I just finished âThe Islandâ and it is phenomenal!
In case you didnât know, itâs a book written by the guy who wrote Wold War Z (of all things!) and itâs basically what the Minecraft Movie should have been.
The basic plot is that a guy from our world spawns into the middle of an ocean in a Minecraft world and has to find a way to survive on the only piece of land he can find, a very small island.
With no memory of who he was in our world, but vague memories of what our world is like, the majority of the books revolves around him working out the game mechanics of Minecraft. But itâs all told from the perspective of someone who is actually there in the world itself and trying to reconcile the differences between Minecraft logic and physics vs what he knows about how the real world operates.
Thereâs lots of close calls and first time blunders. His frustration at not being able to eat an egg, at feeling the pain of getting injured and not being able to heal until he eats food, of trying to plant crops and accidentally dumping water on the seeds because he doesnât know how water works, to literally watching zombies and skeletons pop into existence in the dark and then poof out of existence at random times. The book does an excellent job of taking all the things we as gamers know about Minecraft and making it feel weird and fascinating and new.
Itâs very much like watching a first time player experience the game and seeing their foibles and mistakes as they struggle to work out what to do.
If I have any negatives to say about the book itâs that it feels like only the beginning story in a much larger series. Which is fitting since there are two more in the series to look forward to! âThe Mountainâ and âThe Village.â
If youâre down on the Minecraft Movie and want something to rekindle your spirits, I strongly recommend this series! Itâs relatively easy to find, thereâs e-book versions for your phone, and if youâre really up for it thereâs an audio book adaptation read by Jack Black. How ironic huh?