Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin, #1) in Zombies!

Nov 03, 2020 Zac rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I've been a huge fan of the Pine Deep trilogy and the Joe Ledger novels, but had never gotten around to reading Rot & Ruin. I suspect the YA designation made me skeptical. Now that I've finally made it around to reading this I realize I've made a huge error and look forward to reading through more of this series.
The other point I'd make is that while I'm a big fan of the zombie genre, I've always been more interested in stories that take place during the fall and outline survival during the coll ...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Jan rated it liked it

Shelves: teenbooks, horror-fiction

I admit that I'm a sucker for zombie apocalyptic fiction. So I was intrigued by this teen novel about humans trying to survive in a world where zombies are everywhere. In this case, however, the real bad guys are not the mindlessly munching zombies, but sadistic zombie bounty hunters who are more of a threat to their fellow humans than they are to zombies. There is, of course, one hero amongst the zombie bounty hunters, a man named Tom who is the main character's brother and who hunts and kills ...more

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Apr 14, 2010 Terry rated it really liked it

Shelves: zombies

As a 15-year-old, Benny Imura will no longer be supported by the town of Mountainside. Instead, like all adults, he must find a job to earn his rations. But faced with career choices like testing the fence separating the town from zombies or sitting in a watchtower all day, following his bounty hunter brother Tom out into the Rot and Ruin becomes his best option.

Tom is loved and respected by the town, but Benny remembers Tom’s actions on First Night and has hated him ever since. Besides, Tom isn ...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Schnaucl rated it really liked it

Shelves: series, fiction, november, read_2010, library, post-apocalyptic, later_purchased, horror, 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, favourite-books, not-to-be-missed-series

"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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Aug 04, 2011 Dracolibris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-lit, post-apocalyptic, zombies, dystopian, 2011

LOVED it! Can not wiat for the next one.

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Nov 29, 2012 Jennie rated it really liked it

Shelves: zombies, horror, young-adult

So glad this became a series. My first introduction to the Imuras was in "Family Business," which can be found in The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology. Can't wait to keep reading more about them. ...more

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