'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' that’s how I describe this story it all unfolds like a Wild West Battle.
The GOOD is Tom Imura and his band of warriors Benny, Nix, Lilath and Chong.
THE BAD is White Bear and other bad zombie hunters.
THE UGLY of course are the Zoms (zombies).

I have said it before Jonathan Maberry is really a masterful storyteller packing a punch across genres. Genre for genre a pound for pound a heavyweight contender for book awards. He has really knitted together a thrill ride o More...

The second installment of the Benny Imura series delivers action, mysteries, and oodles of character growth. Oh, and at least two thousand and fifty-nine zombies. And a pair of rad surfer dudes, for anyone over 30 who might happen to be reading.

Benny and his friends have returned to their fortified hometown, training with Benny's brother Tom in preparation for the journey east. A week before they are supposed to leave town forever, plans are interrupted by neighbor grandpa dying in his sleep. As More...

Dust & Decay picks up seven months after the events of Rot & Ruin. Our young heroes – Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong have been training with Benny’s big brother Tommy. They learn his “Warrior Smart” method of protecting themselves from the zombies because you never know when one of your friends or loved ones will become a zombie…

This is a brutal world. People live in fenced, gated, and well armed communities. Travel outside these towns requires planning, heavy carpet coats, and a disgustin More...

5 Stars

“There is no God,” whispered the old man. “There’s just the devil and me and the Rot and Ruin.”

I am a biased reviewer and a huge fan of Jonathan Maberry, so to give this book less than 5 stars would not be fair to the overall feelings I have for this book and for this series. Maberry is a master at creating larger than life tough as nails adult heroes like Joe Ledger and Malcolm Crow, but in this series, it is the young adults, the hardly more than children, that are the heroes. Clearly w More...

'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' that’s how I describe this story it all unfolds like a Wild West Battle.
The GOOD is Tom Imura and his band of warriors Benny, Nix, Lilath and Chong.
THE BAD is White Bear and other bad zombie hunters.
THE UGLY of course are the Zoms (zombies).
I have said it before Jonathan Maberry is really a masterful storyteller packing a punch across genres. Genre for genre a pound for pound a heavyweight contender for book awards. He has really knitted together a thrill ride o More...

MABERRY, YOU BASTARD!!! I knew you would do this to me!! ::sobbity sob::

Review to follow when anger and choking tears subside.

In the first book Rot & Ruin, Maberry spends a lot of time putting us into the world as it exists almost 15 years after a zombie apocalypse. We need to know about how things are now, how people live and how they relate to one another. This is Benny's world. Maberry also spends a lot of time and care developing a cast of characters he wants us to fall in love with befo More...

Steadily trying to catch up on all my reviews. La di da! So, sorry this review has taken me like a week or however long it's been. I don't keep track of time during the summer, sooo ... Whatever. *Checks* Oh, I finished this on August 4th. And now it's August 12th. Okay, so a little more than a week. Not that anyone cares. MOVING ON.

I'll keep this pretty brief because 1) I have a bunch of reviews left to write, and 2) I've already talked a lot about why I love these books in my review of the fir More...

Likes:

It's certainly very tough to beat out a book like Rot & Ruin. It was an amazing zombie story and in my eyes, it could not be touched by anyone else in the YA Zombie genre. So, when I picked up Dust & Decay, the 2nd book in the series, I was expecting a lot more of the same great story that Jonathan Maberry created in the first book. Man, was I wrong. This book was even better. I will go as far as to say Jonathan Maberry is the Bob Ross of the YA zombie genre. Yes, he has painted th More...

I wasn't really that surprised by some of the events in this book, including the ending, but that's partly because I'd heard hints from other readers. I can safely say that I'm completely hooked at this point and can't wait until book three comes out this fall.

Another thing I really like about this series (forgot I'd meant to mention it) are the questions brought up (many in Nix's journal) about why and how zombies are. For example, how can they see with dead eyes? Or can they? Do they feel pai More...

For 7 months Tom has been training Benny, Lilah, Nix, and Chong how to survive in the Rot & Ruin. Preparing them for their trek east in search of the jet they all saw fly over them months before. Nix cannot wait to leave all of her memories behind. Lilah cannot wait to feel freedom outside of the fences. Chong is only going for an overnight camping trip to further his training and of course to be with Lilah for a little while longer.

Once in the Rot & Ruin though things do not go the way More...

Reviewed by Karin Librarian for TeensReadToo.com

Benny made it back from the Rot & Ruin only to start training with his brother, Tom, to leave again. After seeing the airplane fly over, Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Tom have been anxious to find out where it was going. Could there be civilization beyond the Rot & Ruin?

Every day, Tom trains Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong. He prepares them to fight the Zoms they are sure to encounter on their long trek across the dangerous country.

Everyone has diffe More...

The sequel to "Rot & Ruin" continues the story does not disappoint. A lot has changed for Benny and his friends in the months since they saw the jet in the sky, and they are more mature, stronger, tougher, and more determined than ever to change the way things are. The story touches on themes of loyalty, obligation, and courage, and it's pure action from beginning to end. You won't be able to put it down! There is heartbreak and devastation, but there is also hope, and now I begin the long w More...

Dust & Decay revisits Tom and Benny's gang who are setting out in the great Rot & Ruin hoping to find a better future but are soon faced with many challenges.

Urh. I'm pissed. My heart is just breaking. I'm in this turmoil. I love yet hate this book. Okay, on with this review.

Dust & Decay was written splendidly. I loved the different POV of certain characters this allowed room for further character development. I loved the introduction of more characters other than the main five? si More...

"Dust and Decay" by Jonathan Maberry is a action packed zombie book. The main characters, Benny Imura and his girlfriend Nix, live in a world filled with zombies and have no working electricity. But when they see a plane flying into the east, Benny and Nix beg Tom Imura, Benny's brother, to leave the town of mountainside with him and find the plane. With them they also bring: Benny's friend Chong and and the Lost girl whom Nix and Benny had met the year before in the Rot and Ruin. When the fina More...

Originally posted @ Book Whales

Oh look after a whole month of absence here I am again making a review. Lets start this comeback with the review of the second installment of Benny Imura Series.
In this book Legends are made. Just like in my other reviews, I will give my honest review without giving out details and spoilers.

So to start of the story, it was several months after the events of the first book. So now we have a fair grasp of the characters and the overall atmosphere the world they are l More...

Maberry does it again. Many second books suffer from "Second-Book Syndrome" and provide only filler for the storyline. Expecting that from this book, especially considering the plot, I was taken off guard by how fulfilling it was. The book could stand on its own and gives the reader an exciting ride through the Rot & Ruin. Fear and heartache are constant reminders for Benny and the reader that this world is no bed of roses.

The book picks up just shortly after Rot & Ruin's ending. Benny i More...

Reviewed by Heather

It has been six months since the battle with Charlie Pink-Eye in the Rot and Ruin and six months since Benny and Nix saw the large jet in the sky over the forest. In those six months, Benny and Nix, along with their friends Lilah and Chong, have been training with Tom.

They’ve been training for their trip into the Rot and Ruin to head east in search of the large jet. They know it’s not going to be an easy trip, but they are ready to leave Mountainside behind, probably for forev More...

I was really excited where Rot & Ruin left off, and where it seemed the second book was going to be heading towards, but Dust & Decay ended up being disappointing. It had a great premise that was already established and then chose to ignore that and remain static. Without revealing too much, the story in Dust & Decay was (from what Maberry seemed to be doing) supposed to be taken away from the town and surrounding area in the previous book, but instead the story has the characters st More...

First review of Giving me the Creeps October, so I had to go Zombies.
In my Zombies or bust faze last year (no jokes, I was really into zombies), I picked up Jonathan Maberry's debut YA novel Rot and Ruin and fell in love. So it is now the far distant future, and Dust and Decay has passed through my hot little hands to be sucked up by my eyeballs and, dare I say it? Loved even more than Rot and Ruin.

Benny Imura has it all it would seem. The hero brother who's training him to be as deadly with a More...

Dust and Decay may be the only book I've ever read that, immediately after finishing it, I got on the computer and tried to email thanks and congratulations to the author. The sequel to Rot and Ruin, Dust and Decay rivals World War Z as the best zombie novel I've ever read.

Much like the first novel, Dust and Decay concerns Gameland, an arena in which kidnapped children are forced to battle the undead before gambling spectators. The well-developed characters from the first book return with even g More...

I can't help but feel insulted by this book. I know it is young adult and I should probably not think too much about it since it is meant for a younger brain but I can't help it. This was just the ending of the first book, not a different one. I feel that Maberry took a cheap shot here or a cop out and maybe for the sake of drawing out the series longer to make more money.

I was expecting some new adventures not going back to Gameland to rescue some pesky teenager again. I didn't believe that Tom More...

I know I promised to write a less gushy review for Book 1, but I got lazy. Doesn't matter anyway - the novelty of a zombie book has worn off (Benny Imura being my first zombie-themed fiction), and I wish I could say I enjoyed this book as much, but meh, not really. I don't dislike it, but Book 1 was better written, IMO.

Maberry knows how to write a brotherly relationship. He knows it very well. He does not, unfortunately, know how to handle romances. There's something about Benny and Nix that's o More...

This is the forth Mayberry book I've read, and he never fails to stagger me with his use and knowledge of the English language.

I am not a fan of "zombie" books, but after meeting Mayberry at the Backspace Writer's Conference, I had to give one of his a try, and I was immediately hooked.

In Dust and Decay, he continues Benny's story with twists and turns that are beautifully written. I can feel's Benny's struggle between the kid his is and the man he knows he is becoming. Through friendship and lo More...

Benny and Nix are just about ready to leave with Tom and Lilah to search for the source of the plane they saw at the end of the last novel. However, Benny isn't certain that he really wants to go, Chong definitely doesn't want to see Lilah go, Morgie doesn't want anyone to go, and mysterious forces are gathering to prevent any of them from leaving. Zombies are still zombies; it's the people who are becoming more dangerous. In order to start a journey, you have to be able to leave your home behin More...

After being so hyped up on ROT & RUIN, of course I rushed to devour DUST & DECAY like a good zombie who needed a fresh new brain. Was it as tasty as its predecessor? Let me tell you, dear Readers, this sequel was slicker and smarter, but it was simply an extra side of appetizer before the main course begins.

THE GOOD BITS

{The Imura brothers in action.} Now that Tom and Benny have fully commited themselves to the “family business” and plan to set out into the Ruin in search of answers, the More...

At the end of Rot & Ruin, the gang sees a jet in the sky that gives them...hope. Hope outside of the ignorance in the town they live in. Hope outside of the ugliness in the Rot and Ruin. Hope that there's better out there and others working to take back their country.

This desire drives the gang in Dust & Decay to leave mountainside.

It was an okay read. It's probably more than okay for the audience it's intended for. It wasn't boring or anything. There's plenty of action. I don't know. R More...

A few months after seeing the jet, Tom Imura, his brother Benny, Nix Riley, and Lilah, the Lost Girl are ready to head out into the Ruin to try to find if civilization has managed to survive anywhere. Benny's best friend, Lou Chong, comes along for the first night as a camp-out experience. Immediately, things begin to go wrong. Everyone who matters to Chong seems to think it is his fault so he runs away. The group must split up out of necessity. Chong, however, has the bad luck to run into two t More...

First review of Giving me the Creeps October, so I had to go Zombies.
In my Zombies or bust faze last year (no jokes, I was really into zombies), I picked up Jonathan Maberry's debut YA novel Rot and Ruin and fell in love. So it is now the far distant future, and Dust and Decay has passed through my hot little hands to be sucked up by my eyeballs and, dare I say it? Loved even more than Rot and Ruin.

Benny Imura has it all it would seem. The hero brother who's training him to be as deadly with a More...