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A review by zellian
Broken Lands, Volume 1 by Jonathan Maberry
4.0
I had picked up this book because of the cover, zombies and a hockey stick. I hadn't read Rot and Ruin and hadn't heard of the author before so I was going in with fresh eyes and mind.
It centers around three people, from what I gathered one new character, a character from the Rot and Ruin series and another character who was mentioned (I may be wrong about this).
Gutsy (Or Gabriella) lives in New Alamo and seems to be the new character to the series. It seems like she's supposed to be this teen who's rough around the edges and slightly void of emotion, the book mostly seems to center around her and her story line of trying to find out why her mother appears on her doorstep twice - having buried her when she passed and again after she reanimated.
Benny is a character that the series Rot and Ruin seem to be centered around and picks up after their massive battle, there are enough mentions and general background that I felt like you got an idea of the hell they'd gone through and the closeness that the events gave them. Benny and his team decide to take matters into their own hands once again when another town they were in contact with goes dark. Benny comes across as the unspoken leader of the fearless teens who has a big heart but also comes across as the one who always seems to get himself in trouble.
The final character remains unnamed for quite a bit of the book, a hunter in a forest who has isolated himself from anything and everything for years and continues to keep it that way. It's only after a chance meeting that he suddenly breaks out of his hermit shell and we see his connection to everyone else. I felt like they didn't focus too heavily on this character but tied in enough so that you still felt like he would be important even if you hadn't read Rot and Ruin. He seems to slightly mirror Gutsy in the fact that he's very stoic and has all the loner vibes to him.
The chapters in the book aren't especially long but seem to flesh out all the important information you need, which I feel like is because of the book being aimed mostly at teens. The most important thing I think needs to be mentioned, which I have mentioned many times throughout is that you don't need to read the series Rot and Ruin - that being said I am definitely going to read the books before I continue on with Broken Lands because I actually enjoyed this book. I'm a sucker for zombie books of all types and like the takes on the zombies of Broken Lands when it came to people using different names and then the different types. I started reading this book in March but ended up stopping and trying to read/finish other books, when I did end up picking this up again it was easy to just go straight back into.
I couldn't really say I had any bad points with the book, at times I did feel like I couldn't really connect with Gutsy and I felt one character seemed a bit either over the top or unrealistic (I can't quite word it) but really I thought it was a book I would continue on with and recommend to others.
It centers around three people, from what I gathered one new character, a character from the Rot and Ruin series and another character who was mentioned (I may be wrong about this).
Gutsy (Or Gabriella) lives in New Alamo and seems to be the new character to the series. It seems like she's supposed to be this teen who's rough around the edges and slightly void of emotion, the book mostly seems to center around her and her story line of trying to find out why her mother appears on her doorstep twice - having buried her when she passed and again after she reanimated.
Benny is a character that the series Rot and Ruin seem to be centered around and picks up after their massive battle, there are enough mentions and general background that I felt like you got an idea of the hell they'd gone through and the closeness that the events gave them. Benny and his team decide to take matters into their own hands once again when another town they were in contact with goes dark. Benny comes across as the unspoken leader of the fearless teens who has a big heart but also comes across as the one who always seems to get himself in trouble.
The final character remains unnamed for quite a bit of the book, a hunter in a forest who has isolated himself from anything and everything for years and continues to keep it that way. It's only after a chance meeting that he suddenly breaks out of his hermit shell and we see his connection to everyone else. I felt like they didn't focus too heavily on this character but tied in enough so that you still felt like he would be important even if you hadn't read Rot and Ruin. He seems to slightly mirror Gutsy in the fact that he's very stoic and has all the loner vibes to him.
The chapters in the book aren't especially long but seem to flesh out all the important information you need, which I feel like is because of the book being aimed mostly at teens. The most important thing I think needs to be mentioned, which I have mentioned many times throughout is that you don't need to read the series Rot and Ruin - that being said I am definitely going to read the books before I continue on with Broken Lands because I actually enjoyed this book. I'm a sucker for zombie books of all types and like the takes on the zombies of Broken Lands when it came to people using different names and then the different types. I started reading this book in March but ended up stopping and trying to read/finish other books, when I did end up picking this up again it was easy to just go straight back into.
I couldn't really say I had any bad points with the book, at times I did feel like I couldn't really connect with Gutsy and I felt one character seemed a bit either over the top or unrealistic (I can't quite word it) but really I thought it was a book I would continue on with and recommend to others.