Review: Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

5 amazing warm & gooey chocolate chip cookies dipped in cold milk.

Cover Love:
Yes, a little bit disturbing but definitely eye catching.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
Because Rot & Ruin was one of the best books I read in 2010. This is the next in the series. Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:

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.

I Kept Reading Because:
Actually, I don't think I stopped once I started. These books are hard to put down!

Romance?: Yes, as much as there can be in the Rot & Ruin.

What I Liked (& Didn't):
A good book really makes you feel. And this one really, really made me feel. So many emotions! The first one made me feel, too, but this one, ugh. Ripped my heart out, put it back in then ripped it out again.

I love the nicknames of the bounty hunters in the Rot & Ruin. I especially loved Dr. Skillz and J-Dog.

I think that Jonathan Maberry must have paid attention to all the reviewers and bloggers that fell in love with Tom Imura because he was so heroic and so awesome. I fell in love with him all over again!

There are so many bad guys and so many evil people. And many people that weren't flat out bad, but weren't super good either. The villains are not the zoms!

This book left us with even more unanswered questions than the first one. You could call the first book a coming of age story for Benny, but I felt this one was more so. He really had to step up in so many ways to start his own Benny Imura legend. There are so many ways that this story can go.

It's funny to say that I love this world Jonathan Maberry created. It's not so much the world, but the people I love. Nix, Lilah, Benny, Chong, TOM, the other hunters we met along the way. I so look forward to the next book in this series!

To Sum Up: Rot & Ruin was one book I talked up to so many kids in my school. Yes it is a violent world Benny lives in, but I still felt the book was fine for a middle school library. I have several readers anxious for this one when we get back to school in the fall.

A word about Jonathan Maberry: he is an amazing presence online. While I was reading this he commented to me on GoodReads and we went back and forth a few times. He also commented on my review of Rot & Ruin. And he often interacts with fans on facebook and twitter. It just makes him more amazing and cool in my mind! I am a fan for life (and will be reading his Joe Ledger series soon, I swear).

Book requested and received from Venessa at Simon & Schuster! Thanks so much Venessa!