The Island is an official Minecraft novel written by Max Brooks. It has 271 pages and it was published in 2017. I love playing Minecraft game, so when I knew there's a novel based on one, I've gotten interested immediately and aimed for it. Thank God, finally I got mine from Kinokuniya book store.
After finishing reading this novel for a week, I felt content and delighted. My score for this incredible book is 9.0 out of 10.0.
Okay, without dilly dally, here's the synopsis.
"Washed up on a beach, the lone castaway looks around the shore. Where am I? Who am I? And why is everything made out of blocks? But there isn’t much time to soak up the sun. It’s getting dark, and there is a strange new world to explore.
The top priority is finding food. The next is not becoming food. Because there are others out there on the island... like the horde of zombies that appear after night falls. Crafting a way out of this mess is a challenge like no other. Who could build a home while running from exploding creepers, armed skeletons, and an unstoppable tide of hot lava? Especially with no help except for a few makeshift tools and sage advice from an unlikely friend: a cow.
In this world, the rules don’t always make sense, but courage and creativity go a long way. There are forests to explore, hidden underground tunnels to loot, and undead mobs to defeat. Only then will the secrets of the island be revealed..."
!WARNING! THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS, I'LL GIVE YOU SOME TIME TO READ IT BEFORE THIS REVIEW!
Minecraft: The Island is a novel created by Max Brooks (yes, the author of World War Z) on July 18, 2017. The sequel, Minecraft: The Mountain, was released on March 2, 2021.
The novel follows a nameless castaway. We don't know his name, so he's just called 'Guy'. Guy finds himself in a lonely island, filled with blocky materials. At first, Guy was a bit scared and clueless about his location. He's pretty dumb, too, he's scared of bats because he thinks they'll become vampires, which questions his IQ. Anyways, enough about IQ. Guy later progresses throughout the blocky world of Minecraft, trying to survive the dangers of this world, from slow-moving zombies and bow-wielding skeletons to explosive creepers and mischievous witches. Long story short, the world isn't nice to him.
He made some pretty weird mistakes and close-death encounters along the way, such as almost falling off a cliff, accidentally burning his house down just to make a spa, the list goes on. Due to the loneliness, he also befriended some animals, the closest one is a cow named Moo, because it, well, moos.
You won't believe it, but there are 30+ quotes in this novel (you can find them in the end pages). The quotes actually apply to daily life, and not just for surviving like Robinson Cruesoe.
Overall, the novel is quite funny, but sometimes it contains emotional scenes, such as Guy finally making a boat and a map and leaves Moo and the other animals on the island, and the time he contemplates about his life because of his house fire accident. But, it still makes me laugh due to me playing the game frequently and seeing him play-- wait no-- survive the world of Minecraft.