Release Date: August 30th, 2011
Genre:  Horror, Adventure
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 519
Rating:
Amazon Link*: Click here
Goodreads Page: Click here
Series: Benny Imura #2 (Review of #1)
Summary (Spoilers, highlight to view):

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.

Blurb: A mystery that gives you time to think and a story that makes your mind run wild.

Review: I LOVED Rot & Ruin, and as such I knew there was a chance that this book would leave me feeling underwhelmed, and it did.

Rot & Ruin is full of action and emotion and running and jumping and zombies and monsters of the human variety. It's an imaginative smörgåsbord! Dust & Decay, however, is a much slower book. I felt like it took a LONG time for the story to get ANYWHERE.

The beginning of this book is a lot of "talk-talk-talk" and then FINALLY they get moving, but there is SO MUCH going on that the whole book only spans a couple days even though it's 500 pages long. The thing is, that "so much" that's going on isn't very... interesting. Sure there are zombie attacks and crazy-rhino attacks and new mysteries that really make you think, but they didn't go anywhere. Aside from some character growth, I feel like this book didn't progress the story at all. And because it was so slow, I felt like there was a lot more cheesy stuff in it. Lotsa teens acting like doofuses.

HOWEVER, this book is going to be quite a long series (I know there are at least two more books), and if Maberry works well with the other two books then this book could really pay off. I have a feeling that Dust & Decay may be one of those books that you don't really appreciate until you've read the entire series (i.e. Prisoner of Azkaban).

So if you liked Rot & Ruin, PLEASE pick this one up. R&R is WONDERFUL and I can't wait to see where Maberry takes the characters in this series. I just hope the next book takes them somewhere a little quicker.



*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.

At this point in time I have e-mailed ALL winners and they have until Saturday night to get back to me with their address. As the prizes are claimed I will turn their names green.

Across the Universe Thao Huynh

Blood Red Road
Lieder Madchen
Dark Eden
Khyla

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Maria (pronounced Mariah)

Divergent
Yiling
Drink, Slay, Love
Diana
Dust & Decay
Tatiana L.
Fox Inheritance katklaw777
Legend
Chen Chang 
Matched Farah M.J. Elmajdoub
Monstrumologist Callie
Nerdy Earrings Sarah E. Cruz
Plain Kate
Laura K.
Princess of the Midnight Ball Layne
Prized Lisa Richards
Rampant Jenna/@mermaidpants
Swan Kingdom jen7waters (Carla on GFC)
Swan Maiden Melissa Caldwell
Threads and Flames
Nicole M
Tris & Izzie
the girl on fire
Unwind Michelle A
Wither
Ally M. (never responded)
Elanor Lawrence

Thanks to everyone who entered and participated!

..allow me to give you some presents on my birthday!

As is my tradition, here is the video announcement of the winners. The text announcement will come later today. Enjoy!

P.S. At the beginning of the video I’m snapping, not having hand convulsions

All right! Today is the LAST day to enter any and all of the giveaways! I'll be announcing the winners tomorrow (my birthday!), so hurry up and enter! Click on the pictures below to be taken to each giveaway. If there's an interview associated with the giveaway then the picture will take you to the interview, if not, you'll go straight to the giveaway! Go forth and enter.

INTERNATIONAL & US CONTESTS:



US ONLY:



Go forth and enter!

...to the donation button on the edge of your screen?

I haven't really pushed the fact that there is a donation button, because all of my contest hosts have already been so generous in donating their books. However, I am now faced with this daunting pile of books that will have to be mailed out next week; and I would really appreciate some help in managing the shipping costs. Even as little as $1 will help.

PLEASE do not feel obligated in any way. I don't run Squeaky Books for any kind of profit. I knew when the bash began that there would be lots of books to mail out. It's not like What have I done?!" (Okay... maybe I'm saying that a litte). I'm not going to offer you entries into a contest for donating, because I don't want to make you feel like you have to. You don't! I'm only putting up the donation button BECAUSE it is totally optional. It makes me very uncomfortable to think that some people might assume I'm trying to make money. Perish the thought!

Okay. Now that I've both asked for your money and told you that I don't want you to think I WANT it, I have hopefully confused you into pushing the button. But if not, here it is again for your leisure:

And thank you Jacinda for your donation!

I'm so sad that the bash is nearly over, but I'm REALLY excited to announce the winners! I've already picked out the song for the vlog where I will reveal who won what. Tomorrow I'll make a post to remind you what's up for grabs! Until then, happy reading!