Feed, Mira Grant
This is, I think, the third time I read Feed: each time, I firmly intend to carry on with the story, but I always need a little bit of a break after the gut punch that is the ending of Feed itself. This time, I’m successful (as I type this, I’m 100 pages from the end of Deadline), but it’s still a gut punch, and Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant really knows what she’s doing with that. I love Georgia in all her capableness, I love the world-building with the Irwins and the Fictionals and the Newsies and just… all the stuff that’s been put into making it a fully realised post-apocalyptic, post-privacy world.
It’s especially weird to read after the last US elections and President Trump, because the Senator they’re following to the White House is actually a Republican. And he’s actually a good guy whom you can kind of root for.
I think maybe the one argument I have with it is that some parts of it lack quite the tension you’d expect from being chased by a zombie horde. Personally, it works — after all, this is Georgia’s job — but still, it’s not quite the endless ride of thrills some readers might expect from a zombie novel.
I’ll stick to not touching the epidemiology, etc, here. I’m not sure I can quite see how viruses based on the common cold and Marburg could recombine — they’re so different in structure and needs — but on the other hand, to paraphrase a great fictional scientist, viruses, uh, find a way. Just look at what HIV can do.
I don’t love Shaun — he’s okay, but not my thing — but darn, am I ever into Georgia as a character. More of her all over the place, please.
I tried this one years ago and despite loving zombies and politics I just didn’t connect with this. I haven’t been a fan of the other books she wrote either. Just one of those things!
I remember us chatting about it! I think it’s actually grown on me over time.
What I long for most from Mira Grant is another few books set in this world. I feel like there is so much more potential for stories. I want to know what’s happening ten years later.
Hmmm, that would be cool.
I saw quite a few bad reviews for this series, which I wanted to try since I loved Into the Drowning deep, and I’m glad to see your review, I have much better expectations now I think! thank you!
Oh, me and my wife love it! Even the first time I read the first book I gave it a solid 3 stars, and it’s grown on me since.