4 stars

Definitely my least favorite so far in the series, but in no way a bad book.

The thing I didn’t like about this book was the repetitiveness of it. One thing that is nice about the Rot and Ruin series is that it is easy for new readers to pick up, because each book recaps what has happened in the previous books. This is nice if a person reads the third book without having read the first two, because they can follow what is happening; however, it makes reading very tedious for those of us who are loyal fans of the series and have read everything up to this point. I read the first two books. I know what happened. There shouldn’t be that many pages dedicated to recap.

The other way this book is repetitive is that, while there are new adventures and different enemies in this book, similar things happen. A new set of villains take the stage. The group gets split up and meets new foes and allies, then comes together for a big final fight. A main character comes close to dying. The storyline follows a similar path as the first two books.

However, the book is still awesome and there are a lot of new things happening as well. The readers are introduced to the Night Church, which seems to be building up to a massive war for the last two books. A new development occurs regarding the zombies and their abilities. And we find out part of what caused the plague in the first place.

So overall, a good filler for a five-book series, but often repetitive and just felt like it was meant to take up some space and set up the final books.

Of course, I will continue reading the books and look forward to what happens next. This book might not have been as good as the first two, but it is still an interesting read for those of us who love YA zombie books.