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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
The world is over. The living dead walk the earth. Benny Imura lives in a small community named Moutainside, a fenced in town away from the horros outside. Benny lives with his older half brother Tom, who happens to work as a bounty hunter. Desperate for a job, Benny agrees to work with Tom. Ultimately, Benny learns the truth about his brother and the people he idolized are not wat they seem.
Benny is your average 14 turning 15 year old. He hates his brother, scared of girls, and would rather hang out with his friends. He’s reluctant to change his view of his brother - the coward - ever since First Night, the day the whole world went to hell, fourteen years ago.
Benny shows amazing growth by the end of the novel. He did not have a clear view of reality in the beginning and in the end he understands the people around him, his brother, and his world better.
The characters in the novel are unique and each have their individual stories before living at Mountainside and before, during and after First Night.
The conflict is perfect for this story. The build up and resolution is fast paced and believable.
Rot & Ruin would have been a great stand alone novel, honestly. The small incident with the jumbo jet propelled this book into a series.
The environment and the premise behind Roth & Ruin is well thought out and designed. The world they live in is real and readers can feel that.
Rating: 3 out 5
Quotable Quotes: “Closure isn’t closure into someone’s is ready to close the door.”
“there are moments that define a person’s whole life. Moments in which everything they are and everything they may possibly become hinge on a single decision.”
“The truth is the truth. What changes is what we know about it and what we’re willing to believe.”
Benny is your average 14 turning 15 year old. He hates his brother, scared of girls, and would rather hang out with his friends. He’s reluctant to change his view of his brother - the coward - ever since First Night, the day the whole world went to hell, fourteen years ago.
Benny shows amazing growth by the end of the novel. He did not have a clear view of reality in the beginning and in the end he understands the people around him, his brother, and his world better.
The characters in the novel are unique and each have their individual stories before living at Mountainside and before, during and after First Night.
The conflict is perfect for this story. The build up and resolution is fast paced and believable.
Rot & Ruin would have been a great stand alone novel, honestly. The small incident with the jumbo jet propelled this book into a series.
The environment and the premise behind Roth & Ruin is well thought out and designed. The world they live in is real and readers can feel that.
Rating: 3 out 5
Quotable Quotes: “Closure isn’t closure into someone’s is ready to close the door.”
“there are moments that define a person’s whole life. Moments in which everything they are and everything they may possibly become hinge on a single decision.”
“The truth is the truth. What changes is what we know about it and what we’re willing to believe.”
Best zombie fiction I've read in awhile. Great story with original characters. Can't wait to read more of Maberry!
I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked up ROT & RUIN. I just knew that I hadn't heard anything bad about out it or any of Maberry's other works. Don't expect me to break that chain either. I thought ROT & RUIN was amazing.
It's one thing to have a piece of horror focus on the scary: like George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The living dead are supposed to be scary by default and that's how the book starts off. Zombies that live out in the Rot & Ruin, in the unknown. They kill people. They're something to be feared and reviled and we're supposed to applaud those that cut them down.
Benny, just like many other teenage boys, makes rash and emotion-filled decisions without really thinking them through. He hates his brother Tom because he thinks he ran away from their parents instead of helping them. He idolizes Charlie Pink-Eye because he kills the enemy. Getting a job is probably the worst thing that could happen to him right now. Pretty stereotypical teen boy thoughts, I think. But it's what Maberry does with them, how he forms and moulds Benny into something Benny never thought he could be.
Maberry removed the freak-out horror from a horror setting but in a good way. Zombies are still things to be feared, but as we piggyback along with Benny, we come to the same realizations that Benny does - zombies were people once too. Little by little Tom breaks down Benny's facade, chips away at his barriers and gets him to see the truth. Sure, zombies should be feared but they also deserve respect. It's amazing how far a little psychology could go.
Tom employs a different tactic for dealing with zombies, one that he tries to enforce on Benny. Benny, begrudgingly, adopts it but after a while, he does realize it's a better method. It's a hard lesson he has to learn but playing with your food before you eat it isn't necessary 99% of the time.
And I'd be a big fat crank of a liar if I said I wasn't crying at the end of the book. It was the nail in the coffin so to speak and while you can kind of see it coming, you can't really brace yourself for what happens. Benny does not escape learning some horribly hard lessons but he takes them all in stride and the growth he shows by the end of the book is astronomical. One of the blurbs on the back of the hardcover is Nancy Holder saying, "George Romero meets THE CATCHER IN THE RYE . . ." and I really couldn't agree anymore.
There is so much more to ROT & RUIN than just zombies. It's a coming of age, lessons-learned story with the horror of the undead thrown in. And don't forget the snark. There's snark in spades here. You'll be equal parts engrossed and terrified. Turning the pages will be automatic and something you won't want to stop doing. If you want a new perspective on zombies and read an absolutely amazing story at the same time, read ROT & RUIN now. You won't regret it.
It's one thing to have a piece of horror focus on the scary: like George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The living dead are supposed to be scary by default and that's how the book starts off. Zombies that live out in the Rot & Ruin, in the unknown. They kill people. They're something to be feared and reviled and we're supposed to applaud those that cut them down.
Benny, just like many other teenage boys, makes rash and emotion-filled decisions without really thinking them through. He hates his brother Tom because he thinks he ran away from their parents instead of helping them. He idolizes Charlie Pink-Eye because he kills the enemy. Getting a job is probably the worst thing that could happen to him right now. Pretty stereotypical teen boy thoughts, I think. But it's what Maberry does with them, how he forms and moulds Benny into something Benny never thought he could be.
Maberry removed the freak-out horror from a horror setting but in a good way. Zombies are still things to be feared, but as we piggyback along with Benny, we come to the same realizations that Benny does - zombies were people once too. Little by little Tom breaks down Benny's facade, chips away at his barriers and gets him to see the truth. Sure, zombies should be feared but they also deserve respect. It's amazing how far a little psychology could go.
Tom employs a different tactic for dealing with zombies, one that he tries to enforce on Benny. Benny, begrudgingly, adopts it but after a while, he does realize it's a better method. It's a hard lesson he has to learn but playing with your food before you eat it isn't necessary 99% of the time.
And I'd be a big fat crank of a liar if I said I wasn't crying at the end of the book. It was the nail in the coffin so to speak and while you can kind of see it coming, you can't really brace yourself for what happens. Benny does not escape learning some horribly hard lessons but he takes them all in stride and the growth he shows by the end of the book is astronomical. One of the blurbs on the back of the hardcover is Nancy Holder saying, "George Romero meets THE CATCHER IN THE RYE . . ." and I really couldn't agree anymore.
There is so much more to ROT & RUIN than just zombies. It's a coming of age, lessons-learned story with the horror of the undead thrown in. And don't forget the snark. There's snark in spades here. You'll be equal parts engrossed and terrified. Turning the pages will be automatic and something you won't want to stop doing. If you want a new perspective on zombies and read an absolutely amazing story at the same time, read ROT & RUIN now. You won't regret it.
I definitely preferred the first half of the book, and felt like it was too predictable in the second half. The world building was excellent though.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
I didn’t actually read these books but they were made into an awesome webtoon!
A friend introduced me to this series and I wanna thank him because if he hadn't I would have missed out on this great series. What I really love is that it's not just about zombies; it has other themes such as friendship, family, some romance,etc. As well I fell in love with the characters. The whole Tom situation left me heartbroken until later when he shows up. After I finish a book I'll start on the fourth.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
very easy read. what I really enjoyed about this book was that he told us about what happened when the zombies first came. not many zombie books do that. there seemed to be a lot of filler chapters that were unnecessary and I needed to skim through. I will, however, read the next one. I'm only worried that I won't be able to get through the series
dark
tense
fast-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
Just when I think I am tired of zombies, I read another interesting take on the genre that keeps me engaged. I am intrigued with how this story will progress and will keep reading it.