No Safety in Numbers

Lorentz, Dayna. No Safety in Numbers. 1. 1. New York: Penguin Group, 2012. 1-263. Print.

ISBN: 978-0-8037-3873-7

No Safety in Numbers

Written by: Dayna Lorentz

Reviewed by: Brandon Burtis

Recommended Audience: High School

     The story starts with our narrator, Marco.  Marco is the main narrator and he is the only one in the story who has a job. Lexi is the 14 year old female narrator who was just forced to be enrolled into private school. Lexi is also a very computer friendly person. Ryan is the new kid on the football team whose main goal is to fit in with everyone but he is finding it difficult because of their rude and obnoxious behavior. Shaila (Shay) is a big fan of poetry and now has the responsibility of caring for her sister and her diabetic grandma.

     The story starts with Marco running from some jocks in the mall. To get away from them, he runs into a room and hides. In this room, he spots a strange looking device and calls for help. When they find out it is a biological bomb, the government decides to quarantine the mall along with everyone in it. Marco soon runs into Shay and the story starts off here. We soon find out that this problem isn’t going away. The people begin to get sick and the food supplies start to run very low. About 100 pages into the book people within the mall begin to riot. And the story goes from there.

     This story was obviously made just to get you interested in the upcoming books. This became obvious to me when people just started to riot at 100 pages is and the book is only 263 pages long. This story was a very good and read and I definitely recommend it to a friend who likes to read.

Author’s website:

http://www.daynalorentz.com/

Publisher’s website:

http://www.us.penguingroup.com/

Description of book on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12971664-no-safety-in-numbers

Book trailer on YouTube:

Fire & Ash

Maberry, Johnathan. Fire & Ashe. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-1-4424-3992-4

Fire & Ash

Written By: Johnathon Maberry

Reviewed By: Andy Oliver

Recommended Audience: High School

Have you ever had to make decisions that depended on your life or someone else’s? This happens to Benny Imura on a daily basis. 14 years after the zombie infestation has struck earth, it is up to Benny and his friends, Nix, Chong, and Lilah to set things right in the world. This is the fourth book of the Rot & Ruin series. For a little recap that happens if the first three books, Benny and friends are from a small little haven from the death called “Mountainside”, located in the mountains of California. Benny, his older brother, Tom, Nix, Chong, and Lilah kill an evil man by the name of Charlie Pink-Eye, and destroy Gameland, a place where evil men throw innocent into pits to fight zombies to gamble. During this event, Tom is shot in the back and killed, although they succeed in destroying the place, the loss of one of the greatest men in the Rot & Ruin (What the world is now called) took a lot out of them. Benny and friends then set out on a journey of what Tom intended to take with them- to find where a jet came from. After the zombies started to attack, the military Nuked all the major cities, causing an EMP effect, disabling all and every electronics, yet there was that jet. While looking for the jet, they come across a cult of death worshipers who’s purpose is to kill every last of the living so that the zombies would rule the world as intended. By the skin of their teeth, they escape and find the jet in “Sanctuary”, which is located in Area 51, Arizona; but in the process, Chong was hit with a zombie flesh infected arrow and is on the verge of death. Benny, Nix, and Lilah now have to find these research notes by a scientist who is thought dead that might of found out the cure for the zombie plague.

When reading this book, you can actually feel as if you are there too. Johnathan Maberry does an excellent job with detail, character development, and of course, action sequences.  I’ve actually written to Johnathan, praising him of the book and how funny certain lines were. Well it turns out, he is great friends with the creator of the Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, and added some aspects from the comic/show into the book to make it clear that Benny Imura and Rick Grimes are actually from the same zombie apocalypse. Robert also did that same, but more discretely (I would of shown a quote from the e-mail but it appears that i must of accidentally deleted it). This book, and the whole series is mostly for teenager due to the mild language and descriptive gore, though I do recommend it to everyone over the age of 13. In closing, I highly recommend this book. It’s a great read and once you’re done, you’d be begging for the author to add more to the series (Which i did ask him in the e-mail, and he replied he’s working on it right now!)

A more in depth review: http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2013/07/the-fire-ash-review-that-became-love.html

Author’s website: http://www.jonathanmaberry.com/

About the publisher: http://www.simonandschuster.biz/

Video about the book:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_faERB_NI

Sound Cloud: https://soundcloud.com/blamethegamer/fire-ash-recordind