quippe | Entries tagged with mira grant

The Blurb On The Back:

Your health is important.

Choose Symbogen.

“Every so often, some conspiracy nut starts in with “what they aren’t telling you” and “the things they don’t want you to know”, and you know what? Not one has produced verifiable scientific evidence that the Intestinal Bodyguard is harmful in humans.”
- Dr Steven Banks, co-founder of SymboGen.

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite. The Intestinal Bodyguard protects us from illness, boosts our immune system – even secretes designer drugs. Now, almost everyone has a SymboGen parasite living within them.

But these creatures are getting restless. They want their own lives – and will do anything to get them.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Having really enjoyed Mira Grant’s NEWSFLESH TRILOGY, I was looking forward to reading the first of a new horror trilogy that riffs on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Grant has clearly done her research on parasites and creates a plausible scenario where people would willingly agree to implantation but this is a curiously flat piece with a lot of set-up and not a lot of tension. The main problem is in Sally herself – an unconfident woman who’s effectively learning to live again – she’s incredibly slow to pick up on things that the reader has already guessed and spends a lot of time running around asking obvious questions and being a target for others. I didn’t care about her relationship with Nathan (who’s too good to be true) and the conspiracy elements are ham-fisted. SymboGen also comes across as a generic evil corporation – so much so that I really didn’t believe it and it’s not helped by the fact that Steven Banks is a two-dimensional character. Ultimately the end result simply didn’t excite me and I’m not sure I’ll read the sequel.

The Blurb On The Back:

The world didn’t end when the zombies came.
We just wished it had.

The conspiracy that rules post-zombie America is alive and well. The same can’t be said of the bloggers who dared to tell the truth as they found it. Now, with too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, Shaun Mason and his team must face mad scientists, zombie bears and rogue government agencies – and if there’s one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it’s this:

Things can always get worse.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The conclusion to Mira Grant’s zombie horror trilogy is a fast-paced, roller-coaster ride that draws together the various plot strands into a satisfying conclusion. Some of the twists weren’t that surprising, the bad guys are cardboard cut-outs, Grant overwrites at times (I lost count of the number of times Shaun reminds us of his Georgia hallucinations) and the blog team are somewhat samey character-wise, but the book nevertheless held my attention from beginning to end, there are some great one-liners, one very emotional character death and there were enough zombie action scenes to keep me interested.

The Blurb On The Back:

Nothing stays buried for long …

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organisation he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn’t seem as fun when you’ve lost as much as he has.

But when a researcher from the Centre for Disease Control fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun’s relieved to find a new purpose in life. Because she brings news: the monster who attacked them may be destroyed, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Mira Grant’s sequel to FEED develops the overall conspiracy story arc and widens the scope of the action while giving Shaun a more central role. I did find the prose to be repetitive at times, particularly with regards to the zombie protection procedures, which went on too long and went into too much detail for me. That said, there’s a real jaw-dropping ending, which promises much for book 3 and which I will definitely be checking out.

The 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.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

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.