Rot & Ruin

Thought-provoking and intelligent, with Rot & Ruin Maberry has created a post-apocalyptic world that questions the slaughter of those inflicted with disease. Told through the eyes of a naive young boy on an unintentional quest for enlightenment, we got to witness the harshness of his reality first hand as he truly experienced it for the first time. A strikingly realistic portrayal of the strained relationship between brothers who have grown apart and a poignant look into the depths of man’s humanity, Rot & Ruin is way more than a book about zombies.

Though Rot & Ruin had a bevy of characters, none of them truly stuck out for me. What I did enjoy however, was watching Benny and Tom’s relationship evolve. Originally strained because of Benny’s belief that Tom was a coward, Benny had absolutely no respect for Tom or his job as a bounty hunter. All that began to change as the veil of innocence was lifted from Benny’s eyes after his first trip into the rot and ruin, and he experienced a zombie kill for the first time. Listening to Tom explain how he was a different bounty hunter than most, and his reasons for it, we got to see Benny begrudgingly accept that his brother might not be as awful as he had imagined. It was also interesting to see Tom’s patience get stretched to its breaking point, because of Benny’s foolish beliefs about “cool” bounty hunters like Charlie and The Hammer. It was a really interesting dynamic, that two people could have lived under the same roof for fifteen years, and know so little about one another.

His experiences in the rot and ruin changed Benny, gave him perspective and showed him how sheltered his life had been despite his surroundings. His time with Tom also made him begin to doubt everything he had been taught about zombies, and this is where Rot & Ruin’s philosophical and ethical questions about the treatment of zombies came in to play. We don’t currently disrespect the diseased or the dead, so why should that change if the particular disease they contract happens to make them the walking dead? What right do we have to take their life, when their friends/family could be searching for them, for closure? How can we so easily take the life of someone who used to be human? When a creature is acting on instinct, without malice, do we seek out each one in order to destroy them all? Then why are zombies any different? It’s these kinds of questions that Tom puts into Benny’s head, widening his worldview and changing how he views the undead.

But while waxing poetic about the undead was fascinating, Rot & Ruin did have quite a bit of action up its sleeves as well! I really enjoyed watching Tom and Benny hunt down Charlie’s gang and I loved the element of suspense added with The Lost Girl. I found her history really intriguing, and found myself hoping they found her – if only to see how life in the rot and ruin would fashion a young girl. Watching Tom perform closures for his clients was heartbreaking, and it made me better understand how so many other bounty hunters would avoid his line of work; it takes a certain kind of character to handle such an intense job. I could have done without the wishy-washy romance, which seemed forced and lacked passion, but I really enjoyed the slight twists at the end (even though I saw them both coming).

With well-placed comedic moments intersecting some of the more intense moments, compelling discussions surrounding the treatment of the undead and a fast-paced plot, I’m eager for more; bring on book two, Dust and Decy!

“The truth is the truth. What changes is what we know about it and what we’re willing to believe.” — Rot & Ruin

Jonathan Maberry’s Rot & Ruin comes advertized as a zombie novel. And I suppose that’s what it is, on the surface. Certainly, the latter half of the book has a lot of zombie chasing, zombie fights, blood’n’guts, etc. Yet the action scenes weren’t what I liked most about Rot & Ruin, and I’d be willing to guess that it wasn’t the big message Maberry wanted his readers to take away.

From where I sit, “zombies are people too” is the biggest theme; maybe “respect the dead—even the living dead.” Either way, this book was intensely thought-provoking, very emotional, and just all around intelligently presented. Rot & Ruin is a very elegant, intellectual zombie novel.

The relationship between Benny and Tom was absolutely fantastic. There aren’t a lot of sibling dynamics running around in the YA age-range, especially ones so well written as Benny and Tom.

Maberry’s characters, as a rule, were all fantastic. (Except for Lilah, who was a little cheesy.) Tom was, without a doubt, my favorite. Strong, kind, intelligent, deeply-ingrained sense of morality and honor, loves his little brother even though Benny “hates” him, tortured, etc., etc. I had ALL THE FEELS for Tom, guys. Favorite character archetype. Period. Dot. We’re getting married.

Forget Benny. Jonathan Maberry should write a book about Tom!

Anyway.

The first half of Rot & Ruin focused mostly on setting up the stage. How the Rot and Ruin looked/smelled/felt, how the bounty hunters operated, Benny’s introduction to being an apprentice, his reaction to actually seeing a zombie killed. Those sections were very emotional and poignant.

Yet towards the second half of the book, when things got less introspective and more zombie-chase, I started to lose interest. I honestly have always skimmed the fight scenes in a book, just because they don’t interest me or hold my attention. I’m much more character-development oriented.

However, this book is still really awesome. Maberry’s writing is strong and very intelligent, his characters are unique and likable, and the overall plot was pretty darn good. I’m very, very impressed with Rot & Ruin and Jonathan Maberry’s talent.

For me the story started out a little slow. There was a lot of promise, and a lot of little hints towards interesting things. But there were more hints than anything else at first. The story is written through the eyes of Benny Imura—a fifteen year old boy who grew up in this zombie infested world.

Naturally, he’s irritated and a little unhappy that he’s old enough that he needs to get a job. But the whole process of him going from job to job, trying and failing isn’t interesting. It was just enough to keep me trucking alone. But once you hit the point where it gets good—it’s a good story.

For me—without spoiling anything—that point was Chapter Six, 44 pages in. Yes, 44 pages isn’t much to trudge through to get to the interesting part, but after this chapter there’s another little gap. You can see what the chapter’s for, and the purpose of it—but it’s not the most interesting thing in the world.

Once you get to the good part, the rest of the story is very well written. Benny and his brother Tom are very good characters, developed well with realistic logic and feelings. The plot is pretty well written too, excluding those little blips at the beginning. The author did a very good job at painting this post-apocalyptic world in your head through what Benny sees, and what stories he’s told about ‘First Night’—what they call the night everything happened.

If you like Zombies, you’ll like the book. But if you’re not even a little bit patient with your stories, I don’t think I would bother with it. If you do decided to give it a chance; it’s a well develop, good story. It’s not the most thought provoking story, more of an easy read—but it’s good.

At the outset, Benny is a bit of an obnoxious kid. He has some serious teen boy syndrome going on, what with the rebellion against his parental figure, whining, messing with a girl's feelings and idolization of whoever has the biggest muscles. Although this did help create sympathy for Tom and Nix, I still had trouble, even to the end of the novel, liking Benny, or Tom for that matter. Benny definitely got better, but he still has a lot of growing up to do. He wasn't completely awful and I didn't want him to die or anything, but he is not going down as a favorite either. Tom, while a really good guy, who I would probably have a bit of a crush on, just came off as way too much of a goody goody, even when you get to see him in action mode.

You know who I loved though? Nix and, to a lesser degree, Lilah. Although Rot & Ruin is written by a man and the main character is male and the main audience is likely teenage boys, most of the women in this novel still kick serious ass. Props to Jonathan Maberry for not writing about teenage girls who only talk about boys and trip all over themselves and constantly need to be saved. Honestly, I think Nix saves Benny's hide more often than he saves hers.

The dystopian aspects were pretty cool, although somewhat similar to the way Carrie Ryan's world reacted to the zombie menace, minus the crazy gates all over the place. Maberry didn't do anything too original with his worldbuilding, but its solid and the book is well-written. For zombie dystopias, I rank this way above Carrie Ryan's books, but still far below Mira Grant's Newsflesh series.

While I never got super engrossed into Rot & Ruin, perhaps because I just wasn't quite in the right mood, it was definitely a solid read and I am looking forward to the second book, Dust & Decay.

What made me keep turning the page?

Watching Benny figure out what life is all about
The deep lessons learned that are interwoven into the story
The mysteriousness of Tom and seeing him in a new light through Benny's eyes
The lyrical and descriptive story telling
Seeing Benny mature and develop more meaningful relationships
The nonstop action
Being able to see the past (our present time) through the eyes of the characters
The zombie creepiness

Some of My Favorite Quotes:

"There are moments that define a person's whole life. Moments in which everything they are and everything they may possibly become balance on a single decision. Life and death, hope and despair, victory and failure teeter precariously on the decision made at that moment. These are moments ungoverned by happenstance, untroubled by luck. These are the moments in which a person earns the right to live, or not."
"Often it was the most unlikely people who found within themselves a spark of something greater. It was probably always there, but most people are never tested, and they go through their whole lives without ever knowing that when things are at their worst, they are at their best."
"There was a sliver of moon and a splash of stars, and the light outlined her face and glistened on the tears that ran like mercury down her cheeks."

Any complaints?

Nope

Recommendation:

YA Science Fiction Fans/Zombie Fans

Final Thoughts…
So I thought this would be a gory, but fun, zombie story. It is a fun gory zombie book, but at the same time it is so much more than that! I had no idea that I would get so emotionally involved in this story! This book makes you think about how sometimes humans act more like monsters than monsters themselves. The author addresses topics like prejudice, bravery, compassion, pride, selflessness, guilt, and so much more, all while keeping you at the edge of your seat (and looking under your bed before you go to sleep). There was lots of action with just a touch of romance, which is how I like my science fiction! This is a first in a series, and I am about to devour the next book Dust and Decay!

You can read my full review on my Alaskan Bookie website.
http://alaskanbookie.blogspot.com/2011/10/review-rot-ruin.html

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one -- zombies aren't usually my thing -- but I ended up loving this book. It's much deeper and thoughtful than I'd expected.

This book is a lush, vivid, compelling story told by someone who is a master of his craft. It's funny, complex, sad, haunting, wise, and scary all at the same time. I highly recommend this for both boys and girls. Incredible book. Even non dystopian or horror fans will love it.