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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I love this book. What's more, many many of my students (7th graders) love this book. The story is great. The characters are fully realized, the world is fully imagined and makes sense. It's awesome.
What I particularly like about Maberry's style in this book is that each chapter is really only about 1000-2000 words or less. It makes a big book for a 7th grader somehow seem less intimidating; it's like saying oh, I'll just eat one oreo, and then you look up and you finished off one sleeve. Soon it's the whole package. Before you know it you've read a 500 page book, which for some 7th graders is quite an accomplishment.
The fact that Maberry works in some really good lessons about humanity and how we are and how we should be without being really very preachy at all is also super-awesome.
I highly highly recommend this one. If you're a teacher and you're trying to hook some reluctant readers, this book might be the one that changes their life.
What I particularly like about Maberry's style in this book is that each chapter is really only about 1000-2000 words or less. It makes a big book for a 7th grader somehow seem less intimidating; it's like saying oh, I'll just eat one oreo, and then you look up and you finished off one sleeve. Soon it's the whole package. Before you know it you've read a 500 page book, which for some 7th graders is quite an accomplishment.
The fact that Maberry works in some really good lessons about humanity and how we are and how we should be without being really very preachy at all is also super-awesome.
I highly highly recommend this one. If you're a teacher and you're trying to hook some reluctant readers, this book might be the one that changes their life.
adventurous
dark
sad
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
Ok, so it is a YA zombie book - and you can't expect a lot of YA zombie books. But this one has a refreshing take on the genre. For the first 2/3 of the book, protagonist was a bit bi-polar with his opinions about... well, everything. But in the end, he mellowed out (about his extreme opinions anyway) it was a great book. And everything surrounding is teenage crazy was pretty dang good... for a YA zombie book.
Finished reading: July 25th 2016
“Often it was the most unlikely people who found within themselves a spark of something greater. It was probably always there, but most people are never tested, and they go through their whole lives without ever knowing that when things are at their worst, they are at their best.”
Spoiler
Zombie stories are normally not really for me, but I've become less prejudiced after I finished and loved The Girl With All The Gifts earlier this month. So when I was browsing Riveted and saw I could read Rot & Ruin for free (until August 1st), I decided to jump right in. Especially since I have had this series by Jonathan Maberry on my wishlist for a long time in the first place. I'm glad I decided to give Rot & Ruin a go, because I ended up really enjoying this story despite my reservations for zombie stories. The dystopian worldbuilding is interesting and I liked the idea of the separation between the relatively safe town and the 'wild'. The descriptions of both the zombies and the world itself are well done; the zombies are slightly humanised (especially by the older brother Tom) and that was certainly refreshing. There is a lot of action (and shouting!) involved in the story, making it into a fast-paced read and without doubt entertaining. Another bonus: there is almost no romance in Rot & Ruin, which is rare in a YA fantasy/dystopian series. Although I'm having the suspicion there might be more in the sequel... Because there sure were some pretty obvious hints at possible romantic developments and even a love triangle. I'm glad there wasn't any in the first book though and the ending was quite satisfying (even though the final fighting scenes were not that credible). All in all Rot & Ruin is an interesting, entertaining and fast-paced zombie read that will appeal to fans of the genre.
Benny Imura grew up in this zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America and doesn't know any better; his biggest worry being his need to find a job before his time is up and his rations are cut in half. His older brother and zombie hunter Tom does remember the time before the First Night though... As he saw their father turn into a zombie in front of them and had to run with little Benny. Benny still feels Tom is a coward and when Tom offers him to be his apprentice, Benny refuses. But he cannot seem to get another job that interests him, so it seems like he will have no choice but to accept his boring brother's offer. But when he goes outside for the first time to see how his brother does his job, he encounters a whole different reality. Benny realizes he has been wrong about a whole lot of things in life, including his brother...
It kind of came as a surprise, but Rot & Ruin turned out to be another exception to the rule and I really enjoyed this zombie and action-packed story. It's well written and the worldbuilding is interesting, and I liked the fact that the zombies are slightly humanised and the bounty hunters are the actual bad guys. The fact that there is almost no romance involved is a huge bonus as well... At one point I thought this was going to be a repeat experience of The 5th Wave (cheesy romance scenes ruining an excellent story), but I guess I was wrong. If you enjoy reading the genre, I can definitely recommend Rot & Ruin! The sequel is already on my wishlist.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
This book sheds an entirely different light from the rest of those books whose characters dwell in a post-apocalyptic zombie world. It gave the readers a more humane perspective towards the undead whose primary instinct is to feed. It even voiced out questions that may have or may have not entered the reader's mind. Why do they never fully rot despite the times? Why is their basic instinct to bite into warm flesh? And if they're not in the presence of such, why do they only stay immobile? Never aging, never living.
I honestly like this side of the story that Rot and Ruin shows. It implied the correlation between the world of the undead and the world of the living. It reminds me so much of how this one particular series that I like not only show the zombie-bashing gore but also what it does to people. Hence, I end this review with a quote that sparked discussions for that series.
"We are the walking dead."
I honestly like this side of the story that Rot and Ruin shows. It implied the correlation between the world of the undead and the world of the living. It reminds me so much of how this one particular series that I like not only show the zombie-bashing gore but also what it does to people. Hence, I end this review with a quote that sparked discussions for that series.
"We are the walking dead."
TOM! Tom, tom tom tom tom tom TOM :) Enjoyed the characters. Even the "teen coming into his own" was believeable, given reason that never felt repeated and appreciation for the gradual "i have lived a life different from my own" rather than the sudden oops i guess i was wrong.
It's been a bit since I had a Zombie read. This was good. I went with the audiobook, borrowed from my library. I was able to snag the Kindle copy too, but didn't really need to refer to it. I liked the start, already several years into the Zombie apocalypse, to where the younger kids don't really know anything from before. Where bounty hunters are paid to find specific Zombies, where people have different perspectives on how they should be treated ... humanely put out of their misery, or killed for sport. There are "zombie cards" like baseball cards. This was similar to "The Walking Dead" in that anyone who died in any manner, would become a zombie. So those within a community would be "quieted" before they could hurt anyone else.
The book ended ... and then there was an epilogue. To me, an epilogue is more an add-on, perhaps not even necessary. The epilogue here I felt was just the final chapter. I thought the conclusion here was good. It didn't really even feel like a set-up for a series, although I can see that there are several books that come after, and I am definitely interested in seeing what else will happen in the future.
The book ended ... and then there was an epilogue. To me, an epilogue is more an add-on, perhaps not even necessary. The epilogue here I felt was just the final chapter. I thought the conclusion here was good. It didn't really even feel like a set-up for a series, although I can see that there are several books that come after, and I am definitely interested in seeing what else will happen in the future.
Great zombie story with a little bit of a twist. This book tells the story of Benny and Tom Imura brothers living together after the great zombie virus outbreak. Benny is approaching 15 the age at which he must choose a job or face a reduction of his rations. After trying out many different sorts of jobs- lookout, fence repair, locksmith,- and finding none of them satisfying, Benny is forced to consider following in his older brother's calling of zombie hunter. Then the adventure begins! Follow Benny and Tom as they take on the great Rot and Ruin. This is the first book in a series. The next is Dust & Decay.
Fast-paced and tightly plotted, Jonathan Maberry's Rot & Ruin is like a classic Old West gunslinger novel set in a beautifully imagined postapocalyptic America. First in a trilogy, the sequels are Dust & Decay and the recently released Flesh & Bone.
Read the rest of my trifecta of teen zombie mayhem on BCPL's Between the Covers: http://www.bcpl.info/between-the-covers/teenage-tartare
Read the rest of my trifecta of teen zombie mayhem on BCPL's Between the Covers: http://www.bcpl.info/between-the-covers/teenage-tartare