Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry

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.

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Thoughts...

This book, just like the first installment of Rot and Ruin, had me reading deep into the night. Benny, Nix, Tom, Chong and Lilia are characters I fell a little in love with and wanted desperately to know what happened to them. Many thanks to the awesome powers that be over at S&S for getting me a copy to review.

What I liked:

The story grabs you at the first page. Benny has grown up alot  and the snark just gets better and better. Gone is the whiny little kid brother that grudgingly followed Tom around in the first book. Benny is getting his chops and growing up. Leaving the town for the wilds of the Rot and Ruin has him scared to death, but if they want to find the mysterious plane, they have no choice.  As the story deepens, you get a really visceral view of just how depraved humanity can get under suvival circumnstances. Almost makes me glad I am a highly functioning zombie.

Jonathan Maberry has a great storyline here and he has brought out the darkest and most heroic parts of the human/zombie conflict.

What I Didn't.

Not a thing. Not gonna tell you  who dies, but someone in the travel party doesn't exactly make it out alive. That made me sad, but it will turn out to be an integral part of the next book. (There had better be a next book.)

Overall:

This book will be out at the end of August and I highly recommend it. If you haven't read Rot and Ruin, run out and get yourself a copy today. This book is great for boy or girl audiences. If you have someone who doesn't like to read, it will be a story to draw them in.

Yes, Dust and Decay  has 519 glorious pages, but they flew by so fast, I was in danger of losing a digit as the pages practically turned by themselves.