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.

Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia by Anna Kirwan

Victoria May Blossom of Britannia by Anna Kirwan(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

29 May

…I had to kiss His Majesty’s hand.  Really, one kisses the air over his hand, and that’s a good thing, for he’s so glistening with lotions and powders to cover the liver spots on his skin, which he hates…

Aunt Soap says he was a beautiful lad when he was young.  “Prinny was the handsomest Prince ever.  His curls were the colour of honey on toast, like that red-gold Russian sable the Princess de Lieven wears.”  Now, unfortunately, his beauty has quite fled.  Perhaps he does wear a corset, as I once heard Lady C. remark—though I can’t see that it does much good.  (I’m sure she would be shocked to know I overheard.  But I do wonder why so many people seem to think a young person’s ears do not work unless they are instructed to by some adult.)

Even for a princess in The Royal Diaries, Victoria is quite young when she’s ‘writing’ this book, at only 10 years old.  Maybe it’s because I’m a cynical old reader, but even for ten years old she was, quite simply put, an annoying brat.  Part of it was her immaturity and the other part was the annoying quirks Anna Kirwan used to make her ‘unique’.

In this portrayal of the future Queen Victoria, Anna Kirwan has made her quite ignorant of her station, immature and an incredibly annoying writer.  You see, sometimes Victoria speaks in the language you would expect of the times and in the same entry you might see language you would use in an email to a friend.  I don’t know why Kirwan decided to do this, but she makes Victoria use the arcane form of ‘choose’ (‘chuse’) without using any other arcane language.  This, of course, doesn’t make it authentic so much as it makes it annoying.  The most annoying personality quirk used was Victoria’s habit of using ‘v.’ as an abbreviation of ‘very’.  So we end up with a character who uses words that are ten letters long, but abbreviates a four letter word.  Writers take note: this is not quirky; it’s annoying.

When you have a book written in diary form, a good narrator is an absolute must because you can’t escape from their point of view.  Therefore, Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia was bad overall.  I’m sure with a better narrator I would have been more focused on the historical events than on translating v., but that was not the case.  As far as I can tell, this book is mostly accurate, but Anna Kirwan admits to changing a few things around in her Historical Note.

I give this book 1.5/5 stars.

Amazon*     Barnes and Noble*

*Only available as a used book.

500 Posts and a Guest Post

Well, I was checking my stats the other night and found out that my review of Shirley Verrett’s memoir, I Never Walked Alone, was my 500th post here on The Mad Reviewer.  Obviously, it’s not really my 500th post because I’ve done plenty of guest posts, but still.  You guys know how I love my milestones.

Also, today I will be posting for Margaret over at Steam Trains and Ghosts.  For review #297, I’m reviewing Antony & Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough.  And now all you history buffs will be forced to go check out my review, right?  Especially since I’m talking about historical accuracy.

I Never Walked Alone by Shirley Verrett

I Never Walked Alone by Shirley Verrett(Cover picture courtesy of AfriClassical.)

An inspiring self-portrait of a world-renowned African American vocal artist.
This is a fascinating account of a gifted woman’s coming of age and rise to success at a time when black classical musicians faced barriers at every turn. Shirley Verrett possessed a talent and ambition so dazzling she could not be denied and she became one of the most celebrated artists of her time. I Never Walked Alone draws the reader into the world of this graceful, fiery artist, dramatically telling the story of her childhood and her brilliant international career.

The book is filled with behind-the-scenes tales of this diva’s great performances, roles, and collaborations, offering insight into her stormy personal relationships as well as her private struggles and critical decisions. Featuring forewords and afterwords by such figures as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Zubhin Mehta, and Claudio Abbado, this richly detailed book paints a vivid picture of a magnificent survivor and an indelible artist known around the world as the black Maria Callas.
Shirley Verrett (Ann Arbor, MI, and New York, NY) is currently Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music.
Christopher Brooks is a biographer and award-winning musicologist.

Okay, in all fairness this was written by both Shirley Verrett and Christopher Brooks.  But I like to keep my titles relatively simple, so there.

The autobiographies of celebrities and other public figures tend to be vapid and self-aggrandizing, but Shirley Verrett’s autobiography is none of that.  She freely speaks of the incidents she had with other singers where she was at fault, reflects on her rocky relationships with others at times and speaks frankly about her vocal problems in the 70s.  Maybe it was just excellent editors, but Ms. Verrett strikes me as a very humble woman in her writing.  She doesn’t brag and admits her ego problems when she was young; truly she sounds like she was a down-to-Earth person.

I Never Walked Alone is not just a collection of amusing incidents, but a full chronicle of her childhood and career.  Ms. Verrett speaks for at least a paragraph on almost all of the productions she was in and it really gives you a great picture of such a talented woman.  With an introduction by both Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, this autobiography really is a treasure.

I don’t often read celebrity autobiographies, but I’m so glad I got my hands on one of my hero’s.  Even if you don’t know much about opera, I Never Walked Alone is a fascinating read and paints a picture of the turbulent times of the civil rights movement in America.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth…

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Scarlet is pretty much everything you’d expect from Marissa Meyer: fast-paced, lots of plot twists, great characters and a seamless blending of fairytale and science fiction.  With that said, it’s still not as good as Cinder.

I’ll start with the new characters: Scarlet and Wolf.  Scarlet is a pretty good character and goes through an interesting character arc throughout her travels with Wolf.  I wouldn’t say she stands among the legions of amazingly memorable characters like Claudius, Katniss, Marco or Ish, but she certainly isn’t a Mary Sue.  Personally, I liked Wolf much better than Scarlet because he had a lot more depth.  At first he’s your tortured, brooding streetfighter, but as the book goes on, we get introduced to his background and see Wolf change both through his actions and words.  Cinder, of course, is still as resourceful and intelligent as ever; I have no complaints about her.

The plot is pretty fast-paced, but Marissa Meyer makes sure that she inserts a little bit of backstory to remind readers of the events of Cinder.  This was especially helpful for me since I haven’t read Cinder in nearly a year.  So, memory jogged, readers will move along quickly and discover lots of incredible plot twists along the way.  Red herrings, betrayal, escape…just about everything a good plot requires.  Scarlet also ends on an interesting enough cliffhanger that I want Cress right now.  Unfortunately it isn’t out until 2014, but apparently it features Rapunzel.

Much like Cinder, Scarlet carefully blends the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf into a science fiction narrative.  It doesn’t really feel contrived either, so the growing connection between Scarlet and Wolf was satisfying for me.  However, the reason I don’t like Scarlet as much as the first book is that it seemed to lack heart.  Marissa Meyer had great characters, a great plot, her usual great world-building, but there wasn’t that oomph that was present in Cinder.  Overall, it was a good story, but I wouldn’t call it great.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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