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tanikon 's review for:
Rot & Ruin
by Jonathan Maberry
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I started out absolutely loving this book. I was convinced quite early on that this was going to be a five-star rating for me.
Writing:
The writing felt a little trite and juvenile sometimes with its simplistic style. At some points, I wanted to roll my eyes at how cliche the characters were acting.
Characters:
Benny started out as a royal b-r-a-t (and I say this as an older sibling myself). Seriously, I don't know how Tom dealt with this kid. If my brother was like this, I'd have smacked him upside the head long ago. Fortunately, he did start to change and mature over the course of the book.
Tom's pretty cool. He's smart, capable, badass but compassionate with a deep sense of right and wrong. Though sometimes I wandered if he was too soft. He waxed philosophical a lot about zombies, which made me roll my eyes, and basically preached a lot. And I don't really like being preached to.
Lost Girl Lilah was pretty cool as well. I loved how she was clever, strong, beautiful, and utterly badass. There were some very interesting stories around Lilah and Tom that were told by side characters (another slightly annoying trait) that I wish we could have seen. In fact, I was more interested in the Lost Girl's story than I was in Benny's.
Plot:
World building was fantastic. The fall of humanity, the chaos, the system of Mountainside, the new jobs available, explanations for zombie tendencies (e.g. how they tend to take the path with least resistance due to the pull of gravity), etc. I was even pleased to see some terminology from my AP Psych class when it was revealed that that to stop a corpse from reanimating, you should sever the brainstem or destroy the motor cortex.
The action scenes—I need to talk about the action scenes! It was so good! My favorite action scene was when Benny first got attacked in his house. The suspense, the tension, the emotions, the fear, the adrenaline rush—everything was so clear! I'd never read an action scene that made my heart pump like I was the one being assaulted by a zombie before. Unfortunately, I did feel like the adrenaline rush disappeared in the later action scenes (sad face). But I guess you could argue that the characters had gone through a lot by then and were more hardened?
I liked the sentimental and humane approach to zombies, which isn't something you'd normally find in zombie stories. Tom's emphasis on the fact that zombies were once people too and that nothing (dead or alive) deserved to be mutilated for fun was an interesting view. Though I did like the idea, I didn't really appreciate it being dumbed down for me and shoved down my throat. Subtlety would've done the idea justice.
Writing:
The writing felt a little trite and juvenile sometimes with its simplistic style. At some points, I wanted to roll my eyes at how cliche the characters were acting.
Characters:
Benny started out as a royal b-r-a-t (and I say this as an older sibling myself). Seriously, I don't know how Tom dealt with this kid. If my brother was like this, I'd have smacked him upside the head long ago. Fortunately, he did start to change and mature over the course of the book.
Tom's pretty cool. He's smart, capable, badass but compassionate with a deep sense of right and wrong. Though sometimes I wandered if he was too soft. He waxed philosophical a lot about zombies, which made me roll my eyes, and basically preached a lot. And I don't really like being preached to.
Lost Girl Lilah was pretty cool as well. I loved how she was clever, strong, beautiful, and utterly badass. There were some very interesting stories around Lilah and Tom that were told by side characters (another slightly annoying trait) that I wish we could have seen. In fact, I was more interested in the Lost Girl's story than I was in Benny's.
Plot:
World building was fantastic. The fall of humanity, the chaos, the system of Mountainside, the new jobs available, explanations for zombie tendencies (e.g. how they tend to take the path with least resistance due to the pull of gravity), etc. I was even pleased to see some terminology from my AP Psych class when it was revealed that that to stop a corpse from reanimating, you should sever the brainstem or destroy the motor cortex.
The action scenes—I need to talk about the action scenes! It was so good! My favorite action scene was when Benny first got attacked in his house. The suspense, the tension, the emotions, the fear, the adrenaline rush—everything was so clear! I'd never read an action scene that made my heart pump like I was the one being assaulted by a zombie before. Unfortunately, I did feel like the adrenaline rush disappeared in the later action scenes (sad face). But I guess you could argue that the characters had gone through a lot by then and were more hardened?
I liked the sentimental and humane approach to zombies, which isn't something you'd normally find in zombie stories. Tom's emphasis on the fact that zombies were once people too and that nothing (dead or alive) deserved to be mutilated for fun was an interesting view. Though I did like the idea, I didn't really appreciate it being dumbed down for me and shoved down my throat. Subtlety would've done the idea justice.