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merricatct 's review for:
Deadline
by Mira Grant
First of all, let me say that I really do like Grant's long view of her particular apocalypse. I really like how she took a fundamental question - what would society look like, post-zombies? - and fleshed it out. Reading this in 2020, during COVID times, things like quarantines and lockdowns and omnipresent testing are very relevant, and I honestly don't think I would've appreciated these books as much as I have without that context.
That said, that's about all I appreciate the books for. I wasn't a fan of most of Feed, but I'm a sucker for books that take the gutsy move of killing off a main character. However, Grant has completely lost any credit I gave, because George being dead didn't keep her from being basically a main character in Deadline. The whole "ghost George in her brother's head" thing smacked of wanting credit for not pulling punches, but still wanting access to the one really good character in the book. NEVER MIND the "George is back!" plot twist at the end - that undermines the above-mentioned "science fact" of the books, and sends this squarely into science fiction territory.
The real reason I disliked this book as much as I do is because of Shaun. If he's not my most disliked character ever, he's certainly in the top 10. And I love me some unredeemable characters, evil characters, unlikable characters, antiheroes, etc. But Shaun was just an asshole. He's grieving his sister, sure - but who in this world ISN'T grieving for someone? Why does he get special dispensation to be such a waste of a person? Why do his employees keep working for him, despite him not doing anything useful in the year since Feed, NOT TO MENTION the constant threatened (and sometimes actual!) physical violence when someone brings up his sister? If I had to read about Shaun threatening to punch someone, or another character referencing Shaun's punching of people, one more time ...
And that leads me to another reason these books haven't worked for me - both Feed and Deadline. The repetition. The repetition. MY GOD THE REPETITION. Telling us about the bleach showers (in detail) and the testing kits (in detail) and the decontamination procedures (in detail) gives us context and builds out the characters' world. But we, as readers, generally do not have amnesia. We don't then need the same level of detail over and over and OVER again. Nor do we need to hear about Shaun hating Coke but drinking it for George again and again and AGAIN. We get that Shaun hearing George's voice in his head is odd, and it helps show the depth of his grief ... but the 97th time that it's described, with people looking at Shaun like he's crazy, and therefore giving him an excuse to threaten to punch them in the nose because HOW DARE THEY MENTION GEORGE, it's nothing but old.
Finally - so we're supposed to understand that Shaun and George were actually having sex, right? Not just close-in-a-creepy-way close, but having-sex close? If so, I'm also ragey about that. Not the incest aspect - if it serves the story and the characters, I'm on board with just about anything the author wants to throw our way. No, I'm ragey because we spent an entire book in George's head, and almost an entire book in Shaun's head, and yet there was no mention of this? Either we're supposed to believe that they've both disassociated from their sexual relationship to the extent that they don't even bring in up in their own thoughts, or this was the author going for a !shocking!twist! despite not being able to support it in story because of the first person POV. It’s also disappointing, because George was great representation for asexuality - she flat out said multiple times in Feed that sex and romance wasn’t for her (or Shaun). Wouldn’t that have been the perfect time to finish that though with ... “except for each other!” Who was she trying to fool in her own damn head?
Long story short, I will not be continuing with the series. I don’t care what happens next.
That said, that's about all I appreciate the books for. I wasn't a fan of most of Feed, but I'm a sucker for books that take the gutsy move of killing off a main character. However, Grant has completely lost any credit I gave, because George being dead didn't keep her from being basically a main character in Deadline. The whole "ghost George in her brother's head" thing smacked of wanting credit for not pulling punches, but still wanting access to the one really good character in the book. NEVER MIND the "George is back!" plot twist at the end - that undermines the above-mentioned "science fact" of the books, and sends this squarely into science fiction territory.
The real reason I disliked this book as much as I do is because of Shaun. If he's not my most disliked character ever, he's certainly in the top 10. And I love me some unredeemable characters, evil characters, unlikable characters, antiheroes, etc. But Shaun was just an asshole. He's grieving his sister, sure - but who in this world ISN'T grieving for someone? Why does he get special dispensation to be such a waste of a person? Why do his employees keep working for him, despite him not doing anything useful in the year since Feed, NOT TO MENTION the constant threatened (and sometimes actual!) physical violence when someone brings up his sister? If I had to read about Shaun threatening to punch someone, or another character referencing Shaun's punching of people, one more time ...
And that leads me to another reason these books haven't worked for me - both Feed and Deadline. The repetition. The repetition. MY GOD THE REPETITION. Telling us about the bleach showers (in detail) and the testing kits (in detail) and the decontamination procedures (in detail) gives us context and builds out the characters' world. But we, as readers, generally do not have amnesia. We don't then need the same level of detail over and over and OVER again. Nor do we need to hear about Shaun hating Coke but drinking it for George again and again and AGAIN. We get that Shaun hearing George's voice in his head is odd, and it helps show the depth of his grief ... but the 97th time that it's described, with people looking at Shaun like he's crazy, and therefore giving him an excuse to threaten to punch them in the nose because HOW DARE THEY MENTION GEORGE, it's nothing but old.
Finally - so we're supposed to understand that Shaun and George were actually having sex, right? Not just close-in-a-creepy-way close, but having-sex close? If so, I'm also ragey about that. Not the incest aspect - if it serves the story and the characters, I'm on board with just about anything the author wants to throw our way. No, I'm ragey because we spent an entire book in George's head, and almost an entire book in Shaun's head, and yet there was no mention of this? Either we're supposed to believe that they've both disassociated from their sexual relationship to the extent that they don't even bring in up in their own thoughts, or this was the author going for a !shocking!twist! despite not being able to support it in story because of the first person POV. It’s also disappointing, because George was great representation for asexuality - she flat out said multiple times in Feed that sex and romance wasn’t for her (or Shaun). Wouldn’t that have been the perfect time to finish that though with ... “except for each other!” Who was she trying to fool in her own damn head?
Long story short, I will not be continuing with the series. I don’t care what happens next.