Friday, April 28, 2017

Rot and Ruin by Johnathan Maberry

Zombie stories have never been appealing to me but I have had a few patrons recommend this series to me and was ready to give it a try. Pleasantly surprised from the start, this story is filled with action, adventure and emotion that I did not expect. Some stories that I have tried to read before that involved zombies had a confusing premise and did not explain how the zombies came to be or how the world has changed, but this story did not leave me confused. I enjoyed the plot, characters, setting and world-building. If you like books that are intense, fast-paced, and slightly scary, Rot and Ruin would be a good series to engage in.

This book can be categorized as post-apocalyptic and features a future America where zombies have taken over most of the country and roam free. The setting is a small town that has been able to keep zombies out since First Night, when the zombie invasion started. Benny Imura is a teenager who has reached the age where he needs to choose a profession and begin working. He tries out many different positions and is unhappy with them all and decides he will try to train with his brother, who is a bounty hunter. The position of bounty hunter is much different than what we are familiar with, in Bennys world it means finding loved ones who were turned into zombies and killing them humanely for their loved ones who have not been infected. Nobody wants to imagine their family or friends forever roaming as a zombie in the Rot and Ruin outside of town.

Benny has not gotten along with his brother Tom for most of his life, even though Tom has raised him since he was orphaned during First Night. Tom is my favorite character in this story and I immediately fell in love with him and his mysterious, talented, and kind-hearted ways. Although Benny could be annoying at times, I still enjoyed his character and was rooting for him to succeed but can he handle being a bounty hunter? Would he survive out in the Ruin where zombies run free? Full of action, adventure, and intense scenes, this book will captivate you until the end where you will need to have tissues handy. Come pick up this book from the Teen section today!

-Lauren

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