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Nov 03, 2011

Lyndsey rated it:

You know when you see yourself in a picture and think, "Ahhhhhhhh! Is that me?"

You just don't look right because you're used to seeing yourself from a different angle in the mirror. That's how this entire book felt because I thought I was seeing it all wrong. Something just seemed off. But more on that later *long drawn out dramatic pause*............ Dun, dun, duuuuuuun.

Beware! Minor Spoilers are afoot (and tagged). That's if you can spoil something that's already More...

48 comments like (36 people liked it)

May 26, 2011

Penny rated it:

This is what I learned from reading Rot & Ruin:

1. Zombies iz people too. So they should be treated with respect, yo. (more about this later)

2. Books containing zombies can be really irritating and boring.

You see, I didn't know this was a possibility. I mean, it's zombies we're talking about here. How could zombies be boring? Turns out all you need to do is add a lame teenage romance and BAM! What really matters (ZOMBIES!) gets shoved onto the backburner More...

19 comments like (30 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2010

Morgan rated it:

I am. I so am. BRING IT

I'm just kidding. When there is a zombie apocalypse (no, not if), I'm about 98% sure I would not survive. I would be like those chicks in horror movies who get killed off in the opening credits. But there is the 2% I do survive initially, and then after that, I have a plan.

I am skilled in no way shape or form. I hate the wilderness and physical activity. I am not a quick thinker and I panic under pressure. So basically, I am screwed More...

48 comments like (30 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Lou rated it:

http://more2read.com/?review=rot-ruin-benny-imura-1-by-jonathan-maberry
This story is about two brothers, The Imura brothers, Tom the bounty hunter and Benny the not so yet bounty hunter. Benny since First Night, the time when the Zombie outbreak began has not yet killed, has now come to the stage in his life where he's going to have to make some big decisions. Will he embrace the path of a bounty hunter like his brother or not? What sets Benny on a stepping-stone to his chosen destiny is t More...

16 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

AH rated it:

Is the zombie apocalypse close at hand?

Are zombies the new vampire? Both are undead. Both bite. Unfortunately, zombies have gotten the short end of the stick. Zombies are not glamorous. They are not sexy or sparkly either. Zombies are just ….well ewww.

I must preface this review with the fact that I usually don’t like zombies. I don’t go out of my way to read about zombies, or watch *shudder* zombie movies. I get squeamish at the sight of blood and gore.

Rot & Ruin More...

13 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2011

Janina rated it:

Rot & Ruin was the first zombie book I ever read and judging by how much I liked it, I think it won't be the last (recommendations are welcome; I'm not exactly an expert). I would categorize it as middle grade, though, so if you're looking for a 'hard-core' ;) zombie book, you might want to look elsewhere.

First of all, I really like the makeup of this book: We have an eye-catching – and slightly creepy cover – and then on the inside we have some 'zombie-cards' (the kids in the story co More...

13 comments like (15 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2011

Trudi rated it:

I have been on a zombie reading frenzy lately – I see a zombie book and I must read it, I can’t help myself. And the books are coming fast and furious, especially in the YA area. Some are good, some are awful, and some are outstanding. Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin falls somewhere just shy of outstanding. It reeks of EPIC WIN.

So yeah, I love this book and before I go all fangirl over Tom Imura and squee my head off let me highlight why you should start this series:

1) It i More...

5 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Lucy rated it:

To say I am a fan of zombie books and films would be putting it mildly. As a small child in church, I'd sit on the kneeler and watch people going up for communion and imagine who I would want in my post-zombie village.

Another fact you should know: I read half of Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero and I just wasn't into it. I kept putting it down and stopped picking it up, not because it was bad, but because I didn't really care about what happened next. I remember finding the dialogue a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2011

Isamlq rated it:

Benny Imura has a couple of days till turning fifteen. Fifteen year olds in his post apocalyptic world are expected to contribute to society otherwise they find their rations cut in half (Everything I’ve said happens in the first couple of pages.) He also lives with his half brother, Tom Imura, whom he loathes. Why? You’ll just have to read on. Things get really exciting as he looks for a job only to find that the only viable option is to go into the “family business” with Tom who happens to be More...

9 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2012

Kristin rated it:

Rot & Ruin has zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. It also has all of the good stuff that usually accompanies zombies, thrills, chills, and of course, kills. However, Rot & Ruin is not a zombie book, not in the traditional sense. It’s a coming of age story in a time where everything is dangerous, and nothing is quite how it seems, and about the birth of a hero.
The book begins about 15 years after First Night, when the dead started coming back to life, and focuses on Benny Imura, 14, and his More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 20, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Loved this! It was zombie killers a la Clint Eastwood. There was a western flavor to this that I really liked.

Benny Imura is fifteen years old and looking for a job. His older brother Tom is a bounty hunter but Benny can't stand the idea of working with him because Tom is a coward. What kind of "man" would run away from his parents and not try to save them from the zombie horde? But that's just what Tom did, taking his infant brother Benny with him.

Now, fourteen More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2012

Sonia rated it:

Tom Imura is a badass, but a noble and humble one. He has the unfortunate habit of being all zen and spiritual, but I forgive him because of his sheer badass-ocity. (It should be a word - really.) Further in my imagination he was super hot like Keanu Reeves, but even if he wasn't hot, what woman doesn't love a man who returns from the dead riding a horse to save the day by slaying scores of the walking dead?

Benny is alright. Like a fungus, he grew on me. Even the secondary char More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 20, 2011

Mariel rated it:

I don't really have anything new to add about Rot & Ruin other than throwing in my voice to chime with the naysayers in a bored "Nay!" I may even be lip synching. I'm not feeling the effort at all.

Imagine the most stereotypical response of a fifteen year old boy and apply that to any points the zombie killing concept/teenaged boy living in a post apocolyptic world can dredge up and that's your book. Stir in a dash of "I should have cared all along!" and generic t More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2011

Jason rated it:

5 Stars

This is a very different Maberry novel in that Benny Imura, our main protagonist, is just a 15 year old, somewhat naive and innocent boy, about to grow up into a man. There is no Joe Ledger or Malcolm Crow in this one, and that is just fine.

Clearly written to have the YA appeal, and to be current with one of today's most popular genres, that of Zombies. Maberry's fresh take on this is apparent right from the start and from the characters that he portrays.
As many More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2011

Judith rated it:

Yes. Middle school on up will love it. This is much more than another walking dead book.It uses the catastrophe of a plague that changes people into zombies to explore some bigger issues. Book is much like an onion: you start off with the classic horror movie situation-- small community of survivors surrounded by a world of zombies, then the first layer of the story comes off and you start to see that some people are moving past the cringing horror mode and exploring the world of the zombies More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Shannon rated it:

Benny hated zoms his whole life because he never stopped to consider that zoms were someones friend, someones mother, someone loved them. They weren't evil, they just were instinctual. This book taught the lesson that sometimes the real evil isn't the clear target you've been taught to hate, sometimes it the hero you worshiped your whole life and sometimes evil is wrapped up in a package of indifference - turning a blind eye to anything you are too afraid to confront.

As you go alon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Aleeza rated it:

I actually wrote a full review of the book, but then I just decided to not post it.

Because I am weird (i.e.: indecisive) like that.

Regardless, here are a couple of quotes from the book I LOVED and that really made me think (sorry the formatting's a bit off):

‘“Hell, boy, I ain’t evil. I’m just the guy that’s in power. I’m a conqueror, like all them great kings and generals in history. You want to call me evil because of Gameland? You think that’s the height of More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Kellyflower rated it:

Here's my jumbled thoughts:
Liked that it was about growing up in a sense, taking everything as we thought we knew as fact and mixing it all up. Benny thought he knew Tom (his brother) and during the unfolding of the story you see him growing up and changing, realizing maybe he doesn't know everything about everything. This would include feelings for a female friend that he wasn't ready to see as anything more then just a girl.
Did I also mention this story is about Zombie More...

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Jun 17, 2011

Christine rated it:

This book really was amazing. Best zombie book I've ever read. But there's so much more to it than zombies.

Awkward cover art aside (the one eye zoom always freaks me out a bit), this is one of my favorite books this year. Rot & Ruin goes beyond the idea of “Ahhh! Zombies are trying to kill us!” to take us inside a small community a few years after the ‘end of the world’.

I feel like I’m not going to do a good enough job convincing everyone in the world to read this book, r More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Book Chick City rated it:

"Rot & Ruin" is a difficult review to write. It took me almost a month to finish and yet I really enjoyed it. It's quite a lengthy novel but for the first 250 pages, not very much happens other than a lot of ground work and characterisation, which I must say is out of this world.

However, although the first half took me weeks to get through due to putting it down, reading something else and then picking it up again, the second half of this book I gobbled up in two days, and no More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 12, 2011

Teresa rated it:

Zombies are not my normal genre but fitting since it is Halloween. Zombies are in the book but basically it is the story of Benny Imura trying to fit in as a 15 year old in a post apocalyptic world. He is estranged from his brother a famous zombie bounty hunter, doesn't know how to handle a relationship with a girl, and is out to revenge the death of several members of his small town. That's a lot for anyone to handle and throw in the zombie factor and things get really tense. Great male protago More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Emily rated it:

Though written for a YA audience, I think even adult readers can appreciate this coming-of-age tale set during the aftermath of "First Night" (AKA the zombie apocalypse). I can always personally go for even more gore than was offered in this horror tale, but as with the best genre fiction it's really the human stories that shine through the carnage. Benny Imura makes a dynamic shift from whiny teenager to young man of action and I can't wait to read his next adventures. BONUS - There i More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Marie rated it:

Best. Zombie. Book. EVER!

But, who am I to talk, since I haven't even read a lot of zombie books. Just, everything about this book is AMAZING! The writing was phenomenal, the characters are real and relatable, the plot was fast paced, and the ending, oh the ending. Absolutely perfect. This part ofthe story was rapped up, but there's still room for a sequel. Needless to say, I will be picking up the sequel as soon as it is released.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. The More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 07, 2011

Christy (Love of Books) rated it:

I had this book on my TBR list for awhile, so when I won it in a giveaway it just allowed me to read it sooner. So glad I did! Rot & Ruin wasn't exactly what I expected... it was better. Way better. There are three things that I love in any book... 1. When it has those "ooohhh snap!" moments, 2. When it can make you choke up, and 3. when it has those moments that just make you sit back a think. Not only did this book have all three of those, it had zombies too! But the real mon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Sinn rated it:

I honestly had no idea what to expect going into this book. At some level, I anticipated the traditional zombie-apocalypse with teenagers as the central characters. However, this book really teaches valuable life lessons and forces the reader to take a closer look at society.

Wanting to find the easiest and most entertaining job they can, Benny and Chong, his best friend, start trying out jobs they find listed in the help-wanted pages. After Chong finds his dream vocation up on the More...

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Jan 31, 2012

Joe rated it:

I make a point of reserving most of the YA novels I read for my other goodreads page, Mr.G. However, Rot & Ruin was so awesome I've got to tell you about it here.
I didn't think I would like this book. It had an especially slow first act. But by the end I was eager for its sequel.
Like most zombie novels, Rot & Ruin is really more about the people surviving the zombie apocalypse than the zombie horror itself. With Rot & Ruin this was especially true as the first third of the book is More...

2 comments like

Jan 12, 2012

Karen rated it:

Nothing says "holiday" like a zombie apocalypse! Benny is living with his much older brother, Tom, because on First Night both of his parents were turned into zombies. No one knows exactly why, but lots of people were turned, and they bit people who then were also turned into zombies. Some 14 years later, society is operating in a very limited way. Benny must find a job in order to keep getting food rations, and tries several things before deciding to go into the zombie hunting busines More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Steve rated it:

In "Rot & Ruin" Jonathan Maberry has created a fascinating post Zombie Apocalypse world. In Maberry's world the Zombie plague began on "First Night." 15 years after "First Night" there are a few small camps of survivors in the mountains around Yosemite National Park. Our hero, Benny Imura, lives in one of these small settlements. His brother, Tom, is a bounty hunter. However, he is a bounty hunter who's focus is silencing Zombies. Survivors hire Tom to silence their More...

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Kate rated it:

I am tempted to give this four stars, but decided on three because, well, I'm stingy unless it's a fantastically written, completely believable story.
I am all about dystopian literature, and appreciate that so many young adult writers are using that genre these days. And I really did like this book. There were some issues with the writing that kept me from giving it more stars.

First, the good stuff. Original story, well done, and engaging characters. I want to read more, and More...

0 comments like

Dec 23, 2011

Robert rated it:

Jonathan Maberry, Rot and Ruin (Simon and Schuster, 2010)

It's been six days after forever since I read this book, and I somehow never got around to reviewing it. I have no idea why this is, since it's got a very good chance of being on my 25 best reads of the year list. I've been hearing about Maberry for years, but had never got round to picking up one of his books until I grabbed Rot and Ruin in June. It turned out to be a fine introduction to a guy who seems like a cracking writer ( More...

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