Feed by Mira Grant
Jul. 31st, 2010 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”Alive or dead, the truth won’t rest. My name is Georgia Mason, and I am begging you. Rise up while you can.”
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.
Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives – the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.
In 2014 the Kellis-Amberlee virus emerged from research into cures for cancer and the common cold. It spread quickly, turning people into zombies whose only interest was in feeding on the living. The virus brought the world to the brink of collapse but humanity fought back with extermination and testing to save a form of civilisation.
It’s now 2039 and zombies still walk the earth. Georgia and Shaun Mason are brother and sister bloggers living in Berkeley, California. When the epidemic first broke, newspapers and TV were censored but the blogging community conveyed accurate information on what was happening. Although traditional media has survived, it’s the blogging sites that people turn to for information and entertainment, with the most popular sites standing to earn big money.
Georgia and Shaun’s audience figures become huge after would-be Republican Presidential nominee Senator Peter Ryman invites them to join his campaign as accredited journalists. As Georgia and Shaun follow him on the campaign trail though, they accidentally stumble on an even bigger story – one that threatens to expose a shocking truth about the zombie infestation – one that some people will kill to keep secret.
It’s refreshing to read a zombie novel where humans are not reduced to a hunter-gatherer existence with failing technology and Mira Grant’s carefully constructed post-apocalyptic zombie world is a joy. Georgia and Shaun live in a world of constant blood testing, biological decontamination, security clearances and internet usage yet it’s a world where technology is also a crutch that people rely on to escape and safely experience the day-to-day horror.
There is a lot of world-building in this – so much that the mystery element is crowded out and easy to guess. Personally, I didn’t mind that due to the set-up for a sequel, which promises that it will be expanded on.
Georgia has a strong first-person voice and I liked the way the story is peppered with examples of her and other characters’ blog posts. Her repeated desire to tell the truth no matter what borders on stereotypical, but she’s redeemed by the relationship with her adventurous (to the point of suicide) brother – her frustration and fears about his irresponsible attitude humanises her. Shaun is a little two-dimensional, but again the set up for the sequel promises more.
The big twist towards the end wasn’t entirely unexpected but nevertheless well executed. I look forward to reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
Mira Grant has created a world where zombies and technology exist simultaneously and her carefully thought through society was a joy to read. Although the mystery element was a little too perfunctory and played second string to the world-building, the book ends with a set-up for the mystery to be developed in the sequel and I shall definitely be reading it.
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.
Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives – the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.
In 2014 the Kellis-Amberlee virus emerged from research into cures for cancer and the common cold. It spread quickly, turning people into zombies whose only interest was in feeding on the living. The virus brought the world to the brink of collapse but humanity fought back with extermination and testing to save a form of civilisation.
It’s now 2039 and zombies still walk the earth. Georgia and Shaun Mason are brother and sister bloggers living in Berkeley, California. When the epidemic first broke, newspapers and TV were censored but the blogging community conveyed accurate information on what was happening. Although traditional media has survived, it’s the blogging sites that people turn to for information and entertainment, with the most popular sites standing to earn big money.
Georgia and Shaun’s audience figures become huge after would-be Republican Presidential nominee Senator Peter Ryman invites them to join his campaign as accredited journalists. As Georgia and Shaun follow him on the campaign trail though, they accidentally stumble on an even bigger story – one that threatens to expose a shocking truth about the zombie infestation – one that some people will kill to keep secret.
It’s refreshing to read a zombie novel where humans are not reduced to a hunter-gatherer existence with failing technology and Mira Grant’s carefully constructed post-apocalyptic zombie world is a joy. Georgia and Shaun live in a world of constant blood testing, biological decontamination, security clearances and internet usage yet it’s a world where technology is also a crutch that people rely on to escape and safely experience the day-to-day horror.
There is a lot of world-building in this – so much that the mystery element is crowded out and easy to guess. Personally, I didn’t mind that due to the set-up for a sequel, which promises that it will be expanded on.
Georgia has a strong first-person voice and I liked the way the story is peppered with examples of her and other characters’ blog posts. Her repeated desire to tell the truth no matter what borders on stereotypical, but she’s redeemed by the relationship with her adventurous (to the point of suicide) brother – her frustration and fears about his irresponsible attitude humanises her. Shaun is a little two-dimensional, but again the set up for the sequel promises more.
The big twist towards the end wasn’t entirely unexpected but nevertheless well executed. I look forward to reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
Mira Grant has created a world where zombies and technology exist simultaneously and her carefully thought through society was a joy to read. Although the mystery element was a little too perfunctory and played second string to the world-building, the book ends with a set-up for the mystery to be developed in the sequel and I shall definitely be reading it.
