Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry
Buy Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: This follow-up to Rot & Ruin is as bad-ass as the first. Benny Imura and his friends set out to cross the zombie-infested wasteland in search of the jet they saw. Violent, exciting, and heartbreaking, prepare for a rollercoaster of a read.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 352	Date: September 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 0857070975
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Dust & Decay picks up the action six months after Rot & Ruin's climactic battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer. Benny and his friends have spent the time honing their self-defence and zombie-killing skills through some very intense training by Tom. And now, the time is finally right. They're about to head back out into the Ruin in search of the jet plane they saw in the sky after the battle at Gameland. There might, just might, be a real civilisation surviving somewhere on the continent.

But the zombies are still out there. And so are the murderous bounty hunters. And Gameland is about to resurface...

I had my fingers, toes, arms, legs, and anything else you could think of, firmly crossed that Dust & Decay would be as super-duper as its predecessor, which I loved. You can't help but worry that a second book won't quite live up to such a barnstorming opener. I needn't have worried. I stayed up far too late and read book two in just one, rather breathless, sitting. And when I eventually put down the book, I don't mind admitting that there was a tear in my eye.

It's a real rollercoaster ride: there's a zombie attack before the group has even left town. And as soon as they are out of the gates, it becomes clear that the demise of Charlie Pink-eye has not seen an end to the crimes committed in the Ruin. And it's not only the undead that they have to fear. Benny and Nix, Lilah and Chong, and Tom are going to need all the allies they can muster if they're to find a better future. I'll tell you now: not everyone makes it out alive.

Now Benny has fixed his relationship with brother Tom, Maberry turns his attention to his nascent but confusing relationship with Nix. How can two teenagers fall in love in this world at all? Let alone two teenagers whose lives have been blighted like Benny's and Nix's. We also see Lilah's vulnerability - in Rot & Ruin she was almost a mythological figure, but in Dust & Decay she becomes real flesh and blood. And in this book, it's Chong's turn to realise his potential, even though it will endanger his life. Split up from Fast Tommy, the warrior who is fighting to get back to them, each young character must dig deeper than ever if they are to survive.

We also get to see a whole host of new characters, both goodies and baddies. My favourites were the surfer dudes, who have evolved a whole new argot of their own, but who always have your back.

If you liked Rot & Ruin, you'll LOVE Dust & Decay. Promise!

My thanks to the good people at Simon & Schuster for sending the book.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young has a similar post-apocalyptic environment and revenge Western plot, but no zombies. Don't let the lack of undead put you off - it's brilliant. But if you want an entirely different book about zombies, try Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, which gets straight into them without any need for a dystopian catastrophe.

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