Monsterland

By: Michael Okon

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Welcome to Monsterland - the scariest place on Earth.

Wyatt Baldwin's senior year is not going well. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He's not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either. An ongoing debate with his best friends Melvin and Howard Drucker over which monster is superior has gotten stale. He'd much rather spend his days with beautiful and popular Jade. However, she's dating the brash high-school quarterback Nolan, and Wyatt thinks he doesn't stand a chance.

But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can interact with vampires in Vampire Village, be chased by werewolves on the River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

With real werewolves, vampires, and zombies as the main attractions, what could possibly go wrong?

©2017 WordFire Press, LLC (P)2018 WordFire Press LLC

Greed, Power and The Helpless

Some forms of virus was released in Africa that effected people some got well and others died and return as zombies. At the time there gather up and placed into security zones and after that people started to hunt down other people they feared those with paranormal and health issues that changed there appearance in some way like a person was a hutch back. At first these people were left alone to live as they had for centuries.
One man with questionable morals came on the scene and started to help and due to to world economy having tanked he came in with money offering to help and world governments accepted. At first everything went alright but overtime his true self appeared he started turning the security areas into themes parks and hunting and killing the paranormal creatures like werewolves and vampires. At first we told the world he was looking for a cure all lies which in the end came back to bite him.
As all good stories you need a vilian and a good guy in this audible you have more than one. Also in a good audible you need a storyline or more to keep wanting more in this audible you do and enjoy them to the conclusion of all them to multiple endings most very bad the characters.
My thoughts the storyline was good but to me very week, hardly no background to understand the plot or plots and finally who the characters really were and mist if it was just genocide of people for power and greed both political and non-political. I do say it should be read or listen to but ready to be dropped in the end and finding many holes in the story that makes no sense.

Fabulous story works on two levels

This story is just fabulous. From the very start, readers are drawn into the story and kept enthralled to the finish. And then, throughout the story, a sense of dread builds ever so subtly in the background – and then knocks you in the face.

“Night came fast in the swamp, dropping a curtain of darkness, extinguishing all light except for the beacon of the full moon. It continued to float upward, indifferent to the consequences for its innocent victims.”

Author Michael Okon’s writing is engaging, and he has a knack for description and use of figurative language. Often, beautiful passages are juxtaposed against the horror of what is unfolding, which makes reading (and reading with your ears) a real pleasure. Okon also excels at establishing the mood and setting, and with the recent real-life Coronavirus breakout, the premise of Monsterland doesn’t feel quite as far-fetched; in any case, the what-if factor is unsettling.

Monsterland works on two different levels. There’s the surface level story that’s the stuff of nightmares: werewolves and vampires and zombies that live among us. And that story is a thrill ride, quite literally, as the once-human creatures have been corralled and theme parks created around the monsters. And then there is that second level.

“The vitality-challenged present a significant, expensive burden to the country as well as the world.”

If readers go a little deeper, they will find a whole other layer of meaning within the lines. Okon asks the question: what exactly does it mean to be human? And in defining who is victim and who is villain, the lines become especially blurry when the great American way of commercialism drowns out rational thought.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: The narration performed by Scott Brick was really well-done. He nails multiple character voices and personalities, younger and older, male and female and other. He delivers an extra chilling, creepy rendition of Dr. Victor Conrad and also a humorous Igor the hunchback. The recording was glitch-free and pacing was perfect; I listened at regular speed.

I highly recommend Monsterland for young adult and adult readers. If you enjoy the supernatural but also like food for thought in addition to BRAINSSSS, Monsterland is a great choice. I am looking forward to the next book, Monsterland Reanimated and plan on jumping right into it.

Thank you to the author and iRead Book Tours for providing me an audio download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.