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A review by songwind
Feed by Mira Grant
3.0
Feed is an interesting and enjoyable book, but one with flaws.
The central premise of Feed is one we are all familiar with from horror movies - there has been a zombie apocalypse. A man-made virus (two, in fact) that get loose in the populace turn the carriers to mindless virus-feeding machines.
The book takes place a few decades later. The reality of feral zombies, and the fact that any mammal over 40 pounds that dies is going to turn into one, has had time to sink in and for society to try to find ways around it.
Enter our heroes, a trio of bloggers. In much the same way that the traditional media in the US didn't start reporting on Iranian unrest until it was well underway, newspapers and TV fell down on reporting and assisting people in Grant's zombie apocalypse. The facts in the case were distributed by bloggers. In the wake of the trouble, bloggers organized, and are at the forefront of real-time reporting.
The crew of After the End Times win a contract to follow a Presidential hopeful on the campaign trail. On the way, we learn a lot about the society, blogging, and zombies. We also learn that the candidate and his family are the targets of a deadly conspiracy.
The story and characters are engaging and believable. The villain of the piece is a bit one-dimensional, and the candidate comes of as too-good-to-be-true.
Where the book really fails is in world building. The broad strokes of the world and society are pretty good. The details suffer from a lack of consistency. In one instance we learn that a piece of technology costs "more than a blogger makes in a year." Later in the book the main character says she'll buy a new one with her Christmas money. In one instance, security precautions are draconian and extremely overdone. Later (sometimes involving the same groups) security is much more casual. All in all it gives the story a frustratingly slapped together feel that could have been avoided with better editing.
I enjoyed the story enough that I will probably read Grant's next book.
The central premise of Feed is one we are all familiar with from horror movies - there has been a zombie apocalypse. A man-made virus (two, in fact) that get loose in the populace turn the carriers to mindless virus-feeding machines.
The book takes place a few decades later. The reality of feral zombies, and the fact that any mammal over 40 pounds that dies is going to turn into one, has had time to sink in and for society to try to find ways around it.
Enter our heroes, a trio of bloggers. In much the same way that the traditional media in the US didn't start reporting on Iranian unrest until it was well underway, newspapers and TV fell down on reporting and assisting people in Grant's zombie apocalypse. The facts in the case were distributed by bloggers. In the wake of the trouble, bloggers organized, and are at the forefront of real-time reporting.
The crew of After the End Times win a contract to follow a Presidential hopeful on the campaign trail. On the way, we learn a lot about the society, blogging, and zombies. We also learn that the candidate and his family are the targets of a deadly conspiracy.
The story and characters are engaging and believable. The villain of the piece is a bit one-dimensional, and the candidate comes of as too-good-to-be-true.
Where the book really fails is in world building. The broad strokes of the world and society are pretty good. The details suffer from a lack of consistency. In one instance we learn that a piece of technology costs "more than a blogger makes in a year." Later in the book the main character says she'll buy a new one with her Christmas money. In one instance, security precautions are draconian and extremely overdone. Later (sometimes involving the same groups) security is much more casual. All in all it gives the story a frustratingly slapped together feel that could have been avoided with better editing.
I enjoyed the story enough that I will probably read Grant's next book.