Flesh & Bone (2012) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Benjamin "Benny" Imura: main character; 16 years old; looking for a jet that he and his friends saw flying in the skies months ago; figures other societies are out there--if there is a jet; travels with friends: Nix, Chong, and Lilah (AKA The Lost Girl); all have been trained by his brother, Tom--who was the best bounty hunter in the Ruin but was murdered a while back--to survive in the Rot & Ruin
• Joe: He is a bounty hunter; knew Tom; reapers are out to get him--and, he is definitely out to destroy the reapers...enjoys the challenge
• Phoenix "Nix" Riley: Red-headed girl; freckled hands; scar running from her hairline and down her cheek to her jawline; competent fighter; and Benny's feisty girlfriend; she keeps a journal
• Lilah: Also known as The Lost Girl because she lived alone in the Ruin from age 11 - 16; currently the de facto leader of the expedition to find the jet; expert tracker; tall, pale white hair, hazel eyes, and lithe; beautiful; doesn't know all the social cues because she has been out of society for so long; great zombie killer; her first love was Tom; she likes Chong
• Louis "Lou" Chong: has sharp senses; long black hair; Chinese 'town boy;' can be clumsy at times but has wiry strength; Benny's best friend; Chong loves Lilah
• Saint John: misshapened body; favored son of Lord Thanatos; he is a fanatical believer; is the "first: of the reapers; believes that he is the guide to all--leading them to darkness/death
• Mother Rose: She is tall, haughty, has eyes that radiate dark light and has silky black hair; she is the most beautiful lady Lilah has seen; leads an army of motorcycle riders who she calls reapers; they bow to her
• Tom Imura: Benny's brother who was murdered (in the last novel); was the best bounty hunter in the Ruin; trained Benny and his team to be warriors
• Eve Carter: 5 years old; little blonde child (reminds Lilah of her little sister, Annie); Benny comes upon her in Nevada; Benny and his friends save her from zombies
• Brother Simon: reaper; carries a two-handled sword
• Brother Alexi: giant bodyguard to Mother Rose; carries a sledghammer
• Brother Jack: reaper
• Sister Abigail: reaper
• Brother Gomez: reaper
• (Sister) Margaret: Rose's daughter; left the reapers; Rose thinks she is leading people to sanctuary
• Sister Caitlyn: used to live in Red Rock; knows the trails in the area really well; reporting to Mother Rose...
• Riot "Ry Ry": 17 years old; carries a slingshot; has a scalped/tattooed head; tattoos of roses and winding vines; wears a silver necklace with a skeleton key; with Eve and the Treetops people
• Sarah: Eve's mother
• Carter: Mother Rose and the reapers consider Carter and the people he is leading as heretics; Carter and Andrew (now a reaper: descrip below) led people out of Omaha (after First Night) and built Treetops ~ started a new life
• Brother Andrew: He and Carter led people out of Omaha and built Treetops and started a new life; now he is a reaper
• Bother Peter: reaper; a natural, a prodigy; he was second only to St John in the number of heretics he had led to the darkness
• Danny: archer
• Sister Amy: reaper
• Brother Eric: burly/strong man with a bushy brown beard; Mother Rose's most trusted team leader; deacon of great power; close friend of Brothers Simon and Alexi
• Hiram: corn farmer; hunted for his small settlement
• Brother Mako: Big Hawaiian; was one of the citizens from Treetops

Quotes edit see section history

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• “Other twisted and broken zoms clawed along the ground toward him, crawling over one another like maggots on a piece of bad meat.”

  Narrator

• “Benny...most people aren't defeated--they lose!”

  Tom's advice to Benny

• “For just a moment he saw the people they had been. Not monsters. Real people. Lost People. People who had gotten sick, or who had been bitten and who had died only to be reborn into a kind of hell beyond anything anyone should suffer.”

  Benny's thoughts

• “Except that death collected everyone. Death is like that. Relentlessly efficient.”

  Lilah

• “What he found instead dried the spit in his mouth and made his heart begin pounding like the hooves of a galloping horse.”

  Narrator (about Benny)

• “That town is limbo. It's nothing, it isn't real. The people there, they're no different from the zoms. They think they're alive because they can talk, but they don't talk about anything. They chatter. They make small talk and pretend that's the same as engaging with one another. Going through the motions of life is not the same thing as living.”

  Nix

• “And you're going to say that the tough thing to do is the right thing to do. That it's the samurai thing to do. That it's the warrior smart thing to do. That if we have information that could save lives, then it's our responsibility to do exacltly that. Right? Isn't that what you were going to say?”

  Nix

• “Now, I'm willing to bet a brand-new ration dollar that not one of you is going to bravely stand there while I throw this <M67 fragmentation grenade>. In fact, I'm willing to bet you're all going to run away as if you really are afraid for your own lives. What do you thing about that?”

  Joe

• “One man.”

  Nix

• “World's a big strange place, Benny. What makes you think I know everything?”

  Tom

Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Nevada: Benny and his friends are in this state during the novel
• Ruin: Benny and his friends continue to fight zombies in the Ruin; but it seems some of the initial criteria of zombies is changing so their fighting skills are having to morph too
• Treetops: place where Eve says she used to live; Eve says angels (who had wings on their chests and came on growly horses) lit the trees on fire and her townspeople ran
• Red Rock: one of the reapers is from this area; she knows the trails well
• Sanctuary: seems all are looking for this haven--supposed to be hidden close by; monks run it...don't mind people coming in but don't like them leaving
• Las Vegas, NV: in the immediate area
• Shrine of the Fallen: supposed to be some type of holy place
• Mojave Desert: part of the Ruin currently being traveled
• American Nation: name on a plane

Organizations edit see section history

• bounty hunters: are paid to bring in/kill certain people for money
• reapers: St John and Mother Rose are their leaders; believe that Darkness/Death is eternal and necessary, especially for heretics
• heretics: according to St John and Mother Rose's philosophy--these are nonbelievers and must go to the Darkness/Death
• zombies: walking dead (are adapting/morphing during this novel)
• monks: run Sanctuary

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• First Night: This is the night where the dead first rose as zombies
• Battle of Gameland: a place where people placed bets on fights between humans and zombies; it turned out to be quite an enterprise
• living death: what the zombies are experiencing
• bounty hunters: roam the Ruin looking for people (i.e. The Lost Girl) and taking them in to receive money from whomever placed the reward
• Zoms: another term for zombies
• cadaverine: liquid that smells like dead people; keeps zombies away
• katana: type of weapon used to destroy zombies (and others)
• Warrior Smart Program: Tom's training program; includes martial arts: karate, tae kwondo, kung fu, aikido, judo; tracking and hunting skills as well
• bokken: type of weapon used to destroy zombies (and others)
• post-First Night slang: Describe this term.
• monks
• reapers: group of people who believe darkness is eternal; send heretics to the darkness
• Thanatos: According to Ancient Greek culture: he was one of the two aspects of death; he is the nonviolent death god
• heretics: according to St John and Mother Rose--these are nonbelievers and are "destined" to go to the Darkness/death
• Sanctuary: many are looking for this place--said to have medicines to treat the diseases that are swallowing the Ruins--supposedly Sister Margaret already discovered it and can lead others there
• Night Church: reapers belong to this
• plague: refers to the zombies epidemic
• Gray Plague: refers to the zombies epidemic
• scientists
• cure: supposedly, the scientists came up with a cure for the Gray Plague--but then they and the info disappeared....
• Endtimes: another name (used by reapers) given to death
• bandoliers
• quads: ATVs used by the reapers
• red mouths: gashes intentionally inflicted; blood letting; used to torture/get info
• rotgut: whiskey
• LAW rocket: looks like a Super Soaker

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Survival of the Fittest through adaptation.: Describe this theme.
• Sacrificing of self to protect others
• Good versus Evil
• Dystopian Future
• Teenage Struggles
• Death and loss
• Plane: symbol of civilization/world as it once was (before the Gray Plague); that is why when Benny and his friends saw the plane flying...they needed to track it; if they find the plane--they find civilization

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Dust & Decay, and followed by Fire & Ash .

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jonathan Maberry (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Great series for reluctant readers; great boy book that girls will want to read too (no strong language or mature themes).

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Horror
• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Family

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