Title: Rot & RuinAuthor: Jonathan Maberry
Pages: 464
Age Rating: M
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Synopsis from Amazon:
It’s been 14 years since First Night, when the dead came back to life. Six billion people have died (and reanimated) since then, and America has collapsed into isolated communities living within the great “Rot and Ruin.” Benny is 15, which means it’s time to get a job or face cut rations, but his general laziness leaves him with only one employment option: join his stuffy, sword-swinging, Japanese half-brother, Tom, as an apprentice bounty hunter. This means heading beyond the gates to slice and dice “zoms,” but Benny quickly begins to see the undead in a new light—as well as realizing that Tom is much more than he ever let on.
Rot & Ruin is a book I had been looking forward to reading for a while. It was sitting on my shelf begging to be read and finally I obliged. I am sooo glad I did. This book is amazing! It captivated me from the very beginning, it's a true page turner. You are easily able to connect with the characters and their emotional journey, all of us have had secret crushes and fights with our siblings.
One thing I loved about this book was that even though some characters were only 15, they had real raw & deep emotions. There world is not & possibly will never be like the world we know today and they know it. You get to see them battle feelings of staying in their comfort zone & wanting more from their life & world. You also get to see them grow in maturity over the course of the book. It's an amazing journey considering the time frame of the book is only about a month or so. You see them evolve from having a teenagers maturity to that of an adult.
Another thing about this book is that it's focused around the subject of the living dead, only this isn't your typical zombie book. This looks at zombies from another angle. One of "humaness" (yes I do believe I have created a word). This book shows that zombies are people too, or that they used to be. They have families who love them and grieve for them. It's not their fault that they are the way they are. In most movies you see zombies being killed left & right in all kinds of ways, but this book looks into another way to do it. One very hard, emotional way to do it. I must say I am a bit of a sap & I have teared up once or twice reading this book. One of those times being at the end.
Rating: 3 Bookmarks - Finished & in Novel Utopia!
I gave this book an age rating of a M just for the fact that the book did have a few curse words here & there and there were 15 year old boys with raging hormones :-). If you're looking for a great book to curl up with & read over a weekend then I highly suggest this one.
