Review - Blackout by Mira Grant

Rise up while you can. -Georgia Mason

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.

I read Blackout by Mira Grant so quickly after reading Deadline that it's still a little fuzzy where one book ended and the other began. I'm still not 100% certain I didn't add some details from book 3 in my review for book 2. Oops.

I will say that I have never been so obsessed with a series of books in a LONG time. I literally could not put these down. I'd read at red lights while I was driving (ONLY at the red lights), took it to my daughter's gymnastics class to pass the hour and 15 minutes I had to wait, read until I fell asleep at night, took it to read while I waited for my kids to finish with Girl Scouts.

Fantastic series.

Shaun is still a little crazy, but his team is there for him. George v.2 is lucky to have people working in the ranks of the CDC to remove her and return her to her brother. Or... not return her I guess since technically she's a clone and she's never ACTUALLY met him before. But she remembers him. She remembers him because, more or less, George v.1's brain was scanned and implanted in to George v.2. She is 97% actual Georgia Mason.

So in this particular installment there are, as the blurb states, zombie bears, infected mosquitos, backstabbing doctors, hostage presidents, tropical storms, foxes, cats, monkeys (read it and you'll know what I mean)... It's a lot of action and not everyone comes out of it unscathed. Maggie is injured and Becks... well... she was a hero in the end.

Like I said before, I was totally obsessed with this series. It didn't matter that a lot of the information on the scientific aspect of things didn't really stick with me, I caught the general idea of what was being said during those parts. That's what mattered.

How often does your favorite character die, or does the main character/hero of the story die and you just WISH the author would write a new one and bring them back some how? How often do you watch movies and someone dies and you just sit there stunned with your mouth hanging open going "Well that can't possibly have actually happened.... they'll be back in another episode... RIGHT?!?" Well, a big round of applause to Mira Grant because she found a way to bring George back. Sure it may not sit well with some reviewers, but honestly... how many of you didn't at least say "Wow, that sucks" just once after she died in Feed? I think I admitted that I cried. Just a little. ::cough::

And how many of you weren't totally heartbroken that Shaun was just going completely off the deep end?

I didn't really know what to do when I finished this book. It's one of those stories that just kind of leaves you breathless after not giving you a chance to sit still the entire time you're reading it. The whole series I mean. Not just this book in particular.

Normally I would say I wish there were more books following Blackout. And in a way, I do. I would love to see more of this highly technological post-apocalyptic world. But I think that Shaun and George deserve some time off.

I would highly recommend this series. To ages 16 and above, if I haven't said it before as there are some mature situations (aside from all the dying and stuff). It's quite an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse story and one that I think is absolutely fantastic. Just once, the world doesn't completely fold in on itself and die. It ADVANCES! How cool is that? There are also some really interesting tidbits at the end of the stories that sort of add to them or perhaps help you to understand them better. So, if you've been on the fence about reading the Newsflesh Trilogy, hop off and go open it up!

Review - Deadline by Mira Grant

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

I admit it... I cried at the end of Feed by Mira Grant. The beginning, middle, and most of the end of Deadline did nothing to help the heartbreak leftover from the first book.

Poor Shaun is slowly going crazier and crazier by the day while his poor team watches. They do their best to ignore the fact that he talks to himself.... er... Georgia in his head, but he starts seeing her and feeling her too. Everyone's just waiting for him to take his final dive off the deep end. But he's got work to do first. The conspiracy that got George killed didn't end with Governor Tate. The good Doc blows holes right through that story when she shows up at his home. The more information is revealed the worse things look for Shaun and his team. But he wants to get to the bottom of George's death before he's either murdered himself or permanently goes off the deep end.

I felt so bad for Shaun. I've lost people, but never someone as close to me as George was to him. I don't know what that soul crushing feeling of emptiness and loss is like. Not in that way anyway. I find it interesting that the only thing keeping him relatively sane enough to do his job is the fact that he's going insane. Without his hallucinations of George I reckon he'd go insane but in a not so... user friendly way.

I understood the team's hesitation to embrace the Doc's presence but I kind of felt bad that they were so suspicious of her, almost even until the end. I think she deserved a little more credit than they gave her. Not that "hind sight is 20/20" kind. But legitimate credit for the fact that she faked her own death so that she could come and help Shaun figure out what happened to his sister and what was happening all over the United States to others with reservoir conditions.

I don't think I really got to know Alaric very well. I mean he was all over the story and I saw how he comforted Maggie and got mad at Shaun and panicked over his sister... but I don't feel like I got to see him as a person outside of those instances. Becks, I felt, I got to know a little bit better. Maybe because of her issues with Shaun, or maybe because I got to see more of how fierce she was and how loyal she was and in the end... how heroic, even if she had no other choice but to be that way.

It was kind of sad to see just how many people were willing to betray Shaun. Heck, how many people were willing to betray the government and the innocent people in it, whether for money or ratings or... just revenge. It almost mirrored real life, but I won't get in to politics here.

Maggie was a good edition to the story. A girl who could have been perfectly content to just stay home and fund things from far away, or do nothing at all. Instead of staying safe and sound and hidden away in her ninja secured house, she put her life on the line several times for the team. And I loved her poetry. It was fantastic.

There isn't much more that I can say except that the end of this book shot the end of book one in the face and then stomped on it. And I absolutely loved that.

If you haven't read Feed, you need to before reading Deadline. If you HAVE read Feed, then you HAVE to read Deadline. It's just not acceptable if you don't. I recommend it for older readers as there is some mature language and situations... but you're missing out if you don't give the series a chance. I promise.

Review - The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah -- can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

Ah. I finally got to The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan. I wasn't sure I'd want to read the book. I took a look at the first chapter at the end of book two and saw that it followed Annah, Elias's "sister" and was worried I wouldn't get any closure for the first two books in the series.

Always... I'm ALWAYS wrong. I'm really glad I picked this one up despite my misgivings.

It was nice to follow Annah for this one. Although I hate it when people take out their hangups about themselves on other people (Catcher included!). She finds her sister and Catcher (but she doesn't know it's him) and Elias fairly early in the story. She, Catcher, and Elias have to go and save Gabrigail (see what I did there?) from the Recruiters at the Sanctuary only to find out they're more or less bait/prisoners. Catcher is who the Recruiters want.... everyone else is either bait or collateral damage.

Ya know... I got a glimpse of just how horrible folks could be in books one and two... but in a completely different way than book three. You don't really like to think that the people still fighting to survive in this world are going to be the ones that you have to look out for the most. I always hate that. Even when people are all you have to rely on, they're still your worst enemies.

I think out of the three narrators in the series, Annah may have been my favorite. She was kind of selfish, but not in the way Mary and Gabrigail were. Hers was a more righteous emotion if you follow me (don't worry if you don't, I'm not sure I do either). There was no stupid love triangle FINALLY. Sure she thought she loved Elias, but she wasn't flip flopping back and forth between he and Catcher or any other male in the story. She was insightful and very protective over everyone she loved.

This has been my favorite of the series. Not just for the narrator but finally, as I said before, for the closure. Everything came together in one way or another by the end of the story fairly nicely. Nothing was really left open and no questions were left unanswered. And even though it is the same time frame as Gabrigail's story, the world Annah lives in couldn't be more different. It's sad. She never had a chance.

If you read the first two books I suggest you read the third. If for nothing more than to find out how it all ends. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I know that I wasn't.

Review - The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She's content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry's mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother's past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

I had a little issue with The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. The issue being that it disappeared on me for about a week and I couldn't figure out where it had gone so I couldn't read it. I actually went out and got another copy and then lo and behold, my original was found. So now I have 2 copies. Word.

This installment of the series finds us in the beach town of Vista following Gabry who we find out is Mary's daughter (Mary from The Forest of Hands and Teeth). It starts off with action as Gabry and her friends climb the barrier separating them from an area where Mudo (zombies) roam. Several of Gabry's friends are bitten (including the boy she likes) and Gabry runs back to the safety of the lighthouse she lives in with her mother, only to find out later on that the friends who WEREN'T infected by the Mudo are being sent to the Recruiters. Something that seems to be a fate worse than a death sentence to them.

Gabry goes out in search of Catcher, the boy she likes, but meets Elias who also seems to be searching for someone. He helps her out in more ways than one and she discovers something about her friend Catcher that no one else can ever know, or else they won't ever let him go. Gabry gets herself in a lot of trouble in this book and ends up having to flee Vista, but with several people in tow. She goes out in search of her mother, who left before her, and a world away from Vista where she can be safe with her friends instead of hunted by the Recruiters.

This book seemed younger than the first in the series. Gabry seemed younger, although according to Mary she was about the same age that Mary was in the first book. Maybe it's because she was kept in a more protected area and hadn't been forced to more or less mature beyond her years the way that her mother had.

The city they were living in didn't seem like a place I would want to be. I think I'd much rather prefer the village that Mary grew up in even though it wasn't as well protected as Vista. Both places had their drawbacks though I reckon.

Oh my gosh, the love triangle. How I hate them. Why oh why must EVERY novel with promise have a stupid love triangle? First Gabry is in love with Catcher. Then she forgets Catcher when Elias is around. Then she forgets Elias when Catcher is around. Then she.... well, you get the picture. I want to pull my hair out. I like the story but not EVERY BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF BOOKS now a days has to have some stupid Edward-Bella-Jacob-esque love issue. It really doesn't. It just... it doesn't.

Whew.

Ok, where was I?

If you read the first story, I suggest reading this one. They can almost be read as stand alones if you're not interesting in reading book one, but I would suggest that if you HAVEN'T read The Forest of Hands and Teeth you do so, just because it helps a bit. I enjoyed the first one MUCH more than I liked this one, but I wouldn't totally count it out. I do plan on seeing what happens in book three because I hate mysteries and unfinished stories.

Review - Feed by Mira Grant

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Fantastic story. I loved Feed by Mira Grant. Completely different than any zombie/post-apocalyptic story I've read and completely awesome.

Georgia, Shaun, and Buffy are journalists. Georgia is strictly news, Shaun is action and opinion, and Buffy is what they call a Fictional. She writes poems and stories and stays away from field work and the grim bits of reporting. The trio are picked to accompany a new presidential candidate along his campaign trail and end up with so much more than they bargained for. More than anyone bargained for.

This was definitely a unique story in that, while there were zombies and there was a plague that destroyed most of the world it seems, it did not cripple it. If anything, in the not so distant future, technology is more advanced and things are more or less running business as usual, just with zombies on the side. There are schools and blogs and newspapers, there are presidential elections and corrupt politicians and publicity stunts galore. There is also an actual disease behind the cause of the change. A disease that they tell you from the beginning that everyone has (animals included) but that stays dormant until death (with the exception of some situations).

I found myself jealous during most of the story of all of the high-tech gadgets that they had and their ability to record and display and just get their stories out to the world almost immediately. I was also jealous of George's relationship with her brother. I wish me and my brother could have been that close. Best friends.

Their parents made me angry though... this is where the publicity stunts come in. That seems to be all they wanted George and Shaun for. Publicity. After the death of their first child when a dog over 40 pounds "amplified" and bit him, you would have thought that being in the spotlight was the LAST thing they wanted. But no. They used it to their advantage. I guess if they hadn't, though, Shaun and George would not have had the opportunities that they did.

Buffy disappointed me though. Turning on her friends the way that she did. I wasn't sad when she bought the farm. Maybe I should have been, but I wasn't.

Another story where I hated the ending. Absolutely hated it. I cried, I won't lie. It was so sad. I picked up the second book to start reading it, not long after I finished the first one, but I haven't been able to bring myself to actually open it yet.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a different kind of zombie novel. Again, it's for an older crowd, but you won't be disappointed for giving it a go.

Review - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan reminds me a lot of the movie The Village. Which, weirdly enough, is one of my favorite movies. Add a few generations and some zombies and there you go.

The Sisterhood knows the truth but won't share with anyone, especially Mary. But Mary, who has lost her mother and her father to the Unconsecrated, is not content with just becoming the wife of someone she's not sure she loves and having children to repopulate the village. She's heard stories of the ocean and she dreams of seeing it one day. Unfortunately, she gets her wish. I say unfortunately because it came at the cost of 99% of the people she knew. Totally not her fault, but devastating all the same.

I liked this story. It was interesting and I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't like your normal zombie story. Like I said, it reminded me of The Village so that made it a little easier to picture the setting and the types of people that would have lived in that particular place.

I couldn't stand the Sisterhood. I hate liars and manipulators and they just rubbed me the wrong way immediately from the beginning. They knew about what the world was like before the Rising but kept it from everyone thinking that was the way to keep them safe. They all died anyway.

I didn't like the love triangle. I never do. I especially didn't like it because once Mary got the one she wanted, she treated him like dirt. Completely ignoring him and just wallowing in self pity. And yet, he still sacrificed himself for her. I also did not like that she was just dragging everyone along with her, seemingly to prove to them that she was right and they were not. And then after they'd been through so much together, she just LEAVES them.

The story made me angry. I'm not going to lie. But I reckon that's a good thing. I hated the ending though. I just couldn't believe it ended that way. So sad.

I'd recommend this story as a good read for any zombie fan though. It's different and it's interesting. I enjoyed it. Perhaps for a bit of the older crowd though. Definitely not a read for kiddos.

Review - Fire and Ash by Jonathan Maberry

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...

Sadly, Fire and Ash by Jonathan Maberry is the last in the Benny Imura series. I was so excited to read it that I could barely put it down. But then there was a part of me that was incredibly sad that the story was ending so I wanted to read it slowly. I couldn't. I tried, but I couldn't.

Benny, Lilah, Nix, Riot, and even Chong have come such a long way from the people they'd been at the beginning of the series. Well, Riot not so much the beginning. But you know what I mean.

Benny was an immature boy who idolized the wrong people, Chong was clueless, Nix was kind of just there... and Lilah, well, if you've read the story you know what Lilah was. In just the year since Benny started apprenticing with Tom they've all lost their childhood. They've all been through such unspeakable horrors that the part of them that should be dominant, the carefree-stupid-teenager part, is completely dead and gone. They won't ever get it back.

With the additions of Riot and Joe Ledger (along with his faithful, yet terrifying, companion Grimm), Benny and his crew seek to finally put an end to the war going on in the Ruin. The war between Sanctuary, the Reapers, the "Zoms", and whoever else comes along. It's time for it to just end. They think they've finally found a way to put a stop to it... but Brother Peter and Saint John have different ideas. Ideas that will completely rock their world, and not in a good way.

They've got to do it without Chong, though. Unfortunately Chong is more or less gone, kept in a cage in the bowels of Sanctuary, seemingly unable to remember who he is... what he is. Benny, Nix, and Lilah are desperate to find out if something can be done to save him, but no one will give them any answers.

I'm not gonna lie. I still miss Tom immensely. He was just such a calming force for the group and kind of their stability. Their rock. I think Benny was really able to fill his shoes the best he could this go around. I'm sure he would have made him proud. Joe Ledger made me mad for quite a while in this story. He was being just as evasive as the rest of the scientists and military personnel and irritating Benny to no end. I think he redeemed himself quite well, however. It was nice to see that Riot stuck around, not that she was really able to go anywhere. But I was glad she didn't try and separate herself from Benny and his friends.

The Night Church still makes my skin crawl. They're horrible and disgusting and just a complete and totally insane group of people. Stomach churning.

I will have to admit, one of my favorite parts was the allusion to The Walking Dead that was made later on in the book. I would tell you what it is, but.... Spoilers. You'll have to read to see it for yourself.

The book itself was incredibly long. I don't think that detracted from the story at all, though. On the contrary, it was an extremely exciting edition. Just when I thought things were over and done with, I realized there were still a hundred pages to go and so much more of the story to read. It was full of suspense and nailbiting battles. I highly recommend that you read it. Especially if you've read the others in the series. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you do.

It will be worth it for you to see Benny and Nix and how the realizations of who they have become change them for the better in Fire and Ash. It will be worth it to see all of the things that they find and the information that they learn from a completely unexpected source. And it will definitely be worth it to finally see how it all ends. Even though I hated to turn that last page and close the book... I was glad that I'd read the series. It was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Movie Review - World War Z

My fiance sucked up his hatred of all the movies I pick to watch in theaters and treated me to World War Z yesterday. He was NOT a fan of Warm Bodies and to be honest, neither was I. I was disappointed in that one but in World War Z... I was not.

It was fantastic.

And Jerry wasn't disappointed either. He didn't LOVE love it, but he said it was MUCH better than the other movies I've picked. It was exciting and suspenseful and in 3D it was just awesome. Brad Pitt did much better than I'd expected too. I don't really care for Brad Pitt anymore, but I think he was stellar in this movie.

I like how the Zombies weren't all shambling, slow moving... it was a lot creepier and scarier because their movements were jerky and weird and they were super fast. It was like they had the rabies virus on crack. And there's a great twist at the end of the movie that'll keep you on the edge of your seat.

Now, I've never read the book by Max Brooks, and I'm glad that I haven't. I have a tendency to rip movies to shreds if I watch them after I've read the book. It annoys the heck out of whoever I'm there with and totally ruins the movie for them.

I definitely recommend this for everyone. Ok, well, maybe everyone over the age of 13 or 14. Whether you've read the book or not it's a great movie to see. Fans of all different kinds of zombies will enjoy this one I think. Go check it out!

Review - Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living.

But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you.

And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.

This review was originally posted over on Bookish by Evie. I thought it was time I put it up here too!

Book three in the Benny Imura series definitely did not disappoint. Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry was an interesting story to read. With the addition of the Night Church with Saint John and Mother Rose to the discovery made by Benny and Nix that could possibly change the world as they know it, there wasn’t a lot of down time.

Benny, Nix, Chong, and Lilah are on their own now. The heart wrenching end to book two leaves them broken and grieving. Each in their own way. Benny’s way seems to scare him a bit and worry the others. The tension between him and Nix is incredibly thick and the relationship is strained to the point of faltering. But they hold on in any way they can.

The Night Church was an interesting addition. Listening to them speak (er… reading their conversations) made me incredibly uncomfortable and it all seemed SO over the top to me at first. But I realized that that was probably the point of it all. They were a weird cult with even weirder followers. And they were dangerous. Dangerous because they were following people with an evil agenda completely blindly and were willing to do whatever it took to stay in the good graces of Saint John and Mother Rose.

Captain Ledger was a good character. Kind of a light in the darkness of the Ruin. They’d run in to so much trouble already they really needed something to restore their faith in the world. Even if it was just a tiny bit. And I ended up really liking Riot. She was young, but she was strong. Reminded me a lot of Lilah.Their circumstances and the things that they’d been through were on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, but through those experiences they kind of both reached the same point if that makes sense.

There were some really unnerving twists in this story that change everything that Benny and Co. thought they knew about zombies and the ruin. To combat those though, they finally find answers to some of the questions they’ve been asking for a long time. Things make a lot more sense and I can’t wait to see where the new information takes the story.

Obviously if you’ve read the first two books in the series, you HAVE to read this one. It’s the kind of story that doesn’t give you enough time to really settle down. Just when you think you can breathe easy something else happens that puts you right back on the edge of your seat. I can’t wait for book four!

Stacking the Shelves #13

A big thank you to Tynga and crew over at Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves every week!

I got a book I've been excited about ever since I read book one. EVEN THOUGH the last book literally made me cry like a baby at the end.

Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living.

But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you.

And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.

I've already started reading it and just like the books before it, I don't want to put it down! What did you all get this week?

Covers Around the World - Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

So, I'm trying to get over my total shock and heartbreak after reading Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry. Found some interesting covers for Rot & Ruin, book 1 in the Benny Imura series.

English Language Edition

 

Danish Edition

 

UK Edition


French Edition

 

German Edition

 

Not too too many editions out yet, but the ones I found on Goodreads are pretty interesting so far. Some interesting title changes too. Which one was your favorite?

Review - Dust & 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.

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry is probably one of the most action packed and thrilling books I've read ever. I know I say this a lot, but I would LOVE to see it as a movie. Even knowing what's supposed to happen I would probably be close to falling off the edge of my seat for the ENTIRE movie.

Benny and Co. have been training for months with Tom. Training to become "Warrior Smart" as they call it. To learn how to fight and how to survive. Because soon Tom, Nix, Benny, and Lilah are going to be leaving Mountainside in search of the jet they'd seen pass overhead months and months ago. Even Chong is going to accompany them for part of the way. Until everything goes wrong. Everyone gets separated from everyone else and it would take a miracle for them all to end up back together in one piece.

There were some new characters introduced in this installment of the Benny Imura series. We meet Preacher Jack who seems a little creepy and too much like he's hiding something, Sally Two-Knives who is a fearsome bounty hunter who lost both of her children on first knight, and J-Dog and Dr. Skillz who try to keep the beach in their bounty hunting. We also stumble briefly across the Greenman who some believe is just a figment of their imagination.

I loved the new bounty hunters. The ones that were friends with Tom. Fiercely loyal to him the play an integral role in the quest to bring down an empire that has taken over the Ruin for far too long. Tom is still, by far, my favorite character. I hated Preacher Jack. Hated him. Him and White Bear and everyone associated with him. Horrible people, all of them. Proof that the most terrifying thing after a zombie apocalypse may not, in fact, be the zombies.

In all honesty, I almost could not force myself to put the book down. If I could have read it in my sleep with my eyes closed I would have. And I can count on one hand the number of books that have made me cry. This is one of them. And I don't just mean little tears here and there. I had to put the book down and take my glasses off for a minute before I could continue reading. And I cheated and read the description of the next book so I even KNEW what was going to happen. I still bawled like a baby. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

If you have read Rot & Ruin you HAVE to read Dust & Decay. If you haven't read book one, do it and then read book two. This is an absolute must read recommendation to EVERYONE.

Stacking the Shelves #10

A big thank you to Tynga and Co. over at Team Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves every week!

Being that I'm poor I'm lucky if I get one book every couple of weeks. :-P The book I got this week is one I've been DYING to grab ever since I finished the first in the series but it was NOWHERE to be found. So as soon as I finally saw a copy I had to snatch it right up.

Dust & 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.

What did you all get this week?

Movie Trailer - World War Z

I saw a trailer for another book turned movie when I went to the theater last Friday. This one looks really interesting and I'd love to read the book before I see the movie.

 

 

What do you all think? Who's read the book?

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

Late Christmas Swag

Again, I know I'm late. I KNOW. I can't help it.

But I got some pretty cool stuff for Christmas that I can share on here. Thanks to my wonderful fiance. Yes... I said it. FIANCE. That's what he is now.

 

Yeah... excuse how tired I look there please. I'd not been getting much sleep.

 

Where was I?

OH!

 

Christmas goodies.

 

Ready for this?

 

 A cuddly, plush, pull-apart zombie (no really, you can pull him apart, everything is velcroed together) and behind it a book of my own photographs!

A Dixon (as in Daryl.... a-thank you) Crossbows sweatshirt which is SOOOOO soft and comfy

A pretty pink zombie hunting nerf crossbow :-P (he got himself a real one which I'm a pretty good shot with)

The Zombie Survival Guide and a sardine tin with survival items in it

And zombie targets for my crossbow

 

 

Is he not the greatest? He's the ONLY person that got me ANYTHING book related. Guess he knows me better than anyone else. :-P Family included. But seriously, I loved everything I got. 

Review - The Caldecott Chronicles No. 2 by R.G. Bullet

The Earl of Rothshire has decided to leave Caldecott manor and find his son, Albert. His plans to ride his surviving horse, Willow, to London have derailed and the only other way to get there is to venture forth in a newfangled horseless carriage. Saffy insists on accompanying him, and together they make their way through the local villages encountering fights with undead and...the living.

I read The Caldecott Chronicles No. 1 by R.G. Bullet a few months ago (you can read my review here). I loved it. It was hilarious and a quick read and just completely fun to go through. Excerpt No. 2 did not disappoint.

Saffy and the Earl ("Thirty-two" as she calls him) have set off from Caldecott in search of 32's son. They've left behind Willow, who is not feeling 100% and instead are moving along in the Daimler, the "horseless carriage" with the crank on the back to get it running.

They trade with some friends (who also promise to give them a Border Collie puppy in a few weeks once it's been weaned) and secure care for Willow before heading on their way. Equipped with the Purdey and the Churchill they drive off, trying to pick through the overgrowth of hedges and the clutter of debris over the old roads.

They battle the undead (again, the word Zombies is NEVER mentioned) and even other survivors in their efforts to make it to Albert. Will they finally make it to him?

*

Book 2 was just as hilarious as book one.

IE.

"I won't elaborate the truth, my stomach is upset from all these eggs I've been scoffing. My system is baulking, and I have awful flatulence. Saffy only adds to my discomfort - every time I break wind she holds her nose, waves her hand and starts laughing. It's really insufferable behavior, and I fail to see the humour in it. All the years in the Gentleman's room and I don't think one of us laughed when anyone passed gas."

And:

"We studied them through the diamond pattern of the leaded window. The woman was scantily clad in only a bloodied apron. Her head drooped forward until it nearly touched her chest. Her hair was disheveled, and a large black cloud of flies followed her every move. For some reason she clung to a mop, which she dragged behind her in the grass. The other one was quite obviously male; he had no clothes on whatsoever. But he did wear a sizeable wound across his chest, and he plodded about pulling at it and moaning. Lord knows what they were up to before they turned green."

Ok, so maybe I have a weird sense of humor. But the book is full of stuff like this. Completely full of it. It's also, in my humble opinion, WAY more gory and grotesque than book one. Perhaps I'm just not remembering it right though. I think the fact that it was so much more descriptive and gross made it just that much better.

I also liked, again, how Zombies are never mentioned. They're called things like Mr. and Mrs. Beastly, the beast, the undead (which obviously isn't uncommon, but still), brutes, stumblers.... all kinds of different things.

I want to say that this one seemed shorter than the first, but that doesn't take away from the story in the least bit. It was full of action and suspense (and like I said, plenty of gore). It's full of light-hearted humor despite the deadly and dangerous circumstances. Saffy and Thirty-two definitely get a surprise there at the end that you'll find incredibly disturbing. But you'll have to read it to see if they come out alright in the end!

This book is a definite must read for Zombie fans. Fans of things like The Walking Dead or Humanity Scar. I highly recommend it!

Teaser Tuesday #37

Thank you to MizB of Should Be Reading for giving us Teaser Tuesday every week!
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from The Caldecott Chronicles No. 2 by R.G. Bullet.

Saffy didn't turn so much as an inch and smashed right into the lot of them. They scattered like bowling pins. She simply hadn't taken in a word I said. In hindsight, I think it was sheer bloody-mindedness on her part, rather than a lack of driving skill.

Can't wait to see ya'lls teasers!

In My Mailbox #29

Thanks to Kristi, The Story Siren, for hosting In My Mailbox every week.

This week I got a couple of books (I couldn't help it!).

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking (book one in the Hollows series) was free from Amazon.

"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

Who doesn't love flesh eating zombies? I mean really.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (book one in The Chemical Garden series) I got at Books - a - Million. I couldn't not go in anymore. And this was on SALE! Score.

At age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to be twenty, and males live to age twenty-five. While geneticists seek a miracle antidote, orphans roam the streets and polygamy abounds. After Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she is desperate to escape from her husband's strange world, which includes a sinister father-in-law in search of the antidote and a slew of sister wives who are not to be trusted. On the cusp of her seventeenth birthday, Rhine attempts to flee--but what she finds is a society spiraling into anarchy.

Can't wait to see what you all got this week!