way worse ending. Some portions of it are the same, but major story implications are not. To the point where I can't believe they said it was fine, if they had a say at all, which they might not have.
In the end, if you are a fan of Dead Island, skip out on this book. It really wound up being a one star toward by the end. I'm giving it two, because I did actually enjoy the beginning of the book. That part was great fun, but then it started to quickly drop to a three star. Then two... and finally one when we get to the botched ending. I can see why no other novels were made. Honestly, they should have written a novel that wasn't about the main characters, but instead fleshed out the universe a bit more. In fact, they should have never opted for a simultaneous release and instead commissioned a novel later and hired an author that had played the game so they could capture the real story and atmosphere of the outbreak. Remember, the game is fun, the novel is not.
February 13, 2018
I've read better zombie stories but this is based on a game so I guess Morris couldn't deviate too much from the already-known narrative. It's a fast and easy read and the story is well paced with a great balance of horror and humour.
January 9, 2018
The 4 star rating is a clear average. I'd give the beginning and end a 3/5 but the middle a solid 5/5. I loved the game even though I could never complete it (my console crashed). And as far as I know this book follows the story of the game pretty much. Overall the book is really compelling and tells its story pretty well but I have the feeling a lot is left out. I like when they leave a little to the imagination but sometimes I feel like I missed a whole adventure. I also feel like the beginning of the book takes itself too seriously. At that point the story isn't very deep but everything is described as some kind of multilayered next level story line. The beginning really makes up for it though with less focus on the zombie bashing and more on actually developing a great compelling plot. And the end well, without spoilers, I expected a lot more from it. I don't know if the game ends in the same way. But I could see it working for a game. At least a lot more than it does for a book.
Overall even though I sound pretty negative, I really enjoyed the book. I was never bored and I pretty much read everyday. (Note: I'm not much of a reader so that tells a lot)
Also since English isn't my first language I really appreciate the fact that the writer didn't flood me with difficult words you only find in books. Some people might see that as a negative, but I like my stories deep but told with simple words.
Overall even though I sound pretty negative, I really enjoyed the book. I was never bored and I pretty much read everyday. (Note: I'm not much of a reader so that tells a lot)
Also since English isn't my first language I really appreciate the fact that the writer didn't flood me with difficult words you only find in books. Some people might see that as a negative, but I like my stories deep but told with simple words.
February 18, 2012
I've been a fan Mark Morris' books for a while and I've enjoyed reading this novelisation a lot. He does wonders to disguise a series of game missions into something that feels like an organic story. I haven’t played the game yet, because I’ve already got a pile of Xbox games to work through and some of the reviews have been less than kind, so I can’t compare directly but as a zombie survival horror this novel certainly stands proud in an overcrowded sub-genre.
The characterisation is the strongest part, especially the two leading men, Sam and Logan who are both heroic but flawed in interesting ways. It’s their reactions to the zombies that makes all the gore effective. Purna is a very admirable kick ass babe but possibly a bit too good to be true. The author does a good job in keeping finding new ways to describe zombies being clobbered and shot too. It’s grim horror tale but it just stops short of becoming so relentlessly downbeat that it becomes hard work to read. Best sequence is possibly the exploration of a secret lab and uncovering the unpleasant devastation, then rescuing Yerema, the one surviving human. Well worth trying for genre fans or gamers hungry for more background to the game.
The characterisation is the strongest part, especially the two leading men, Sam and Logan who are both heroic but flawed in interesting ways. It’s their reactions to the zombies that makes all the gore effective. Purna is a very admirable kick ass babe but possibly a bit too good to be true. The author does a good job in keeping finding new ways to describe zombies being clobbered and shot too. It’s grim horror tale but it just stops short of becoming so relentlessly downbeat that it becomes hard work to read. Best sequence is possibly the exploration of a secret lab and uncovering the unpleasant devastation, then rescuing Yerema, the one surviving human. Well worth trying for genre fans or gamers hungry for more background to the game.
January 5, 2016
If you like fiction, suspense you will like Dead Island. What will you do? How far will you go? What will you become? That is the deciding factor as the four main protagonists get dragged into the world of Banoi. Guests go to the paradise island for a relaxing weekend, or so they think. Soon almost everyone on the island become the undead flesh hungry corpses of their former selves. For our four main protagonists and a couple of other vacationers who are immune to the plague, they must come face to face with the horrible, twisted reality of a zombie outbreak. Now there are only three things they must do: outlive, outlast, outsmart the undead. Have fun at Dead Island, a death defying adventure.
I liked the book for its occasionally good sense of humor, plot twists, and at some points extreme suspense. I overall liked this book.
I liked the book for its occasionally good sense of humor, plot twists, and at some points extreme suspense. I overall liked this book.
August 25, 2017
Personally I think they should have left it as a console game which I actually enjoyed playing. As soon as I picked up the book version, I knew I had made a mistake. If there was a list of zombie books not to be bothered with, this would be near the very top.
I wanted one of the main characters to die before he was even in sight of the zombies. Yes he really was that bad. Obnoxious, rude, you name it, he was it. I'd had a gutful of him after a few pages and didn't even want to stick around to see if he gets eaten!
I wanted one of the main characters to die before he was even in sight of the zombies. Yes he really was that bad. Obnoxious, rude, you name it, he was it. I'd had a gutful of him after a few pages and didn't even want to stick around to see if he gets eaten!
January 1, 2012
I picked up this book just because the introduction got me interested, although I've not played nor even known the game. And I enjoyed it quite much. It was indeed a game-like story, when one goal was reached a new one took place, which helped keeping me interested through to the end. Fast-paced, exciting, easy read.
But I was not content with the ending, because it was not really the ending. I guess maybe the game will have a sequel - in that case will this novelization also have a sequel?
But I was not content with the ending, because it was not really the ending. I guess maybe the game will have a sequel - in that case will this novelization also have a sequel?
March 10, 2016
I really enjoyed this novel, came to it from the video game, and I have to say it was a lot better than expected. So why the three star rating? Well honestly, I hated the ending (won't give any spoilers here), it just wasn't to my taste, which let it down. Otherwise though, a surprisingly good read.
November 30, 2011
Despite the fact that most reviews for this book were negative I could not put it down once i began reading it! I really liked this book, kept me on the edge of my seat. I also enjoyed the video game that inspired this book also called "Dead Island"
February 24, 2018
Nice read, I've played the game throught to the end, and liked it a lot. This book gives a more realistic (*as far as zombies are realistic*) narrative to the game. A nice way of reloving the game, and it fleshes out the characters you play with.
January 1, 2022
I loved playing this game but I didn't like reading this book. Reading this book made me think of how underappreciated the art of story telling in video games is. There is so much character development that happens within the hours of playtime that you cannot duplicate in 300 pages. That was one of the many issues with this novelization of the game Dead Island. I do have to give Mark Morris credit that he was able to put so many events and places within his novelization but only being in those places for a few short pages left me confused and uninterested in the characters we were supposed to be rooting for. Also, what was lost was the juxtaposition of humanity with those in the church and those in the police station. Morris was extremely descriptive of the zombies our 4 protagonist face but the constant use of simile, metaphor, and analogy in those descriptions needed an editor's hand to finesse the descriptions of what we were surrounded by. Finally, can we please stop using rape in video game books? Two characters in this book are raped and the topic is brought up several times and even joked about by other characters, it was so not necessary with everything else that happens in story.
December 13, 2021
So, I bought the game. Bought the book. Then played the game which also crashed on me. This made me wait about a decade to read the book, and oh my the journey.
It feels like a game, without the audio, visuals, nor the gameplay. It’s a 334 page loop of stationary talk, walkie talk, action. Most of the times the action or conflicts were over on the same page, even once in the next sentence. Conflicts of the verbal kind where short; statement, disagreement, resolve.
Internal conflicts, not sure they had any.
Sentence structures made me think of the fan fiction story with Garfield in Mass Effect. Too much tell, not enough show. Giving such classics as “‘B*****it’ said Sam with feeling.”
Got to give credit where credit is due tho, having one mc be a former rapper named Sam B in a zombie novel was good. Only shame is the ending which hints badly at a sequel. Maybe we will get that if the sequel game ever drops.
It feels like a game, without the audio, visuals, nor the gameplay. It’s a 334 page loop of stationary talk, walkie talk, action. Most of the times the action or conflicts were over on the same page, even once in the next sentence. Conflicts of the verbal kind where short; statement, disagreement, resolve.
Internal conflicts, not sure they had any.
Sentence structures made me think of the fan fiction story with Garfield in Mass Effect. Too much tell, not enough show. Giving such classics as “‘B*****it’ said Sam with feeling.”
Got to give credit where credit is due tho, having one mc be a former rapper named Sam B in a zombie novel was good. Only shame is the ending which hints badly at a sequel. Maybe we will get that if the sequel game ever drops.
January 30, 2013
This one caught my eye because it was/is originally a PC game of the same name. Even the cover is the same. It made me borrow it just to see how the heck they turned a game into a story.
Having sucked majorly at the game and not able to get out of the resort, I was excited to read the book to see if it shed light on the game. Of course, having not finished the game I don't know what's accurate. Maybe I'll try the game again on the lowest level of difficulty.
Anyway, onto the book. I quite enjoyed it! When people say "fast-paced" this is the kind of thing they mean. Constantly moving, always a new obstacle to overcome. There really is very little time to stop and process what's happening.
There are some references to the game that I quite liked, for example there's a conversation where the survivors are told to use weapons created from anything they can find, which reminded me of the game since you use oars, axes, sticks, whatever is handy at the moment.
One thing I didn't like was the frequent comparisons to a zombie movie. It's a personal issue I have with novels, I don't like it because it almost seems to make light of the situation and remove you even further from the action. If the characters are treating it like a movie, why should I be any more invested?
Similarly, every plot twist is brought up by the characters so there are few actual revealing moments where theories come together. For example, all the lead characters were given the free trip to this holiday island because they donated blood and won a sweepstake or something, so extremely early on in the novel this spurs on one of the lead characters to assume that means they are all immune to the zombie virus and were sent to the island in anticipation of the outbreak. It just threw me off a bit, one of the things I like about novels is questioning what's happening myself and having my own theories.
Another thing that bugged me, as it always does. Women are weak, screaming and frail. The only strong woman is Purna, a hard as nails bitch with heavy police/army training perpetrating the theory that the only way a woman could be strong is if she had been prepared for most of her life for a disaster scenario. Meanwhile, men are just excellent in the situation from the get-go.
One part that annoyed me greatly was when our main group of five decides they have to go into the jungle to a village in search for help for a vaccine. Instead of taking the woman who can translate and speak the language (the only person in the group who can), they leave her behind with another woman and the hard-ass Purna and two men go on the trek and, of course, struggle with a language barrier when they get to the village. Time and energy could have been saved by bringing the appropriate character along, and if she were male I would assume she would have been there, but she's a young girl so she stays behind.
Anyway despite all my issues with it - which I'll admit are a personal taste thing rather than technical issues. Although there is a heavily lame/cliche final sentence - it's a very well-written novel. I give the author major props for his unique descriptions of each zombie kill. I don't think there are two kills that are the same either in action or the authors language. And all of it is sickeningly realistic, this is not one for the squeamish! Recommended for any zombie fans.
Having sucked majorly at the game and not able to get out of the resort, I was excited to read the book to see if it shed light on the game. Of course, having not finished the game I don't know what's accurate. Maybe I'll try the game again on the lowest level of difficulty.
Anyway, onto the book. I quite enjoyed it! When people say "fast-paced" this is the kind of thing they mean. Constantly moving, always a new obstacle to overcome. There really is very little time to stop and process what's happening.
There are some references to the game that I quite liked, for example there's a conversation where the survivors are told to use weapons created from anything they can find, which reminded me of the game since you use oars, axes, sticks, whatever is handy at the moment.
One thing I didn't like was the frequent comparisons to a zombie movie. It's a personal issue I have with novels, I don't like it because it almost seems to make light of the situation and remove you even further from the action. If the characters are treating it like a movie, why should I be any more invested?
Similarly, every plot twist is brought up by the characters so there are few actual revealing moments where theories come together. For example, all the lead characters were given the free trip to this holiday island because they donated blood and won a sweepstake or something, so extremely early on in the novel this spurs on one of the lead characters to assume that means they are all immune to the zombie virus and were sent to the island in anticipation of the outbreak. It just threw me off a bit, one of the things I like about novels is questioning what's happening myself and having my own theories.
Another thing that bugged me, as it always does. Women are weak, screaming and frail. The only strong woman is Purna, a hard as nails bitch with heavy police/army training perpetrating the theory that the only way a woman could be strong is if she had been prepared for most of her life for a disaster scenario. Meanwhile, men are just excellent in the situation from the get-go.
One part that annoyed me greatly was when our main group of five decides they have to go into the jungle to a village in search for help for a vaccine. Instead of taking the woman who can translate and speak the language (the only person in the group who can), they leave her behind with another woman and the hard-ass Purna and two men go on the trek and, of course, struggle with a language barrier when they get to the village. Time and energy could have been saved by bringing the appropriate character along, and if she were male I would assume she would have been there, but she's a young girl so she stays behind.
Anyway despite all my issues with it - which I'll admit are a personal taste thing rather than technical issues. Although there is a heavily lame/cliche final sentence - it's a very well-written novel. I give the author major props for his unique descriptions of each zombie kill. I don't think there are two kills that are the same either in action or the authors language. And all of it is sickeningly realistic, this is not one for the squeamish! Recommended for any zombie fans.
October 21, 2012
‘Dead Island’ is a story about four characters who find themselves on Banoi, ‘a tropical island paradise’ that turns out to be nothing like paradise after a plague breaks out on the island, turning nearly everyone into zombies. It sounded good and it was ‘okay’ but a bit disappointing. The novel was very easy to read but I found the story a little dull and repetitive after a while. There was a lot of gore and zombie action, but it wasn't what I expected, hence the lower rating, but that's probably my fault for not realising it was a game… yes, unbeknown to me it is based on a computer game. However, as I progressed through the story I had my suspicions as I felt I was in the middle of a RPG game with characters being sent on missions. The conclusion had too many loose ends for my liking but it is left open for a sequel. The writing style was fine, but it just wasn't for me. On the other hand, it has whetted my appetite to try the game… :)
December 29, 2012
Okay so i picked this book up from a shop in clearance for 50p and i got it because i had nothing to read at the time and the cover looked decent.
However i am not a zombie fanatic or anything of the sort, when i found out the book was dealing with zombies i was little skeptical, although the start was a little dull for my liking the story itself got very intense and thrilling. I ended up loving this book, even telling all my friends about it and detailing the characters to them and the plot, although this book was cheap i thought it was quite well written for a game play sort of novel.
The plot twists and turns were great in this book especially the end, the only problem i had was finding some parts tedious in the sense they repeated themselves but still this book made me want to go buy the game and play it but i was sad that the game did not follow the book quite as accurately as i had hoped.
Overall this book was pretty great and i was pleased for this little bargain :)
However i am not a zombie fanatic or anything of the sort, when i found out the book was dealing with zombies i was little skeptical, although the start was a little dull for my liking the story itself got very intense and thrilling. I ended up loving this book, even telling all my friends about it and detailing the characters to them and the plot, although this book was cheap i thought it was quite well written for a game play sort of novel.
The plot twists and turns were great in this book especially the end, the only problem i had was finding some parts tedious in the sense they repeated themselves but still this book made me want to go buy the game and play it but i was sad that the game did not follow the book quite as accurately as i had hoped.
Overall this book was pretty great and i was pleased for this little bargain :)
June 14, 2014
Great zombie book.
On the paradise island of Banoi people are becoming infected and going mad. Four people are summoned by a stranger to get off the island. Little do they know that there is a mission involved. They continue to work together to complete the tasks laid before them, hoping it will lead to a way off the island.
I liked how these complete strangers came together to help each other. They run into a whole mess of trouble with something delaying them at every turn. They also meet several people along the way.
I really liked Purna and Sam. Very strong characters, even though both show their soft sides, as they help others.
I rated this 4 stars because of the ending. Left me hanging and wanting more. :) Sequel maybe?
On the paradise island of Banoi people are becoming infected and going mad. Four people are summoned by a stranger to get off the island. Little do they know that there is a mission involved. They continue to work together to complete the tasks laid before them, hoping it will lead to a way off the island.
I liked how these complete strangers came together to help each other. They run into a whole mess of trouble with something delaying them at every turn. They also meet several people along the way.
I really liked Purna and Sam. Very strong characters, even though both show their soft sides, as they help others.
I rated this 4 stars because of the ending. Left me hanging and wanting more. :) Sequel maybe?
November 2, 2012
!5 points. dead island by mark morris.
Dead island is a book about for survivors that are all on the island for there own reasons i well not go into the reasons why becuase they are spoilers but i well name the four. Sam B, Naomi. Travis. perma.
THe four are all at the island at the same time but they didnt come for what they expected a random zombie apoclpyse has sprong out and they all must work together t get out alive and struggle dde to eachothers realtonships and struggles.THe only problem i have with this book is its to short. and could have more to the story then brain smashing action.
Dead island is a book about for survivors that are all on the island for there own reasons i well not go into the reasons why becuase they are spoilers but i well name the four. Sam B, Naomi. Travis. perma.
THe four are all at the island at the same time but they didnt come for what they expected a random zombie apoclpyse has sprong out and they all must work together t get out alive and struggle dde to eachothers realtonships and struggles.THe only problem i have with this book is its to short. and could have more to the story then brain smashing action.
January 29, 2012
This isn't a masterpiece or even something to rival some of the best work by Morris, but it's still bags of fun with skilful characterisation and a plot that kept me hooked until the very end. It's apparently based on a computer game. Since I don't bother with games much these days, I hadn't even heard of it, let alone a desire to play it. My interest was in it being a fresh title from a favourite author of mine. After reading and enjoying this thoroughly satisfying caper, I think I'll seek it out and have a good old zombie bash. Three cheers for Sam, Logan and Purna!
October 20, 2012
I had never played Dead Island before and never heard of Mark Morris before this book. I was recommended this by a friend who also bought it but never actually finished reading it.
I read it in two days flat, probably the quickest I've read a book. It's fast-paced and for someone who is unfamiliar with the plot, always keeps you guessing. I loved every bit of bit and would recommend this to others.
After reading this, I played the game for a bit and it's good how accurate Mark keeps it. The characters are all likeable and the dialogue is relatively realistic.
Brilliant read!
I read it in two days flat, probably the quickest I've read a book. It's fast-paced and for someone who is unfamiliar with the plot, always keeps you guessing. I loved every bit of bit and would recommend this to others.
After reading this, I played the game for a bit and it's good how accurate Mark keeps it. The characters are all likeable and the dialogue is relatively realistic.
Brilliant read!
August 17, 2014
This book was very well done, but having played the game I think it should have had a more of Logan and Xian Mei. Most of the story seemed focused on Purna and Sam. Kind of a bummer there won't be a next book since it stopped at more of a cliff hanger than the game did. I mean I suppose it could tie into riptide pretty easily, but from what Kevin/Cheron said it also could be completely different. Overall a great book though.
November 18, 2012
One of the better video game adaptation novels, it clearly defines the storyline that got twisted in the game. If you played the game you'll recognize the plot and the locations though it's not a pure retelling of the game. If you haven't played it but are a fan of zombie stories then I highly suggest you read this.
October 18, 2012
Sam Wise The Black, Someone's Property Purna, Turning Japanese Xien Mei and El Loo-Hooney Logan all brought great persona to a modern day manic jizz fantasy. well done; if i could describe it with a face, then i would have to pull a 'Grimace' face.
August 17, 2013
This book is absolutely perfect and goes hand in hand with the video game. If you like the game, this is a great way to fill you in on how everything went down in Banoi before the virus spread. Great read!
September 17, 2014
The toy calculates the most young. The soft trash disadvantages the heritage. A blank beef discriminates. The built coat impresses a spokesman. The recipient inhabits a combined flavor opposite a legend.
August 19, 2012
Great story but the ending bummed me out a bit. The story didn't at all feel like a game novelisation and well written
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