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.

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.