Tagged: feed

Spotlight: Feed by Mira Grant

Spotlight is my weekly feature in which I highlight a book I’m eagerly awaiting or read and really enjoyed.  This week, it’s another amazing zombie book: Feed by Mira Grant.

Feed by Mira Grant

The year was 2014.  We had cured cancer.  We had beaten the common cold.  But in doing so we had created something new, something terrible that no one could stop.  The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected.  The truth will out, even if it kills them.

Lots of books about a zombie apocalypse either take place during the apocalypse or after, when civilization as we know it has fallen completely.  In Feed, Mira Grant presents a much, much different take, one that looks at what life would be like if we won.  Blood tests, off-limits areas, the rise of blogging at the expense of traditional media, etc.  The future Mira Grant imagines is terrifying in some aspects (the complete loss of personal privacy), but I suppose it’s better than total societal collapse.

Enter Shaun and Georgia (George) Mason, who are bloggers following the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman but uncover a conspiracy that involves the origins of the Kellis-Amberlee virus itself.  Despite the fact it sounds like a dark book, Mira Grant has such a humorous writing style you can’t help but laugh out loud in some parts.  It’s a whirlwind journey with an unpredictable ending.  Feed also ends on such a cliffhanger that you’ll have no choice but to read the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy, Deadline.

Obviously, this is a zombie novel, so don’t read it if you’re sensitive to gore.

Books that Should be Taught in School: Feed by Mira Grant

You’re probably thinking I’ve gone insane right now, aren’t you?  At least, literary snobs, those of you that have read Feed and those of you that have seen my review are.  I mean, a zombie novel in school.  How crazy can you get?  Well, it’s actually not that crazy.  So please hear me out before you pass judgment:
1.  It will engage high school students.

Yes, Feed has violence and coarse language.  Yes, it’s a zombie novel.  But I know for a fact that ‘worse’ books (content-wise) have been studied in school.  Does anyone here remember reading Catch-22 in high school English?  When I first read it, I was shocked that anyone ever studied this in school, yet it was still studied because it was a good novelFeed is an excellent novel and in my honest opinion, it’s no worse than Joseph Heller’s classic novel.  In some aspects, it is less ‘offensive’.

In most people’s minds zombies=awesome.  By high school, most people (especially boys in my experience) hate reading passionately.  Educators are always asking themselves how to improve reading scores and get kids interested in reading again.

Do you see where I’m going here?

Feed has all of the themes, messages and three dimensional characters that educators love to analyze to death while having all of the zombies, weapons and gross science that teenagers love.  It has bad language and violence (obviously), but for kids in grade 11 and 12…they’re going to see and hear a lot worse on television on an ordinary day. Continue reading

Feed by Mira Grant

(Cover picture courtesy of Tansyrr.)

The year was 2014.  We had cured cancer.  We had beaten the common cold.  But in doing so we had created something new, something terrible that no one could stop.  The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected.  The truth will out, even if it kills them.

“Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot—in this case, my brother Shaun—deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens.”

When a book starts out like this, you know it’s going to be good.  As many of my readers know, I have a serious fear of zombies that was triggered when I watched Dawn of the Dead at the age of eight.  I bought this book to cure myself of this irrational fear and I truly think Mira Grant’s biting wit (pardon the pun) and excellent characters have cured me.  Zombies don’t scare me any longer, so now I can get on with my review.

Feed is told mostly from the point of view of Georgia Mason—George for short—and she is an excellent narrator.  She is a three dimensional character that is brave, resourceful and protective of her reckless brother Shaun.  And unlike many female characters, she doesn’t fall in love through the course of the story.  In fact, there is no romance whatsoever for the main characters, which is definitely a refreshing change.

I would call Feed more of a political thriller with zombies than a zombie book with politics.  The political atmosphere in a post-Rising world is very different from what it is now, but it makes a lot of sense in the context.  There is much less active participation because of the fear of the Kellis-Amberlee virus infecting you.  And of course the reclamation of zombie-infested lands like Alaska and parts of California is the hot-button issue of the day.  As George and Shaun uncover a conspiracy while on the campaign trail with Senator Ryman, the plot moves along even more quickly than before toward its tragic ending.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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How I Spent My Day

I am trying to conquer my stupid, irrational zombie fear by reading Feed by Mira Grant.  It’s an amazingly funny book and more of a political thriller than a zombie story, but it’s still scaring me.  I’m going to need some serious therapy if I want to read the rest of the trilogy.  So if you like zombies or political thrillers or both, check out this review over on The Quiet Voice.  It’s very informative and it will explain things while I try not to jump at every little sound in this enormous, badly lit house of mine.  I promise I’ll have a review (not necessarily of Feed, though) out tomorrow.