Rot And Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Apr. 26th, 2011 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Nearly fourteen years ago, a freak virus swept across the world turning the living into the undead. Benny Imura was only a toddler, but his last memory of his parents is tainted by the image of them becoming zombies, and he blames his older brother, Tom, for not saving them.
Now Benny is fifteen, and Tom wants them to put their difficult relationship behind them and work together in the “family business”: as zombie killers. It’s the last thing Benny wants to do, but he needs a job and he thinks it’ll be an easy ride.
But when they head into the Rot and Ruin, an area full of wandering zombies, Benny soon realises that there’s more to the job than just whacking zombies. And, as he’s confronted with the truth about the world around him Benny makes the most terrifying discovery of all, that the worst monsters you can imagine might actually be human ...
Benny Imura was only a toddler when the world was destroyed in a zombie apocalypse. His earliest memory is of his older brother, Tom, carrying him away from the family home. Benny’s never forgiven Tom for leaving their mother to be killed by his zombified father. Now that Benny’s 15, he must get a job or the town of Mountainside will reduce his rations but he can’t find a job that he actually wants to do.
When Tom suggests that Benny joins him as a bounty hunter – someone who fulfils requests from the living to kill their zombified relatives – Benny has no option but to agree. Soon he finds himself out in the Rot and Ruin – a huge no man’s land filled with wandering zombies – but what he learns there forces him to rethink everything he ever thought he knew as he discovers that there are worse things than zombies and some of them are living with him in Mountainside ...
Jonathan Maberry’s YA novel those who survived the zombie outbreak have established secure towns and traders brave the unsecured plains to bring supplies and news. Although people are trying to get on with their lives as much as possible, life isn’t normal. Many jobs relate to the zombie threat – from artists who draw pictures of how people may look following zombification, to people who work bottling liquefied zombies to protect people and bounty hunters. It’s a believable society and one that makes the dark underbelly that slowly emerges all too credible.
Benny’s admiration for bounty hunters like Charlie Matthias who entertains Mountainview’s teenagers with stories of zombie eradication contrasts with his anger against his brother, who he knows is a coward for leaving his parents. This provides a strong emotional core to the story and Benny really grows as the plot unfolds and his preconceptions are challenged. The antagonistic relationship between him and his brother is well drawn and I really liked Tom’s patience and regret as he introduces Benny to unpleasant truths. There’s also a well drawn love story that develops between Benny and his childhood friend, Nix, and which doesn’t become mawkish.
The book’s slow to get started as it sets up its world, but there’s plenty of action as the story progresses and the zombie attacks are utterly chilling. There’s also a set up for a sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
The Verdict:
Jonathan Maberry has written a chilling YA zombie apocalypse novel that revolves around a main character whose preconceptions are slowly challenged and who discovers unpleasant truths about the world he knows and the people he cares about. Although it’s a little slow to start, the world-building is great and there is plenty of action as the story progresses, including some chilling zombie attack scenes. There’s a set-up for a sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
Nearly fourteen years ago, a freak virus swept across the world turning the living into the undead. Benny Imura was only a toddler, but his last memory of his parents is tainted by the image of them becoming zombies, and he blames his older brother, Tom, for not saving them.
Now Benny is fifteen, and Tom wants them to put their difficult relationship behind them and work together in the “family business”: as zombie killers. It’s the last thing Benny wants to do, but he needs a job and he thinks it’ll be an easy ride.
But when they head into the Rot and Ruin, an area full of wandering zombies, Benny soon realises that there’s more to the job than just whacking zombies. And, as he’s confronted with the truth about the world around him Benny makes the most terrifying discovery of all, that the worst monsters you can imagine might actually be human ...
Benny Imura was only a toddler when the world was destroyed in a zombie apocalypse. His earliest memory is of his older brother, Tom, carrying him away from the family home. Benny’s never forgiven Tom for leaving their mother to be killed by his zombified father. Now that Benny’s 15, he must get a job or the town of Mountainside will reduce his rations but he can’t find a job that he actually wants to do.
When Tom suggests that Benny joins him as a bounty hunter – someone who fulfils requests from the living to kill their zombified relatives – Benny has no option but to agree. Soon he finds himself out in the Rot and Ruin – a huge no man’s land filled with wandering zombies – but what he learns there forces him to rethink everything he ever thought he knew as he discovers that there are worse things than zombies and some of them are living with him in Mountainside ...
Jonathan Maberry’s YA novel those who survived the zombie outbreak have established secure towns and traders brave the unsecured plains to bring supplies and news. Although people are trying to get on with their lives as much as possible, life isn’t normal. Many jobs relate to the zombie threat – from artists who draw pictures of how people may look following zombification, to people who work bottling liquefied zombies to protect people and bounty hunters. It’s a believable society and one that makes the dark underbelly that slowly emerges all too credible.
Benny’s admiration for bounty hunters like Charlie Matthias who entertains Mountainview’s teenagers with stories of zombie eradication contrasts with his anger against his brother, who he knows is a coward for leaving his parents. This provides a strong emotional core to the story and Benny really grows as the plot unfolds and his preconceptions are challenged. The antagonistic relationship between him and his brother is well drawn and I really liked Tom’s patience and regret as he introduces Benny to unpleasant truths. There’s also a well drawn love story that develops between Benny and his childhood friend, Nix, and which doesn’t become mawkish.
The book’s slow to get started as it sets up its world, but there’s plenty of action as the story progresses and the zombie attacks are utterly chilling. There’s also a set up for a sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
The Verdict:
Jonathan Maberry has written a chilling YA zombie apocalypse novel that revolves around a main character whose preconceptions are slowly challenged and who discovers unpleasant truths about the world he knows and the people he cares about. Although it’s a little slow to start, the world-building is great and there is plenty of action as the story progresses, including some chilling zombie attack scenes. There’s a set-up for a sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
