Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Title: Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin #1)

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: September 14, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Benny Imura couldn't hold a job, so he took to killing. In the zombie-infested world Benny has grown up in, teenagers must work once they turn fifteen--or they'll lose their food rations. Benny isn't interested in taking on the family business, but he reluctantly agrees to train as a zombie killer with his boring big brother, Tom. He expects a dull job, whacking zombies for cash. What he discovers is a vocation that will teach him what it really means to be human.

As his worldview is challenged again and again by the lessons he learns from Tom, Benny is forced to confront another horrifying reality: Sometimes the most terrible monsters are human.

While I had heard of Rot & Ruin, I didn't really know much about it. So when I received a copy of the sequel for review, I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about. This was also my first read about zombies and I am now hooked, the more zombies, the better!

Now that he has turned fifteen, Benny Imura has to find a job. If he doesn't, he will lose his food rations. After trying a number of jobs, Benny has no other choice but to become his brother Tom's apprentice. But Benny doesn't think as highly of Tom the great zombie killer as everyone else. Soon enough though, Benny discovers that there is more to what Tom does than just killing zombies. Benny finds himself in a world completely different from the one he thought he knew. Now out in the Rot and Ruin, Benny will have his entire view of the world changed and challenged over and over again. But worst of all, Benny will find out that zombies aren't the only monsters in the world. And more importantly, they might not be the most dangerous monsters out there.

A zombie story was something completely knew to me, and I absolutely loved it. It was a good thing it was a rainy day when I was reading the book, otherwise I would have felt guilty staying inside all day to read the book. The post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world Jonathan Maberry created in Rot & Ruin was not only amazing, but it also felt completely real to me. I could so easily picture everything that Tom and Benny were seeing and going through. The story was also crafted really well and I enjoyed every single page of it. I highly enjoyed discovering Jonathan Maberry his incredible writing and the fantastic world he created.

For a long time when I started reading the book, Benny really and truly annoyed me. It was his attitude towards everything, especially his brother, that annoyed me more than anything else. But as he spent more time in the Rot and Ruin and with his brother, he changed and I started to like him more and more. By the end of the book, Benny became someone I could really like. Tom, on the other hand, I liked from the beginning. You could really tell he was a genuinely good guy and would always be willing to help those who deserve it. Even when his brother was a complete jerk, he still cared and would have done just about anything for him. As for the villains in the book, I will only say one thing, they were truly and utterly villainous.

Rot & Ruin was an absolutely fantastic read. Everything about it was captivating and I couldn't help but always want more. I couldn't wait to dive into Dust & Decay once I finished reading it.