Benny just turned fifteen. In his world that means he must find a job in order to continue receiving his rations. The problem is, Benny can’t find a job he likes. He and his best friend, Chong, waited too long to get one and all the easy jobs are gone. What’s left aren’t very appealing. He’s tried being a locksmith, a fence tester, a fence technician, a carpet coat salesman, a pit thrower, a crank generator repairman, a spotter, a bottler, and an erosion artist. It seems like the only option left is to join the family business.
Benny’s brother, Tom, is one of the most respected and successful zombie killers. The problem is, Benny doesn’t know why people think Tom’s that great. He’s never seen Tom do anything especially exciting or impressive – in fact, he’s actually turned away from violence, which makes Benny think Tom’s a coward. Tom is nothing like the totally cool Zombie Killers like Charlie Pink-Eye and Motor City Hammer. Benny has never intended to do what Tom does. He’s always said no every time Tom asked him to become his apprentice. But, his lack of success in any other job has left him no choice.
Benny learns a lot while out in the Rot & Ruin with Tom. He learns about his own past, what it is that Tom really does, and what separates man from monster. Benny’s outlook on life completely changes as he begins to realize there might be more to life than just his small town of Mountainside.
ROT & RUIN is a perfect choice for readers who enjoyed THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. Both books take place in a small town of survivors surrounded by fences that keep the zombies out. ROT & RUIN is set in a time when people still remember what happened when the zombies started rising, so the reader gets some first-hand accounts of First Night (the night the world changed). ROT & RUIN also gives us some of the blood and gore that we sometimes want in a zombie novel.
Jonathan Maberry did an excellent job developing the characters and creating an interesting setting. The reader can get lost in Benny’s world. ROT & RUIN gets the Stay Awake Award because I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I stayed up to 3:30 A.M. one night to finish. This story caused me to cringe, gasp, chuckle, and cry. Absolutely amazing!
Oooo…I can’t wait for this one. It’s one of my most anticipated upcoming books!! So happy to hear you liked it!
Carrie´s last blog ..And Then I Found Out the Truth by Jennifer Sturman
Yep!! I LOVED IT!
Karin…so glad you enjoyed ROT & RUIN. I’m currently writing the sequel, DUST & DECAY. Thanks for posting this review.
Best
Jonathan
Jonathan maberry´s last blog ..Why Zombies – Part 2
It was my pleasure. Knowing there is a sequel coming is wonderful. I love the title. Can’t wait.
Karin
I sooooo want to read this book! So glad you liked it.
Jill´s last blog ..Tween Tuesday- The Secret Zoo
I am so looking forward to this one! I see you are reading Feed and that is on my my list as well! Looking forward to your review on that one:-)
Kim´s last blog ..Book Review- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Oohh, this one sounds excellent. Must keep an eye out for it!
Darren @ Bart’s Bookshelf´s last blog ..Review- The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine by April Lurie
I met this author at BEA and he is not how I would have pictured him at all with his island patterned button up shirt. LOL A friend of mine loves these books and was happy when I handed him a signed copy of this one.
Serena´s last blog ..Silver Lining to the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge Failure
I met him there too and I completely agree with you.
Okay…so now I’m curious. So if you didn’t expect big Hawaiian shirt guy…how did you picture me?
Jonathan maberry´s last blog ..Why Zombies – Part 2
*Sigh* I’m not looking forward to reading this, but my students will LOVE it. Thanks for the heads up.
Not a fan of zombies Ms. Yingling?
Thank you for the review. I put this book in my wish list.
i just finished this book and i absolutely loved it. the fact that every single part was realistic. if a zombie outbreak were to end the world to me it might be something like this i look forward to the next book. i love zombie literature and movies its been an obsession of mine since i was little.
Here are three professional reviews the book has received:
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY of ROT & RUIN by Jonathan Maberry
STARRED REVIEW: “The delineation between man and monster, survivor and victim is fiercely debated in Maberry’s (Patient Zero) thoughtful, post-apocalyptic coming-of-age tale. In Mountainside, an oasis of civilization in a world ravaged by zombies, residents must find work at age 15 or have their rations halved. With every other option exhausted, Benny Imura reluctantly apprentices with his older brother, Tom, as a zombie killer, despite blaming Tom for their parents’ deaths. As Benny accompanies Tom into the hostile wilderness, he learns how wrong he was about many things, from the supposed “coolness” of larger-than-life bounty hunter Charlie Matthias to the inhuman nature of “zoms” and the true purpose of Tom’s work. The eye-opening experiences continue when Charlie kidnaps Benny’s potential girlfriend, Nix, as part of his efforts to track down the fabled Lost Girl, who holds the key to a deadly secret. In turns mythic and down-to-earth, this intense novel combines adventure and philosophy to tell a truly memorable zombie story, one that forces readers to consider them not just as flesh-eating monsters or things to be splattered, but as people.“
KIRKUS review of ROT & RUIN by Jonathan Maberry
It’s been 14 years since First Night, when a zombie apocalypse turned America into the Rot and Ruin wasteland and war-torn survivors formed a new community behind a protective fence and away from “Godless behaviors.” Rescued at the age of two on First Night by his older stepbrother Tom, Benny Imura, a reticent bounty hunter, must now take a job. The teen begrudgingly accompanies his seemingly cowardly brother into the Rot and Ruin, where he discovers an Old West lawlessness, a gang of renegade bounty hunters kidnapping children to pit against zoms for sport, a mysterious Lost Girl who’s lived in the Ruin all her life and Tom’s true character. In his first YA novel, prolific zombie writer Maberry (Patient Zero, 2009, etc.) blends a community structure and terrifying zombie chase scenes reminiscent of Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) with the ethical dilemmas (e.g., the power of fear and the nature of evil) of Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series. The result is an action-packed, thought-provoking look at life—and death—as readers determine the true enemy. (Science fiction. 13 & up)
BOOKPAGE review of ROT & RUIN
Review by Catherine D. Acree
http://www.bookpage.com/books-10013680-Rot+%26amp%3B+Ruin
What kid wouldn’t love to whack some zombies? Slaughter some bumbling, disintegrating bodies with gnashing teeth? Kill them before they kill you?
Benny Imura has absolutely no interest. But in his post-apocalyptic Californian community, Benny will lose half his rations if he does not find a job by the time he turns 15, so he has no choice but to become an apprentice to his lame zom-slaughtering brother Tom and to follow him into the Rot & Ruin—the world outside the fences. The zombie-covered fields of America reveal to Benny a world without morality and without humanity, even among the living.
Jonathan Maberry’s Rot & Ruin melds the entertainment of a zombie thriller with an examination of the roots of anger and the value of human life. When the dead rise, it is easy to find sport in whacking a former mailman or two. But Benny quickly discovers that the living dead were once simply living, and there are things far more evil in the world than a shuffling mob of zoms.
Along the way, Rot & Ruin ordains the younger generations with a sense of purpose and power, and a new understanding of what a hero really is: “Often it was the most unlikely of people who found within themselves a spark of something greater. It was probably always there, but most people are never tested, and they go through their whole lives without ever knowing that when things are at their worst, they are at their best.”
Jonathan maberry´s last blog ..Young Adult Zombie Novels
I JUST got finished reading this book earlier today and the first thing I did was look for anything about a sequel! I am SO relieved to hear that there is going to be one!
I gotta say, I picked this book out from Barnes and Nobles because I thought it would be one of those “bloody, gorey zombie books”, but it completely took me by surprise. Much more emotion was put into it, the book even had me crying a few times! Loved all the twists throw in this book!
I will definitely be on the look-out for this book’s sequel!
just got don reading this book it only took me one day just couldn’t put it down the story is just so deep and intriguing cant wait for the next book ill be waiting in line to get it when it comes out
oh my god i cryed so hard when tom died. my favorite character gone. I am depressed over tom’s death
what is the name of the sequeal?
I love this book! Is the best book I have ever read and I have read alot of books! Well written Jonathan Maberry! I hope you make a second one!
Bit of an update on ROT & RUIN. I recently closed a deal with Simon & Schuster for two more books, which will round out the over-arcing storyline.
We’re also getting some itnriguing Hollywood interest.
I loved Rot and Ruin and I’m so excited to hear there is a sequel in the works! Keep the good stuff coming!
I’m not a fan of zombie books, but I read the short story of this in an anthology. The none of the other short stories interested me but “rot and ruin” was so good I couldn’t wait to read the full story! I can hardly wait for the sequels! Well written and nicely paced, it defiantly left me wanting more of their story.
I loved this book. I was FLIPPING CRACKERS when Tom died. I’m so glad he returned. You had me going. I couldn’t read fast enough when he came back. I would keep finding myself skipping a sentence or two to try and figure out what’s going on. Great stuff. The Epilogue was very emotionally intense and a “Wow!” factor was definitely implemented. Great, stuff. Thank you so much for writing this. Oh, by the way, the last book I’ve actually read since 7th grade was Because of Winn-Dixie. Think how old that book is and now think what you’ve just done. You made someone who hates reading be glued to your book and finish it in 4 days.
Loved it.
just finished reading rot and ruin and let me tell you i thought tom was all gone i got so angry that i wanted the motor city hammer and charlie to die but then when he came back i got really excited though what happened to charlie shouldnt he turn into a “zom” because he was never quieted??? And Jonathan the sequel make it even better than ROT & RUIN it was the best book i have read!!!!! so excited for DUST & DECAY
It gives me great joy to see that someone loves zombies as much as I do!
Hey Jonathan, I’m 12 years old and I’ve been reading this book over the last couple nights – I loved it. It’s so different to all the other ‘Zombie’ books and actually fits romance, action and all that other stuff that isn’t ever in these books. I would love to know when the sequel comes out and I will definitely read more of your books. Regards,
John.
John…so glad you’re enjoying the book! We launched DUST & DECAY today and had a party at a bookstore in Doylestown, PA – with zombie cake. Mmm.
There are thirteen pages of free prequel scenes for ROT & RUIN available on the Simon & Schuster webpage for the book. http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rot-Ruin/Jonathan-Maberry/9781442402324
And there are twenty-five pages of free scenes set between ROT & RUIN and DUST & DECAY. Here’s a link to the main page; access the scenes by clicking on the banner that reads: READ BONUS MATERIAL BY JONATHAN MABERRY: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Dust-Decay/Jonathan-Maberry/9781442402355
Benny Imura and his friends will return in FLESH & BONE (2012) and FIRE & ASH (2013)
Jonathan Maberry´s last blog ..Meet Audio Book Narrator of the Pine Deep Trilogy, Tom Weiner
Hey, will there be book 3?
sweet so there’s :
ROT AND RUIN,
DUST AND DECAY,
FLESH AND BONE, and
FIRE AND ASH
love your books my only objection to the story so far is that EDITED BECAUSE OF SPOILERS.
Love your work John. I love the characters you’ve developed so much. I listened to the audiobooks at work rather read and love it. Start dust and decay tomorrow if i can get it, thanks again!!
I just admire ur books so much. I hate it when it’s midnight and I have toput one of ur books down cuz there’s school the next day. The only thing that makes me sad is that the fourth book is coming out in 2013. Also I would like to ask u if there will be any other book after fire and ash.
I thought it was funny seeing u in zombie form.
I love your books. I’ve read Rot and Ruin, and now i’m halfway done with Dust and Decay! I love the book can’t wait to read the others, they make me think so much.