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277 reviews for:

Dust & Decay

Jonathan Maberry

4.19 AVERAGE


4.5 Stars

“Courage is tricky, oily. Easy to drop, easy to misplace."
"I thought that if you had courage you always had it.". . .
"Lilah, nothing is always there. Not courage, not joy, not hate or hope or anything else. We find courage, lose it, sometimes misplace it for years, and sometimes live in its grace for a while.”


That seems to be the theme of this book. At some point and time everyone is human, loses their resolve and needs a little help to find the courage to move forward and to fight.

Dust and Decay starts seven months after the end of the Rot and Ruin. Benny and Nix have been training with Tom to be ready after the winter to start the trek east to find the plane. Chong has been training to but that is more about Lilah then anything else. Lilah has been living with the Chong family and well, Chong is smitten but she is totally oblivious to his feelings and will be leaving with Tom, Benny and Nix. But after they leave town things go horribly wrong.

Chong has tagged along for the first day for some real Rot and Ruin experience and to spend some last moments with Lilah but before they know it they run into unexpected dangers and while Chong is book smart he is Ruin stupid and makes all the wrong choices.

This book was some non-stop adventure and action once our group leaves for the Rot and Ruin. With Tom leaving the area someone is trying to take up all the territory and make a name for themselves. Lawlessness abounds and the Zoms are starting to do strange things, they are congregating and moving in large packs at faster speeds. There are rumors of a new Gameland and even worse villains than Charley Piny-Eye. With everything trying to kill them there is no way there won’t be any casualties.

Nix, I love her she is so strong and determined even though she is terrified and dealing with all the loses she undertook in the first book. She is still haunted by the pain of Charlie Pink-Eye and the death of her mother. I love her and Benny’s fierce devotion to protecting each other. It is not a touchy, feely, squishy kind of love but it is obvious that it is love none the less.

Chong, well he makes plenty of mistakes…so so many mistakes. Chong, through it all searches for some redemption and a way to make up for the mistakes he has made. I admire the devotion of everyone in the group to each other. They are all willing to stand up to any obstacle and protect one another out of love and not fear or hate.

Lilah has been alone for so long with no one and nothing to care for or about. What happens to our fearless lost Girl when she is given friends and a make shift family. It was a very good portrayal of the conflict and new emotions that someone might have to go through when they begin to be a part of a social group after so long in isolation.

…….And Tom. I don’t know where to start on this, my feeling for him are everywhere after reading this. Tom is my favorite character of the book. He is the ultimate hero, who doesn’t know he is a hero. He is ever leading by example and asks nothing for himself. He is a good brother, a great friend and all his actions are rule by a love of those around him.
“Generosity could be as contagious as the zombie plague as long as enough people were willing to be carriers.”

It seems like there is still a lot in store for all the characters as they finally push farther east to find what became of the rest of civilization. I can’t wait to see where the next installment of the series goes.

Amazing!! One of the best books I've read in 2011. I still can't believe it's over or isn't? Beyond any expectations!

Check out my other book reviews at my blog; The Title Page

Rating: 2.5

Jonathan Maberry is a conundrum. He has an amazing imagination, and beautiful writing style, but he has a tendancy to draw his ideas out too long. Stretch them too thin. He seems like he is a very tenacious person.

After reading Rot & Ruin, I was beyond excited to dive into the rest of the series. I immediately purchased the next two novels.

How I wish I hadn't.

By the time I was halfway through Dust and Decay, I no longer held any interest in the collection. Where the first novel was thrilling and galvanizing, the second lacked any excitement. The only word I could attach to this novel is droning.

********
Dust and Decay follows Benny and his friends on their trip to find the mysterious jumbo jet they witnessed doing a fly-by in the previous novel. They train with Tom for months, and (after a harrowing incident in their town) are finally ready to set out.
As soon as they leave the town, they run into trouble in the form of roaving gangs run by White Bear, none other than
SpoilerCharlie Pink-eye's elder brother
. They get separated, and end up at Gameland, the notorious zombie-pit arcade that was heavily mentioned in the first novel. A war ensues, and we see the fate of Gameland, as well as Benny, Nix, Tom, Chong, and Lilah.
********

Issue #1: This book was so incredibly slow. It takes until we are 20% into it for them to leave the town. The last seven months of their training was summed up in a couple of chapters with a few choice flashbacks later on. It feels like we are reading a newspaper article on what Obama had for breakfast yesterday. It was hard to push through because the characters are so bland. But we'll get to that in a bit.


Issue #2:As soon as they leave, they run into a
SpoilerRhinocerous
. Okay, that is a bit of a stretch, even in California.

I have studied animals for almost my entire life, and I want to point out that zoo's are perfectly conditioned to habitat each specific animal. Even if 4 zoos in a specific area had suddenly released all of their animals into the wild at the beginning of the apocalypse, most (if not all) of said animals would perish within years. Animals are adaptable, yes, but that is over generations. I wouldn't expect a specific
Spoilerrhinocerous
to survive very long in the California wasteland, much less be able to find a compatible male to mate with. This is just not reasonable.


Issue #3: Once they are in the Rot and Ruin, Chong (who has always been a very smart person) becomes a complete moron. He runs off in the wrong direction and it messes everything up somehow. The other characters spend the rest of the novel blaming him for everything that happened with the
Spoiler rhinoceros
. As if he could have predicted where zombies were lying, and where the animal planned to go. This seemed unfair to me, like Maberry was looking for a way to make Chong seem worthless in Lilah's eyes.


Issue #4: Tom, the Mary-Sue. As always, Tom saves the day. Tom, who is perfect in every way, can take down 3 giant bounty hunters in the blink of an eye, who never seems to get a scratch on him.
SpoilerWho dies from a gunshot wound shot from far away, oh the irony.

It's like in Harry Potter, how everyone spent so long running from Voldemort, and no one thought to put a bullet through his head.



Issue #5 (and then I'll shut up): All of the characters are completely different people than they were in the first book. Yeah, I know they went through so much with Charlie Pink-Eye, blah, blah, blah, but there isn't even a shred of the people we came to know and love in Rot and Ruin.

Benny used to be fun loving, funny, and playful, yet serious at times. Now he has no wit, he's not interesting, he is just a boy who waves a wooden sword around.

Nix is a hollow shell of a person. There is nothing in the novel to even hint that she ever had feelings for Benny, in the beginning of the novel, I wasn't even sure they were still together. She's cold-hearted, and not likeable at all to the reader. Where I was rooting for her in the last novel, I just kind of wished she would get eaten by zombies in this one.

Chong was supposed to be so super smart (I mean, come on, he's asian, of course he's smart -.- stereotype much?) and now he's a blundering idiot. He runs away for no reason other than the girl who he has a super-mega crush on scorned him. Fooey.

Lilah was so mysterious and dark and weird. I loved her character, having been cut off from other human life for so long, she was so interesting. Now, all of a sudden, she is completely conditioned to living with people. It is mentioned how she never had anyone to care about before, but there is nothing more than that. She talks, she has comprehendible sentences, and feelings. It's so not right.

Tom is the only one of the original cast who I actually still like. He's the only one with personality and, even though he's a huge Mary-Sue, he's the only one remotely interesting.

SpoilerIf Tom was still alive, I would consider finishing the series for my own interest, but now the only reason I'll read the next book is because I've already paid for it.


*********

Now, I'm not saying this was a bad book, it just wasn't on par with any of Maberry's previous work that I've read. If you want to find out more about the jet, don't bother. There's nothing about it in this novel.


I recommend this book for: People who can't resist continuing the series.
My advice: Buyer beware: this novel kind of ruined the series for me.
Favorite character: Tom
Least favorite character: Benny and Nix

It's a world I don't want to live in but I'm so attached to the characters. A great story! I really recommend this series.
adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Tom was the love of my life and I cannot believe this happened

This sequel fulfilled everything that was set into motion in the firs book. Loved it!

Wow, what a book! I could barely put this down, it is so intense and action packed. This is the second installment of the Benny Imura series, the first being Rot & Ruin. These are young adult thriller zombie books with a decidedly human twist.

Dust & Decay sees Benny Imura, his brother Tom, and their friends Nix, Chong and Lilah sevens month after destroying Gameland. They have trained and are leaving the safety of town to go after the airplane they saw fly past, and to go after a different life.

This book really drew me in, right from the first lines, and each chapter had me wanting to read the next one. Maberry's writing is often fast and abrupt, which adds to the pace of the book. I loved how the humour, tension, action and horror mixed with the human story and how invested we become in the characters. There were also some great twists and turns. I don't want to give anything away, but I even shed a few tears at the end, I was so wrapped up in the story. The addition of a page from Nix's journal here and there was a good one as it answered a lot of the questions about the back story and asked a lot of the same questions I had about the zombies and the Rot & Ruin.

I enjoyed how the characters developed in this story, particularly Benny and Chong. Benny has really matured. I loved his ambivalence about going out into the Rot & Ruin as this seemed authentic and human. It would be difficult for most people to leave the world they know and its safety for the danger and uncertainty of a new life, especially a dangerous one. However, he has made his decision, and once he is out in the Rot & Ruin, his training and level headedness shows.

Chong was also great and showed real growth. He seems authentic in his desire to go out into the Rot & Ruin, to have the adventure, but only for one day. He doesn't take the situation completely seriously, just a I could see many teens doing. The consequences of his actions put him in a position to show what he is really made of and examine himself, which he does. It is sad to see him lose his last shred of innocence, especially because I felt for him.

There are also great female characters in this book in Nix and Lilah. They are strong and can fend for themselves, something missing in many books where the girls have to be saved all of the time or are only accidentally strong. Nix is smart and hurting from the events of the first book, but she can certainly hold her own. Lilah is all brawn and "street smart" but learns more about her human side as the book goes on.

What I especially love about this series is how Maberry explores what it means to be human. Dust & Decay explores various themes along these lines: what it is to really live - is it OK to bury your head in the sand and exist and be safe, or is it better to take risks and be free and live?; the nature of evil - how intention and free will is needed to be evil; and how people act without laws - will evil and fear dominate with lawlessness, do we need a moral compass to tell us how to behave?

Something I haven't mentioned yet are the zombies. Yes, this is definitely a zombie book and there are lots of zombies and graphically violent scenes. There is also an underlying level of violence to the whole book, between the zombies and the bounty hunters. I am not normally one for violent books, but the scenes do fit the story and do not seem out of place or gratuitous.

I loved this book and would easily recommend it to those who like zombie or action and adventure books or are OK with violent scenes. There are great male and female characters in this book, which should appeal to both boys and girls. I can see the length being initially off putting for some kids, but if they can get into it, the fast pace should carry them along. My own son who is 12 loved Rot & Ruin and has made me promise to buy him a print copy of Dust & Decay when it comes out at the end of August. Personally, I can't wait to see what is next for Benny and his friends in the next book.

*Thank you to Simon & Schuster Galley Grab for an egalley of this book.

Jonathan keeps the momentum going in this sequel to Rot and Ruin.
Benny steps up toward his journey to manhood under the direction of his
legendary brother and warrior, Tom.

Characters are strongly developed, action is continuous and Mayberry keeps
the unique perspective of understanding that zombies were once people who
are simply sick.

A new antagonist rises - actually, there are two who are revealed in a surprise
toward the end of this fast-forward adventure/horror novel.
Well done, Mr. Mayberry!

I love this series! The characters are well-developed and they make you want to cheer for them as you turn each page. The evil is pure evil and the zoms are pawns in this very human story. Can't wait for the next book!

I have to admit that Rot & Ruin was one of my favorite books last year. It tore at my heart. It was a coming of age novel. In it we meet Benny who learns some hard truths about his world. He learns that what he thought he knew was not in fact that truth. His heroes were actually the villains and his brother who he thought was weak was actually the strongest man around. He also learned that zombies are not the evil in this world--man is. Zombies just have a disease and really can't control what they do. Man chooses to do the evil he does and therefore should be more feared.

Dust & Decay picks up a few months after the events of Rot & Ruin and we find our band of heroes stronger and ready to set out into the Rot & Ruin to find the jet they saw at the end of the first book. All the characters have grown up in this book: Benny is a lot more mature and accepting of who he is in this world although he does still act like a 15 year old boy palling around with his friends Chong and Morgie at times. Lilah is still the mysteries Lost Girl. Tom is strong and silent, but trying to train the kids and get them ready for the journey ahead but he is ready to leave the protection of the town once and for all. And Nix is ready to leave the town that saw her mother murdered and she struggles with her feelings for Benny.

Their journey is nothing if not disaster upon disaster from the beginning. Maberry can write a wonderful action sequence. And we meet some wonderful and creepy characters along the way. Pretty much everyone from the Zombie Cards shows up for the final battle and it is a doozy. Gameland is back as are more of the Matheis family. If there is one thing I have an issue with in this book it is the repeat of the Gameland/Matheis storyline. It does seem like we did that in Rot & Ruin. I know it is a little different in this book, but it kind of seems like a copout to repeat it hear. I get why it was; the law had to come down and there had to be a show of force, but it still seemed like a repeated plot line from a really gifted author who could have been very original.

And Maberry is very original. He takes something like zombies and really makes it a question of good vs evil. Zombies are only a small part of the equation and really they are just a constant on the equation. Men are really the variables of good and evil on that equation. And Maberry skillfully weaves a tale that makes us think about good and evil, heaven and hell, purgatory and limbo, religion and religious zealots, how to learn when to do what is right.

I can't wait to see what the rest of this series brings. We have two more books to look forward to I figure Rot & Ruin was the freshman sprint out of the box, Dust & Decay was a bit of a sophomore slump but the next two should pick up as they head towards senior graduation.