Rot & Ruin 1

Was expecting your typical zombie apocalypse thing - but what I got was a story about two brothers, that just happened to be set in a zombie apocalypse. Focussed on the coming of age of the younger brother and his changing opinions of his older brother in light of what he learns. Reminded me a lot

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of Cornelia Funke's Reckless. Really enjoyed it.

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On the surface, this is a book about killing zombies. More than that, it's a story about what it means to be human in an imperfect world. The main character, Benny Imura, is challenged to discover the "truth" about his heros, his friends, his brother, himself and -yes - about zombies.

Benny lives in a zombie-infested world. When he decides to follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a zombie killer, he finally gets to venture outside the community gates into the Rot & Ruin. His worldview is challenged as he learns his bounty hunter hero is really not all that great,

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his brother deserves more credit than he's ever given him, and there are communities and ways of life he never would have imagined.

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Synopsis:
Benny Imura is 15, and now he must find a job or his food rations will be cut in half. But what kind of opportunities are there in a world that’s nearly been run over by zombies. His job search seems fruitless until his brother, Tom, invites him to join the family business– zombie

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hunting. For the first time in his life, Benny will go beyond the fence that keeps him safe in Mountainside to land claimed by the zombies known as the Rot and Ruin. Any preconceived notion Benny may have had about his brother, about fellow bounty hunters, about zombies, and about the way the world works will be completely shattered.

My Thoughts:
This novel was an interesting twist of the zombie story. It wasn’t the typical hack and slash story I was expecting. Instead, Maberry really highlights the man vs. monster dilemma as he humanizes the zombies. I never thought it was possible to feel sympathetic toward a creature that hungers only for brains, but this novel proves it is. The one thing I appreciated best is Maberry’s ability to keep me guessing all the way through; there were so many twists and turns! And there were so many cliffhangers that had me telling my boyfriend, “I’ll play the game with you in a second, but I have to read just one more chapter…”.

I thought Tom was a little too good to be true, and Benny was a tad bit annoying. But Nix and the Lost Girl were amazing; then again, I always break for the butt-kicking heroines. And Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer were two characters that I loved to hate. I wanted to tie those two guys up and feed em’ to the zoms!

I thought some of the dialogue between Tom and Benny was a little hokey, but not so much that it was a distraction. But, every once in a while, it had me thinking, “Did he really just say that?”.

Overall Rot & Ruin was an enjoyable read filled with adventure, butt-kicking, blood and rotting flesh, a budding romance, and dreams of a better future. This book deserves a place on your to-read list.

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When 15-year-old Benny Imura begins to apprentice with his brother Tom in the art of zombie hunting, he has no idea what he’s in for. Before his apprenticeship, Benny only knew that zombies were the disgusting, brainless creatures that infected his parents all those years ago, when zombies

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eventually took over much of the land, and so they deserve to die. Instead, Tom teaches him a more compassionate way of viewing zoms, and Benny begins to learn that the real monsters might not be zoms, but rather other humans.

ROT & RUIN, acclaimed horror novelist Jonathan Maberry’s first venture into literature for younger readers, is so much more than simply a zombie book. It blends great storytelling, adventure, and tender human moments for an altogether satisfying read that is both exciting and emotional.

Benny starts off as a pretty irritating boy, smugly confident in his narrow-minded convictions, but it is the mark of a great author that Benny eventually grew into a mature and more complex young man, a protagonist that I could really get behind. His interactions with Tom are tense with residual anger over the loss of his parents on First Night—a little childish, perhaps, but alright, believable if we cut him some slack. Other than his relationship with Tom, Benny is a pitch-perfect teenage boy regarding his interactions with others: friends, other grown-ups, zombies, etc., a relatable mix of cluelessness, anxiety, and bravado.

The world of Mountainside and the Rot and Ruin is a well-realized one, with plenty of opportunities for secrets, hideaways, and dramatic showdowns. All that Benny knew used to be only what was within the fence that surrounds Mountainside, but as his apprenticeship takes him far out into the Rot and Ruin with his brother, his worldview grows, and with that opportunities for more exciting things to happen. Maberry has brilliantly constructed a world that will never feel too claustrophobic for ideas: there will always be more things for Benny and his friends to discover out there.

And can I just mention how awesome it is that Benny is half-Japanese, half-Irish…and it’s not a big freaking deal? Get out your lassos so you can get me down from where I’m floating over the moon!

ROT & RUIN is not flawless: Tom comes off as a bit too perfect, and there are some epic monologues in there that couldn’t hide the fact that they were pushing an agenda. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the heck out of my time spent reading this book, and may even dare say that this book will probably appeal to younger fans of The Hunger Games, those who are craving another thrilling yet firmly humanistic series.

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This was a great 'coming of age' story. I loved how the post-apocalyptic setting was only a frame for what felt like a traditional Western cowboy novel. For some reason I kept getting mental flashes from Chuck Conners playing The Rifleman, ha ha. I also liked how the setting is close enough to

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pre-apocalypse that most adults remember it. It lent weight to the generation gap.

Maberry did a lot of thinking about consequences of his world and nicely sidestepped the technical issues. It didn't bother me because ultimately the story isn't really about the zombies. It is about the survivors, the brothers, and ethical behavior.

The book borders on "young adult" category, to me, because of how he wrote the tale. It wasn't as gritty as it could have been and the emotions are mostly controlled and contained. The women are threatened with violence but no sexual aggression and the romance gets only as explicit as a kiss.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it and Maberry's writing is easy to read. It just has a 'Disney' edge to the horror.

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I know what you're thinking - 'Geez, are you serious, ANOTHER zombie book? Didn't you say two months ago that you're not big into zombies? We think you're lying!' No, No, Seriously! I didn't like zombie stuff! HOWEVER - there are so many good takes on zombies and how we relate to them right now,

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that I can't help myself.

In ROT AND RUIN, the zombie takeover started 14 years ago. We don't know how, but now everyone that dies will return as a zombie (or zom as they're known), unless they're 'quieted'. To 'quiet' someone, you simply cut the spinal cord so they can't reanimate. I know, gross. Benny is turning 15 and lives with his brother Tom in Mountainside. It's one of the fenced in communities that humans have taken to live in. Zoms have the rest of the planet, or at least we think they do. Tom is a Bounty Hunter, he goes out into the Rot and Ruin - the world outside their community - to quiet zoms. That's his job, he quiets them and receives money for doing so. Not all the Bounty Hunters work the way he does, some of them are terrible people.

When you turn 15, you must find a job or have your food rations cut in half. Benny hates his brother and refuses to work with him. He tries every job in the community before giving in and asking Tom to take him on as an apprentice. Benny believes that Tom is a coward. This is mostly because Tom doesn't brag about his kills and never fights. Benny has a lot to learn and Tom is willing to teach him. What Benny believes is constantly challenged by what Tom shows him until he finally comes to the realization that it may not be the zoms that are the bad guys.

The endpapers in this book are amazing! There are replicas of the Zombie Cards that the kids in the community collect and they are awesome! Even the author is on a Zombie Card - fantastic! This is a great book, I'm really enjoying zoms, even though I never thought I would.

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When 15-year-old Benny needs to find a job or lose his food rations, he ends up apprenticing for his older brother Tom as a zombie killer. He finds that out in the zombie-infested world of the "rot and ruin"--there there are living men who are much more evil than zombies.

I loved this teen novel

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where the zombies are not the actually the bad guys. The book is excellently written, very suspenseful with just a touch of romance--but be warned, this is not for the faint of heart; there are many scenes that will make you cringe. What I like most about the book though is the message of looking beyond the surface--things are not always as black or white or as good or evil as they appear.

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Benny reluctantly agrees to apprentice with his brother who kills Zoms for a living. Benny soon leans that the world is much more complex that he imagined. The origins of the zombie outbreak are interwoven in to this story of trying to rescue Nix and find Lilah, the Wild Girl. Tom is an amazing

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brother and Benny is a character to cheer for as he figures out who he is and what he believes. An intense book with twists and turns and loads of action! Sharing the idea of being fenced in to protect from zombies with the Forest of Hands and Teeth, this book is quite different - got a wild west flair and some of the humans are a lot more deadly than the zombies.

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It's been fourteen years since the First Night, when zombies overran the world. Benny Imura, who was just a toddler during First Night, has grown up separated from the zombies ("zoms") in the protected community of Mountainside. This book recounts Benny's first experiences in the "rot and ruin"

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that surround communities like Mountainside.

I whipped through this book in no time, which is fairly uncommon now that I've got a little one underfoot. Occasionally the book got a little preachy, or busted out one too many "Do you understand?" queries in the context of also abundant Significant Lessons. Still, my minor qualms with phrasing and preachiness were fairly insignificant compared to my curiosity to see where this book--with its somewhat unorthodox approach to zombies--would lead.

I'm glad the books I wanted to check out weren't in at the library. This book was ultimately both an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

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I never thought zombie books would be on my list of must-reads. But after devouring (sorry, bad pun when discussing zombies, eh?) Charlie Higson’s The Enemy and now Rot & Ruin, I think I can safely say I’ll be snatching up zombie-themed tomes!

Being someone who loves books with characters that

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draw you deep into their lives and make you care about their outcomes, Rot & Ruin was a sure-fire win for me. Benny, Tom, and Nix are main characters that have you cheering, cringing, and groaning right along with them. Minor characters like Motor City Hammer & Charlie Pink-Eye are equally engaging. I also never imagined I would feel sorry for zombies but Maberry does a fantastic job of humanizing these fearsome creatures.

Finally, in this day-and-age of me reading more books in order to provide better readers’ advisory services at work, I rarely read sequels any more. I usually read the first in a series to get a feel for the book and then move on to the next title on my long to-be-read list. But Rot & Ruin? I’ll be clamoring for the next book. I cannot wait to find out what happens next!

Cautions for those who want them: a couple of kisses, several “effings” (and yes, that is how they appear in the book 9 times out of 10), and violence (it is a zombie book after all!)

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Normally I aspire to something more "high brow" than zombie novels, but now and then a bit of zombie mayhem does hit the spot for me. Rot & Ruin is a YA zombie apocalypse novel, I can't help but feel that "YA zombie apocalypse" sounds like an oxymoron, as the author has to be a bit more restrained

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with the mayhem. Also, YA necessitates that the main protagonist has to be a teenager, the very sort of character I can't stand in most works of fiction. Kids whine a lot, they can't help it, they just do. I whined when I was a kid. Unfortunately this makes Benny the teen protagonist almost unbearable for me. On the plus side the Author Jonathan Maberry is a skilled horror writer and he has built a good, believable post apocalyptic world here, some of the supporting characters are actually quite likable ("The Lost Girl". Nix and Tommy are good non-whining characters). In conclusion this is a pretty good and readable book for me but I don't think will pick up the sequel "Dust & Decay" because I personally don't want to spend any more time with "Benny".

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“Rot & Ruin” is a book I stumbled upon while browsing at my local Borders (before they closed, unfortunately). I hadn’t heard much about it at that point, but I’m a sucker for zombies so I decided to give it a shot. I’ve had the book sitting on my bookshelf for a few months now. As much

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as I wanted to read it, I just never seemed to have the time. So when I received “Dust & Decay”, the second book in the series, from Galley Grab, I decided I needed to make time…and oh do I wish it had been sooner. Now, much like “Warm Bodies”, this is a zombie story with heart…and much like “Warm Bodies”, I absolutely loved this book.

“Rot & Ruin” is about two brothers, Tommy Imura, a well known bounty hunter, and Benny Imura, his younger brother (a bounty hunter in training). Benny is convinced Tommy is a coward for leaving behind their mother on First Night. It isn’t until his brother gives him a job that he begins to understand him and even respect him. What’s great about this relationship is that its realistic and it actually grows, it isn’t rushed – it develops at a great pace.

Tommy is a well known bounty hunter, but he’s different from the other bounty hunters. He isn’t out to just kill zombies, he’s out to provide closure for families and relatives. He’s very different than Charlie and The Motor City Hammer, two men Benny thinks are ‘cool’. At first you don’t see why the men are bad, but as the story goes on and you learn what they do to children, to the zombies, and to people in general – you begin to understand just how horrible they are. But it’s their actions that force the relationship between Benny and Tommy to strengthen.

“Rot & Ruin” is a book about zombies, yes, but it isn’t only about zombies. It’s about society, about people, about the world around us. It’ll make you cry. It’ll make you laugh. It’ll make you think. And most importantly, it’ll leave you wanting more.

I have nothing but praise for “Rot & Ruin” and the author, Jonathan Maberry. I can’t wait to start “Dust & Decay” (I will make sure to speed through my ‘’to read” pile so that I can get to it faster).

From YABookHaven.wordpress.com

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Two brothers are zombie bounty hunters in the Rot and Ruin.

The First Night occurred 14 years ago, the day when the dead rose. Benny Imura was only a baby that night and only has fuzzy memories of being handed to his older half brother, Tom, and Tom running away, leaving his mother to die. This image is burned into his mind and he sees his brother as a

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coward. Now, society isn’t as it used to be. Instead of large sprawling cities, civilization is reduced to small, sparse settlements. Benny is 15, which, in the society left in the wake of the dead, means that he has to get a job or lose half of his food rations. He goes job hunting with a friend, but doesn’t have any luck due to being overly picky and generally lazy. His only option left is becoming an apprentice to Tom in his bounty hunting business. Benny figures this job will entail going out into the Rot and Ruin to slice and dice zombies, but the experiences beyond the boundaries of civilization will serve to not only change his view of his brother, but of life and undeath.

Jonathan Maberry is an accomplished zombie novelist (as in he writes awesome zombie novels and isn’t really a zombie). His writing style and skilled story telling translate well into a young adult book. Benny is a completely believable character who has the misfortune to grow up in a zombie-ridden world. Now, the society he lives in expects him to grow up and become self sufficient, which he resisted at every turn. I found him very annoying at this point. He is completely ashamed of his big brother and refuses to try to get to know him. The first half of the book consists of him whining, complaining, and running away from responsibility until he has no other option. After his brother takes him into the Rot and Ruin (which is the uninhabited ruin of the past that surrounds their small settlement), everything changes. Benny sees things he can never forget. He questions the other bounty hunters’ ethics when he sees them torture zombies and doesn’t see them as the epitome of cool anymore. Tom reminds him that zombies were once people and just because their corpses are walking around doesn’t make it ok to mutilate their bodies for amusement. He only kills them when it’s truly needed or he gets a request from a loved one. Only Maberry can make it absolutely heartbreaking to kill a zombie. Benny really grows as a person and makes decisions about his own morals and ethics as we all do when we grow up.

The world in the novel is both smaller and larger than it seems in real life. It’s smaller because technology and electricity are irrationally shunned and blamed for the zombie apocalypse. Their pockets of society stay small and can’t easily connect with other cities let alone other states or continents. It’s bigger because now that society is more compact, the wide open spaces are almost like the US before it was ever settled: full of possibility yet dangerous and wild. I have never seen a world quite like this one and the next book, Dust and Decay, should expand the view of it.

Rot and Ruin is an exceptional zombie book. Jonathan Maberry manages to capture the familiar coming of age experience to and transports it into a strange, post-apocalyptic, zombie ridden world. I would recommend it to any zombie fan.

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THIS. WAS. SO. GOOD.

I love zombie stories - mostly because I like reading about what happens after the world ends for most of the world, and the few people still alive must figure out what to do next. Zombies are just a really creepy and gory way to tell that story, and so has my devotion.

Benny has

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grown up hating his older brother, and cannot imagine how such a cowardly man can have such a good reputation as a bounty hunter. In Benny's world, turning fifteen means one is ready to get a job, and so he tries to find one that doesn't suck in his fenced in town - but as his eyesight sucks and he hates all the other jobs...he's forced to ask his brother to take him on as an apprentice. What Benny learns about his brother and about the world beyond the safe fences - the Rot & Ruin - changes Benny forever.

This book is intense, scary, sad and ugly, as is the world in which Benny and his brother live. Tom, Benny's brother, earns his living by finding the dead (now zombie) family members of townspeople and giving them "closure." To do this, Tom finds that zombie and permanently kills it, but in doing so, exposes himself to the many zombies still roaming the Rot & Ruin and to the many unpleasant men who have embraced this harsh new world. Benny, who's hated the zombies who killed his parents (and all other zombies, for that matter), discovers the ugly truth that sometimes other men are more scary than the monsters he's feared and hated his whole life.

Highly Recommended!

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OMZ, Jonathan Maberry, you have truly outdone yourself – and while I wasn’t in love with Patient Zero last year, I am tempted to camp out on your doorstep and beg you for more tales of the Imura brothers, the Lost Girl, and ye olde world of Rot & Ruin. I cannot believe I did not pick it up

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until now! This book is a MUST-READ. It reminds me of THE FIRST DAYS with a little touch of ZOMBIELAND and dash of The Forest Of Hands And Teeth. It was almost like Jonathan Maberry threw all the best things zombie and cooked up such a rich and brainy story to sink our teeth into. Delicious! f(0_o)f

THE GOOD BITS

{A dynamic love-hate relationship between brothers who lost their parents on the First Night.} Rot & Ruin chronicles the post-zombocalyptic world through Benny Imura’s eyes as he reaches the age of “adulthood” (15). He blames his older brother for leaving their parents to die, and he has a blind hatred for zombies. When Benny is forced to shadow Tom to learn what happens in the Ruin, he has to face the possibility that all that he has been taught and heard may not be true – or humane.

{Tom Imura.} I wish there had been a little more about him because his story would definitely be phenomenal. He is a zombie samurai who has a lot of honor and heart. As an older sibling myself, I could relate to Tom and all his burdens/responsibilities. Not to mention living with a brother who makes no effort to hide his disdain for your very existence.

{Parts 3 and 4.} Holy fried brainz on a stick! LOVE LOVE LOVE. Action-packed, horror-filled, tear-jerked, surprise-ended, zombie-loaded :D Well worth the journey!

THE BAD BITS

{Misleading Zombie Trading Cards.} I don’t know if the paperback version will have the awesome Zombie Trading Cards illustrations on the inside front and back cover, but I was looking forward to an encounter with “The Bride Of Coldwater Spring.” She sounded delightful – and by delightful, I mean downright frightful! However, because of the cards, I had prepared myself for a completely different zombie story. Like Benny, I had imagined the glory days of zombie bounty hunters – taking down zombies like nobody’s business! On the flipside, I am more than satisfied with the actual Rot & Ruin story!

{The deaths of certain characters} ...whom I shall not name here, but dearly wished that they had not gone the zombie way. However, I think that this also drove home what Jonathon Maberry wanted to get across. Yes, we all love our zombies getting blown to smithereens, but have we gone a little kill-kill-kill-crazy? Let’s stop and remember that zombies had family who might still be human.

{The book ended.} Granted, I thought the ending was the most beautifully-crafted piece of work, but I was seriously distraught that the story ended there. So many questions, so many ties left undone, and so much more revolutionary changes to make! Thank goodness that DUST & DECAY has already come out because I don’t think I can wait much longer to find out what happens next!

THE OVERALL
Absolutely a stunning piece of storytelling that shines a whole new light on zombies! I loved the way that Jonathan Maberry envisioned them and how that idea served as a way to bring brothers together after a tragedy that seems hard to forget and forgive. This would make an excellent movie with all the right sort of tension, excitement, romance, and humor! For a title like Rot & Ruin , this book has built such a strong, flavorful world where the sky is the limit.

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OK, first let me state that the three stars are not a reflection on Mr. Maberry's writing. On the contrary -- if you read this book, you will find excellent writing, wonderful plotting, interesting world building and great characters. But you will also find zombies. In fact, you will be reading

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about life after the zombie apocalypse. And I just don't buy zombies ( I think they're silly). Many otherwise wonderful books have been ruined for me because they have zombies in them. And to me, zombies are gross and horrible, but also completely ridiculous and not at all convincing. Whereas I am OK with ring wraiths, as in Tolkien, gods, as in Megan Whalen Turner, and nature magic, as in Hilari Bell. But dead people who rise from the grave and try and eat your brains? Nope! That's just too silly.

But I digress. What I'm trying to say is, don't pay any attention to my three stars, if you like zombies. For you, this book may well be a 5 star read! Because there are many wonderful things in it, plus zombies. The characters and their interactions are really vivid and engaging, and the plot is compelling and in places really moving, as well.

In sum -- I think this is a really good book. Well worth reading, despite the zombies -- just not my favorite, because of the zombies.

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One of those rare zombie novels that takes the traditionally brain craving zombie myth and twists it around, turning it onto it's head. Maberry doesn't shy away from violence, but neither does he glorify it, either. Unlike many zombie novels (YA and adult alike), actions have consequences and the

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teens at the center of the story must come to terms with the world they live in. At times quite realistic, Rot & Ruin is a thoughtful, heart breaking and ultimately satisfying read. I except great things from this series and plan to hunt down (no pun intended more of Maberry's work.

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A fairly well-written account of a post-apocalyptic world in which the few remaining humans left on earth must maintain an uneasy existence separated from the zombies who overtook them. I would have loved to learn more about the zombies themselves and what exactly happened during First Night,

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however. Definitely worth a read, especially if you are a fan of young adult sci fi.

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Very quick and satisfying read, good YA zombie apocalypse story with strong characters and fast pacing.

As a post-apocalyptic scenario lover, Rot and Ruin was right up my alley! Mayberry manages to write a character driven zombie book that eloquently weaves action and gore in to a thought provoking coming of age novel. Two thumbs up!

I enjoyed reading this novel through and through. Sure, Benny Imura is rather hard to deal with in the first part of this book. His attitude is something close to a lazy brat who doesn’t enjoy any of the jobs he gets. Even when he becomes Tom’s apprentice, his attitude still doesn’t let up.

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Yet that’s the best part of Benny’s character, because it develops in a big way throughout this book. He goes from immature, to mature as the novel progresses.

I enjoy reading Benny’s friendships with Chong and Nix. Especially with Chong. They both make a perfect friendship and that’s where some of the humor comes from. Character development in this book is wonderful and well done with all of the main characters. Of all the characters, Benny’s attitude wasn’t so great but it improved as the book went along. I found it hard to like Nix. She just wasn’t that great in my opinion. (Lilah on the other hand, ended up becoming one of my favorite characters, second to Tom).

The plot of this book was also good. The action was great and everything you could want in a zombie plot. Yet besides zombies, there’s also the threat of not so nice humans out there and this is what I liked the most about the book. It’s not all just pure killing zombies, but also what humanity does in horrible situations and what some very horrible people are quite capable of doing. This was well done, as like Benny, we’re assuming this is all going to be about zombie killing. Tom shows Benny and the reader what’s it really like, getting rid of these ‘zoms’.

Zombie fans rejoice, this is one of the better books out there regarding the subject. It’s catered to a younger audience but readers of all ages should enjoy this one as much as I did. Most definitely recommended!

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Listened to the audiobook; narrator did a great job. Fifteen years after a zombie apocalypse, few have survived and are trying to fix the sad state of the world. Zombies still thrive in the "rot and ruin" or the area outside of the safe confines of the survivors' camp. Benny learns to be a zombie

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bounty hunter from his older brother. After an attack on their camp, Benny's best friend is kidnapped and taken to Gameland where kids are pitted against zombies for entertainment. Benny sets out on an adventure with his brother to rescue his friend and on the way comes to understand more and more about what happened fifteen years ago. Not a typical zombie story, gives an interesting spin on the nature of zombies. Set long after the zombie apocalypse when people are starting to rebuild.

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