Waiting on Wednesday: Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry (Benny Imura #4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we have the opportunity to let others know about books that we are eagerly waiting for.

Title: Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Release on: September 3rd, 2013

Benny Imura and his friends have made it to Sanctuary, they've found the jet and they've discovered that civilization is struggling to regain its foothold in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. Scientists are on the verge of finding a cure for the zombie plague. It should be time for celebration, but it's not. Benny's best friend, Chong, has been infected by an arrow dipped in the flesh of a zombie and he hovers between life and death and Dr McReady, a researcher who may have the critical formula for a cure, has gone missing. So Benny convinces Captain Ledger to mount a search and rescue mission to find the doctor and help Chong. But with the Reapers still pursuing their plan to turn all zombies into super-fast shock troops even if they can save Chong, can they save themselves? In the fourth book of the thrilling and emotionally charged Rot & Ruin series, the battle to end all battles is about to begin..

Why I want to read it:  Even though I still have to read book #3, I love this series.  It's the only zombie books that I've read and they are absolutely amazing! Hmm... this cover is less scary than the others.

What are you waiting for this week?

Review: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Mayberry (Benny Imura #1)

Title: Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Mayberry
Published:  December 15th 2010 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: Library
Grade rate: A+

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

My Review

I absolutely loved Rot and Ruin. This is the first zombie book that I read and I have to say that I found it very interesting.

 

The book takes place is a ‘post apocalyptic’ world where a suspected virus starts spreading like wildfire and turning everyone into flesh eating zombies. You can turn zombie by being bitten by one or if you die and your spine is not severed you can wake up as one. Since there was a lot of unknowns at the beginning of the epidemic, the government made a series of fatal decisions that more of less cornered the survivors into little fenced-in towns throughout (in this case) California. Can you imagine a life without electricity? Without TV, radio, movies, your cell phone? Internet, microwave, cars, traffic, travel, etc? Fourteen years after the terrible attack started adults live in fear and teenagers live questioning why they live the way they do.

Benny, like all teenagers must find a job at age fifteen and he becomes his brother Tom’s apprentice in the family business. The characters are well developed and most seem very mysterious, with hidden agendas and secret pasts.  It seems incredible to me how the whole population can give up so easily. 

 

Rot & Ruin is long, but it doesn’t seem like it,  it has to be this way in order to set up the scene and background information of life before and the contrast to the life after. The writing is flawless, easy to read, and addictive.

 

This is a trip of discovery for Benny. Discovery about the Rot and Ruin, about Tom, about family, about love and friendship, and that evil exists everywhere, human or zombie. I am looking forward to the sequel 'Dust & Decay' that comes out at the end of this month.

 

About the cover: It is freaky, isn't it? That big green eye makes you scared somehow, but don't be intimidated by it because Rot & Ruin is so good!