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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Wow. Not usually a fan of zombie books but my nephew let me borrow the series so has to give it a try. I'd say 3.5 stars. But because it's my last book of 2016 I'll round it up to 4! Interesting concept of life after zombies and it's true that man can be monsters more then zombies... I know some that act like monsters. Happy new year.
Loved this book! This is my first zombie apocalypse book, wasn't sure I'd like it, but I immediately got sucked in. I thought the author did a great job of setting up a believable storyline, the characters were likable (minus the bad guys.....they were really bad), and I can't wait to read more of the series!
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book. Lots o action and gore. Characters I liked and an interesting take on the zombie Mythos wrapped up in a tidy YA package.
This was no Joe Ledger! that is in its own amazing world all its own !! However for a young adult Jonathan Maberry book this was great. One you get into the action I couldn't put it down. It was very fast paced. The Lost Girl added its own mysterious twist to it. It was a lot of fun.
Benny Imura needs a job. He's fifteen and his rations are going to be cut in half if he doesn't start contributing to society. Benny isn't picky. Any job will do as long as it requires minimal effort and doesn't involve working with his annoying, boring, completely irritating older brother Tom.
But being a locksmith apprentice is boring and involves carrying heavy tools all day. Fence testers have to walk the fence all day rattling it for loose spots that zombies might exploit. It also means possibly getting shot by the twitchy gun bulls because there is a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to infection. There's too much competition selling carpet coats. Pit thrower is too labor intensive. Not too mention it involves throwing quieted zombies into a burning pit and maybe getting infected. And pit raker, well, pit raker is exactly what it sounds like.
With no better options, Benny finds himself reluctantly apprenticed to his brother Tom, a zombie killer and "closure specialist"--whatever that means. Benny doesn't really care. At least he can keep his rations and has a job that sounds moderately cool.
But nothing about dealing with his brother, or the zoms, is anything like Benny expected. Out in the rot and ruin where the zombies run loose is different. Nothing is what Benny thought, not his heroes, not his friend Nix and her mother, and certainly not his hometown. Even Sam might be a lot more than Benny ever gave him credit for.
Soon Benny realizes the zombies are bad but they might not be the only monsters in Rot & Ruin (2010) by Jonathan Maberry.
Rot & Ruin far exceeded my expectations.
To understand why you have to understand that I'm on Team Unicorn.
I had heard about the book before it came out and was intrigued but after reading Zombies vs. Unicorns and struggling with the zombie stories, I started to think I wasn't a zombie person. I was worried about reading this one because not only did I expect it to drag but I also worried it would be too gross or too scary.
I was so, so, wrong to be worried about this book.
Rot & Ruin has everything I wanted from from a good book. It's the zombie book I've been hoping for.
Zombies are everywhere in young adult literature right now--throw a rock and you'll hit a book about the zombie apocalypse. What sets Rot & Ruin apart is the fact that Maberry's zombie interpretation (and story) is clever and original. Benny lives in a diverse world filled with shades of grey. Some of those greys happen to be zombies, some are not. Furthermore this isn't a story about surviving the zombie apocalypse or beating the zombies. That isn't happening, the humans lost. It's a fact. The really brilliant thing about Rot & Ruin is that the story starts with what happens after.
Everything about this book works. The story doesn't open with a lot of action but readers are immediately drawn into Benny's world and the bizarre and sometimes hysterical reality of his life after the zombie apocalypse. Rot & Ruin is serious, it's a page turner. But it's also really funny. Maberry's writing is clever throughout with the perfect blend of plot development, world building and character exposition.
Rot & Ruin was also selected as a finalist for the 2010 Cybils. AND it is also this year's winner! (Chosen by me and my other lovely panelists! I'm so excited I can finally tell you all, dear readers, how much I loved this book!)
Possible Pairings: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Zombies Vs. Unicorns by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (editors), Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, Generation Dead by Dan Waters
But being a locksmith apprentice is boring and involves carrying heavy tools all day. Fence testers have to walk the fence all day rattling it for loose spots that zombies might exploit. It also means possibly getting shot by the twitchy gun bulls because there is a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to infection. There's too much competition selling carpet coats. Pit thrower is too labor intensive. Not too mention it involves throwing quieted zombies into a burning pit and maybe getting infected. And pit raker, well, pit raker is exactly what it sounds like.
With no better options, Benny finds himself reluctantly apprenticed to his brother Tom, a zombie killer and "closure specialist"--whatever that means. Benny doesn't really care. At least he can keep his rations and has a job that sounds moderately cool.
But nothing about dealing with his brother, or the zoms, is anything like Benny expected. Out in the rot and ruin where the zombies run loose is different. Nothing is what Benny thought, not his heroes, not his friend Nix and her mother, and certainly not his hometown. Even Sam might be a lot more than Benny ever gave him credit for.
Soon Benny realizes the zombies are bad but they might not be the only monsters in Rot & Ruin (2010) by Jonathan Maberry.
Rot & Ruin far exceeded my expectations.
To understand why you have to understand that I'm on Team Unicorn.
I had heard about the book before it came out and was intrigued but after reading Zombies vs. Unicorns and struggling with the zombie stories, I started to think I wasn't a zombie person. I was worried about reading this one because not only did I expect it to drag but I also worried it would be too gross or too scary.
I was so, so, wrong to be worried about this book.
Rot & Ruin has everything I wanted from from a good book. It's the zombie book I've been hoping for.
Zombies are everywhere in young adult literature right now--throw a rock and you'll hit a book about the zombie apocalypse. What sets Rot & Ruin apart is the fact that Maberry's zombie interpretation (and story) is clever and original. Benny lives in a diverse world filled with shades of grey. Some of those greys happen to be zombies, some are not. Furthermore this isn't a story about surviving the zombie apocalypse or beating the zombies. That isn't happening, the humans lost. It's a fact. The really brilliant thing about Rot & Ruin is that the story starts with what happens after.
Everything about this book works. The story doesn't open with a lot of action but readers are immediately drawn into Benny's world and the bizarre and sometimes hysterical reality of his life after the zombie apocalypse. Rot & Ruin is serious, it's a page turner. But it's also really funny. Maberry's writing is clever throughout with the perfect blend of plot development, world building and character exposition.
Rot & Ruin was also selected as a finalist for the 2010 Cybils. AND it is also this year's winner! (Chosen by me and my other lovely panelists! I'm so excited I can finally tell you all, dear readers, how much I loved this book!)
Possible Pairings: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Zombies Vs. Unicorns by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (editors), Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, Generation Dead by Dan Waters
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I will start off by saying that this book was read as a class assignment. I know that many of my classmates enjoyed the book even went on to read the rest of the series.
That said, this book was not good. IN MY OPINION.
I found many if not all of the characters extremely unlikable. And every time I started to like one of them they would do something to ruin that. I couldn’t even have a favorite character because of how bad all of them behaved. And this is not to say that misbehaving characters can’t be a good thing, in many books it helps keep you entertained and create new problems. But in this story it felt like it was simply written in for the heck of it.
Throughout the book but especially in the beginning, characters and/or the narrator would say weird or inappropriate things. Such aswhen both characters and the narrator refer to a TEENAGE girl as having a large chest . It was gross to read and listen too (yes i read both versions).
The plot? What plot? SERIOUSLY WHAT WAS THE PLOT?? I couldn’t tell you. I understand that this is the first book in a series, but you could at least get us to an exciting part before we’re 4/5 of the way through the book! It was boring and, honestly, if it wasn’t assigned reading it would have been in my DNF list very quickly.
Overall, it wasn’t entertaining, it wasn’t well written, the characters made me annoyed and grossed out, and i did not like it. I will not be reading the rest of the series. But my classmates have said that “it gets better”. I would sure hope so.
That said, this book was not good. IN MY OPINION.
I found many if not all of the characters extremely unlikable. And every time I started to like one of them they would do something to ruin that. I couldn’t even have a favorite character because of how bad all of them behaved. And this is not to say that misbehaving characters can’t be a good thing, in many books it helps keep you entertained and create new problems. But in this story it felt like it was simply written in for the heck of it.
Throughout the book but especially in the beginning, characters and/or the narrator would say weird or inappropriate things. Such as
The plot? What plot? SERIOUSLY WHAT WAS THE PLOT?? I couldn’t tell you. I understand that this is the first book in a series, but you could at least get us to an exciting part before we’re 4/5 of the way through the book! It was boring and, honestly, if it wasn’t assigned reading it would have been in my DNF list very quickly.
Overall, it wasn’t entertaining, it wasn’t well written, the characters made me annoyed and grossed out, and i did not like it. I will not be reading the rest of the series. But my classmates have said that “it gets better”. I would sure hope so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
A quest story lacking a convincing purpose.
Meaningless animosity among brothers, which arose from pettiness and ended abruptly.
Meaningless animosity among brothers, which arose from pettiness and ended abruptly.