Broken Lands

Gr 8 Up—Revisit "Rot and Ruin" with Maberry's latest postapocalyptic zombie tome. Split mainly between the perspectives of Gabriella "Gutsy" Gomez and much-beloved protagonist Benny Imura, this volume picks up shortly after the events of Fire & Ash. While Benny and his friends are helping to establish a new safe haven in California, Gutsy's in New Mexico burying her mother—again. The teens' worlds are soon thrown into chaos as mysterious forces and dangerous strangers threaten their fragile security. While the story's overall premise is exciting—if a tad redundant after the previous installments—Maberry packs too much exposition into the first 100 pages. Readers may feel disoriented by this quick introduction to such a fully developed world; additionally, they are given an infodump about the characters' skin colors, sizes, sexual orientations, relationship statuses, and religious ideologies. In his effort to orientate readers, in this world, Maberry has sacrificed nuance entirely.