Unarguably the best Zombie novel I've read so far. The characters are realistic and none is completely good or completely bad. There are lots of grey areas, and that is what makes this a fulfilling read. But the first few chapters are a rough ride when Benny is searching for jobs in town with his friend, even more so because we know from the blurb (and common sense. Hey, its a zombie novel and he's gotta go out the fence or it'd not be a zombie novel.) that he's going to apprentice with his brother eventually and you just keep waiting for that to happen. But then, it is a journey into the Ruin and a grotesque account of what humanity is like from the point of view of a naive 15 year old. 
 Tom Imura is a fighter, but noble at heart. And Benny Imura, naive and uninitiated to the ways of the Ruin. There is a lot of misunderstanding on the part of Benny who thinks that Tom let his mother die and ran away like a coward. That drives a large part of the plot and makes you wonder what a great guy Tom is. I'll not say more because it'll have spoilers and it doesn't matter anyway. The actual details, I mean. 
 Neither of the main characters are heroes, they are all normal persons who happened to find themselves in less than normal situations and found out the limits of what they can do. That is what I loved the most about Rot and Ruin. Jonathan Maberry's writing style is awesome and fun to read. 
 One thing that I didn't like much: Benny got too manipulative when they met The Lost Girl, and that was weird.