Genre: Horror
Publisher: Severed Press
Publication Date: 4th October 2015
Pages: 206
REVIEWED BY CHAD
A copy of The
Island was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Michael Bray,
in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published
by Severed Press.
In The Island,
by Michael Bray, we see a society in which reality television has become a
performance platform for violence and death. The island itself is a man-made
land mass on which a competition has been resurrected to air for the first time
as a television series.
Contestants are set loose on the island and only one
can survive to the end. Their prize? Whatever it is they desire. All they have
to do is make it from one side of the island to the other.
Oh, and they have to make it through an island packed
full of dinosaurs.
The main character of the story, Chase Riley, decides to
take part in the newly revamped show in order to save his daughter who is
suffering from terminal cancer. Against the wishes of his wife, he enters into
the show, hoping that a victory will bring in the money they lacked, in order
to get their daughter, the treatment she needs.
Putting all my honesty down on the table, I have to admit
that I was a little dubious of the concept of this book going into it. My
concern was that this was going to just end up feeling like a modern
reimagining of The Running Man, but
with dinosaurs as an artificial attempt to add an extra element to an already
successful story. Still, I was also intrigued by the idea and was willing to
give it a go.
I'm glad to say that my reservations were unfounded. I think this book is a
good reminder that, regardless of the specific concept, effective writing and
characters that can be related to will carry a lot of weight, even if the story
has some familiar ring to it.
To start off, I think that the strongest element to this book is that of the
characters. It's really easy when you have multiple characters to have trouble
keeping track of everyone and they all start to blend together. Despite that
challenge, I thought Bray did a really good job making sure everyone was
distinct and easy to tell apart from each other. Despite the fact that some of
the characters were fairly archetype-ish, I found myself interested in them and
engaged in their part of the story.
I also really liked how he explored the dynamic between the characters within
the context of the game itself. More specifically, the notion of people who are
on one hand contestants but also still feel the urge to help each other. How do
you work with and against each other at the same time? How do you deal with the
fact that you might care for someone's well-being while at the same time
realizing that you may be put in a position where you might have to take that
person's life?
I found the pacing of the book to be great. I thought the
story moved along at a nice clip and once things really got going, they don’t
stop until the book ends. Bray did a great job creating a story that is
engaging and that held my interest throughout.
As it is probably to be expected in a story of this type,
things are not necessarily as they seem. The twists in the story are well done
and are used effectively in order to move things along. There were a few points
towards the end of the book where I felt like the twists were starting to
stretch the limits of credibility, slightly. However, this did not prevent my
ability to enjoy them and I was able to shut that part of my brain up and just
watch the book unfold.
If I had one critical comment about the book, it would be
that at times I thought the writing style got in the way of the flow of the
narrative, somewhat. There seem to be quite a few moments where the writing is
a bit dense in terms of the paragraphs being very long. There isn’t anything
necessarily wrong with this practice, but I think it can make scenes less
effective when there is a lot of action going on. I think it has a tendency to
slow down the reader and bring down the immediacy of the narrative. In my
opinion, some of the scenes could have been more powerful and effective if some
of the longer paragraphs had been broken up. This is just a personal issue of
my own and it’s a minor one. It didn’t interfere with my enjoyment, nor did it
necessarily make the book any less engaging.
In all, I thought that in a culture that has become rife
with dystopian literature, The Island
does a pretty good job keeping its head above the water and not feeling like
ground that is being re-treaded one too many times. It is a book I enjoyed and
would highly recommend.
General rating:
★★★★
Reviewed by Chad.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Island or any other books from Michael.
This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like
to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
What if the next generation of reality show had your life
as the prize?
The island is the largest manmade structure ever
constructed. Within its two-hundred-foot high steel walls are savage dinosaurs
created for one purpose. To hunt man. In addition, of those who are chosen to
enter the island, only one can leave and claim the prize.
As television screens around the world tune in to watch,
the six contestants form an uneasy alliance as they battle nightmarish beasts
beyond comprehension. When a secret is uncovered which could bring down the
entire Lomar Corporation, the contestants find that some men are worse than
monsters, and some corporations will stop at nothing to protect that which they
tried so desperately to hide.
Michael Bray is a bestselling horror / thriller author of
several novels. Influenced from an early age by the suspense horror of authors
such as Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Shaun Hutson, James Herbert & Brian
Lumley, along with TV shows like Tales from the Crypt & The Twilight Zone,
his work touches on the psychological side of horror, teasing the reader’s nerves
and willing them to keep turning the pages.
Several of his titles are currently being translated into
multiple languages and with options for movie and Television adaptations under
negotiation for others, he will look to continue his growth as a full time
professional writer long into the future.
And for more about Michael, visit his site or find him on
social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
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