Dust and Decay

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Brian Hutchison

A New York Times best-selling author and multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Maberry continues the story he began in Rot and Ruin.

Six months have passed since Benny Imura and Nix Riley learned that flesh-eating zombies aren’t the scariest or most dangerous monsters around. Now, Benny’s brother Tom is training them in the art of zombie whacking. But as they plan to leave and find a better future, a zombie attack puts a crimp in their plans. And soon, they discover an old enemy they believed was long-gone may actually still be alive.

©2011 Jonathan Maberry (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

An excellent addition to the series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book was just as hard to put down as Rot and Ruin! Once again Jonathan Maberry crafted a story that simply compelled you to continue reading. Dust and Decay introduced a few new characters while constantly evolving the original characters in realistic ways. The insight into human character is wonderful. This series is less about the dead and more about the way we approach living. I wept at the end, it was so unexpected and unwelcome! I can, however, clearly see how this book -and that ending - will flow beautifully into another book. This is a series not to be missed!

What other book might you compare Dust and Decay to and why?

As a post apocalyptic/zombie novel it falls into the same category as The Forest of Hands and Teeth series.

What does Brian Hutchison bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

This story is performed wonderfully! He has a voice that seems very sympathetic to the characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Well I'd have to steal a line from the book: Remember, in the Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you.

Any additional comments?

Fantastic book to read or listen to - or both!

GREAT start to the series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! For those whose guilty reading secret is zombie gore, this is a great addition to your library. This is a different story that picks up a decade and a half after the beginning of the zompoc.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tom Imura is a wonderful, mentor-like character who is misjudged by the person who has the most cause to trust him.

Which scene was your favorite?

The defeat of the villain makes you stand up and cheer. I loved the final confrontation scene and the surprise that appears during that scene. Maberry is good at tricking his audience.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end of the novel is tearjerking and completes the novel perfectly. Tears without death are always great moments in any book.

Well crafted story

I know that this book/series was written for kids but it's still an enjoyable listen for adults. There's a intentional simplicity in the way it's written but it is able to draw in listeners of all ages

Very good pulp fiction

Maybury write very entertaining horror and adventure stories. The narratives are plot driven with good character development and a patina of grit and blood.
The stories can be a bit “Hollywood “ for me with some very predictable resolutions and saccharine emotional moments.
All in all, fun listens with great narration.

Great for teens

If you could sum up Dust and Decay in three words, what would they be?

Atypical of genre.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dust and Decay?

There is a scene in which the main character accompanies his older brother to "quiet" a zombie. It is a pivotal moment in their relationship and in the book. The moments just prior are full of suspense and the scene itself is intensely emotional.

Which character – as performed by Brian Hutchison – was your favorite?

I think my favorite would have to be the main character's older brother, Tom. He's got so many admirable qualities. He is an honorable man who has taken over the care of his younger brother since the death of their parents 8 years prior to the start of the book. The more that is revealed about him during the course of the book, the more I grew to like him. The narration in general, while not bad, was not great either and I listened to it at 1.5x normal speed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would have but it was too long to hear all at once.

Any additional comments?

I'm a huge horror fan and have many zombie books. My 13 year old daughter also loves all things spooky and I got this for her as her first zombie book. It's perfect for her. The young characters are well-written and their dialogue, thoughts and emotions are believable. The book is more about the relationships between the characters, the difference between living and survival and morality than about zombies. While there are some suspenseful scenes and violence, there isn't the graphic violence and gore typical of the genre. Since I bought this for my daughter, I'm not complaining.

hoped for more

over all the book was enjoyable bet it could have been so much better. The idea of these kids have wooden swords and nothing about that makes sense.

It's not Joe Ledger

What did you love best about Dust and Decay?

There are always two sides to a story, and this story was no different. You have people who want to have a better life, and then there are people who want to rule everybody else on their terms, making themselves gods. I was surprised to learn about how some of the good people were secretly enjoying the bad side of the world, and even making profits from other people's pain. Interesting twist to the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tom, definitely. He as a really good guy who was sincerely interested in the best for people, despite what people did to him and the people he loved.

What three words best describe Brian Hutchison’s performance?

ehhh. Brain sounded like he was sorta going through the motions. There didn't seem to be a real interest in the story by Brian. Based on other readers, I think he could have done much better

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Tom's standoff with the dark characters, shaping his hand into a pistol, and shooting one of the bad guys. The looks on the bad guys faces.....priceless

Any additional comments?

For me, I think Brian could have done a much better job. It just "sounded" like he was reading a story, not really participating in the story.

Maberrys Top Family story

My 4th time reading it! Very good characters. I love this series. Rot and Ruin!

Dust and decay

Well I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The twists & turns, character development, and zombie interactions was phenomenal. This is my fav book in the series. I even teared up at the end. Great work and 5 star read

Not as good as the first book but still well done

This is the second book in the Benny Imura series. Honestly I didn’t like this book nearly as much as the first. There are two more books in this series “Flesh and Bone” and “Fire and Ash”.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was really well done. It has the same narrator as the first book and I really enjoyed listening to it. The narrator does an excellent job with character voices and an excellent job conveying emotion.

Everyone is recovering from the events with Charlie Pink-Eye in the first book. Benny, Nix, and Tom are ready to leave Mountainside and track down the plane they saw in the first book. However Mountainside doesn’t want to Tom to leave, they are worried about other evil bounty hunters moving in to take his place. One bounty hunter, named White Bear, is causing a lot of trouble. Now there is a bounty on Tom’s head and it seems like Gameland is more prosperous than ever.

This was still a good book but I didn't like it nearly as much as the first one. I was disappointed that this book was about similar issues as the first book. I was all excited to read about Benny, Tom, Lila, and Nix's journey across the Rot and Ruin, instead what I got was more of the same as the last book.

Pretty much as soon as the group leaves Mountainside things start going wrong. We end up reading about territory wars with “evil” bounty hunters and trouble with Gameland. I find the whole Gameland idea to be a bit silly and was disappointed that so much of this book focused on that. I was hoping to read more about the Rot and Ruin as a whole, and gain better understanding of this world and why the zombies happened.

Benny has definitely grown as a character since the first book. Nix is harboring a lot of rage for what happened to her mother in the last book, we watch as she struggles through this anger.

Lila is in the story a lot, which is awesome. She too is struggling with issues of fitting in. She is so used to surviving alone, that it is tough to watch her as she struggles to become part of society.

We meet a lot of awesome new “good” bounty hunters. It was super fun to meet some of the bounty hunters we’ve heard so much about from the Zombie cards. We also meet a lot of completely evil baddies. There was a lot more action in this book as welll we get to see Tom kick some serious butt. As I mentioned above we also get very up and personal with Gameland.

This book is still well written and I love that there is a lot of philosophical introspection as well as zombie fights. There is brief mention about zombies starting to Swarm and some curious stuff going on where zombies are acting different than they have in the past. I just wish we had got to hear more about that and less about Gameland.

Overall a decent continuation of this series. These books are well written and I love that there is time spent on philisophy, as well as fighting zombies. I was disappointed that this book was more about Gameland and evil bounty hunters. I was hoping to read about Nix, Benny, and Tom journeying across the Rot and Ruin. We do get to meet a lot of new bounty hunters that are awesome and there are some spectacular fight scenes in here. Recommended to those who enjoy post-apocalyptic zombie novels.