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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
fast paced zombie horror
Lots of violence and death
some mild language
minimal sexual content (making out, possible sexual assault, but there are no explicit details and it is very vague.
Spoiler
Lots of violence and death
some mild language
minimal sexual content (making out, possible sexual assault, but there are no explicit details and it is very vague.
dark
The Good: Well-envisioned world, realistic characters, tense moments, exciting plot twists, action, and a hot samurai! For all those adults reading YA, Tom Imura is the thirtysomething heartthrob you can lust after without feeling like a dirty old cougar. And Tom's little brother and main character, Benny, transformed from a kid I hated to the hero I was genuinely rooting for. Also, for a zombie book, this was pretty realistic, meaning that the good guys got hurt, made mistakes, and were often wrong. The things that went right were always foreshadowed and set up well, like the mythology of the zombies and how one could get past them. The ending wrapped up the main plot, and still opened up a whole new goal for book two. If you're writing a series, that's the way to do it.
The Bad: Holy long set up! The inciting incident doesn't happen until Chapter 29! The Call To Action is on page 239! That's when the real plot starts and the journey begins. Halfway through the book! If it wasn't for other reviewers warning that this novel starts slow but keep reading because it's worth it, I would have set this book down around page 150.
In Conclusion: I'm glad I stuck with Rot & Ruin. The last half of the book is exciting, twisty, scary and heart-wrenching. I want to go on more journeys with these characters, so I'll be reading the other books in this series.
The Bad: Holy long set up! The inciting incident doesn't happen until Chapter 29! The Call To Action is on page 239! That's when the real plot starts and the journey begins. Halfway through the book! If it wasn't for other reviewers warning that this novel starts slow but keep reading because it's worth it, I would have set this book down around page 150.
In Conclusion: I'm glad I stuck with Rot & Ruin. The last half of the book is exciting, twisty, scary and heart-wrenching. I want to go on more journeys with these characters, so I'll be reading the other books in this series.
Review by: Addison at Of Spectacles and Books
Why I chose this book:
One of our readers had recommended this book to me some time ago. He warned me that is was “zombie lit”, which made me hesitant to read it. Before beginning this novel I had read The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and was extremely unsettled. While that probably wasn’t my best jump into zombie lit, I figured I would give it one more try.
Why I chose this book:
One of our readers had recommended this book to me some time ago. He warned me that is was “zombie lit”, which made me hesitant to read it. Before beginning this novel I had read The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and was extremely unsettled. While that probably wasn’t my best jump into zombie lit, I figured I would give it one more try.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated
As zombie books go, this isn't bad, but I felt this really was for younger readers. Good character development, not just a monster story.
This book is good, weird, and thoughtful. Definitely more than I thought I would get out of it heading into a YA story but it was really a great read! I’m definitely going to read the whole series.
Plus it looks like this reality that Maberry created has a lot of congruent plot lines to check out, I like a good extended universe!
Plus it looks like this reality that Maberry created has a lot of congruent plot lines to check out, I like a good extended universe!
Book is great. It's fast-paced, interesting and makes you think about human nature.