Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry


I was having a conversation today about how you know you love the first book of a series.  An easy way to tell is that if you are only catching on to the series late in the game, you pick up the second book right away!
Jonathan Maberry, man, I like, love you, sniff.  I'm really into his books.  Why?  They've got it all!  So much adventure, an epic love story, the baddest of bad guys (and his don't necessarily stay dead, either!) and enough twists that keep you reading until dawn.  And I don't say that too often.  Please see evidence below.  This story is about the Imura brothers (& co.) adventure east.  What's east?  We don't know.  It could be the jet that was sighted during the raid on Charlie Pink-Eye's camp.  It could be fewer zombie.  It could be a cure.  It's definitely the ocean (eventually, anyway).  The group has decided to ditch Mountainside in pursuit of greener pastures.  What they don't realize is that there is a bounty on THEIR heads this time.  (Ahhh, no wonder those bad guys keep popping up everywhere!).  I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out.  There are just so many places this story could go.  Please pick it up after you read Rot & Ruin.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry


Lately, all I want to do is read about zombies.  The adventures are epic, the love stories are intense and the immediacy is palpable.  Since I have been reading a lot of zombie books (I'm going to have to start catching up with my reviews), I tend to compare them with one another.  Risky business if you are a teen fiction zombie writer.
Rot & Ruin is the story of Benny Imura, a 15 year old boy who better find a job quick or else his food rations are going to be cut in half.  Food usually motivates most 15 year old boys, and Benny is no exception.  He checks out several jobs at the beginning of the story, inside the protected fences of Mountainside.   This town is a small community that has no zombies in it.  Everywhere outside of the fence-- zombies!  Benny hates zombies.  So does his brother, Tom.  Or does he?  Benny decides to take  up the family business and apprentice as a bounty hunter.  The only problem is that he has to learn under the annoying watch of his older, cowardly brother.  Benny finds out quickly that the life of a zombie hunter isn't as glorified as he once thought it was.  This book has some great humour in it, especially the relationship between Benny and his friends Chong, Morgie and Nix.  It also has an interesting love story woven in.  And the adventure, oh the adventure!  Can you tell I liked this book?  It's one of my very favourite zombie stories and I think you should read it too.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Partials by Dan Wells


I borrowed this advanced reader's copy from a friend.  She said, "YOU HAVE TO READ THIS."  So I did.  I don't always do what I'm told, but when it comes to books, I usually listen.  The heroine of this book, Kira Walker, is an interesting girl.  I've been noticing a lot lately with the post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction I've been reading that heroines need some help.  Kira is no exception.  Let me explain.
In Partials, Kira has been working in the delivery ward as a nurse at the hospital.  She delivers babies only to watch them die because of the RM virus, a disease brought on by the Partials.  The Partials are robots that look like humans that the government created to fight wars for humans.  Except one day they turned on their creators and released a deadly virus that wiped out most of the population.  The survivors banded together and created a leftover civilization as best as they could.  They imposed rules on the survivors.  One of the rules is that women over 18 must get pregnant and give birth as often as possible. The babies are studied and data recorded.  But every single one of them dies.  When Kira's sister gets pregnant, Kira decides that enough is enough and she vows to save the baby's life.  She leaves the safety of the compound she lives in and goes on a wild and dangerous adventure.  The story has romance, mystery, action and the promise of an interesting story that follows this one.
My only problem with this book was the fact that once again, a female lead is underestimated by herself and the others around her and she spends most of the book figuring out that she is smart enough and brave enough to do what must be done.  It's part of her character evolution in the book, but I'm getting tired of it!
All in all, a great read and a book I will definitely be recommending to others!