Island 731

By: Jeremy Robinson

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Mark Hawkins, former park ranger and expert tracker, is out of his element, working onboard the Magellan, a research vessel studying the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But his work is interrupted when, surrounded by 30 miles of refuse, the ship and its high-tech systems are plagued by a series of strange malfunctions and the crew is battered by a raging storm.

When the storm fades and the sun rises, the beaten crew awakens to find themselves anchored in the protective cove of a tropical island...and no one knows how they got there. Even worse, the ship has been sabotaged, two crewmen are dead, and a third is missing. Hawkins spots signs of the missing man onshore and leads a small team to bring him back. But they quickly discover evidence of a brutal history left behind by the island’s former occupants: Unit 731, Japan’s ruthless World War II human experimentation program. Mass graves and military fortifications dot the island, along with a decades-old laboratory housing the remains of hideous experiments.

As more crew members start to disappear, Hawkins realizes that they are not alone. In fact, he suspects they were brought to this strange and horrible island. The crew is taken one by one, and while Hawkins fights to save his friends, he learns the horrible truths: Island 731 was never decommissioned and the person taking his crewmates may not be a person at all - not anymore.

©2013 Jeremy Robinson (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Lots of action

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Less action bit more story

Would you recommend Island 731 to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, the book still had good mystery and kept the flow going very well without any filler.

Which character – as performed by R. C. Bray – was your favorite?

Not a real strong character driven book

Did Island 731 inspire you to do anything?

Study more on plastic waste

If You Like This Kind of Thing...

After a pretty compelling start, I found this updating of The Island of Dr. Moreau pretty perfunctory (though done well): mystery, threat, chase, interlude, threat, chase, etc. Sometimes overly descriptive, but moves at a decent pace. I eventually became a tad bored at the lull before the next attack. Nice read by Bray overall.
Just didn't float my 'boat'. ;-)

Good Premise, Bad story and character devlopment!

All of the previous (7) reviews and ratings were positive, but once again proves that I should wait until there were more reviews in before using a precious credit. I disliked this book immensely! I still have an hour and a half left and will force myself to finish but I cannot see any way to redemption for this book.
If you like sci-fi you may like this book, I would compare it to "14" which was rated well by many but I also disliked.
Another slight comparison would be "Mr. Penubra's 24 hour bookstore" which I did not hate but did not think was all that great.
I like action books such as: Hurwitz 's "you're next"
I like fantasy such as: Game of thrones and wheel of time.
I like mystery and thriller such as: "Gone Girl gone" and the Dublin murder squad.
I even like some dystopian fantasy books such as: Hunger games
The story:
Basically, a team of environmentalist get shipwrecked and wake up on an island where horrific experiments on animals and humans are being performed, and you guessed it...the government sanctioned this at some point in the past. Now the island is being run by a rogue being.
The premise seems promising but there was very little investment in the characters from me, the story should be thought provoking but because I did not care much about the characters and their relationships I just cant wait for it to be over! A few reviews online said this should be a trilogy and maybe that would have helped with setting the scene and character development.

Awesome

Awesomely awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome!! I seriously loved the book :)

A remake of The island of dr. moreau

A more violent version of The island of dr. moreau. Just wonder why some authors make the good guy to good and the bad guys to bad.

Great book!

Captivating the narrator did a great job making the story come alive. Would recommend to people who love suspense.

Average Sci-Fi

Characters were pretty good but the main character seemed to spend more time on the ground than upright; got annoying. Good book for teenager Sci-Fi fans.

Excellent

Had my doubts when I started listening, but the story developed nicely. When I thought the story would follow the usual course of these sort of plot lines the turn caught me off guard. I hope the others in this series are just as good.

Use that credit

Was iffy on this one now I have to read the whole series it was great honestly a great read would use a credit on this one.

a fun listen!

A lot of fun to listen to on a road trip - tense and entertaining!