Feed (Newsflesh Trilogy #1)by Mira Grant
Published by Orbit Books, May 2010
I own a copy.
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:
Mira Grant's Newflesh Trilogy opens in an eerie post-apocalyptic world where zombies, pandemics, bloggers, and White House occupant would-be vie for our attention. Twin web reporters Georgia and Shaun Mason are flattered when a presidential candidate invites them to cover his campaign. Before long though, they are engulfed in a story far more serious and infinitely more dangerous. A mass-market original; a new series to set your sights on.
In honor of Valentine's Day, Feeding My Book Addiction is hosting a horror novel readalong during the month of February. This month's book is Feed by Mira Grant. This is the second of two readalong posts and it covers Books III through V. Need to get caught up? My first post is here.
Are you joining me for the readalong? Great! Add the link to your post or your thoughts (if you don't have a blog) in the comments below and join in on book discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #readingFeed.
Now, on to the book discussion!
My first readalong post started with me lamenting the mediocrity of the novel thus far. It wasn't good. It wasn't bad. It just was. I chatted with some of the other readalong participants on Twitter and mentioned that this 'eh' feeling may be a direct result of having to stop 246 pages into the novel to write the readalong post. Feed is a slow reveal type of book. Author Mira Grant takes her sweet time building the narrative and action. The figurative snowball wasn't all that large or fast moving by the end of Book II; I felt like I nothing had really happened and that there was still so much I needed to know despite all the info dumps.
As I began reading the rest of the book, this 'eh' feeling slowly dissipated. The pacing of the story picked up. Pieces of the puzzle started coming together. I finally felt like I was getting to know George and Shaun. I still wasn't sure how they had managed to create their website with a slew of employees nor did I understand (maybe I just didn't remember?) how they ended up getting adopted by the Masons, but these and my other questions became less important as I got sucked into this story. That's just what happened. I got sucked into the story and just couldn't put this book down until there were no other pages left to read.
Read at your own risk. This section contains spoilers.
We all know that I have a love/hate relationship with trilogies, especially of the YA variety. It's these YA dystopian trilogies that have given me a false sense of security; you know, the security of knowing that the main characters will make it through the books, especially the first one, relatively unscathed. Well, Mira Grant yanked that security blanket from me when she offed not one, but two of the main characters. As horrible as this may sound, losing main characters in the first book of a trilogy was refreshing. It was different. I admit that this is one of my primary motivators for reading the two remaining books in the trilogy. I'm curious to see how Grant continues her story without two of the three driving forces behind the action.
As refreshing as the deaths of George and Buffy may have been, it wasn't quite enough to save the book from itself. The driving force of Feed's narrative was George and Shaun's mission to find out who attacked the campaign camp and the Ryman farm and who was trying to kill them. This wasn't much of a mystery. I had it figured out early on. The only real surprise was the methods Grant used to make the 'big reveal.'
Sigh. Maybe this book was less than impressive because I expected more horror. I wouldn't classify this as horror. It didn't give me nightmares. The zombies were a means to start the story and propel it forward; they weren't the story. It was more of a dystopian meets science fiction meets mystery meets political thriller.
For what it was, Mira Grant's novel Feed was a fun, lazy weekend afternoon read that kept me entertained. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!) I give Feed a three.
4 comments:
I'm definitely interested to see what happens in the next books with just Shaun left of the three main characters as well. I figure someone that was a supporting character will become a big part of the story line... maybe Mahir?
I wish I hadn't been forcing myself through it by the time George died. It was a unique twist to kill off the first person narrative! My heart just wasn't in it anymore by the time I got there. I didn't find it a horror story either, and I expected the zombies to play a much larger role. I'm so glad it picked up for you! I was worried since I started out enjoying it and it went downhill and more downhill for me. I was hoping the same wasn't happening to you since you started out enjoying it less than I did.
Thanks for hosting the read-along! :)
Ultimately, this is a story about the people in a world we wouldn't recognize.
I'm glad you ended up liking it. I was worried for a while, there.
I'll put up my thoughts tomorrow. Don't want to overshadow the big giveaway post.
I almost forgot: did anyone notice the really subtle reference to the congresswoman and her wife? George never comes out and says gay marriage is universal in the post-Rising world, which is interesting, in a book with so many info dumps, but it's apparent that it is.
Considering it's apparent in the next book that there are some other things she didn't tell us, it's a nice touch.
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