Flesh and Blood (Benny Imura 3) by Jonathan Maberry

I am going to give you fair warning here: I have a lot of feels about this series and there will be some spoilers for previous books so be warned if you have not read the first two books.  Although, I have to wonder WHY NOT if you haven't!  Here's the creepy cover and Goodreads blurb:

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living.

But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you.

And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.

I met Jonathan Maberry at a signing at BEA 2012.  I told him how much the ending of Dust and Decay killed me because I just loved Tom Imura.  His response?  He smiled, thanked me and let me know that Flesh and Bone might actually be worse.  OUCH!  I loved meeting him though, what a great guy!!  This book was just insane from start to finish.  Benny and his friends find out that the world was not like they thought it was.  They also find out that there are worse things out in the Rot & Ruin than zombies and the men who had run Gameland.  As readers, we experience each epiphany with them.  While they are running from scary killers and zombies, they each go through their own inner dialogue as they each come to terms with losing Tom and try to figure out who they are.  It is hard enough to be a teenager but a teenager in the Rot & Ruin is something else entirely.  This book will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through.

You can find out more about Jonathan Maberry on his website, on his Facebook page and you can find him on Twitter.  Jonathan Maberry has written books other than the Benny Imura series and you can find them on Goodreads.  I give 4 Fairies to Flesh and Bone and I can't wait to see what Benny, Lilah, Chong and Nix do next.

 

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

I got an e-galley of Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry last month and just got to read it a few days ago.  I loved Rot & Ruin- my first ever zombie book- so I was excited to get the opportunity to read the sequel early!

Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them.

Sounds easy. Sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. But as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland –where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all…could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive?

In the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything…and not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will make it out alive.

This book was EPIC.  It did not suffer from a second book slump at all.  I loved that you got to see more of Tom- even separate from Benny- which was great.  I love Tom Imura.  I do.  He is such a great guy and a great character.  He was 21 when he saved his brother and lost his parents to the horror of First Night.  Tom raised Benny on his own even knowing that Benny hated him.  Tom is just a really GOOD guy and Dust & Decay is like a homage to his awesomeness.  We meet all these super new characters like all of Tom's friends and fellow closure specialists and bounty hunters.  They all seem to have their own Zombie cards but their real stories are better than their legends.  It was neat to see Lilah trying to figure out her new life as part of Chong and Benny's group.  She has to deal with some emotions that are pretty forgien to her.  Chong has to push himself and become the man that he didn't know he could be.  In the end there is a battle larger and more insane than the one that killed Charlie Pink Eye and the Motor City Hammer.  I cried at the end.  I really did.  it was an emotional book and I just can not wait for the next one!!  I really hope that Benny and his friends find what they are looking for.  

Dust and Decay gets 4 Fairies for the greatness of Tom Imura and for the kick butt heroes of this book.

I would suggest this one for readers over 13 due to violence and deep moral discussions on the reality that zombies were people too.  There are a handful of kisses doled out in the book but nothing graphic.  Dust and Decay comes out in the US on August 30th.  You can pre-order it now on any of your favorite book seller's sites or from your local independent bookstore.  

You can find out more about Jonathan Maberry by following him on Twitter or by checking out his website.  I hope you'll add Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay to your Goodreads! 

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers are from Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry:

"Then, despite fire and gunplay and screams and the living dead, Lilah did what she had never once done in her entire life.  She kissed a boy."

W...W...W... Wednesdays!

W... W... W... Wednesdays is a weekly feature at Should Be Reading. To play along you just have to answer three simple questions:

1. What Are You Currently Reading?
2. What Did You Recently Finish?
3. What Do You Think You'll Read Next?

1.  What Am I Currently Reading?  Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry   

2.  What Did I Recently Finish?  Shut Out by Kody Keplinger  

3.  What Do I Think I'll Read Next?  Witch Song by Amber Argyle  

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Rot and Ruin is the first book in the Benny Imura book series by Jonathan Maberry.  This is pretty much my first zombie book.  I mean, there are zombies in the Anita Blake books.  She's an animator and animators raise zombies.  But this is my first zombiepocalypse book.  (Is that a word?  Well, now it is.)  Jonathan Maberry has created a world in Rot & Ruin that I would never want to live in.  Zombies have taken over the world and anyone who dies must be "quieted" or they too will become the living dead.  Benny and Tom Imura live in this world, in the little fence-enclosed town of Mountainside.

Benny Imura is a boy of almost fifteen who must find a job or his rations will be cut.  He tries so many jobs but can't seem to find one that works.  Finally, in an act of desperation, he agrees to let his eldest brother, Tom, teach him "the family business".  Tom is a bounty hunter, or so Benny thinks.  Bounty hunters get paid by the living to kill their family members or loved ones who have turned into zombies.  He sees himself as a "closure specialist".  He doesn't make tons of money like the less scrupulous bounty hunters do and the job takes its toll  on him, emotionally.  But all Benny sees is the coward who left their mom for dead when their dad went zombie on First Night. 

On Benny's first trip out into the Rot and Ruin, the land outside of Mountainside's fences, Tom imparts the first of many valuable truths.  Zombies are not monsters, they are not evil and they did not choose this fate.  It takes some time for Benny to accept and learn the things that Tom has to teach him but he slowly does.  Then, something terrible happens to those closest to the Imura brothers and they have to go out into the Ruin on a suicide mission.  Benny has only a wooden sword and hasn't even trained with a real sword or gun yet but time is slipping away as the two brothers leave Mountainside.  Will they save Benny's friend or will they die trying?  Is the Lost Girl real or simply a ghost story?

This book was insane. I expected it to be more... zombie-ish?  I guess.  But really the story is about so much more than zombies.  The zombiepocolypse is the vehicle for the larger life lessons.  It's about doing what is right, even when it is not easy.  It's a story of good vs evil.  It's about life and death.  It's about seeing the world for what it truly is and choosing to see only what you want to see.  Tom has so much wisdom to impart- and not just about zombies.  I highly recommend this book for teens and adult readers.  The messages and violence are just too much for younger readers. 

Rot & Ruin earns 5 Fairies for being a surprising book about zombies.

W W W Wednesdays

W... W... W... Wednesdays is a weekly feature at Should Be Reading. To play along you just have to answer three simple questions:

1. What Are You Currently Reading?
2. What Did You Recently Finish?
3. What Do You Think You'll Read Next?

Here's my WWW:

1. What Am I Currently Reading? Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
2. What Did I Recently Finish? Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (The Hardcover with the Metal junk cover but I like the Paperback Cover with the picture of Alek better! )
   
   
3. What Will I Be Reading Next? Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
   

Yay! My first weekly feature! A review for Leviathan is coming soon!