'Dust & Decay' (Rot & Ruin) by Jonathan Maberry

Official Summary:
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.

Review:
I don't remember how I discovered Jonathan Maberry but it was probably back in the old MBTA commute days where every few weeks an Amazon bookstore day was needed to restock the queue. The entire ride up into work (never back because getting a seat heading out of the Park Street station during rush hour is near impossible) would be spent perusing Amazon's reading recommendations and downloading the next months title selections. That kind of convenience is the big reason I'm still remise to give up my Kindle with 3G even though the model with wifi would work just fine at home... wherever I am, I can always shop for books.

Anyway, I digress.

On that fateful day, sometime in late 2011, the first Maberry title I would ever read, Dead of Night landed on my Kindle by way of WhisperNet, and it was awesome. So awesome in fact that it not only spurred a zombie titles influx on the reading list (World War Z, Married With Zombies & Warm Bodies to name a few), but Jonathan Maberry made his way onto my author watch lists. 

Being on my author watch list is a BIG DEAL because being on that list means that I'll probably read everything you ever publish, including your pre-teen novels like the Rot and Ruin books, of which the second title is Dust & Decay, the supposed focus of this other chatter

What I'm trying to say is that Jonathan Maberry is a great writer. Not only because all of his novels are interesting and touching even when the backdrop is filled with flesh eating monsters, but because it is exceptionally tailored to his audience.  If I were twelve this series of books would some of the best stuff out there. Unfortunately, I'm in my thirties and the writing and story lines in this series are just too simplistic.

The Bottom Line: While I love Maberry's more mature titles and don't plan on letting them fall off my radar anytime soon, the language and plot lines explored in the Rot & Ruin series are much better suited for younger readers. As such, I'm still giving this title the green light it deserves, just be aware that if you're looking for a more graphic zombie experience than I'd say check out his Joe Ledger series or Dead of Night and pass this title onto the nearest horror or dystopia loving tween in your life. I think they'd love it.

'Gods of Men' (Children of the Apocalypse) by Joseph Pignataro

Before I make an ass out of myself with this review I feel like I should admit two things:

1. This is the first graphic novel I've ever picked up. Yes. For reals.
2. I'm not even capable of drawing a convincing stick figure so please take any 'style' critiques with a heaping cup of salt.

Phew - okay... glad we got that out of the way so now I can continue without feeling too much guilt.

So what did I think of 'Gods of Men' by Joseph Pignataro? Well that's easy; it was terrible. But while I'm at it let's take a second and break that down.

• Art style: Looked like it was done by someone suffering from the shakes and drawing with their off hand.
• Story line: What story line? Seriously - this thing had about one thing happen over the entirety of the first installment which to me seemed a bit odd if only because the blurb and accompanying reviews made it seem like something actually, oh... I dunno... HAPPENED!
• Length: If I'd paid for this I'd have been pissed. Really and truly livid. By the time I'd settled in to a comfortable reading position it was over. Than again, maybe this was a blessing in disguise. If it'd been longer I might have felt like this was a tremendous waste of time and not just a slight annoyance.

Bottom Line: If you or someone you love is about to spend money on this waste of ink please, for the love of literature, knock it out of their hands. And like always if you find that you disagree with me, please please please tell me why in the comments below because as things stand at the moment I'm wondering how on earth this series got such rave reviews everywhere else.

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'Warm Bodies' by Isaac Marion

Its not like me to pick up a book based on a movie trailer. But when this is the teaser description: "...a zombie becomes involved with the girlfriend of one of his victims, their romance sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world." I needed to read the book it was based on. I certainly couldn't justify waiting until the films release in February - and so I let this one jump the line*.

'Warm Bodies' is an absorbing read that thoroughly captures the heart and imagination as it follows the everyday thoughts of a zombie named R. Cute, witty and charming, (never thought you'd see those words associated with a zombie novel did'ya?), author Isaac Marion manages to make even the stuff of nightmares into an enchanting tale of love, loyalty, friendship and trust.

Today's bottom line: if you're looking for something of the teeth-gnashing, mindless zombie genre than you're better off steering clear. But if you've ever found yourself wondering if there's anything going on up in that decaying head this one is a keeper.  

*Yes - I know that this wasn't on the Monthly Waiting List. That said, I've actually finished everything except for the Laini Taylor installment... I just haven't managed to get the reviews up... or, well, if I'm being completely honest with you, written yet. And while that's a bit sad... considering it's already the 24th and I've only gotten a review for one of the three promised titles up... it means that the last week of November should see a flurry of activity.

'Red Rain' by R.L. Stine

Back in the days of my elementary school's mobile book fair, R.L. Stine was starting to make waves with his, at the time brand new, series Goosebumps. It was enjoyable to a point. It always embodied a fun, campy spookiness, and each installment was always liberally littered with entirely unbelievable premises. Yet, even though I enjoyed them I never considered myself a great fan. I would argue that it was because by that age I'd already read half of Stephen King's offerings, and those - especially his earlier works - are truly the stuff of nightmares, so I'd already been desensitized to the spook in Stine's work.

Fast forward a few decades and I found myself intrigued by Stine's latest effort, 'Red Rain' in, dare I say it, the adult horror genre. To tell the truth I can't say I walked into it with particularly high expectations... in fact, I'd remembered so little of his writing style from before that I approached this much like I would a newly minted author.

But then I remember something: The only reason I ever went out of my way to get my hands on anything from Goosebumps was because my mom would always give me ten bucks to spend at the book fair. I'm not sure if you remember your grade school book fairs but the ones I attended were explosions of Lissa Frank (not interested), some series about twins named Jessica and Samantha (Sweet Valley High I think?) and other assorted garbage like locker mirrors, calendars, posters of Saved by The Bell actors and - oh yeah, a handful of semi-interesting books.

Why am I telling you this?*

Well, it turns out that I didn't really like R.L. Stine much growing up either - but when I saw this new title come up a yearning of nostalgia came with it. Unfortunately, for this title, it fell flatter then his kids books ever did.

Was the logo the scariest part of that series?

The premise of adorable twins being swiftly adopted by travel writer Lea and transplanted from their island home to suburban family life is so mundane it hurts. The writing is blocky, pedantic, technical and entirely devoid of a sense of humor. The characters are flat and predictable. What's worse than any of that is that it failed to scare me even once. No sharp intake of breathe, no struggle with myself on whether it would be best to keep reading and find out what happens or put it down and get a glass of water. None of that.

Overall, this one was dead, dry and boring. A book that I would imagine being a tough sell to even the most die-hard now adult Goosebumps fan. My final advise? Steer clear.

*I can almost hear you screaming at me to get to the point already! But you need to allow me a little time - I mean, we are deconstructing part of my childhood here.