From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

Feed (Newsflesh, #1)

Mira Grant

Start date: April 1, 2011

Finish date: May 1, 2011

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

Why we're reading this: In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, i…more
[close] In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, intended to act as a cure for the common cold, and a cancer-killing strain of Marburg, known as "Marburg Amberlee"—escaped the lab and combined to form a single airborne pathogen that swept around the world in a matter of days. It cured cancer. It stopped a thousand cold and flu viruses in their tracks.

It raised the dead.

Millions died in the chaos that followed. The summer of 2014 was dubbed "The Rising," and only the lessons learned from a thousand zombie movies allowed mankind to survive. Even then, the world was changed forever. The mainstream media fell, Internet news acquired an undeniable new legitimacy, and the CDC rose to a new level of power.

Set twenty years after the Rising, the Newsflesh trilogy follows a team of bloggers, led by Georgia and Shaun Mason, as they search for the brutal truths behind the infection. Danger, deceit, and betrayal lurk around every corner, as does the hardest question of them all:

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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What Members Thought

Nov 20, 2015 Colleen rated it did not like it

Shelves: thriller, zombies

I kind of struggled giving this a 1 star. It deserves something like a 1.5--I most likely will read the second one because I haven't quite given up on this story, but where to start?

1) The characters. Absolutely hated them all with the fire of a thousand suns. So this could fall under it's a "me" not the book, but there was far too much telling and not enough showing. Let's take Buffy for example A.

(view spoiler) I kind of struggled giving this a 1 star. It deserves something like a 1.5--I most likely will read the second one because I haven't quite given up on this story, but where to start?

1) The characters. Absolutely hated them all with the fire of a thousand suns. So this could fall under it's a "me" not the book, but there was far too much telling and not enough showing. Let's take Buffy for example A.

(view spoiler)[ We're told over and over how funny she is, and how tragic the death and betrayal and all that because of hilarious and vibrant she was. Not once throughout the entire book does she say anything remotely funny. Not once, and there's tons of opportunties for levity. Now all the characters seem like driven, moody, antisocial automatons, so veer back between annoying and repulsive.

So the deaths at the first speech (7 people I think? not going to get the book out) and then the many deaths at the farm, she still says nothing? Still keeps taking money to fulfill some apocalyptic Christian death wish? (well she does say grace at the table which I guess is the tip off). And people are still really sad and crushed, like Dumbledore just died. Throughout the book though when we do see Buffy, she's either off with her boyfriend, or planting thousands of barely detectable listening devices but no scene where you actually see any personality.

The parents! That could have been an interesting plot line, but again we're just told that they're "cold" and attention seeking (while the entire book, every few pages the character is pulling out their phone to check website's popularity).

The noble senator! You get told by a very reliable reporter who has basically handed you the nomination for presidency that your sinister-as-fuck vice president who hates your guts and is salivating at replacing you MURDERED your daughter and in-laws and what is your reaction? Call the secret service! Police! Demand evidence! Nope, you yank her press priviliges and toss her out, saying you'll come around for the evidence later. And this is never really mentioned again, although it cost the sulky Georgia and a not insignificant amount of people their lives. Ugh.

2) The pacing. The book is relatively huge and there is sooooooooooooooo much repetition. I like big books too! Bring it! But every time they go in and out of a door is described in great detail that the effect is greatly diminished. I get it, the future is a terrible terrible place and genuine kudos to the author for the futuristic world she's created. She's actually fantastic at big ideas, surroundings (though some pruning required) and she has a good story here. The pacing, ridiculous amounts of superflous detail, bad dialogue and flat Mary Sue characters drag down what is an origial thriller.

3) Where it goes from here? I will read the next one though my hopes not super high. Still it's a very original book even with the flaws--40 years after the zombie outbreak, US is basically taken back but ruled by CONSTANT bloodtesting, rules, isolation and fear. A kind of depressing book to be reading now with the soda can bomb, people actually advocating for us to just be anesthetized, packed into tubes, and flown like characters from Aliens universe for travel. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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May 19, 2012 Heather rated it it was amazing

Mira Grant gives a solid, science-based, take on the shambling undead that I found very satisfying. The world she presents is one of the not too distant future, a time after "The Rising" once humanity has fought back against the plague of undead and regained some sort of normalcy, a degree of safety provided by hyper-security, heavy weaponry and constant blood tests to prove each and every person entering any area is infection-free.

I want to be careful not to spoil anything here so I will be br ...more

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May 15, 2011 ambimb rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-on-iphone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The best way to sum up this book for me is "strangely compelling." I found myself sucked into it and turning the pages even though I'm not really a big zombie novel fan. What got me were two things: I'm a sucker for an apocalypse story, and the whole "new journalism" and citizen media angle really captured my imagination.

Ok, so maybe I'm more of a zombie fan than I think. Generally, if zombies are involved, we're talking apocalypse, and if we're talking apocalypse, I'm interested. I enjoyed the The best way to sum up this book for me is "strangely compelling." I found myself sucked into it and turning the pages even though I'm not really a big zombie novel fan. What got me were two things: I'm a sucker for an apocalypse story, and the whole "new journalism" and citizen media angle really captured my imagination.

Ok, so maybe I'm more of a zombie fan than I think. Generally, if zombies are involved, we're talking apocalypse, and if we're talking apocalypse, I'm interested. I enjoyed the first season of "The Walking Dead" on tv this last spring and I thought "27 Days" was a great movie, plus who doesn't love "Shaun of the Dead"? So maybe the Zombies in "Feed" got me, too. These Zombies are fairly typical, although I think Grant puts a bit of a spin on the idea in how the virus came about and how it spread. I don't think it spoils anything to say that she's constructed a plausible scenario wherein the same viruses that cause people to become Zombies also cure cancer and I think the common cold. In the world of "Feed," society has traded these two problems for a larger one: a marauding horde of Zombies who want only to replicate the virus that they carry. But wait: Everyone on the planet now carries this virus and it just lays dormant inside of them until they die, at which time it wakes up and takes over their bodies, making them walking machines of death. Oh, and also, it's possible to convert spontaneously, without dying first, I guess, if you're injected with the virus, or something. I'm still not really clear on that part.

One thing I'm far too clear on, and one of the weaknesses of the book, is the whole testing regime for the virus. If I never have to read another description of a character putting his or hand into a virus testing unit and watching the lights blink from green to yellow to red, it will be too soon. This is why I'm not really interested in reading the next book in the series; I'm just tired of the constant repetition of "oh no! we might be infected or we left a safe area! Now we have to get tested again!" I understand the paranoia of infection and how important it is to the plot of the book, but it also gets old. After a couple hundred pages of this we get the drill; stop boring us with the details of the different kinds of testing units and how accurate they are and how long they take and how the needles feel going into the skin and just move on.

That's my major complaint, really: The mechanics of how the testing works and all of the safety precautions people take start to get a little old. At the same time, that's really the heart of the book and I enjoyed the world that Grant created with all of its fear and paranoia. To my mind, there's a fine balance between describing this world, showing us the fear and paranoia and precautions so that we're there, experiencing it as readers, and going overboard into boring repetition. This book crossed that line a few too many times, is all I'm saying.

Again, on the plus side, the book is full of interesting political intrigue that is mostly believable and well done. The breakdown of the new blogger press corps into Newsies (factual reporters), Irwins (daredevils who "make" news by doing dangerous things to report on), Stewarts (commentators, named after John Stewart of "The Daily Show," I think), and Fictionals (who fictionalize the news, write poetry about it, whatever — kind of vague, really), is new and I liked these ideas a lot. Grant has done a great job with her main characters, making them interesting and likable and giving them a great background with their adopted parents and their dead step-brother and everything. There are a few moments that don't really ring true, but they don't get in the way of the story overall, and as I said, I just kept turning the pages.

Oh, finally, and this is a kind of big *********** SPOILER: ****************

Who kills their protagonist on page 500 in the first book of a trilogy!? No one does that! You can't freaking do that! Yet.... Here it is, and it's kind of awesome. I'm both in awe at the audacity and originality of it and also just mystified because, well, it's so unexpected and in some ways so disappointing to lose this character. In the end, my admiration for the audacity of it outweighs anything else and I have to say kudos to Grant for being willing to go there. Some readers might be pretty angry about it, I don't know, but it's definitely an original twist that I didn't expect and that absolutely kept me reading to the end to see how this crazy monster of a novel would turn out. ...more

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May 01, 2011 Netanella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: zombies

This book is just too cool for words - I love the double entendre of the title, with the book's dual emphasis on zombie apocalypse and news media. Add presidential politics, espionage, religious fanatics, and naming your kids after George Romero, and this is a definte recipe for a rolicking good time. I'm very, very glad I found this book! ...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Ariel rated it it was amazing

Absolutely amazing. An excellent look at the other side of the zombie apocalypse - how life goes on afterward. I can't wait to read the next one. ...more

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