ZOMBIE APOCALYPTIC AUTHOR - JONATHAN MABERRY - SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY # 4 - BENNY IMURA SERIES - YOUNG ADULT - SIMON & SCHUSTER

SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY # 4

JONATHAN MABERRY

BENNY IMURA SERIES

I love me some Jonathan Maberry, especially his Benny Imura series. This is his YA zombie apocalyptic/dystopian series and it is soooo good. I started this series back in 2011. I have Fire And Ash from the library to read next.

Goodreads shows you the order and any novellas.

You can scroll down and read my reviews HERE . I also have information on one of Jonathan's other series, Joe Ledger.

I have to admit looking at the cover of Rot & Ruin and the title when I first laid eyes on it, I got a not so YA feel about it on first sight. I got a bit scared.

But!

Once I opened the book up and started reading.

OMG!

Jonathan is brilliant. 

Rot & Ruin had me totally loving Tom, Benny's brother. Now I know it is the Benny Imura series, but Benny and his mates are fifteen years old in the first book and act like fifteen year old boys, and...well... Tom stole the limelight for me. For many reasons.

I won't spoil.

Rot and Ruin was an awesome introduction into Jonathan's zombie world.

Dust & Decay, was simply brilliant. 

O.M.G.

Brilliant.

Jonathan brings in J-Dog and Dr. Skillz who are the funniest characters in an apocalyptic world.

It was also a book where I cursed Jonathan ( in my marshmallow way ) cause, he really and I mean really crushed my heart with his characters. What he did in that book, is still killing me to this day.

I got MAJOR feels. 

But, this is a zombie apocalyptic series, so shiz is going down.

What I loved about this series is, it is not what you will think when you think of zombie apocalyptic. 

That whole, Walking Dead theme is not what Jonathan does.

Jonathan brings really great sub characters , humor, sad, sad moments, he brings hope and crushes you, he will rip out your heart and dice it up. He has a lot of heart and soul in this series which I wasn't prepared for. 

Tom is like the wise older brother who is not like Daryl from Walking Dead.

Tom is Tom. Tom has a Katana.

Flesh and Bone # 3 just took off on a non stop ride. I'm not sure if any of the gang stopped to eat, it was that full on. I was hanging on to my book. 

My review was full of quotes. I love quotes and Jonathan gives me a bag full every book.

You will watch Benny and the crew learn how to survive and you will see the change in their characters from Rot and Ruin.

There are also naturally, the villains in this series, who are true villains. They don't hold back.

There are also the unlikely sub character survivors who are doing it their way,  trusting only in themselves and then there are the alliances who you hope to trust in. 

Let's not forget the religious nuts thrown in for good measure. 

There are very intense moments and there are I Am Legend moments. 

A fantastic YA series I highly recommend. I think it will truly surprise even the readers who THINK they aren't into zombie reads. I wasn't particularly either until I read how Jonathan writes them. 

I became addicted to Benny Imura.

So to all you non zombie readers...TRUST ME, check this one out, book two had me totally sold and immersed in Jonathan's apocalyptic world. 

All Jonathan's books rate really well on Goodreads. The reviews are glowing.

Jonathan's Goodreads

******

This image was taken from Gena Showalter's page on facebook.
Gena and Kami Garcia are either side of Jonathan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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

You can find out a lot more about Jonathan over on his web page. It is worth a look at all of his pages within it.

I'm just butting in here in the middle of About The Author. I have just watched this vid for the first time properly and I totally got what Jonathan was saying in this. He started off wanting to write a gritty zombie read, but along the way it turned into something else. It got heart. That is why this is a book for readers who don't think they are into zombie genre, because it is so much more.


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 and MARVEL UNIVERSE vs WOLVERINE. 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 “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), “The Death Song of Dwar Guntha” (Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, 2012, Simon & Schuster), and “The Wind Through the Fence” (an original e-story available for all e-readers). His essay, “Take Me To Your Leader” will be included in the nonfiction book, TRIUMPH OF THE LIVING DEAD: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen edited by James Lowder (BenBella Books/Smart Pop, 2011).

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”, “Ze