Rot & Ruin

De: Jonathan Maberry

Narrado por: Brian Hutchison

Multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry’s Rot & Ruin is his debut work for young readers. Fifteen-year-old Benny Imura lives in a world infested with zombies where, when a kid turns 15, he must get a job to continue receiving food rations. Benny has no interest in the family business of zombie killing, but figures he doesn’t have much of a choice. He’s tried out a bunch of other jobs, and hasn’t found anything he likes. But as Benny starts training with his brother, he learns things about being human that he never expected.

©2010 Jonathan Maberry (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Totally agree with the first review

Very good. I found this transcended age . The young and old will find this audio book enjoyable.

Well, I got my zombie fix but that's about it.

The narrator of this story does three voices really well. An upper-middle class white guy, a Texan, and an Italian-American from Brooklyn. The only problem is, those seem to be the ONLY voices he can do, and every character is a variation of that. It really threw me when the narrator read that two characters were speaking Vietnamese.to each other, then turned and started speaking English. The accent used sounded like a west-Texan Marlboro Man.

As far as the story itself goes, it starts with a great idea and finishes strong. But like several other Maberry novels, there are just a few too many points thrown in that are just so, well, dumb, that it makes the novel less fun. Maberry also must have a thing with albinos, because this is the second novel of his where the bad guy has been one. Zombies become a secondary, even a tertiary plot device and really aren't that scary at all.

This is an average zombie book at best, so if you're buying it in hopes it will help give you a zombie fix, save it for a day when you can't find much else that's any better. As for me - I'll read the sequels just to see if they get any better. If Maberry's Joe Ledger series is any indicator though, the series started out as a zombie book and none of the rest had any zombies in them. What a rip off! I quit reading them.

Worth Reading, Gets Better as you go!

Where does Rot & Ruin rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Someplace in the middle. It is not bad at all, it just was not what I was expecting. A little obvious in the beginning but the characters are personable and the storyline does get you thinking. I was hoping for a little more edge of the seat, reading but still two books to go. I am in the middle of Dust and Decay and I must say it is getting my interest level up to a 7 from a 5.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jonathan Maberry? Why or why not?

Jonathon Maberry is an amazing author. I read the Pine Deep trilogy and Patient Zero series. He is amazing and does not know how to write a bad book.

What does Brian Hutchison bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings some feeling. I am a huge fan of Scott Brick and James Marsters, but Hutchison is a good narrator. His voice is peasant although he can't change over like Marsters. He is up there with Pete Bradbury, Ray Porter though.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Zombies were people too!!

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this series. It is not the best but a good read, Worth the money and/or credits. Again, I still have over a book to go and already it has captured my interest and gets better every page

Make this into a movie

Like others, I picked this story to listen to because I had just finished the Joe Ledger series and wanted more of the same. Surprisingly, it's not anywhere near the same but I still found myself listening to this story whenever I could -- to and from work, mowing the lawn, running. Maberry does an excellent job of creating interesting characters and telling the story from the perspective of a teenager. As zombie thrillers go, this story pulls you in and gives depth to the dead as well as the living. I would love to see this made into a movie or TV series. As for the narrator, he does a great job save for a few instances where I felt the author had different intentions with the tone of the story.

Great story

This book, like all of Johnathan Mayberry's work that I've read so far, was excellent. It was a really good beginning to a story I am very interested in continuing to hear. Although it was written in a way that is geared toward a young adult audience, I still found the story very interesting and was happy to hear that it contained much of that Johnathan Mayberry flare that I've grown to love over the course of listening to some of his other works (Joe Ledger and the Dark of Night series). If I had to have one complaint, it would be that the man chosen to read this story, Brian Hutchison, didn't really do the story justice in my opinion. I sometimes found myself getting confused with who was talking at certain times due to his voice being more or less the same for many of the characters. Also, many of the moment in the story that were supposed to be tense and/or full drama seemed to fall flat due to Brian's Hutchison's rather monotoned story telling. Aside from that, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to picking up the next in the series.

Not A Typical Zombie Tale

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I shied away from this book multiple times because I didn't think the idea of a 15 kid trying to avoid working in the family business sounded like a compelling zombie story.

I was wrong.

I finally gave in and listened.This story is just as much about zombies and the world after the dead rise, as it is about honor, bravery, evil, justice, love and family.

What a refreshing take on the genre. Not only do we get hordes of Ramero-style lumbering zombies, but we are also treated to a story about right and wrong and having the strength to overcome fear and the status quo.

Rot & Ruin didn't quite have me as soon as I started listening, but it had me pretty early on in the story. The work of the author and the narrator wove together to create a world in which it was quite believable that such things might be happening. That's not to say I didn't find faults with the book, I just don't think they impacted the overall experience enough to warrant mention.

Check it out for yourselves.

What did you like best about this story?

The fresh take on the struggle to survive in a world full of the undead.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

ROT & RUIN: THE UNDEAD AREN'T THE ONLY MONSTERS OUT THERE.

Any additional comments?

Use your credit, and get this book.

A good story, but with the wrong narration

Although the story is not unique and clearly written towards a younger audience, it is still a very well written and enjoyable adventure. The narration, however, just is a miss to many times... in some situations completely taking away any emotion from the important parts. I honestly would recommend reading the book instead of listening to it.

Liked it, going for next in series!

This was an interesting new take on the ZA! We have all read a myriad of books that tell the ZA story from the beginning. This was refreshing because it tells the story about life 15 years after the upheaval. The author coaxes you into understanding a whole new viewpoint. Amazing! Beware it does start off slow, but hang in there it is worth the ride, your credit and your NEXT credit in my opinion!

Loved it!

I loved this story. The author and narrator made me love and hate the characters too!

Bounty hunting zombie killers= unique listen

Let me just state that if I turned into a zombie and ended up spending my zom-days lumbering around my job site, I would be one disappointed soul. Wait, do zombies even have souls? My overall impression of Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin? Humans are far scarier than any zombie could ever be and Tom Imura is HOTT!!!
Okay, so even in my limited experience with zombie lit, I think that this book offered something different. At the beginning of the book, Benny Imura is young, naïve, immature and doesn’t look past the surface level of anyone or anything in his small circle of existence. Tom Imura, Benny’s older brother, is patient, compassionate, and a skilled fighter, but a man who sees himself as less than perfect. It is my personal opinion that Tom is far harder on himself than Benny could ever be. Benny dislikes his brother based on an obscure recollection he has as a very small child of Tom running away, small Benny clutched in his arms, their parents victims to the “disease.” Benny spends the first 15 years of his life believing Tom is a coward, until the time comes for Benny to join the family business, killing zombies, bounty hunter style. Benny is interested in learning to kill zombies, even if he is not too keen on working for his brother, Tom. However, according to his school teacher, “learning to kill is the sort of thing you should learn from your folks.” So, with decent jobs scarce and the impending threat of losing half his food ration, Benny goes to work for his brother, Tom. It is there, out in the great rot and ruin, that Benny learns about who his brother really is.
Throughout the story, Benny changes a lot. He sees less black and white and recognizes more gray in the world around him. He is more skeptical of people and places and no longer accepts everything at face value. In the great rot and ruin, Benny learns that there are 2 types of danger, - the unthinking incessant zombies and the deliberate malice of fellow bounty hunters, Charlie Mathias and the Motor City Hammer. By the end of the novel, Benny looks at a person’s motives in order to draw conclusions rather than just his/her words. Benny also develops a relationship with childhood girl friend,Nix. Despite Benny’s vow to never fall for a girl he was already friends with, he finds himself crushing on her pretty hard core. The relationship between Nix and Benny develops slowly and is realized by a sweet, gentle yet, standard issue YA kiss. While the kiss maybe formulaic in terms of plot, Benny’s feelings for Nix are not.
“Nix, I know you’re hurt. I wish I could fix it, I swear to God. I wish I could make it all different, make what happened not true…If you need to lash out at me, say anything, throw me off this tower, if it will help even a little, then do it. I don’t care what happens to me anymore, I got what I wanted. I got you back safe… the monsters didn’t get you.”
Beside the many awesome quote-ables, the main strength of this novel is the exciting plot. I liked that in this particular novel, the world had turned to zombies some decade prior and the characters were living in a post-apocalyptic zombie North America. Despite its many info-dumps (usually via Tom Imura), the story telling was supreme, ending the book with an obvious sequel. While not the best choice for a romance, the writing was seamless and potent.
“The truth is the truth. What changes is what we know about it and what we’re willing to believe.” Tom Imura.