Flesh & Bone (Benny Imura (Rot and Ruin)) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Maberry (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 11, 2012 | Series: Benny Imura (Rot and Ruin) (Book 3)

The stakes are higher and the zombies are deadlier in this third of an action-packed series that’s “an impressive mix of meaning and mayhem” (Booklist).

Reeling from the devastation 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. Fierce animals hunt them. They come face to face with a death cult. And then there’s the zombies—swarms of them coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. And these zoms are different. Faster, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

     One thing Benny and his companions can’t afford to forget: In the great Rot & Ruin, everything wants to kill you.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Benny Imura and his friends are back fighting their way through a postapocalyptic world. Still reeling from the tragic ending in Dust & Decay (S & S, 2011), Benny, Nix, Chong, and Lilah continue moving east from California's Sierra Nevadas, searching for the jet that Benny and Nix saw and, hopefully, for a better life. As in the previous volumes, the ever-present zombies threaten the teens but they are hardly the most hazardous or scariest things stalking the wilderness. The kids run headlong into the "Reapers," a death cult led by Saint John, a serial killer turned prophet. The Reapers' mission is to finish what the zombie plague started-the extinction of the human race. Even as the teens struggle to stay one step ahead of these murderous freaks and close in on their goal, they discover that the zombie virus is mutating, resulting in startling and even more dangerous changes. A few of the passages (especially between Benny and Nix) get a little tiresome, and the Reaper philosophy stretches credulity a bit, but lots of action and generous helpings of blood and gore keep the story moving briskly and will keep series fans turning pages. The ending leaves open the possibility of a fourth installment, though one of the main characters might not survive that long.-Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School Library, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

"The third time’s the charm with even more adventure—and gore—as the series continues."--Kirkus Reviews

Lots of action and generous helpings of blood and gore keep the story moving briskly. (School Library Journal)

"Zombies have run amok in YA lit, but the standard bearer remains Maberry's straight-ahead, action-drama series that began with Rot & Ruin (2010) and Dust & Decay (2011)...Waiting for the full reveal in volume four won't be easy." (--Booklist)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 11, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1442439890
• ISBN-13: 978-1442439894
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Teens > Horror

More About the Author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than a dozen countries.

He writes in several genres. His young adult fiction includes ROT & RUIN (2011; now in development for film; named in Booklist's Ten Best Horror Novels for Young Adults, a Bram Stoker and Pennsylvania Keystone to Reading winner; nominee for several state Teen Book Awards; winner of the Cybils Award, the Eva Perry Mock Printz medal, Dead Letter Best Novel Award, and four Melinda Awards); DUST & DECAY (winner of the 2011 Bram Stoker Award; FLESH & BONE (September 11, 2012; and FIRE & ASH (2013). His thrillers include The Joe Ledger Thrillers from St. Martin's Griffin (PATIENT ZERO, 2009, winner of the Black Quill and a Bram Stoker Award finalist for Best Novel; THE DRAGON FACTORY, 2010; HE KING OF PLAGUES, 2011; ASSASSIN'S CODE, 2011; EXTINCTION MACHINE, 2013; CODE ZER0, 2014, and JOE LEDGER: THE MISSING FILES, 2011 from Blackstone Audio.

His horror novels include The Pine Deep Trilogy from Pinnacle Books (GHOST ROAD BLUES, 2006, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel; DEAD MAN'S SONG, 2007; and BAD MOON RISING, 2008), as well as DEAD OF NIGHT, 2011 and its forthcoming sequel, FALL OF NIGHT, 2014. And the movie novelization, THE WOLFMAN, 2010, winner of the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation.

He is also editor and co-author of V-WARS, a shared-world vampire anthology from IDW.

Jonathan was an expert on the History Channel documentary, ZOMBIES: A Living History. He will also be featured in That $#(!'ll Rot Your Brain: How the Monster Kids Transformed Popular Culture, a forthcoming documentary on horror movies directed by Robert Tinnell.

His many nonfiction works include VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006); THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, 2007 -winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction; co-authored by David F. Kramer); ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and finalist for a Stoker Award; 2008); THEY BITE! (2009 co-authored by David F. Kramer); WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2010; Bram Stoker finalist; co-authored by Janice Gable Bashman); THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEAD (2001, written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall); ULTIMATE JUJUTSU (Strider Nolan, 2001); ULTIMATE SPARRING (Strider Nolan, 2000); JUDO AND YOU (Kendall Hunt 1991); and many others.

He writes a variety of projects for Marvel Comics involving CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK PANTHER, DOOMWAR, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, THE X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER. MARVEL UNIVERSE vs WOLVERINE and the upcoming MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE AVENGERS. All of Jonathan's comic book collections are released as Graphic Novel collections within a month or two of individual comic publication.

Recent short stories include "A Footnote in the Black Budget" (MADNESS OF CTHULHU, 2013), "Pegleg and Paddy Save the World" (HISTORY IS DEAD, Permuted Press 2007), "Doctor Nine" (KILLERS, Swimming Kangaroo Press, 2008; and reprinted in THE STORIES (in) BETWEEN Edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, and W.H. Horner. Fantasist Enterprises, 2009), "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Greenbrier Ghost" (LEGENDS OF THE MOUNTAIN STATE 2, Bloodletting Books, 2008), "Clean Sweeps" (AND SO IT BEGINS, Dark Quest Books, 2008), "Family Business" (THE NEW DEAD, St. Martin's Press, 2010), "Like Part of the Family" (NEW BLOOD edited by Patrick Thomas and Diane Raetz, Padwolf Press, 2010), "Zero Tolerance" (THE LIVING DEAD 2, Night Shade Books), "Flint and Steel" (GI JOE: COBRA WARS, 2011), "Saint John" (THE MONSTER'S CORNER, 2011, St. Martin's), "Spellcaster 2.0" (An Apple for the Creature, Ace Books, 2012), "Jack and Jill" (21st Century Dead, St. Martin's Griffin,2012), "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha" (Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, 2012, Simon & Schuster), "The Wind Through the Fence" (an original e-story available for all e-readers), "Property Condemned" (scheduled for the premier issue of NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE), "Chokepoint" (included in THE UNINVITED, Vol 2), and many others. His essay, "Take Me To Your Leader" is included in the nonfiction book, TRIUMPH OF THE WALKING DEAD: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen edited by James Lowder (BenBella Books/Smart Pop, 2011).

In 2012 Blackstone Audio released two collections of Jonathan's short stories: Tales from the Fire Zone and Hungry Tales.

All of Jonathan's novels are available on audio, including the audio-only collection, JOE LEDGER: THE MISSING FILES (Blackstone), which includes the short stories "Countdown", "Zero Tolerance", "Deep Dark", "Material Witness" and "Dog Days". Another Joe Ledger short, "Mad Science", will appear in the audio anthology LIAR LIAR from The Liars Club.

Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of ON THE SLAB, an entertainment news show in development by Stage 9 for ABC Disney / Stage 9. He was also a 'blog correspondent' on Sony's zombie-themed web show 'WOKE UP DEAD'; and was a recurring character on Laura Schrock's 'IT'S TODD'S SHOW'.

Jonathan's Big Scary Blog (www.jonathanmaberry.com) focuses on the publishing industry. Jonathan's interviews include Sandra Brown, Gayle Lynds, Alafair Burke, Charlaine Harris, James Rollins, Harlan Coben, Jeff Abbott, John Saul, Jonathan Kellerman, Barry Eisler, CJ Box, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccarilli, Dale Brown, Kevin J. Anderson, Joe Lansdale, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell, Carrie Ryan, and many other best-selling authors.

He is a frequent keynote speaker, guest of honor and workshop leader at genre cons, libraries, writers conferences and publishing industry events, including KeyCon, ThrillerFest, Zombie Fest, Heather Graham's The Writers for New Orleans, Central Coast Writers Conference, NeCon, NY Comic Con, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Sisters in Crime, BackSpace, PennWriters, Dragon*Con, PhilCon, Horror-Realm, Boucher Con, HorrorFind, Monster Mania, Philadelphia Writers Conference, Balticon, Romance Writers of America, American Library Association, The Write Stuff, Hypericon, AnthoCon, KillerCon, NAIBA, LunaCon, and many others.

Jonathan has sold more than 1,200 feature articles and 3,000 columns; as well as greeting cards, song lyrics, poetry, technical manuals, call-floor scripts, and two plays, including Tales from the Fire Zone. He is developing a psychological thriller novel based on that play.

Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, IAMTW, MWA, SCBWI, SFWA and HWA, as well as a jurist for the Edgar and Stoker Awards.

Jonathan was the Executive Director of the Writers Room of Bucks County (2005-06) and co-owner of the Writers Corner USA (2006-2009). Jonathan regularly visits local middle schools, high schools and colleges to talk about books, reading, publishing and the writing life. He is a board member of the River Union Stage, a professional equity theater based in Stockton, New Jersey.

Jonathan is a founding member of The Liars Club, a group of networking publishing professionals that includes celebrated authors Merry Jones, Gregory Frost, Jon McGoran, Ed Pettit, Dennis Tafoya, Keith Strunk, Don Lafferty, Kelly Simmons, Marie Lamba, Solomon Jones, Stephen Susco, Chuck Wendig, Sara Shepard, William Lashner, and Laura Schrock. The Liars Club works to support booksellers, raise awareness and support for public libraries, and cultivate a joy of reading and books. The late NY Times bestseller L. A. Banks was a founding member of the Liars Club.

On the last Sunday of every month Jonathan hosts the Writers Coffeehouse, a free three-hour open-agenda networking and discussion session for writers of all genres and levels of skill. The event is held at the Barnes & Noble in Willow Grove Pennsylvania. The Liars Club has begun launching additional Writers Coffeehouses throughout the region.

Jonathan has been a popular writing teacher and career counselor for writers for the last two decades. He teaches a highly regard series of classes and workshops including Write Your Novel in Nine Months, Act Like a Writer, Revise & Sell, Experimental Writing for Teens, and others. Many of his students have gone on to obtain representation and/or publish in short and novel-length fiction, magazine feature writing, nonfiction books, TV, film, and comics.

In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame largely because of his extensive writings in that field.

Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sara Jo, to whom he dedicates all of his published works, and their dog, Rosie. His stepson, Sam West-Mensch, serves a general manager of Jonathan's writing business.

Visit his website/blog and sign up for his free newsletter at www.jonathanmaberry.com
www.facebook.com/jonathanmaberry, www.twitter.com/jonathanmaberry

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The zombie apocalpyse continues in this third installment-- not as strong as the first two, but well worth reading November 23, 2012

By Christina (Ensconced in YA) TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a big fan of the previous two books in this quartet. The first, Rot and Ruin, was probably my favorite read of the year. The second, was almost as strong, and ended with heartbreak that I had to deal with for a few weeks before picking up the third. This installment is my least favorite of the three for a few reasons, but definitely worth reading, and thoughtful in its own way.

Flesh and Bone is the third out of four books by Jonathan Maberry about the zombie apocalypse that has fallen on the world. Benny, Chong, the Lost Girl, and Nix are struggling to survive in the Rot and Ruin after still reeling from deaths of loved ones. They encounter more evil than they thought possible-- a group of Reapers whose sole purpose is to have everyone join the Gray Walkers that abound the earth. New characters are introduced (including a terrifying Big Bad), and the mystery of the plane is solved.

What I Loved: The development of Chong was probably my favorite part of the book. He's come so far and his relationship with the Lost Girl is very sweet. This makes the ending that much more poignant. Also, we get the introduction of a new cult, which is terrifying in its sway in this awful world. I can imagine people giving up and joining a cult to end the human race. We see this kind of depression in medicine all the time-- and I can't imagine if the world was actually as bad as people saw it, what that would do to the human psyche. Maberry is terrific at coming up with new ethical dilemmas, and he is very thoughtful in his dealings with them.

What I wasn't as thrilled about: I know my reaction to this book is a little bit like my reaction to Harry Potter book 5. It was a must read, but because of how annoying adolescent Harry was, it was my least favorite. I had the same reaction to Nix-- so many times in the book, I just wanted to shake her. She exhibited all the worst characteristics of female communication (i.e. men need to just know what we are thinking), and was a complete brat to Benny for most of the book. Also, the first half of the book was more of the characters just wandering around in the Rot and Ruin, and seemed like just filler for the last 25%, which was non-stop action and intrigue to the end.

That said, there is no doubt that I'm following this to the end and cannot wait to pick up the fourth and final installment of this series, which is probably the best set of books I've read this year.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A slowly decaying series October 30, 2012

By thehydrogenpoptart

Format:Hardcover

First Sentences: Benny Imura thought, I'm going to die.
The hundred zombies chasing him all seemed to agree.

A Quick Synopsis: Benny Imura never in his wildest dreams could never have imagined the shocking and tragic events that happened to him and his friends. But terrible things have happened, and in the Rot and Ruin, there's no going back. With Nix, Lilah, and Chong, Benny must continue to quest for the jet that they saw all those months ago. But unbeknownst to them, the Rot and Ruin is morphing. The zoms are morphing. Their surrounding are morphing. A new chilling death cult has risen. Benny must journey through the land of the dead to search for the key to life...

The Review: Flesh & Bone is the third book in Jonathan Maberry's Rot & Ruin series--a series that I discovered in a strange way: by having it recommended it to me by a friend. You see, usually I go around recommending books to people, or they come to me to ask for recommendations. But when my best friend came raving to me about a book--something that she rarely ever does--I knew I had to read it. That book, as you may have guessed already, was Rot & Ruin. So I bought it, read it, discussed it, and we both agreed that it was awesome. But when the sequel, Dust & Decay, came out, things took a turn for the worse. We both read it, discussed it, and agreed that it wasn't as good as Rot & Ruin. My friend hasn't read Flesh & Bone yet, but it pains my heart to know that I will have to tell her that this installment is the worst in the series yet. Here's why.

First of all, it is my belief that each new book in a series should bring something new to the table. Flesh & Bone doesn't really do that. The world that we had in Rot & Ruin is still there, and doesn't really develop that much. Part of the reason why my friend and I loved R & R so much was because of its unique and gritty world. But after three books, if you don't add much to the world, it really isn't that unique anymore. And in terms of making it gritty, suicide cults? Really? That makes Mr. Maberry seem lazy, and makes you ask: was that really the only thing he could think of? Lastly, there's none of the though-provoking questions like the ones in R & R here.

The plot feels rehashed as well. Just pages after pages of zombie attacks and escapes. We've already seen all this before, and it's getting tiresome. I would also wager to say that Maberry drags out the scenes way too much, ending each tiny chapter with a huge cliffhanger. It happens so much that it becomes cheesy, to a degree. And we already know that none of the main characters are going to actually die; please stop thinking that it will make the book suspenseful if you insinuate that, Mr. Maberry. The true plot doesn't really kick in until the last 100 pages, and the book ultimately ends on a cliffhanger.

But I'm sure after the events of Dust & Decay, the part you want to know most about are the characters in this volume. Yes, Tom really is dead. And personally, for me, that takes a lot of the fun out of reading Flesh & Bone. Benny was never an uber-likable character, and I feel like Maberry killed off Tom just so Benny could get more time. It honestly doesn't work. A new character is a pathetic copy of Tom, and isn't very memorable at all. I had to settle for cheering for Lilah and Nix the whole way through, because they were the only ones worth cheering for.

Booklist called Rot & Ruin "an impressive mix of meaning and mayhem", but in Flesh & Bone, there's only mayhem without meaning. There's plenty of action, but none of it is written so vividly that it makes it stand out to you. The characters are less likable than before, and the world is just still the same as ever. Hopefully Maberry will redeem himself with the next and last book in the series. I sincerely hope so, as I'd hate to see the world of Rot & Ruin go to waste.

Memorable Quote: "I don't understand this," said Nix.
"Don't understand what? That guy back there or the whole freaking day?"
"People," she said angrily. "The world ended, most of the people on the whole planet died...there's no more reason for people to fight each other...but that's all we've done. First Charlie and the Hammer, then White Bear and Preacher Jack, and now all this. I don't understand it. When are we going to stop fighting? When are we going to actually want peace? When are we going to stop being so damn stupid?"
Benny shook his head. "I know, it's crazy."
"I mean," Nix went on, "are we being naive about this? Are we just a couple of stupid kids who think that the world should make some sense?"

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner November 15, 2012

By C. H. Galvez

Format:Hardcover

"Benny Imura thought, I'm going to die. The hundred zombies chasing him all seemed to agree."

With book three in the Benny Imura series, Maberry manages to impress me with the first two lines. Don't you love it when a book manages to do that? In Flesh & Bone, the reader follows Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong as they make their way east in search of the airplane and hopefully, a better life. Along the way, they discover things much more disturbing than they could have possibly imagined.

In spite of the dire circumstances, Maberry continues to mix in the humor:

"Yo! Deadheads," he yelled, waving his sword to taunt them. "Nice try, but you're messing with Benny-freaking-Imura, zombie killer. Booyah!
And then the lip of the ravine buckled and collapsed under his weight, and Benny-freaking-Imura instantly plummeted into the darkness below.

What makes this so funny is that I can see someone doing this, even myself. Maberry's writing is so good it is easy to visualize the scenes. He manages to write something that could be translated to the big screen very well, yet does not sacrifice any quality to the writing. That's impressive.

Of course, the intelligence of the series also continues:

Chong leaned close to Benny again. "This is fascinating," he said quietly. "If there are other settlements out here, then they're probably like islands or distant countries used to be in the days before the world was mapped. So isolated that their own phrasing and references- all the slang and jargon that we've used since First Night- is going to be different."

I love how Maberry looks at many different aspects of the zombie apocalypse aftermath. Chong makes an intelligent observation about society in the Ruin rebuilding itself and compares it to societies in history. This type of detail seems largely ignored in your run of the mill zombie book. Not only does the author successfully incorporate it into his story, he also makes me wonder why all the other zombie books I read did not even consider this natural development.

Of course one of my favorite things about Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay was the weirdo religious storyline. If you are with me on this one, Flesh & Bone will absolutely, positively not disappoint. It only gets deliciously creepier.

In addition, the author throws all kinds of new stuff out there for the reader. Suffice it to say, Maberry obviously has a head full of ideas because he still manages to throw in some really good ones in book 3.

Finally, the quality of the writing remains remarkable:

"Hell? [She] knew hell. It had nothing to teach her, no new tricks it could play on her."

Wait until you read it in context. My heart dropped.

As I mentioned in my review of Dust & Decay, I was concerned that Maberry would not be able to keep up the engrossing storyline through four books and I was probably doomed to disappointment. Well that disappointment does not arrive in book 3. On the contrary, Flesh & Bone kept me on the edge of my seat. There were times that I was so anxious I felt like running around in circles just to ease some of the excess energy. But I didn't because I can't run and read at the same time. Anyway, three down, one to go. Can Maberry keep it up? I guess we'll find out when Fire & Ash is released on August 27, 2013 (according to Goodreads).