These days I am often intrigued by cover blurbs for novels, but rarely surprised by the words within. Mira Grant's novel FEED starts out innocently enough but morphs into a complex, amazingly intelligent, engaging story that kept me reading late into the night a few nights. This is not your average zombie story and easily in the top three books I've read so far in 2010.
FEED follows the exploits of bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason and their friend Buffy as they not only work to make a living but survive in a world where zombie outbreaks are matter of fact. Georgia or "George" is the Newsie, focused on reporting the facts and getting at the truth of a story. Shaun is an Irwin, living for those adrenaline-inspiring chances to poke zombies in the wild. And Buffy is the Fiction queen, writing poems and stories about whatever topics seem to be hot at the time. When the trio is chosen to follow Senator Ryman's path to the White House, it signals their chance to enter the big time of running their own blog network instead of writing for others. But it also leads them deep into a rabbit hole of intrigue and danger they don't really expect.
The first few chapters serve as an introduction to the Mason siblings' world, innocuously sucking you into liking these quirky characters and the bizarre zombie world they inhabit. It starts slowly as Grant rolls the Trojan Horse through your front gate and sets you up for an emotional thrill ride of politics, espionage, terrorism, and murder. I urge you to let Grant lay her trap. You'll get plenty of zombies, but soon see that the real monsters, just like in our own world, are all too human.
The usage of blogging as a platform for news in a world where people spend their lives isolated and alone, afraid to gather for fear of a zombie outbreak, was inspired. As a blogger, I can identify with the characters' quest for identity in a web crowded with other folks doing the same. I found the blog posts between chapters and sections to share information the main characters wouldn't normally exchange in public or with each other, making them almost intimate even though they're shared with millions of fictional readers on their site. It's one more way Grant brings the reader into the equation. I told you it was a trap!
Article comments
1 - Jumpin jiminy
top 3? you don't read much...your reviuew sounds like you must get royalties form every copy sold. slow moving, amatuerish characters... hope the sequel is 20 years later.. by the way- a crossbow gets ya killed by a zombie- so much for the expertise if the mighty crosbow zombie hunter
2 - Cass
Thank you for this review! I went out and bought this book after reading your review, and couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the next one to come out!
3 - Trololol
Don't listen to "Jumpin jiminy" he obviously does not know an amazing book when he sees one. Great characters, good pacing, and an awesome story. Read it.
4 - popcornsmell
I'm not quite sure I'm reading the same book here. I really did not enjoy this book. It was quite slow, 90% of it had to do with a political election, and when there are zombies, its only for a short moment. This book was boring, and the characters were really that well written.