Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
3.5
Cool world-building. Liked the background characters more than the protagonist.
An okay-book.
Cool world-building. Liked the background characters more than the protagonist.
An okay-book.
I was about 60% through Rot and Ruin before (what I consider) the actual plot started. It took me an entire week to get through that portion of the book because it just felt like nothing was happening. That is a long time to spend setting up a universe that isn't really all that special. This wasn't a crazy fantastical land and I would argue that most readers have been exposed to the idea of zombies enough that this universe creation could have been done much quicker. It was almost akin to a teenager who was told that they need to write a five page essay but they only have two pages of true content planned out. The filler stuff wasn't bad or unenjoyable, it just wasn't necessary. I do think that as far as introductions to series go, this was not a bad one. All of the important characters were introduced, we got some solid back story for the mysterious ones and development in the cases of Benny and Nix, both together and apart.
This novel created a very realistic situation for kids who have always lived a certain way to change and I think that is the most important part of a "zombie" novel. So many story lines have these incredibly brave young teens who want to go out and find something beyond their compound but often they don't have a good reason to do so and that bothers me. I am glad that Webtoon led me to this book and I can't wait to read the next!
This novel created a very realistic situation for kids who have always lived a certain way to change and I think that is the most important part of a "zombie" novel. So many story lines have these incredibly brave young teens who want to go out and find something beyond their compound but often they don't have a good reason to do so and that bothers me. I am glad that Webtoon led me to this book and I can't wait to read the next!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
A wonderful, fast-paced zombie apocalypse tale. Strong male and female characters, though it's main characters are two brothers. Easy to read with a plot that takes off running. Nothing earth-shattering in the zombie genre but executed really well. In fact, its basic premise is similar to "The Forest of Hands and Teeth," with less religiosity. I think Rot & Ruin will have widespread appeal, much like The Hunger Games. It gets pretty violent by the end, with a smattering of strong language and making out.The start of a new series and I can hardly wait for book two!
I wanted to like this book more. I really did. It started off great, fast paced, fun characters, funnier dialogue.. and then, things took a turn for the the.. "WAIT WHAT, WHY!"
What really upset me was Tom, the peaceful zombie killer, who basically said killing a zombie without "permission" from the family is like peeing on someone's grave. What. In. The. World. That analogy falls short on so many levels! If you were to defecate on someone's grave it would be inappropriate (to say the least), because there's family who care about the person who you just.. well peed on (that's the point Tom makes).. He said that killing a zombie is awful, because it disrespects the family of said zombie. I'm sorry, but if my dead relative is walking around trying to EAT ME, and spread disease that could end up killing humanity... Please, exterminate them! This is a ZOMBIE novel for peete's sake!! Stop tying to be noble and kill the darn things!
Anyways there was some action in the story, but it didn't seem like to much because there were so many chapters filled with was covered up by long stories and explanations (that I ended up just skimming through)..
I loved the writing style and pace. Wish it would have been a better story, but I'll stick with the series and see how things pan out!
What really upset me was Tom, the peaceful zombie killer, who basically said killing a zombie without "permission" from the family is like peeing on someone's grave. What. In. The. World. That analogy falls short on so many levels! If you were to defecate on someone's grave it would be inappropriate (to say the least), because there's family who care about the person who you just.. well peed on (that's the point Tom makes).. He said that killing a zombie is awful, because it disrespects the family of said zombie. I'm sorry, but if my dead relative is walking around trying to EAT ME, and spread disease that could end up killing humanity... Please, exterminate them! This is a ZOMBIE novel for peete's sake!! Stop tying to be noble and kill the darn things!
Anyways there was some action in the story, but it didn't seem like to much because there were so many chapters filled with was covered up by long stories and explanations (that I ended up just skimming through)..
I loved the writing style and pace. Wish it would have been a better story, but I'll stick with the series and see how things pan out!
[3.75] After the misogynistic dumpster fire that was Zombie Rules by David Achord, I was determined to find better zombie books. This is on a much better track. I don't love it, and I don't hate it either. It presents some interesting questions about the humanity of the undead, and the ethics of a society post-collapse.
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So it's not the worst book I've ever read.
1. It's not very well-written. Sounds like fan fic, or someone trying to be a writer by publishing this on their blog.
2. The romance is awkward and out of place and takes away from the story.
3. There is I think one plot twist, and then there's a surprise at the end of the story, except that the plot twist is obvious and everyone expects it and the surprise would be a surprise if it weren't so obvious.
4. I finished this book wondering what the point (or the plot) was. They find some things they're looking for, they stop some stuff they hate, but they wanted to bring down something bigger and they didn't accomplish it. Now I understand why this was book one, but honestly it wasn't good enough for a book two and if it weren't free online I wouldn't even consider reading the second. I have considered reading it, but decided against it, bc there is no one and nothing about the story that is appealing or makes me want to come back.
5. Sad parts weren't sad. Happy parts weren't happy. The characters weren't compelling, so I didn't feel anything for them, even when they lost someone.
6. There weren't any likeable characters. The main ones are obviously good guys and don't do wrong things without questioning whether they should and without feeling huge guilt after they do, and then realizing yk it's honestly not wrong if we're doing it to baddies, so then they feel good about themselves. Which is fine, but their emotions were boring and stereotypical and I skimmed when they started crying or talking about feelings, bc their feelings weren't interesting or relatable or understandable or even confusing but you feel like you get where they're coming from.
7. For people always talking about closure, this book was surprisingly unsatisfying. There wasn't any closure at the end, even though the author is trying to wrap things (like their relationship) up.
8. A good author should be able to take an unrealistic, impossible situation and make it seem realistic and possible. They should be able to take emotions about that unrealistic, impossible event and make those emotions relatable, even though the circumstances are unrelatable. This author does none of that and I was bored and tired of the main character by the middle of the book.
However, Tom does have some good things he points out, and a few of their conversations were interesting to read because they were talking about things true in any world.
If I had to choose, I'd probably go with reading it on Webtoons.
Quotes I liked that were too long to fit in an update:
read online: https://novels80.com/243770-rot-and-ruin.html
1. It's not very well-written. Sounds like fan fic, or someone trying to be a writer by publishing this on their blog.
2. The romance is awkward and out of place and takes away from the story.
3. There is I think one plot twist, and then there's a surprise at the end of the story, except that the plot twist is obvious and everyone expects it and the surprise would be a surprise if it weren't so obvious.
4. I finished this book wondering what the point (or the plot) was. They find some things they're looking for, they stop some stuff they hate, but they wanted to bring down something bigger and they didn't accomplish it. Now I understand why this was book one, but honestly it wasn't good enough for a book two and if it weren't free online I wouldn't even consider reading the second. I have considered reading it, but decided against it, bc there is no one and nothing about the story that is appealing or makes me want to come back.
5. Sad parts weren't sad. Happy parts weren't happy. The characters weren't compelling, so I didn't feel anything for them, even when they lost someone.
6. There weren't any likeable characters. The main ones are obviously good guys and don't do wrong things without questioning whether they should and without feeling huge guilt after they do, and then realizing yk it's honestly not wrong if we're doing it to baddies, so then they feel good about themselves. Which is fine, but their emotions were boring and stereotypical and I skimmed when they started crying or talking about feelings, bc their feelings weren't interesting or relatable or understandable or even confusing but you feel like you get where they're coming from.
7. For people always talking about closure, this book was surprisingly unsatisfying. There wasn't any closure at the end, even though the author is trying to wrap things (like their relationship) up.
8. A good author should be able to take an unrealistic, impossible situation and make it seem realistic and possible. They should be able to take emotions about that unrealistic, impossible event and make those emotions relatable, even though the circumstances are unrelatable. This author does none of that and I was bored and tired of the main character by the middle of the book.
However, Tom does have some good things he points out, and a few of their conversations were interesting to read because they were talking about things true in any world.
If I had to choose, I'd probably go with reading it on Webtoons.
Quotes I liked that were too long to fit in an update:
Spoiler
"I hear you when you say you’d kill Charlie, and for the most part I believe you, but there’s a little hesitation in your voice. If I’d have asked the same question last night, you’d have said yes without the slightest hesitation, because the hurt was immediate. It was right there in your face. But this is hours later. The blood cools, and the more distance you put between the heat of passion and any act of commission makes something like killing much harder to do. When people talk about killing in cold blood, they’re referring to something someone does even after they’ve calmed down and had time to think. If it takes us a month to find Charlie, you might not want him dead at all. You might want to see him put on trial, you might want to see the system work instead of getting blood on your own hands."
.
On their first trip into the Ruin, Tom had said that fear makes you smart, but Benny understood now that his brother had been talking about caution rather than fear. These zoms, every last one of them—even the smallest child—would kill him if they could, but not one of them meant him harm. Meaning, intention, will … None of that was part of their makeup. There was no more malice there than in a lightning strike or bacteria on a rusted nail, and as he sat there, he felt his terror of them give way to an awareness of them as something merely dangerous. The intense hatred of the dead he had once harbored was gone completely; burned out of him in Harold Simmons’s house. Only the fear had remained, and now that, too, was wavering in its intensity.
.
Sometimes you have to go to some pretty extreme lengths to make a point and to make it stick. Otherwise you find yourself having to make the same point over and over again.
.
He set his sword down and used his thumb and fore-finger to lift a bit of the fabric, and as he did, he understood what this was. The rags were the remnants of clothes—a brown uniform trimmed with gold cord. An old flat-brimmed hat lay under the remains. A tarnished badge was pinned to the crown. Benny had never met one, but he’d seen pictures of forest rangers in books. This was the ranger. Had he been bitten and crawled in here to die? No … that made no sense. He’d have turned. Then Benny considered the pistol, and he understood. The man had been bitten, and he’d come in here to do what was necessary to keep himself from becoming a monster. Even though Benny knew this sort of thing had probably happened hundreds of thousands of times around the world, seeing it here, firsthand, made it almost unbearably sad.
read online: https://novels80.com/243770-rot-and-ruin.html
After failing at nearly every job available, Benny Imura agrees to be apprenticed to his older brother as a zombie killer. Benny looks up to other zombie killers in his small, fortified town, but hates his brother because of his earliest memory...the First Night, when Tom carried Benny away running from his mother as his zombie father attacked her. Now Tom needs to teach Benny that not is all as it seems in the land outside of their perimeter. After Benny's friend is kidnapped by some very scary zombie hunters, he and Benny need to venture out into the wilderness to come to her rescue. Benny has to not only face thousands of hungry zombies, but also needs to come to terms with his past.
Rot & Ruin was a very solid YA debut for author Jonathan Maberry. I enjoyed Maberry's [b:Patient Zero|3993839|Patient Zero (Joe Ledger, #1)|Jonathan Maberry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267122808s/3993839.jpg|4039913] a bit more than this one, because I thought there was far more action and a more intricate plot, but I understand that there are different expectations for adult v. young adult fiction. As far as the YA genre goes, this is a very good book. It doesn't get too wrapped up in romance, there are real stakes, not just concerning zombies, but also dealing with family dynamics and ethics, and the teenage male narrator isn't obsessed with sex, which always irks me in make protagonist YA fiction. Maberry has good reason to be proud of this one.
Rot & Ruin was a very solid YA debut for author Jonathan Maberry. I enjoyed Maberry's [b:Patient Zero|3993839|Patient Zero (Joe Ledger, #1)|Jonathan Maberry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267122808s/3993839.jpg|4039913] a bit more than this one, because I thought there was far more action and a more intricate plot, but I understand that there are different expectations for adult v. young adult fiction. As far as the YA genre goes, this is a very good book. It doesn't get too wrapped up in romance, there are real stakes, not just concerning zombies, but also dealing with family dynamics and ethics, and the teenage male narrator isn't obsessed with sex, which always irks me in make protagonist YA fiction. Maberry has good reason to be proud of this one.