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Flesh And Bone by Jonathan Maberry
The Blurb On The Back:
In the land of the dead, four friends search for the key to life …
Benny Imura and his friends are still reeling from the terror and tragedy that has followed them ever since they began their journey through the heart of the zombie-infested Rot and Ruin. But the group know that to survive they can’t look back, and instead must keep moving forward and hope they can find the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that plane does exist, then humanity itself must have survived … somehow, somewhere.
But as they travel across the wasteland, the friends discover that the zombies are changing … becoming faster, smarter and infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something more sinister behind this new invasion of the walking dead?
It’s several weeks after DUST AND DECAY. Benny, Chong, Nix and Lilah are looking for the jet they first saw in ROT AND RUIN but things aren’t going well - the zombies are adapting, moving faster, learning how to use tools. And the dead aren’t the only threat. An army of reapers is gathering that’s intent on bringing the apocalypse to every settlement they come across …
The third in Jonathan Maberry’s BENNY IMURA QUARTET is a return to form with an action-packed, fast-paced YA story that expands on Benny’s world and introduces a new and dangerous threat to everything he knows. As Maberry says in his foreword, this is also a book about grief – both Benny and Nix are dealing with the deaths of those closest to them, which is having consequences for their own relationship and gives the book a solid emotional core. St John is an interesting antagonist, whose background I won’t spoil but who represents a very real physical and ideological threat but Mother Rose was less well rounded and I wished there’d been a scene between her and new character Riot to expand on their relationship. That said, it’s another dark book, I enjoyed the pace and the ending is such that I will definitely be reading the conclusion.
Fans of Maberry will be delighted to see the introduction of Joe Ledger from his ‘grown up’ books and I liked the way he brought a sense of the wider world to this quartet. His scenes with Lilah (who remains my favourite character) were some of my favourites and I loved the dog. The zombies are even more dangerous in this novel and there’s more scientific explanations for what’s happened, which I thought gave more credibility to the book.
The mystery surrounding the poison used by reapers went on for too long given how obvious it was but it does set up a gut wrenching ending to take readers into the final book. I also would have liked a bit more of a set up for how the teens set about their search for the jet and I wanted a bit more about Riot who reads to me as being a little too similar to Lilah (and in fact, I’d have loved a scene between them). However these are minor nitpicks and certainly won’t stop me from reading the finale.
The Verdict:
The third in Jonathan Maberry’s BENNY IMURA QUARTET is a return to form with an action-packed, fast-paced YA story that expands on Benny’s world and introduces a new and dangerous threat to everything he knows. As Maberry says in his foreword, this is also a book about grief – both Benny and Nix are dealing with the deaths of those closest to them, which is having consequences for their own relationship and gives the book a solid emotional core. St John is an interesting antagonist, whose background I won’t spoil but who represents a very real physical and ideological threat but Mother Rose was less well rounded and I wished there’d been a scene between her and new character Riot to expand on their relationship. That said, it’s another dark book, I enjoyed the pace and the ending is such that I will definitely be reading the conclusion.
Benny Imura and his friends are still reeling from the terror and tragedy that has followed them ever since they began their journey through the heart of the zombie-infested Rot and Ruin. But the group know that to survive they can’t look back, and instead must keep moving forward and hope they can find the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that plane does exist, then humanity itself must have survived … somehow, somewhere.
But as they travel across the wasteland, the friends discover that the zombies are changing … becoming faster, smarter and infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something more sinister behind this new invasion of the walking dead?
It’s several weeks after DUST AND DECAY. Benny, Chong, Nix and Lilah are looking for the jet they first saw in ROT AND RUIN but things aren’t going well - the zombies are adapting, moving faster, learning how to use tools. And the dead aren’t the only threat. An army of reapers is gathering that’s intent on bringing the apocalypse to every settlement they come across …
The third in Jonathan Maberry’s BENNY IMURA QUARTET is a return to form with an action-packed, fast-paced YA story that expands on Benny’s world and introduces a new and dangerous threat to everything he knows. As Maberry says in his foreword, this is also a book about grief – both Benny and Nix are dealing with the deaths of those closest to them, which is having consequences for their own relationship and gives the book a solid emotional core. St John is an interesting antagonist, whose background I won’t spoil but who represents a very real physical and ideological threat but Mother Rose was less well rounded and I wished there’d been a scene between her and new character Riot to expand on their relationship. That said, it’s another dark book, I enjoyed the pace and the ending is such that I will definitely be reading the conclusion.
Fans of Maberry will be delighted to see the introduction of Joe Ledger from his ‘grown up’ books and I liked the way he brought a sense of the wider world to this quartet. His scenes with Lilah (who remains my favourite character) were some of my favourites and I loved the dog. The zombies are even more dangerous in this novel and there’s more scientific explanations for what’s happened, which I thought gave more credibility to the book.
The mystery surrounding the poison used by reapers went on for too long given how obvious it was but it does set up a gut wrenching ending to take readers into the final book. I also would have liked a bit more of a set up for how the teens set about their search for the jet and I wanted a bit more about Riot who reads to me as being a little too similar to Lilah (and in fact, I’d have loved a scene between them). However these are minor nitpicks and certainly won’t stop me from reading the finale.
The Verdict:
The third in Jonathan Maberry’s BENNY IMURA QUARTET is a return to form with an action-packed, fast-paced YA story that expands on Benny’s world and introduces a new and dangerous threat to everything he knows. As Maberry says in his foreword, this is also a book about grief – both Benny and Nix are dealing with the deaths of those closest to them, which is having consequences for their own relationship and gives the book a solid emotional core. St John is an interesting antagonist, whose background I won’t spoil but who represents a very real physical and ideological threat but Mother Rose was less well rounded and I wished there’d been a scene between her and new character Riot to expand on their relationship. That said, it’s another dark book, I enjoyed the pace and the ending is such that I will definitely be reading the conclusion.