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secre 's review for:
Rot & Ruin
by Jonathan Maberry
I'm officially torn. This has some good aspects, some mediocre and some downright annoying... and I'm not sure which holds the trump card. I mean, it was a reasomable read but I won't rush out to buy the next in the series.
So on the good side the writing is smooth, the dialogue holds you and the characterisations are generally strong. For the mediocre, the narrative is rather wishy washy, the zombies aren't actually scary and the world building is weak. There are far too many words to cover what actually happens; a good fifty pages worth could be cut and it would make the whole thing move along quicker and be less of a drudge at times.
So, the annoying? The romance for one. The attempt at a love triangle for two. Less of the teenage angst smoochy stuff and more actual plot with zombies please, ta and bye. I really don't care and would far to read something more interesting... like a decapitation scene... it can even involve one of the wannabe love birds to get that out the way for good. Another issue is that both the romantic characters and the bad guys are two dimensional and have been inserted for a single purpose rather than as fully dimensional human beings.
Then back to the zombies; way too much of the book is dedicated to the philosophy of treating zombies with respect and leaving them to wander for an eternity at will. Hell no, decapitate that thing before it eats your face. Some of the analogies used are hugely over the top... and come on, zombies just beget more zombies and these things never decompose despite the whole being dead bit. It's a disease with a hundred per cent mortality rate and they are already dead... just animated. Stop wishy washing around and do the humane thing.
And the epilogue. Why do you do this to me!?? If you need an epilogue you haven't written your ending well enough. It comes across as forced and stilted because it is forced and stilted.
So on the good side the writing is smooth, the dialogue holds you and the characterisations are generally strong. For the mediocre, the narrative is rather wishy washy, the zombies aren't actually scary and the world building is weak. There are far too many words to cover what actually happens; a good fifty pages worth could be cut and it would make the whole thing move along quicker and be less of a drudge at times.
So, the annoying? The romance for one. The attempt at a love triangle for two. Less of the teenage angst smoochy stuff and more actual plot with zombies please, ta and bye. I really don't care and would far to read something more interesting... like a decapitation scene... it can even involve one of the wannabe love birds to get that out the way for good. Another issue is that both the romantic characters and the bad guys are two dimensional and have been inserted for a single purpose rather than as fully dimensional human beings.
Then back to the zombies; way too much of the book is dedicated to the philosophy of treating zombies with respect and leaving them to wander for an eternity at will. Hell no, decapitate that thing before it eats your face. Some of the analogies used are hugely over the top... and come on, zombies just beget more zombies and these things never decompose despite the whole being dead bit. It's a disease with a hundred per cent mortality rate and they are already dead... just animated. Stop wishy washing around and do the humane thing.
And the epilogue. Why do you do this to me!?? If you need an epilogue you haven't written your ending well enough. It comes across as forced and stilted because it is forced and stilted.