Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin, #1) in Apocalypse Whenever

Apr 22, 2010 Schnaucl rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, fiction, november, read_2010, horror, later_purchased, post-apocalyptic, series, zombies, young_adult

Four and a half stars.

If you read Jonathan Maberry's story in The Living Dead 2 part 1 (a little over 100 pages) will seem very familiar, though it stops short of the final scene in the short story. Although it was repetitive because I have read the short story, I really didn't mind. Each zombie apocalypse is a little different and Maberry uses the pages well to set up the rules for his world.

This series is post-outbreak. The protagonists live in a walled off village and at the age of 15 everyo Four and a half stars.

If you read Jonathan Maberry's story in The Living Dead 2 part 1 (a little over 100 pages) will seem very familiar, though it stops short of the final scene in the short story. Although it was repetitive because I have read the short story, I really didn't mind. Each zombie apocalypse is a little different and Maberry uses the pages well to set up the rules for his world.

This series is post-outbreak. The protagonists live in a walled off village and at the age of 15 everyone is required to find a job and be a productive member of society or else live on half-rations. Zombies still exist outside the village but the villagers don't really have a siege mentality. Instead it seems like there's an acceptance of the standoff. It's been a little over a decade since the outbreak and so far population control doesn't seem to be a problem. Unfortunately, whatever is causing the dead to rise is still around because once a person dies he becomes a zombie. In order to prevent the newly dead from rising he is "put down" with a metal spike at the base of the skull.

When the story opens Benny is fast approaching the time when he must choose a job. He tries several different jobs, each time hoping for something where he can slack off and not have to actually work. Predictably in a post-outbreak world, no such position exists. One of the more interesting positions he tries out for is that of an erosion artist. The job of an erosion artist is to create portraits of what a given living person might look like as a zombie so that zombie hunters can find him and give him final death. In a brilliant touch, it turns out that the collectible zombie cards are in fact some of the earliest erosion portraits.

Finally, the only job hasn't tried is the one his older brother Tom has. Tom kills zombies in the Wasteland. It's not that Benny dislikes the idea, it's that while Tom is held in high esteem by nearly everyone in the village, Benny has always seen him as a coward. As far as he's concerned, Tom abandoned their parents on the night of the outbreak and he's never forgiven him.

Tom takes him out into the field and for the first time Benny gets some perspective on what life is really like. He learns about people who follow a peaceful religion that honors zombies. He and Tom start to really see each other for the first time.

The are a lot of zombies novels out there, and a fair number try to get the reader to see zombies as the people they once were. This book is the only one I've read so far that actually succeeds in making the zombies feel like the people they used to be. It's a great take on the zombie genre.

Recommended. ...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Ami E. Bowen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, most-engaging-stories, not-to-be-missed-series, favourite-books

"Rot & Ruin" is a very exciting tale of two brothers, one older and a martial artist trained bounty hunter and the other his kid brother whom he takes under his wing to teach how to hunt zombies and stay alive out in the great rot and ruin. Together they venture out on a quest to rescue one kidnapped young lady and find one long lost girl and right some old and some new wrongs along the way while kicking zombie butt. ...more

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May 18, 2013 Anne rated it really liked it

I think this is what The Forest of Hands and Teeth wanted to be.

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Jun 13, 2012 Dannell rated it it was amazing

This book was entirely unexpected. I picked it up while waiting for some requests to come in from the library, thinking it would be a distracting 'zombie' read. What I ended up with was something far greater! This is NOT your typical 'zombie' story. Yes, there are zombies, however the story was more about the survivors, not surviving per se, but living. I thought about the story, the lessons learned and the deep chasms of difference between all of us long past the last page. ...more

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