Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry starting on September 7, 2025.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

Here goes... working off of the list on Maberry's website:
https://www.jonathanmaberry.com/joele...

Joe Ledger DMS main series [link]
1. Patient Zero (Jul 7)
0. Short: Countdown in Joe Ledger: Special Ops collection)
1.1 Short: Zero Tolerance (in Special Ops)
1.2 Short: Deep, Dark (in Special Ops)
1.3 Short: Material Witness
2. The Dragon Factory (Aug 7) [link]
2.1 Short: Dog Days (in print versions of Dragon Factory)
2.2 Short: Changeling (in Special Ops)

3. The King of Plagues (Sept 7)

====Requests made to here====

4. Assassin's Code (Oct? Dec?)
4.1 Short: A Footnote in the Black Budget in The Madness of Cthulhu collection
4.2 Short: Mad Science (in Special Ops)
4.3 Short: Borrowed Power (in Special Ops)
5. Extinction Machine
6. Code Zero
6.1 Novella: Three Guys Walk Into a Bar in Limbus, Inc.: Book II
6.2 Short: Artifact (in Special Ops)
6.3 Short: The Handyman Gets Out (in Special Ops)
7. Predator One
8. Kill Switch
9. Dogs of War
10. Deep Silence
10.1 Short: Atoll in Joe Ledger: Unstoppable collection
10.2 Novella: All the Devils are Here in Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror

Joe Ledger: Rogue Team International
1. Rage
2. Relentless
3. Cave 13
4. Burn to Shine
5. Red Empire

Joe Ledger Collections
Joe Ledger: Special Ops (all shorts listed above)
Joe Ledger: Unstoppable (various authors playing in Maberry's sandbox)
Joe Ledger: Unbreakable (2nd Multi-author collection)
Joe Ledger: Secret Missions Volume One and Two (crossover collection)
Maberry's reading order puts Unstoppable here--but he also stopped updating after 2015

Dead of Night
Picks up a few years or so after the Rogue Team books. Some cameos by Ledger.
1. Dead of Night
1.1 Short: Jack and Jill in 21st Century Dead collection
1.2 Short: Chokepoint in Hungry Tales collection
1.5 Short The Wind Through the Fence in Wind Through the Fence: And Other Stories
2. Fall of Night
2.1 Short: Lone Gunman in Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology
2.2 Short: Not This War, Not My World in Wastelands: The New Apocalypse collection
3. Dark of Night - Flesh and Fire
4. Still of Night

Rot & Ruin
Picks up a decade or so after Dead of Night series. Joe becomes a regular by #3. Younger protagonists.
0.5
1. Rot & Ruin
1.5 vingettes In the Land of the Dead Bonus on Maberry's Website: (https://www.jonathanmaberry.com/files...)
2. Dust & Decay
2.3 Novella: Dead & Gone in Tales of the Rot & Ruin: Rot & Ruin; Dust & Decay; Dead & Gone; Flesh & Bone or solo Kindle ebook
2.5 Graphic Novel: Rot & Ruin Warrior Smart #1-5
3. Flesh & Bone
3.5 Novella: Tooth & Nail Kindle ebook?
4. Fire & Ash
5. Bits & Pieces

Broken Lands
Direct continuation of Rot & Ruin--#1 of Broken Lands is #6 of Rot & Ruin
1. Broken Lands
2. Lost Roads

V-Wars
A series of Graphic Novels with Ledger cameos

OK folks, when do we want the next one? Keep barrelling through Spooky/Cozy season, or pick up in Dec or Jan?

Y'all should look at the [list] for Spooky/Cozy before making a decision... it's pretty massive. Comment 22.

I can't answer that but I'll join in starting at book 7 :D Your Oct and Nov is pretty booked though.

Assassin's Code is vampires... sounds like Spooktober to me... up to you guys about November...

Reading this today...

In my head, I thought big world-changing events didn't start happening in the series until #7 Predator One, which I think is the drone book...

But here we are in book 4, and I'm noting (view spoiler)[the oldest hospital in London/UK blown up... Area 51 destroyed (and we're not even to the alien book yet)... the list goes on, really, big things keep getting destroyed... (hide spoiler)]

This is also a great entry, introducing a number of iconic villains... The Seven Kings really ARE like the Sinister SIx of the Ledgerverse... some themed after Four Horsemen like Plagues and War, etc...

Also the first book (of multiple) to bring back surviving villains from previous books (Toys & his boss from book 1, billionaire healthcare guy making zombies and curable bioagents)

I think I spoiled some stuff about one of the new villains here in previous threads/general Joe Ledger discussions... I forgot how he was introduced here... I think he went by other names in times past, but he's always referred to by his name here from here on when he shows up...

That scene with Topps' wife (view spoiler)[really scared me, since I know nobody is safe in this series, and it could have been another death I forgot about, when the car was attacked/bombed/whatever (hide spoiler)]

It feels like a recurring issue in the main books of this series, that the villains know way too much about the DMS, causing alot of collateral damage...

They only really get to cleanly kick ass and take names in the short story anthologies...

All this, and I'm only 30% into my re-read...