Review: Flesh and Bone by Jonathan Maberry

Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry

Hardcover, 469 pages

Published September 11th 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Source: Own
Buy the book:  Amazon : B&N : Goodreads

From Goodreads:

Reeling from the tragic events 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. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you.

And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.

 One of my favorite series and it just keeps getting better and better. This installment takes the previous dangers met by our heroes and makes them look like teardrops falling into a five gallon bucket. The Rot & Ruin brings some horrific surprises for Benny and his crew!

  The journey has already hurt them physically and mentally, but it continues to give our heroes grief. Things don't turn out anything like they thought they would. The cults they encounter are far more crazy than what they could have imagined. This takes their lives and journey into an entire new direction. The incident with Chong was one I was waiting for, just was not sure which character it would happen to. It will be interesting to see how the plot winds that one out. Especially with Lilah involved. We get to see so much more of her and her thoughts this time around and I loved every minute of it. She's become my favorite character. 
Benny and Nix take on some almost hilarious scary events. They are totally plausible, but also laughable because that is all I would be able to do in those situations. Its that sad and horrific and I would be screwed. You will really get to see these two grow up in this book. They are learning the complete in's and out's of a relationship and time will tell if it is something they want to hold on to. 

For a time their journeys are divided, but then combine again at the end. Both paths are filled will potholes, especially when they learn about the airplane and the real history of life after First Night. This opens a whole new can of worms to deal with. The crew's Sanctuary and new friends may not be all they are cracked up to be. From what we learn towards the end, Sanctuary could actually be anything but what it implies. The anxiety you will feel at the end of this book will make you extremely mad. There is so much left wide open, you will be sitting in a corner, rocking, and waiting for the final book in the series, Fire & Ash, to come out in September. Don't worry, you won't be alone. I will be patiently biting my nails until the end of this saga!