David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion

Jenny and I are starting a buddy read soon of Jonathan Maberry's Dust & Decay, the sequel to Rot & Ruin. Anyone is welcome to join in the discussion!!

Love this series. I need to read book 3 soon. The first two books are great on audiobook btw :)

You can join us for book 3, Heidi! I think there were others who wanted to read it as well.

Well, I went ahead and started, I hope that's okay!
19 % in, not a lot has happened yet. (view spoiler)[ I felt really bad for Morgie, he obviously doesn't want to travel and feel like the third wheel with Benny and Nix. It would have been nice if he could have said good-bye properly, though. Benny was extremely lucky he wasn't bit, I hope he gets a little smarter when they get out to the ruin! (hide spoiler)]

Of course it's OK and I started too ;) 13% in!

(view spoiler)[ The banter is cracking me up, both between Benny and Tom and between Benny and his friends. It was hilarious when Nix kept cracking him in the head with the stick no matter what he tried. But yeah, he's really going to have to step up his game for the Ruin, although with Tom around he should be alright, Tom is hardcore :) (hide spoiler)]

Tom!!!! Love Tom!

Lol! The buddy read of the 4th book is going to be epic!

LOL, that part with Nix cracking Benny in the head with her stick had my giggling!

Hehe me too! 38% now (view spoiler)[ OK I'm getting a little frustrated. 1. Ugh Morgie! He was waaaaay out of line with the whole I hate you I hope you die thing when he said goodbye. 2. Chong running away into the Rot alone is stupid. And I don't mean like stupid of him to do (although it was); rather a stupid plot device to create whatever story is about to unfold. I'm sort of angry about it right now. To me, the author tried to explain it rationally with the random POV from Chong but it didn't work at all for me. I'm hoping it doesn't ruin (no pun intended) the read for me.

Ok rant over! Still love Benny although man does he get himself in some scrapes! The rhino ha! And then almost getting his foot bitten by a zom! Oh and that Preacher Jack guy was a weirdo! He's got to come back later and probably had some role to play in the weird eaten person who never changes into a zom. I liked all those parts a lot :) (hide spoiler)]

I am so excited for someone to finish this one!

I'm now 59% of the way in (view spoiler)[ I agree completely, David! That was stupid! Why are all of the boys in this story so dumb???? Benny topped the cake with his rant to Lilah! UGH Dumb Ass!!!
Okay, now my rant is over! I don't know who is following Benny and Nix--I suspect the preacher guy, but who knows? That scene where Benny is dreaming scared the bejeesus out of me! I thought Nix was DEAD, and I was starting to freak out!
The fire scene was crazy intense, I think that's actually been my favorite part so far. (hide spoiler)]

Heidi (Seriously. Trust me.) wrote: "I am so excited for someone to finish this one!"

At the rate I'm going, I'll probably finish tomorrow! I have a packed morning, though, I have to do a physical and drug testing for my new job, then some HR paperwork. Start orientation on Thursday! Woot, woot!

Jenny wrote: "Heidi (Seriously. Trust me.) wrote: "I am so excited for someone to finish this one!"

At the rate I'm going, I'll probably finish tomorrow! I have a packed morning, though, I have to do a physica..."

I will know when someone has finished it by the spoiler tags! Can't wait! p.s. I agree with your comments about the "plot device" and was irritated with that at first as well but by the middle to the end of the book I just kind of went with it. I did roll my eyes at first though, which I normally don't do with this series.

LOL! I continued to bug me and I kept thinking "ARGH! If he'd just come up with a better reason for Chong to end up off on his own it would have been waaaaay better!" But like you, I just went with it, and it certainly was a necessary thing to make the book TOTALLY AWESOME!

I'm 95% done (just the epilogue to go) and wow...just wow, what a climax (that went on for like 25% of the book!). Another awesome read, I'm happy happy happy (view spoiler)[ and sad sad sad and was tearing up with Tom dying :( I thought it might happen but then he was always so invincible! I was a bit disappointed with how Lilah fell apart in the middle and the whole thing with the Greenman seemed a little overdone, but at least she came through in the end (WITH FLAMING FIREBALLS!) Oh and I am so glad Charlie didn't survive the fall and him coming back as a zom was perfect. I didn't see the Preacher Jack being their father thing coming either, great twist!

Questions: Why are some people not coming back as zoms? (I thought Chong's not turning into a zom should've been related to that rather than some zombie-bite technicality thing) What the heck is in the East that had Preacher Jack so scared the whole time? Why are some zombies moving quicker and such? Are they smarter too?

All awesome stuff for the next read with our friend Heidi! (hide spoiler)]

Thanks Jenny! Can't wait to read the next one with you and Heidi and anyone else who wants in!!

Yay David! SO glad you are almost done so we can chat! (view spoiler)[ I am still so sad about Tom *whimper whimper* ugh! I had all the same questions as you did about the zoms and why some were not changing into zoms ans why some were getting faster and so hope we gets some answers in book 3 - we'd better get some answers! (hide spoiler)] Book 3 is en route to my library for me so I hope I can finally join a buddy read while others are reading it for once!

I finished it, and loved it!! (view spoiler)[ Yeah, I cried at the very end, that was so sad with Tom...but what a hero's death! I was so impressed with Chong at the end, and I also thought him not turning might have to do with the not turning thing...so we still have a lot of questions there! Actually, I kind of liked Lilah's little meltdown, it showed she is human! And I loved her fireballs, that was AWESOME! The best moment for me, though, was when Nix killed Charlie-Zom. That was just amazing! (hide spoiler)]
Thanks, David, great read, and I can't wait for the third one!!

Jenny wrote: "I finished it, and loved it!! [spoilers removed]
Thanks, David, great read, and I can't wait for the third one!!"

Yay Jenny!

Heidi (Seriously. Trust me.) wrote: "Yay David! SO glad you are almost done so we can chat! [spoilers removed] Book 3 is en route to my library for me so I hope I can finally join a buddy read while others are reading it for once!"

I should be able to pick it up from the library next week!

Jenny wrote: "I finished it, and loved it!! [spoilers removed]
Thanks, David, great read, and I can't wait for the third one!!"

Awesome, I'm so glad you're enjoying this series! It got a little gory for me there toward the end, but I clenched my gut and hung in there lol! Oh yes, Nix was awesome!!

Glad Heidi can join us for the third!

I'm working on book 1 slow going working on my own writing too, but love R&R I have D&D can't wait to read!!!

Awesome! The second ones really good too, you'll love it :) Enjoy!!!

Thanks can't wait to read your books

Thanks so much! I doubt they're better than Rot & Ruin though!

Where can I find it? Ill be near a Barnes and Noble tomorrow.

Unfortunately they're still only available in print on Amazon.com. Or they're available everywhere ebooks are sold if you have an ereader :)

Thanks for the support mate and I'll respond to your message soon :)

I am picking up book 3 this weekend so let me know when you all are ready! Yay!

Rock on!!

I love this series and will definitely be popping in to offer my two cents. Haha

Wendy F wrote: "I love this series and will definitely be popping in to offer my two cents. Haha"

Yay! I love Wendy's two cents :)

Hehe sounds good Wendy!!

Wendy F wrote: "I love this series and will definitely be popping in to offer my two cents. Haha"

I'll be keeping tabs as well. I'm already having flashbacks of when I read the third book. Apparently I was sitting at a coffee shop for some of it (per my review). I am completely and utterly invested in these characters.

I just picked up book 3 today!

I have mine as well...David suggested Wednesday for our buddy read?

Sounds good - I have two other library books to read and I want to start David's Country series this week if I am feeling better :)

I have plenty to read,too, lol! But I'm excited for Flesh & Bone! Its going to be so different without Tom, though :(

I am interested to actually read it Jenny because I listened to the first two on audiobook (and LOVED them on audio) but this one is not available on audio :( Per the author there was a conflict with the narrator (I emailed him :) I flipped through it quickly at the library and am excited to have actual pictures this time!

Yay, that's awesome, Heidi! (about the pics lol)

Oh yea! The collector zombie hunter cards!

Lol love the cards! And that's hilarious you emailed him! Well done :)

Totally love the cards! My daughter loves to open the books and look at the zombie cards too.

Ohhhh I hope there are cards in book 3. I feel so left out! I love audiobooks but sometimes you miss things - that is the same reason I had to buy a print copy of The Book Thief because I missed the pictures in there as well (Max's) and I went to the library to look at A Monster Calls, which also had awesome pictures.

Wendy F wrote: "Totally love the cards! My daughter loves to open the books and look at the zombie cards too."

Haha, that's awesome!!

Heidi (Seriously. Trust me.) wrote: "Ohhhh I hope there are cards in book 3. I feel so left out! I love audiobooks but sometimes you miss things - that is the same reason I had to buy a print copy of The Book Thief because I missed ..."

Yeah, that's true about audio and sometimes true about ebook too, because you can't see the maps and things that are too small. Print always is still the BEST!

David wrote: "Heidi (Seriously. Trust me.) wrote: "Ohhhh I hope there are cards in book 3. I feel so left out! I love audiobooks but sometimes you miss things - that is the same reason I had to buy a print cop..."

Print is still my favorite - I have to flip pages!

I love print! I'll read a book in e-form, love it and buy it in print, then I read it again just to feel the pages.

Me too Wendy!

Karen wrote: "Tom!!!! Love Tom!"

Me too.

Cindy wrote: "Karen wrote: "Tom!!!! Love Tom!"

Me too."

He's awesome :) Have you read all three books?

I'm about halfway through Rot & Ruin very cool so far

Gino wrote: "I'm about halfway through Rot & Ruin very cool so far"

Yay!

Gino wrote: "I'm about halfway through Rot & Ruin very cool so far"

Awesome! Glad you're enjoying it :)