It started out well, with an interesting mock essay on the historic cycle of new species introduced into an environment that can take over, decimate the existing flora or fauna, and change that environment forever. Then we're given a delicious little episode of a ship's crew being attacked by some mysterious monster on a remote island. Then... ugh. It appears that the whole story is going to be set with a ship full of reality show scientists and crew, who are obviously destined to explore the monster island. The momentum comes to a full stop when the narrative suddenly becomes more interested in describing every new character in full reality show terms - their appearance and clothing in excruciating detail, their Personality Type.

Sorry, can't do it. Even the anticipation of getting to see at least some of them eaten by monsters won't keep me reading. DNF at 5%, after 36 minutes of audio.

I attempted to read this for 2018 Halloween Bingo, for either the Modern Masters of Horror square or the Genre: Horror square, but I have other backup books that I will read for those instead.
( )

It was interesting until getting to the main creatures - which were a bit much. ( )

I can see why people describe this as a mix of Jurassic Park and Tom Clancy, but I will go with Jurassic Park meets Da Vinci Code - lots of action that is disrupted by lengthy scientific lectures. The idea is interesting and the animals described are certainly creative- the same cannot be said for the humans, though that may be the point. If you are interested in narratives that push the idea of evolution, this book may be of interest for you. ( )

Put on my Back-Burnered shelf, for those books I can't finish, but haven't given up on. Perhaps I'll get back to it. I will, if it starts gnawing at me, wondering what happened.

I don't think that'll happen, though.

The premise of Warren Fahy's novel is not especially original: far out in the south Pacific, an island is discovered that harbors strange and unique forms of life. Cut off from virtually all biological contact with the outside world, what evolved was the most lethal ecosystem on the planet, where every living being, plant and animal, is hostile. Drawn to the island by an emergency beacon from an abandoned sailboat, the crew of a research ship has a quick and lethal encounter with some of the island’s inhabitants, prompting a naval quarantine and full-scale scientific expedition that uncovers many of the island’s mysteries – and illustrates the threat they could pose to the world.

When reading the novel, it soon becomes clear that Fahy has put a considerable amount of thought into developing the natives of his own little lost world. The environment he envisions is nothing short of terrifying, and the chapters in which the island is explored are easily the best of the book. Unfortunately, the rest of the book does not receive the same degree of thought and attention, with two-dimensional characters (including a Bad Guy verging on the cartoonish), predictable plot developments, and an ending with all of the originality of a Hollywood-cloned sequel. While Fahy does entertain, readers seeking quality plots and writing would do better to pick up another book instead. ( )