Waiting on Wednesday (47)

For those of you who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers devote a post to an upcoming book release they are particularly looking forward to reading.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

FLESH & BONE BY JONATHAN MABERRY

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-invested 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 good 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 zooms 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.

Despite being a little doubtful at first, I absolutely loved Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay. Jonathan Maberry wrote a zombie story that feels very real, and after everything that happened in Dust & Decay I can't wait to see where it goes next. If you haven't picked up this series yet, you definitely should.

Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry will be published September 11, 2012 by Simon & Schuster BFYR.

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Title: Dust & Decay (Rot & Ruin #2)

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: August 30, 2011

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Return to the Rot and Ruin...

Benny Imura and Nix Riley can't forget the jet they say fly over the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot and Ruin. Now--after months of rigorous training with Tom, Benny's zombie-hunter brother--Benny, Nix, Lilah the Lost Girl, and Chong are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future.

But from the start, everything goes wrong. They are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, and insane murderers, and are faced with the horrors of a rebuilt Gameland, where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all...could Charlie Pink-Eye still be alive?

When I finished reading Rot & Ruin, I knew I had to read Dust & Decay as soon as possible. And even that wasn't soon enough. I was so happy to have a copy to read and I dove right into it. If it was at all possible, Dust & Decay was even better than Rot & Ruin.

Months after coming back from their first trip in the Rot and Ruin, Benny and Nix are back in Mountainside to train to go back in the Ruin. Only this time they are leaving for good, hoping to find the jet they saw flying over their heads seven months ago. But as they set out to leave, nothing seems to go as planned and things get stranger the further into the Ruin they get. When things couldn't possibly be getting any worse, Chong disappears, Benny and Nix get separated from Tom and Lilah just seems to vanish. And then things go from bad to worse. Everyone comes to find that the horror that is Gameland has been rebuilt and is more terrible than ever. But that's only the beginning of all the horrific things Benny and his friends are going to be facing. And much like last time, zombies may not be the worst monsters out there.

One way to describe Dust & Decay is epic. But not epic in the traditional sense. I mean, for me, zombies and child killers aren't the first thing that come to mind when I think epic. But his book was epic in its own way and that made it that much better. Once again, the post-apocalyptic world Jonathan Maberry created was amazing and felt completely real. Though I do hope I don't come across any zombies any time soon no matter how real they felt in the books. Everything about Dust & Decay was absolutely amazing, so much so that I'm having trouble putting it all into words. And there was that ending. I saw it coming to a certain extent but it still completely took me by surprise. I could not help the tears and even now, just thinking about it makes me feel like tearing up all over again.

This time around I liked Benny right from the start because he was actually a decent person and not a first class jerk. And his relationship with Nix is just adorable. What is particularly amazing about their relationship is that it is so much more than a first love because of everything they've gone through together. I also really liked that we got to see more of Chong and Lilah. Sure, at times their actions were questionable at best, but they were still good people. And Tom was just as great as ever and he is easily my favorite character in the book. The way he is with Benny and his friends really says a lot about him. And once again he was always ready to help those he cared about and do just about anything for them. As for the rest, I didn't think it was possible but the villains were even more villainous this time around.

Dust & Decay was an amazing read. I didn't think it would be possible, but it was even better than Rot & Ruin. If you are looking for a zombie book, this is definitely the one you will want to read. 

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Title: Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin #1)

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: September 14, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Benny Imura couldn't hold a job, so he took to killing. In the zombie-infested world Benny has grown up in, teenagers must work once they turn fifteen--or they'll lose their food rations. Benny isn't interested in taking on the family business, but he reluctantly agrees to train as a zombie killer with his boring big brother, Tom. He expects a dull job, whacking zombies for cash. What he discovers is a vocation that will teach him what it really means to be human.

As his worldview is challenged again and again by the lessons he learns from Tom, Benny is forced to confront another horrifying reality: Sometimes the most terrible monsters are human.

While I had heard of Rot & Ruin, I didn't really know much about it. So when I received a copy of the sequel for review, I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about. This was also my first read about zombies and I am now hooked, the more zombies, the better!

Now that he has turned fifteen, Benny Imura has to find a job. If he doesn't, he will lose his food rations. After trying a number of jobs, Benny has no other choice but to become his brother Tom's apprentice. But Benny doesn't think as highly of Tom the great zombie killer as everyone else. Soon enough though, Benny discovers that there is more to what Tom does than just killing zombies. Benny finds himself in a world completely different from the one he thought he knew. Now out in the Rot and Ruin, Benny will have his entire view of the world changed and challenged over and over again. But worst of all, Benny will find out that zombies aren't the only monsters in the world. And more importantly, they might not be the most dangerous monsters out there.

A zombie story was something completely knew to me, and I absolutely loved it. It was a good thing it was a rainy day when I was reading the book, otherwise I would have felt guilty staying inside all day to read the book. The post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world Jonathan Maberry created in Rot & Ruin was not only amazing, but it also felt completely real to me. I could so easily picture everything that Tom and Benny were seeing and going through. The story was also crafted really well and I enjoyed every single page of it. I highly enjoyed discovering Jonathan Maberry his incredible writing and the fantastic world he created.

For a long time when I started reading the book, Benny really and truly annoyed me. It was his attitude towards everything, especially his brother, that annoyed me more than anything else. But as he spent more time in the Rot and Ruin and with his brother, he changed and I started to like him more and more. By the end of the book, Benny became someone I could really like. Tom, on the other hand, I liked from the beginning. You could really tell he was a genuinely good guy and would always be willing to help those who deserve it. Even when his brother was a complete jerk, he still cared and would have done just about anything for him. As for the villains in the book, I will only say one thing, they were truly and utterly villainous.

Rot & Ruin was an absolutely fantastic read. Everything about it was captivating and I couldn't help but always want more. I couldn't wait to dive into Dust & Decay once I finished reading it.