carol.'s Reviews > Rot & Ruin
Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin, #1)
by
I know, zombies, right? So passe, so early century, so urban fiction--so yawn for so many people. The genre is erroneously underrated; the best zombie and apocalypse fiction is about wrestling with humanity, ethics and survival, with some hair-raising action to leaven the philosophy. At worst, they're Cracker Jacks, caramel popcorn fun with a prize at the end. I love me some apocalypse fiction, and when Trudi recommended this series, I knew I had to give it a go.
It opens in a small town of 28 thousand, with fifteen year-old Benny and his best friend Lou Chong forced to look for jobs, the bane of countless teenagers during countless summers. Only, if they don't find a job, food rations will be decreased by half, and we all know how teens like to eat. Benny lives with his half-brother Tom in a gated community, only this particularly community is gated to keep the zombies out. Benny has been carrying a grudge against Tom since the day of the Fall, fourteen years ago. He has a memory of Tom carrying him, racing away from the arms of his mom and leaving her to their father, who was already a zombie. Since then, Tom has spent years raising and protecting him, now working as a zombie-quieter. Benny truly doesn't understand his brother's expertise and philosophy, instead admiring the town bounty-hunter thugs who brag about number of kills and scavenged riches. To absolutely no one's surprise, Benny fails as all the jobs he tries and resigns himself to apprenticing with Tom. Tom takes him outside the fence, and Benny finds many of his beliefs and emotions challenged. They return to town, more stuff happens, and Benny has to do some fast growing up as they race against time to save ---
The expositional process of going through different jobs is a novel and clever one, introducing the reader to various roles and norms within the community. The locksmiths repair locks so people can be locked in at night (in case they die of natural causes), and erosion artists act like police sketch artists for those missing family and friends. There isn't too much that is unique in the town setting or in society's reaction to the Fall, except for a religious faction that blames the zombies on technology. Religion plays another role outside the fence when Benny meets the zombie sympathizers. Mentality and technology have an 1800s Western feel, with bounty hunters and traders being the few willing to set foot outside of town.
I lacked patience for early Benny; he's such a teenager, but of course, that's so he can grow exponentially by the book's finish. Characterization was done well; developed so that we had a feel for their complexities and motivations. Teenage dialogue, slacking and angst was believable. Zombies were standard for the genre. Writing was competent, with enough variety in structure and word choice to remain interesting, even if it didn't lead me to marvel over its beauty. There's a twisty ending, one part that we could see coming, another twist we couldn't, and it lends an emotional gravity to the book.
Three and a half stars on the GR scale of enjoyment, rounding up because 1) I feel like it, and 2) I recognize my enjoyment in the first part was slightly compromised by theidiot naive teen angle that left me wanting to slap Benny. But that's me and teenagers, and probably a mark of how well Maberry creates characters.
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![3978225](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1307934801p2/3978225.jpg)
carol.'s review
bookshelves: young-adult, zombies, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, represent
Jul 10, 2012
bookshelves: young-adult, zombies, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, represent
I know, zombies, right? So passe, so early century, so urban fiction--so yawn for so many people. The genre is erroneously underrated; the best zombie and apocalypse fiction is about wrestling with humanity, ethics and survival, with some hair-raising action to leaven the philosophy. At worst, they're Cracker Jacks, caramel popcorn fun with a prize at the end. I love me some apocalypse fiction, and when Trudi recommended this series, I knew I had to give it a go.
It opens in a small town of 28 thousand, with fifteen year-old Benny and his best friend Lou Chong forced to look for jobs, the bane of countless teenagers during countless summers. Only, if they don't find a job, food rations will be decreased by half, and we all know how teens like to eat. Benny lives with his half-brother Tom in a gated community, only this particularly community is gated to keep the zombies out. Benny has been carrying a grudge against Tom since the day of the Fall, fourteen years ago. He has a memory of Tom carrying him, racing away from the arms of his mom and leaving her to their father, who was already a zombie. Since then, Tom has spent years raising and protecting him, now working as a zombie-quieter. Benny truly doesn't understand his brother's expertise and philosophy, instead admiring the town bounty-hunter thugs who brag about number of kills and scavenged riches. To absolutely no one's surprise, Benny fails as all the jobs he tries and resigns himself to apprenticing with Tom. Tom takes him outside the fence, and Benny finds many of his beliefs and emotions challenged. They return to town, more stuff happens, and Benny has to do some fast growing up as they race against time to save ---
The expositional process of going through different jobs is a novel and clever one, introducing the reader to various roles and norms within the community. The locksmiths repair locks so people can be locked in at night (in case they die of natural causes), and erosion artists act like police sketch artists for those missing family and friends. There isn't too much that is unique in the town setting or in society's reaction to the Fall, except for a religious faction that blames the zombies on technology. Religion plays another role outside the fence when Benny meets the zombie sympathizers. Mentality and technology have an 1800s Western feel, with bounty hunters and traders being the few willing to set foot outside of town.
I lacked patience for early Benny; he's such a teenager, but of course, that's so he can grow exponentially by the book's finish. Characterization was done well; developed so that we had a feel for their complexities and motivations. Teenage dialogue, slacking and angst was believable. Zombies were standard for the genre. Writing was competent, with enough variety in structure and word choice to remain interesting, even if it didn't lead me to marvel over its beauty. There's a twisty ending, one part that we could see coming, another twist we couldn't, and it lends an emotional gravity to the book.
Three and a half stars on the GR scale of enjoyment, rounding up because 1) I feel like it, and 2) I recognize my enjoyment in the first part was slightly compromised by the
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Reading Progress
July 10, 2012
– Shelved
July 13, 2012
–
Started Reading
July 15, 2012
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Finished Reading
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Trudi
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rated it 5 stars
Jul 10, 2012 08:51PM
![Trudi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
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![Traveller](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1423246742p1/3145526.jpg)
I just had to vote for it it because it's nicely written. :) You seem to have a knack for making zombie reviews interesting.
![mark monday](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
![carol.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1307934801p1/3978225.jpg)
![Traveller](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1423246742p1/3145526.jpg)
Are you Asian? Oh, i didn't know! I've seen pics of you, of course, but you look kind of a-ethnic, (and i'm colorblind ethnically speaking on top of it) ha ha - sort of hard to pin down... so from where in Asia are you actually?
![mark monday](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
nice! and rare!
![Traveller](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1423246742p1/3145526.jpg)
and half, er, some kind of Slavic."
Ooh, nice! Yes, one can see the slavic in those cheekbones! Interesting... actually slavic is also Asian, of course, sorta. Asia is a big place though, they're from opposite sides, huh? ( I mean the Filipino and the Slavic)
![♥ Ashleigh ♥ Contrary to popular belief I'm not actually mad!](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1377059588p1/4690797.jpg)
![♥ Ashleigh ♥ Contrary to popular belief I'm not actually mad!](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1377059588p1/4690797.jpg)
How funny was his brother, surrounded by idiots, dropping his wisdom bombs on everyone at prime opportunities. Lol. Actually I partially blame Tom for Benny's annoying personality at the beginning of the book - soon as he started paying attention to his lil brother, Benny pulled his head out of his butt. It was nice when they finally started bonding. :)