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alyshadeshae's review against another edition
5.0
This was a surprise book. I didn't realize another had been written in the series and it's from the point of view of a whole different set of people, mirroring the first book but with the other party's campaign coverage. It's so good!! I absolutely loved it and the main characters were just perfection!
moonriverbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I liked the characters, although I didn't fall in love with them the way I did with the trilogy characters. If I'm being honest, I'm not sure that this particular addition to the series really added anything, except a good story that Grant wanted to get out. There were some GREAT scenes, and who doesn't love reading about zombie sheep? I understood the rationale behind adding in the chapters in the Maze, but they really ruined the flow of the story, and other than meeting some characters we knew from Newsflesh, they didn't add much to the overall world.
I enjoyed reading this, and now I'm sad that I've consumed everything in the Newsflesh world... so it's probably time for a reread!
I enjoyed reading this, and now I'm sad that I've consumed everything in the Newsflesh world... so it's probably time for a reread!
loopingtangent's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Trafficking, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Animal death
Minor: Car accident, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Deportation, and Kidnapping
booksandroswell's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
therealbrylynn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
picklestar's review against another edition
3.0
I think this more of a 3.5 star read for me, but I can't quite decide.
The world of The Rising is back in this prequal/sequal running concurrently with the events in FEED. Mira Grant gives us a new team of intrepid bloggers, a new presidential candidate and the same big old political conspiracy run by mad scientists with guns. And zombies. Duh.
Like the rest of the Newsflesh books, Feedback is a bloody mess of fun. It panders to my love of conspiracy theories, sci fi, zombies, sassy female characters and internet culture. Man, the post-Rising world would have some DANK POLITICAL MEMES.
The only criticism I have with FEEDBACK is the same this that has grated with me throughout the series - the large and frequent chunks of exposition and apparently unnecessary world building. Like, something significant has just taken place demonstrating the need for some precaution or action or zombie implaing mechanism or other, then Grant spends another page or so explaining the significance of what has just occurred. One more time for the people in the back I guess, although I find it slows the action a little too much for me at times.
Besides that, this book is great fun for the zombie and horror crew, although if you haven't read the original trilogy I'd recommend starting there first. Plus, the main protagonists are racially diverse and queer AF. LGBTQA+ Sci Fi FTW.
The world of The Rising is back in this prequal/sequal running concurrently with the events in FEED. Mira Grant gives us a new team of intrepid bloggers, a new presidential candidate and the same big old political conspiracy run by mad scientists with guns. And zombies. Duh.
Like the rest of the Newsflesh books, Feedback is a bloody mess of fun. It panders to my love of conspiracy theories, sci fi, zombies, sassy female characters and internet culture. Man, the post-Rising world would have some DANK POLITICAL MEMES.
The only criticism I have with FEEDBACK is the same this that has grated with me throughout the series - the large and frequent chunks of exposition and apparently unnecessary world building. Like, something significant has just taken place demonstrating the need for some precaution or action or zombie implaing mechanism or other, then Grant spends another page or so explaining the significance of what has just occurred. One more time for the people in the back I guess, although I find it slows the action a little too much for me at times.
Besides that, this book is great fun for the zombie and horror crew, although if you haven't read the original trilogy I'd recommend starting there first. Plus, the main protagonists are racially diverse and queer AF. LGBTQA+ Sci Fi FTW.
lisawreading's review
4.0
Okay, first things first: DO NOT pick up Feedback thinking that you can start the Newsflesh books at this point. I would absolutely not consider Feedback "a new entry point", as the blurb says. Instead, it's a story set within the world of Newsflesh, telling a story that parallels the story of Feed (book #1 in the series). A knowledge of the world of Newsflesh is required in order to enjoy Feedback... and Feedback will absolutely spoil the original trilogy for you. So there -- we've gotten the warnings and disclaimers taken care of right from the start!
I was a little nervous about starting Feedback after reading some fairly negative reviews... but you know what? I liked it! While Feedback includes enough context to explain the origins of the zombie Rising and what's happened since, it doesn't feel like a repeat. It's pretty cool getting another take on the events of the presidential campaign, as seen from the more limited viewpoint of new characters Ash, Ben, and Audrey.
The plot moves along quickly, and it was interesting to note the parallel events here, and to line those up with the events we know about from Feed and the later books. I liked Ash well enough to enjoy her company, and thought her relationships with Ben and Audrey were unusual enough to keep things fresh and different.
As always, Mira Grant's writing is terrific, alternating between describing scenes of incredibly disturbing zombie attacks (and yes, there are a few truly gruesome, terrible attacks in this book) and applying humor even to tense situations, so I never had to go too long without a laugh (or a snort or a chuckle)... in between wincing in horror, cringing at the gore, and being struck by the devastation to the characters' souls.
I'm really glad that I read Feedback, and recommend it -- but only if you've already read the other Newsflesh books. I love the world that Mira Grant has created, and reading Feedback allowed me to stay in it just a little bit longer.
Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
I was a little nervous about starting Feedback after reading some fairly negative reviews... but you know what? I liked it! While Feedback includes enough context to explain the origins of the zombie Rising and what's happened since, it doesn't feel like a repeat. It's pretty cool getting another take on the events of the presidential campaign, as seen from the more limited viewpoint of new characters Ash, Ben, and Audrey.
The plot moves along quickly, and it was interesting to note the parallel events here, and to line those up with the events we know about from Feed and the later books. I liked Ash well enough to enjoy her company, and thought her relationships with Ben and Audrey were unusual enough to keep things fresh and different.
As always, Mira Grant's writing is terrific, alternating between describing scenes of incredibly disturbing zombie attacks (and yes, there are a few truly gruesome, terrible attacks in this book) and applying humor even to tense situations, so I never had to go too long without a laugh (or a snort or a chuckle)... in between wincing in horror, cringing at the gore, and being struck by the devastation to the characters' souls.
I'm really glad that I read Feedback, and recommend it -- but only if you've already read the other Newsflesh books. I love the world that Mira Grant has created, and reading Feedback allowed me to stay in it just a little bit longer.
Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
bmg20's review against another edition
DNF @ 59%
For the record, I’m a massive Mira Grant fan and most importantly a HUGE Newsflesh fan. When I heard that there would be a fourth book coming, there was fully body tingling going on… I was that excited. So in a nutshell, having to dnf this makes me want to cry a fucking river.
Right off the bat, my first issue that had me cocking my head in confusion was the seemingly apparent duplication of the Feed storyline. Sure there were differences but it was the same story for the most part. Politics and conspiracies and of course zombies. There was a brand new set of characters that was meant to spice things up but it was the same sort of crew that consisted of a Newsie, Irwin, and Fictional. And yes, this was quite the diverse group but I even had issues with that. I want to read stories with diversity where it’s treated as a non-issue. Making Mat, a genderfluid character, a makeup/fashion blogger that also likes electronics didn’t do much for modernizing tyepcasts either. The various forms of diversity are not only not treated as a non-issue but are so incredibly contrived. It all felt like some ginormous lecture and while it may have been intended to be didactic, it was more preachy than anything. Too much focus was placed on characterization and I feel like that was intended to distract from the story itself and the fact that it’s a near replica of the Feed storyline just with different characters.
There were other random issues that only added to the domino effect that led to me quitting. A comment about Governor Kilburn being a secret Sailor Moon fan and that this could be a “girl-power campaign of celestial proportions.” When they visited Congresswoman Kirsten Wagman (an ex-stripper) at a strip club. She called everyone sugar and there was a joke about Ash proposing to her because of her “sexy” security measures. It was an eye-rolling good time. There were also the standard Mira Grant mid-chapter breaks where a quote or blog post is inserted, which those were included, but there were also sections from Audrey’s fictional stories that just didn’t add that much to the story. Even more so were the pages of makeup tutorials from Mat’s blog that really didn’t add anything. Sadly, this was just a massive disappointment and I’m sad it had to be that way.
I'm no longer dancing.
For the record, I’m a massive Mira Grant fan and most importantly a HUGE Newsflesh fan. When I heard that there would be a fourth book coming, there was fully body tingling going on… I was that excited. So in a nutshell, having to dnf this makes me want to cry a fucking river.
Right off the bat, my first issue that had me cocking my head in confusion was the seemingly apparent duplication of the Feed storyline. Sure there were differences but it was the same story for the most part. Politics and conspiracies and of course zombies. There was a brand new set of characters that was meant to spice things up but it was the same sort of crew that consisted of a Newsie, Irwin, and Fictional. And yes, this was quite the diverse group but I even had issues with that. I want to read stories with diversity where it’s treated as a non-issue. Making Mat, a genderfluid character, a makeup/fashion blogger that also likes electronics didn’t do much for modernizing tyepcasts either. The various forms of diversity are not only not treated as a non-issue but are so incredibly contrived. It all felt like some ginormous lecture and while it may have been intended to be didactic, it was more preachy than anything. Too much focus was placed on characterization and I feel like that was intended to distract from the story itself and the fact that it’s a near replica of the Feed storyline just with different characters.
There were other random issues that only added to the domino effect that led to me quitting. A comment about Governor Kilburn being a secret Sailor Moon fan and that this could be a “girl-power campaign of celestial proportions.” When they visited Congresswoman Kirsten Wagman (an ex-stripper) at a strip club. She called everyone sugar and there was a joke about Ash proposing to her because of her “sexy” security measures. It was an eye-rolling good time. There were also the standard Mira Grant mid-chapter breaks where a quote or blog post is inserted, which those were included, but there were also sections from Audrey’s fictional stories that just didn’t add that much to the story. Even more so were the pages of makeup tutorials from Mat’s blog that really didn’t add anything. Sadly, this was just a massive disappointment and I’m sad it had to be that way.
I'm no longer dancing.
kitty_whimsical's review
5.0
Why You Should Read Mira Grant’s Feedback, if you haven’t already.
The first reason: simply put, this is an excellent novel. I missed that during my first read-through. I read it smack in the middle of re-reading the original Newsflesh novels. This was a mistake. I was too close to the original novels at the time, and I wasn’t able to distance myself enough from that work to fully appreciate Feedback on its own merits. I was wrong, and for this I apologize. At the time of my original reading, I don’t think that I was mature enough or educated enough to appreciate what this novel attempted to do. Again, I apologize. The plot moves lightning-quick; the characters grab you and refuse to let go; the ending is the kind of bittersweet-leaning-towards-hopeful that I appreciate in fiction. All in all this is a skillfully written story that sinks its hooks into you and refuses to let you go. I’m so glad that I read it a second time; as with any re-read, I picked up on details that I was oblivious to during my first go-round. I even picked up on some possible foreshadowing involving a zombie raccoon. Neat, right?
Anyway! Another thing that I noticed during my this read-through was how furious this novel is. I missed it during my first read. It’s subtle, this anger, but when you realize that it’s there, you wonder how you ever missed it in the first place. It howls its rage against the unfair world that it is exposing the readers to. If Feed gave us a look at the way that people continued to live normally, Feedback shines a light on just how so-called normal life was able to continue: privilege. Shaun and Georgia Mason, and their colleague, Buffy, come from a place of extreme privilege. I didn’t fully appreciate that until very recently, when I tried to re-read Feed in March of 2020 (bad plan, Casey; very bad plan). You don’t need me to tell you that the world has changed a great deal since 2016. I have changed a great deal since then. I fancied myself cynical five years ago; I had no idea how innocent and hopeful that I still was. You never know until it’s gone. I thought that I understood the darkness and inequality in the world, at least a little. I was wrong. I am not sure that i have ever been so wrong about anything in my life. The world events of the last five years have proven to me that I knew nothing. Maybe I still know nothing, but I am trying to do better.
So there’s your second reason: read this book because it is angry. It shouts about inequalities that plague the future, and it will make you angry, too. You will wonder, how are these kinds of problems still around in a future where there are actual, hungry zombies that want to eat your face wandering around? You will run the gamut from mildly annoyed to blindingly furious before you have finished the last page. That is a good thing. Staying angry means that you care enough about the serious social issues that the book shines a harsh light on. Somehow, in 2040, when there are actual zombies, who again, want to eat your face, class inequality, gender issues, body autonomy, and rampant poverty are still huge problems. How has the government not decided, hey, maybe we should try to make sure that people are equally safe and taken care of, no matter what tax bracket that they happen to fall within?
Silly, optimistic me.
There are so many quotes that I could pull from the book to highlight my point. I’m going to choose two that I feel highlight the disappointing way in which the future society of Feedback fails (among the obvious).
If there’s not room for lesbians, there’s sure not room for people who refuse to settle down and be good little members of whatever sex the doctor called out when they were born.
page 58
We say we want to be the land of the free, yet we quail at the idea of extending that freedom to the poor, who are expected to spend proportionately more of their budget every year on safety accommodations that have not been proven to increase personal or public safety. We say we want to be the land of equality and opportunity, yet we do not tax the rich to make up for those citizens who cannot pay to improve roads, schools, the infrastructure on which we operate.
page 173
I want to re-emphasize that this book was published in 2016. People who aren’t experiencing poverty and oppression like to either ignore it, or congratulate each other on how much progress has been made! Look, they say. Look at how open-minded we are! Look at how woke our culture has become!
You don’t need me to tell you that this is bullshit. There is too much that’s completely wrong for me to lay it all out for you. Take body autonomy. The government is still doing its damnedest to legislate what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. It’s causing immeasurable damage You can look up the statistics for yourself. I’ll leave you with a place to start:
More than half of transgender male teens who participated in the survey reported attempting suicide in their lifetime, while 29.9 percent of transgender female teens said they attempted suicide. Among non-binary youth, 41.8 percent of respondents stated that they had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
“New Study Reveals Shocking Rates of Attempted Suicide Among Trans Adolescents”
Human Rights Campaign
So, absolute fury. Read it because if you’re not already angry, but you want to understand why so many people are, this might give you a place to start.
Reasons the third and fourth:
These characters are just as excellent, lovable, and fully-realized as the stars of the original trilogy. Let’s talk about Ash, who is an utterly delightful narrator. She’s cheerful, witty, and quick to act. Unfortunately she’s also been through some shit prior to the beginning of the book. That goes into spoilers, and while they’re spoilers that you learn in the first fifty or so pages of the novel, I’m going to avoid them. Ben, who is Ash’s green card husband, is a genuinely kind, hard-working man who starts this story as a someone who’s grieving for his recently deceased mother. Mat is a creative soul, who has seamlessly blended the news with makeup tutorials, perhaps predicting the “get ready with me” trend. Ash’s girlfriend, Audrey, writes pre-Rising era detective fiction that we learn has a greater purpose than simple entertainment. This found family of four sticks together, takes care of each other, and truly loves each other so deeply that I am a little envious. It’s an excellent example of one of my favorite tropes.
If you are familiar with Grant/McGuire’s other work at all, then you absolutely do not need me to tell you that this book is wonderfully diverse. It’s something that the author actively strives for in her work. She goes out of her way to make sure that the entire world can find a place in one of her stories. Most notably we have a non-binary character in Mat. Their presence is a blessing. I only wish that we got more of them, as Mat is very much a second-tier character.
Reason the final:
Do you read Into the Drowning Deep and want more killer mermaids? Because helping this little book grow is how we get more killer mermaids. As you saw from the tweet at the top of this review, Feedback and Into the Drowning Deep are joined at the hip in a single, multi-book contract. Kristin Nelson, of the Nelson Literary Agency, wrote the following about this back in 2010:
First off, what is it? Basically, it means that the multiple titles sold are linked in the accounting. Let’s say an author does a 2-book deal. It’s not a series so each title stands on its own. Let’s say the advance was $30,000 (15k per title). In joint accounting, the author would not see any monies beyond the advance until both titles earned out the 15k because of the linked accounting (even if book one has already earned out).
One Possible Peril Of A Multi-book Deal
So there you have it. Don’t get me wrong, I have criticism. But that’s not what this post is for. It’s to try to get your attention and get you to pick up a copy of Feedback. Tell your friends. Tell your families. Spread the good word of this book far and wide, so that one day we can all indulge in more of Mira Grant’s delicious fiction.
The first reason: simply put, this is an excellent novel. I missed that during my first read-through. I read it smack in the middle of re-reading the original Newsflesh novels. This was a mistake. I was too close to the original novels at the time, and I wasn’t able to distance myself enough from that work to fully appreciate Feedback on its own merits. I was wrong, and for this I apologize. At the time of my original reading, I don’t think that I was mature enough or educated enough to appreciate what this novel attempted to do. Again, I apologize. The plot moves lightning-quick; the characters grab you and refuse to let go; the ending is the kind of bittersweet-leaning-towards-hopeful that I appreciate in fiction. All in all this is a skillfully written story that sinks its hooks into you and refuses to let you go. I’m so glad that I read it a second time; as with any re-read, I picked up on details that I was oblivious to during my first go-round. I even picked up on some possible foreshadowing involving a zombie raccoon. Neat, right?
Anyway! Another thing that I noticed during my this read-through was how furious this novel is. I missed it during my first read. It’s subtle, this anger, but when you realize that it’s there, you wonder how you ever missed it in the first place. It howls its rage against the unfair world that it is exposing the readers to. If Feed gave us a look at the way that people continued to live normally, Feedback shines a light on just how so-called normal life was able to continue: privilege. Shaun and Georgia Mason, and their colleague, Buffy, come from a place of extreme privilege. I didn’t fully appreciate that until very recently, when I tried to re-read Feed in March of 2020 (bad plan, Casey; very bad plan). You don’t need me to tell you that the world has changed a great deal since 2016. I have changed a great deal since then. I fancied myself cynical five years ago; I had no idea how innocent and hopeful that I still was. You never know until it’s gone. I thought that I understood the darkness and inequality in the world, at least a little. I was wrong. I am not sure that i have ever been so wrong about anything in my life. The world events of the last five years have proven to me that I knew nothing. Maybe I still know nothing, but I am trying to do better.
So there’s your second reason: read this book because it is angry. It shouts about inequalities that plague the future, and it will make you angry, too. You will wonder, how are these kinds of problems still around in a future where there are actual, hungry zombies that want to eat your face wandering around? You will run the gamut from mildly annoyed to blindingly furious before you have finished the last page. That is a good thing. Staying angry means that you care enough about the serious social issues that the book shines a harsh light on. Somehow, in 2040, when there are actual zombies, who again, want to eat your face, class inequality, gender issues, body autonomy, and rampant poverty are still huge problems. How has the government not decided, hey, maybe we should try to make sure that people are equally safe and taken care of, no matter what tax bracket that they happen to fall within?
Silly, optimistic me.
There are so many quotes that I could pull from the book to highlight my point. I’m going to choose two that I feel highlight the disappointing way in which the future society of Feedback fails (among the obvious).
If there’s not room for lesbians, there’s sure not room for people who refuse to settle down and be good little members of whatever sex the doctor called out when they were born.
page 58
We say we want to be the land of the free, yet we quail at the idea of extending that freedom to the poor, who are expected to spend proportionately more of their budget every year on safety accommodations that have not been proven to increase personal or public safety. We say we want to be the land of equality and opportunity, yet we do not tax the rich to make up for those citizens who cannot pay to improve roads, schools, the infrastructure on which we operate.
page 173
I want to re-emphasize that this book was published in 2016. People who aren’t experiencing poverty and oppression like to either ignore it, or congratulate each other on how much progress has been made! Look, they say. Look at how open-minded we are! Look at how woke our culture has become!
You don’t need me to tell you that this is bullshit. There is too much that’s completely wrong for me to lay it all out for you. Take body autonomy. The government is still doing its damnedest to legislate what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. It’s causing immeasurable damage You can look up the statistics for yourself. I’ll leave you with a place to start:
More than half of transgender male teens who participated in the survey reported attempting suicide in their lifetime, while 29.9 percent of transgender female teens said they attempted suicide. Among non-binary youth, 41.8 percent of respondents stated that they had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
“New Study Reveals Shocking Rates of Attempted Suicide Among Trans Adolescents”
Human Rights Campaign
So, absolute fury. Read it because if you’re not already angry, but you want to understand why so many people are, this might give you a place to start.
Reasons the third and fourth:
These characters are just as excellent, lovable, and fully-realized as the stars of the original trilogy. Let’s talk about Ash, who is an utterly delightful narrator. She’s cheerful, witty, and quick to act. Unfortunately she’s also been through some shit prior to the beginning of the book. That goes into spoilers, and while they’re spoilers that you learn in the first fifty or so pages of the novel, I’m going to avoid them. Ben, who is Ash’s green card husband, is a genuinely kind, hard-working man who starts this story as a someone who’s grieving for his recently deceased mother. Mat is a creative soul, who has seamlessly blended the news with makeup tutorials, perhaps predicting the “get ready with me” trend. Ash’s girlfriend, Audrey, writes pre-Rising era detective fiction that we learn has a greater purpose than simple entertainment. This found family of four sticks together, takes care of each other, and truly loves each other so deeply that I am a little envious. It’s an excellent example of one of my favorite tropes.
If you are familiar with Grant/McGuire’s other work at all, then you absolutely do not need me to tell you that this book is wonderfully diverse. It’s something that the author actively strives for in her work. She goes out of her way to make sure that the entire world can find a place in one of her stories. Most notably we have a non-binary character in Mat. Their presence is a blessing. I only wish that we got more of them, as Mat is very much a second-tier character.
Reason the final:
Do you read Into the Drowning Deep and want more killer mermaids? Because helping this little book grow is how we get more killer mermaids. As you saw from the tweet at the top of this review, Feedback and Into the Drowning Deep are joined at the hip in a single, multi-book contract. Kristin Nelson, of the Nelson Literary Agency, wrote the following about this back in 2010:
First off, what is it? Basically, it means that the multiple titles sold are linked in the accounting. Let’s say an author does a 2-book deal. It’s not a series so each title stands on its own. Let’s say the advance was $30,000 (15k per title). In joint accounting, the author would not see any monies beyond the advance until both titles earned out the 15k because of the linked accounting (even if book one has already earned out).
One Possible Peril Of A Multi-book Deal
So there you have it. Don’t get me wrong, I have criticism. But that’s not what this post is for. It’s to try to get your attention and get you to pick up a copy of Feedback. Tell your friends. Tell your families. Spread the good word of this book far and wide, so that one day we can all indulge in more of Mira Grant’s delicious fiction.