This was a truly awesome zombie series. Just that right balance of romance, action and inevitable waiting around in contemplation. there are a lot of This was a truly awesome zombie series. Just that right balance of romance, action and inevitable waiting around in contemplation. there are a lot of things that I could say about the third instalment in this review (some I did leak out in my progress reports) but I'm going to hold it all in, otherwise it'd be spoiler central.
A lot of very cool things happen in this book. A lot of really, really shitty things happen too. I'm personally not impressed with one particular plot twist, but the author sort of found ways to make up for it (emphasise on 'sort of' not 'did') and still managed to tell a pretty awesome series.
Somehow, I don't know how, this assemble;age of 3-4 star novels ended up equalling out as a five star (Five ZOMBIE stars that is:Twilight it ain't) series for me because it was perfect for what it was supposed to be and delivered everything you need in a zombie series.
This was just a straight-up good Zombie book, and has basically everything I look for in a Zombie adventure: Lots of time in cars5 Zombie Stars
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This was just a straight-up good Zombie book, and has basically everything I look for in a Zombie adventure: Lots of time in cars on the highway, lots of foraging, the building of forts and the banding together of people. It's nicely paced- so it goes minute by minute and day by day without skipping large sections of time, the zombies are how zombies ought to be with nothing fancy thrown into the mix, and the writer's got the goods as far as world building goes and paints (what one can only presume) is a fairly realistic account of how things would play out when the shit virus hits the fan.
The characters are the best aspect of the book for me. I like the shifting, third-person POV, because it's defined clearly, and the characters whose POV you do get to experience things through are incredibly likeable, albeit, they can get on the whiny side- lots of survivor guilt, guilt over killing humans before they can turn, guilt for the people they couldn't protect… etc etc, but that begin said, still a huge improvement over the uber-male zombie books when no one gives a f%$# about anyone.
For all intents and purposes, I think Katie is supposed to be the main character, but it's Jenny who I think really adds some spark to what could have been an otherwise generic story.She's a bit crazy and has a lot of issues, but though her mind doesn't work well- I like the way it works :)
It took a while for me to realise that this series was going to be told from a primarily female POV, and was also written by one, and though my husband is a huge fan of this series, he has grumbled occasionally, that the she-power is a little much. While I don't agree that anything the women do can be considered extra-ordinary or uber-feminazi, I will admit that the male characters tend to come down on the 'soft' side of things. (Travis and his gun issues, for instance- WTF?) Nothing wrong with that, because naturally there would be men who would struggle to hold their S$%# together during a Zombie apocalypse too, so I'm not going to blame the two female leads for dwarfing men with their strength. It would take a lot of guts and killer instincts to survive an ordeal like this- and we're reading a story from a Survivors side of things, right? If not, there would be three paragraphs and then a lot of demonic growling…
What's wrong with it? Not much. Travis can get on my nerves sometimes (I really like strong men- which is possible without them having to come off as Rambo and Travis can be a bit spineless, so Juan's my favourite) and I had some issues with how quickly Katie rebounded. Okay, you like men and women too, so by all means- have at this new dish now that your wife is dead, but while she was humming and hawing about it being too soon for her to be considering jumping into someone else's arms- I tended to agree and couldn't believe that she was even contemplating it yet. I think maybe two weeks had lapsed between death of a wife, and want of another partner? That's okay in Jenny's 'battered wife' case and would even make sense if Katie's wife was still alive, and Katie's feelings were merely splitting (proving them to be not so strong in the first place)… but the emphasis on her desire for Travis struck me as highly inappropriate for a grieving widow, and didn't make sense given how much time Katie spends grieving, moping, sulking… etc etc over her darling Lydia. As much as I like the emerging relationship, I wish that the writer had left the notion of her having any feelings for Travis- at all- until at least the second novel, and then maybe a month down the line.
In the same vein- I don't think that Jenny has mourned the loss of her children nearly enough, and the fact that she forgot her step-son for even ten minutes horrified me. I have a step-daughter and I can tell you that worry for her would be at the top of my priority list despite how much I was grieving or in shock over the loss of my biological children. it sort of made her look like a shitty mother, and I'm wondering if maybe that was the author's intentions. No one's perfect, after all, and Jenny has clearly been in need of a mental tidy for awhile, but I hope this issue is touched on again. In the very least, I'd like to see her go into shock once or twice when encountering a zombie child. I mean, my kids are alive, and I still can't stomach zombie kids in movies.
But i digress- these are only minor criticisms in an otherwise awesome story. I'm already onto book two, so it';s a page turner, no doubt, and would like to commend Rhiannon Frater for pulling off an incredibly suspenseful and often nail-biting series, without having to go all game Of thrones or Walking Dead, and kill off all of the important or favoured characters to add to the shock value!
I've decided to start using a special Zombie rating system because quite frankly, Zombie books are too different to other kinds of books3 Zombie stars
I've decided to start using a special Zombie rating system because quite frankly, Zombie books are too different to other kinds of books to be graded on the same scale. What matters to me personally in a novel is usually first and foremost how interesting it is, how it makes me feel (or how MUCH it makes me feel) how creative it is and how original the characters are. Oh and plot twists- I do not want to see plot twists coming unless I'm praying for a particular outcome, and usually within a love triangle.
But most of that stuff doesn't count toward making a good zombie read. What I look for is usually just creativity and preferably, an ending that doesn't suck the life out of the world. It's hard to find a truly moving Zombie book that covers everything you need within the genre and what I look for in a book in general but there are exceptions to the rule, such as The Passage or Feed or The Forest Of Hands And Teeth. To me, they're the stand-out works in this genre but hey, to a lot of devoted Zombie readers, they probably suck for being too emotional and overwritten.
Well, Epidemic isn't over-written or over emotional. It didn't make me feel much of anything, it didn't take me by surprise and I really didn't care much about the characters in the end. That being said however, it wasn't a bad book and for a lot of Zombie readers, it's probably the froth on the bloody cappuccino. Mad world: Epidemic does has the elements that someone like my hubby would be into- a quick pace, a rapidly spreading virus, a fairly original premise for the infection (Black Plague haven't come across that personally yet) and a lot of action and gore. For me it bordered on a little repetitive, with all of the hospital stuff ( I think I counted three different hospital scenarios) and the : 'Oh no! That person who got bitten is turning now too!' made me roll by eyes a little by the end because I'm pretty sure that even people who have never read or watched a Zombie anything know that bitten=bad. Just like in a disaster movie, Tidal wave in Manhattan= bad.
The writing was also a little bit too simplistic for me- it was just go, go,go without any room left for character development.That's great for some but like I said by the end I really didn't care much, not even for the newborn baby which almost always would hold my heart captive so I hope the rest of the trilogy is a bit more flushed out because as it stands, I probably won't remember this very clearly down the track.
She is a good writer however, and this is a nice quick read that would probably be well-enjoyed by young adults. You can tell she put a lot of research behind this, so I would recommend this probably for people aged 15-25 who like their books light, and their Zombie books to read more like action movies than epics.
Look out mama, I'm trailer trash window shopping for my next book boyfriend!
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I read this book in the space of four5 Stars for a Zombie novel :)
Look out mama, I'm trailer trash window shopping for my next book boyfriend!
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I read this book in the space of four days which is saying a lot for me because I selfishly spend most of my time writing and have to scrape up time for anyone else's stuff, and I have a new Dean Koontz paperback staring at me too so kudos to the author for getting me to resist that in favour of an e-book.
I picked up a copy of Broken World after chatting to the author in a writer's group, and I'm so glad I did because this was a great story.
In the beginning, I was pretty much horrified by the line-up of main characters we had; two trailer trash criminals and a stripper and I had my hands ready to cover my eyes over what I assumed would be an incredibly gross rape scene and the longer the story went on without this happening, the more pleasantly surprised I became.
And the writer really does keep the surprises coming. Though this book stands apart from the other Zombie books I've read, I probably couldn't call it exceptionally original because from what I can tell from other reviews, it has a lot in common with The Walking Dead. I don't actually watch the show (my apologies to Zombie fans but it seems a bit slow and depressing to me from what I've heard from my zombie-obsessed husband) but Broken World is neither slow or depressing and that's what I like in Zombie novels.And the writing is so fluid that I don't think it matters what it is a lot like- because it's not like the crappy ones at all and let's face it, there are a lot of D-grade books in this genre but Broken World is A grade for me.
In the beginning you think everyone's just getting sick from a virus and as the story progresses, I started to wonder if I'd actually picked up a post-apocalyptic read instead of a zombie novel and I really enjoyed this dynamic. There was plenty to fear, without adding man-eaters into the mix and the author builds the suspense so that by the time the dead start to rise, you're incredibly nervous.
Most of the tension comes from within the group. Ahh Angus, I shivered every time you made your way onto the page with your gross little spittoon can and he reminded me a lot of Brad Pitt's character in Kalifornia, which is one of those random, dark redneck movies that I just love. Angus and Axl aren't quite that far gone but you don't think they're going to be redeemable or people of worth at all but surprisingly, as the tale moves on it's the main character you lose respect for while Axl and Angus began to shine as leaders. This would be an incredibly clumsy mistake for a writer to make but you can tell that Kate L. Mary has done this purposefully to avoid cliches and it's what I loved about the book the most.
And this brings me to Axl- woot! Talk about character development! This guys is the definition of 'It's Complicated' and dang it but he was sexy as all hell by the end! Frustrating, but sexy.
There are cliche characters but I tell you what- there are plenty of cliche people and the people who would survive this sort of scenario would be that way- Rich and calculating, Smart and scared or weak and begging protection and I thought they all worked beautifully together.
The main character frustrated me a lot, probably because I am a mother and she is such a bad one, but he point of view was realistic and believable. The entire novel follows along that vein. No one is perfect or an action hero, but instead of them making really stupid mistakes that have you banging your head on the table with frustration, they're prone to little lapses in focus that have catastrophic results and our heroine pays dearly for it. I'm looking forward to seeing how or if her character develops over the rest of the trilogy.
Can't wait to read the second instalment in the series. If you're a big fan of Zombie apocalypse novels then move this to the top of your list and if you're just getting into the genre- likewise. The writing is fluid and clean and honest and the plot flows incredibly smoothly, the characters relatable, the plot feasible and I don't know how she did it but this was a page turner without having to be packed full of action at every moment. Though it gets a bit steamy at one point and a little bit violent, it's by no means excessively gory so I don't see why it would be off-limits to anyone younger than say, fourteen.
*Review Afterword* I stumbled upon this book after hearing that the author had been accused of plagiarism by another author. I believe that the controversy has blown over now but when I heard about the situation, promised that I would read this book and the one it had been accused of 'copying' based on the title and cover and the premise in the synopsis. I think we all know that Zombie Apocalypse novels are pretty hard to strike gold on as far as originality is concerned because at the end of the day, most of us picture the world after the same way, adjusted a little depending on how the virus spreads, where we live and what matters to us. As I have also written a Zombie Apocalypse novel about a girl travelling across the state on the first day of the outbreak and because I also have a highway picture on my cover, I decided to look into this a little deeper to make sure that no one was going to turn around and accuse me of the same thing. (Though I do pity the writer who has similar brainwaves to my own because it gets creepy and weird in here;) )
Anyway not only have I read both this and 'Mad World, epidemic' but I have read them both in the space of two days and I have got to say that THEY HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON. Nothing, nothing NOTHING. Not only are they dissimilar as far as the scope goes, but they're almost polar opposites! I only had to read 5 pages of the other to go WHO WOULD THINK THESE WERE ALIKE? The 1 star reviews Miss Mary has suffered from, which I can still see on Amazon despite the fact that the person accused her of this has rescinded their acusation, are a load of shit honestly and have come from people who have clearly not even read the prologue of Broken World.
The two writers are completely different from one another. The targeted audiences are clearly adult in this case, and YA for the other. The heroine in this is a stripper who gave a kid up for adoption years ago and is travelling across the country to get to her 4 year old, and the heroine of the other becomes a 16 year old adoptive mum ON THE LAST PAGE of the other. The heroine in this story is travelling with a bunch of Rednecks and an assortment of people of different races and ages, but the other is about a group of students who already know each other each going to find their families one by one. Different diseases, different symptoms, different locales EVERYTHING is different. I express sympathy for Kate L.Mary for having been accused with absolutely no evidence to back it up for she has suffered for this, but I am glad that the situation made enough of a splash to get me to read this book because I can't wait to move on to the sequel.
Never Judge a Book by It's Cover has never meant more, then it does in this situation. Miss Mary has admitted that aspects of this book are a nod to The walking Dead, and there ain't nothing wrong with that, especially given how upfront she has been about it all from the start.
This is one of the most difficult books I've ever written. Firstly, because this is the first official 'sequel' I've written outside of The Fai [image]
This is one of the most difficult books I've ever written. Firstly, because this is the first official 'sequel' I've written outside of The Fairytail Saga, but because I wrote that before I'd even published I was going blind; no feedback, no expectations- no concept of '2nd Instalement-itis' and how often it goes wrong… I was just writing my little story.
But for this one, I had my own voice telling me what I wanted to do with it and which characters I wanted to focus on, and a bunch of other voices either really excited for it, or really afraid that I'd take it too far from Palpitations. On top of that BOY did I lose some time with this one! I was determined to get it out on Halloween, determined to have my Halloween party be even cooler than the year before, determined to nail 2 different songs for a show I'm in, and another show I hope to be in soon, determined to keep on top of my kids crazy ass performing arts schedule… and then before I'd even written a chapter- BOOM! Hello Influenza 2 and pneumonia! I've had editing hassles and computer malfunctions and halfway through the first draft I had a personal crisis concerning my relationships with other people, followed by a creative crisis during which I convinced myself that everything sucked and came dangerously close to deleting the whole thing! (Note to self: Do not edit while on prescription meds!)
By the time I finished the 2nd draft, I'd gotten so lost that my phone was disconnected (I can afford the bill- I just plumb forgot to pay it!), my house was a pigsty, the washing pile was taller than me and I was in need of a paper bag to breathe into… everything was falling apart and what I'd created was a hot mess. And that was when I realised that if I didn't stop trying to please everyone, I was going to fall hard on my face. I took all of that stress and worry and doubt and channelled it into the voices of my characters; people destroying what they love, in the quest for perfection.
Now Sanguivorous feels like mine. And if other people don't like it, Eh! I can always write something else ;)
So in the end, I didn't take this book where I felt like I ought to go, but where I had to. None of my books ever sit quite as solidly in their category as they ought to, but bob around like little boats riding tidal waves, and Sanguivorous in no exception. So I apologise to the zombie readers who just want to see some monsters wrecking stuff- there's plenty of that in book 1, and there will be twice as much in book 3, But though Sanguivorous is a story set within a zombie apocalypse, the focus of this instalement, is on the monsters within us, and the fences we put up maniacally to protect ourselves from those who might do us harm, when really, our endings are already pre-determined by our character.
I nabbed a copy of 'Shamblers' last week, partially because the author was courteous enough to offer me a copy in e3.7 if you want to get technical :)
I nabbed a copy of 'Shamblers' last week, partially because the author was courteous enough to offer me a copy in exchange for a review, but also because I'm a zombie author myself who hasn't actually read many, so with all of the titles out and about to choose from, it was good to have a bit of motivation. That being said, I bought a copy myself, as I always do, so I would feel free to review it candidly.
Shamblers was a pretty good novel, and if I was more likely to err on the side of 'blooey-bloke' action books, this probably would have warranted damn close to a five star. In fact, I know that my husband, who has pretty much read every zombie novel available on audio, would ( and will, when he puts down the Game Of War app for ten bloody minutes) love this, so stand-by for his review that will come along eventually. Unfortunately for the author, I am a girl who was a cheerleading captain and a is a musical theatre enthusiast, so I favour the zombie books that are a little bit more female-friendly; either serious classics, like The Passage or Cell, or narrated from a female POV, like Feed or The Forest Of Hands And Teeth. You know, a little 'chick' softening around the edges of the sores… or a nice white bandage or something ;)
But that is me. Shamblers ticks all the right Zombie apocalypse boxes: Gory, full of action, shoot 'em ups and knock 'em downs and with a nice, quick pace. There were a lot of things that were really terrific about the story, for example, I really appreciate the fact that the protagonist isn't this big macho man who creams everyone without breaking a sweat; he gets king hit, locked in a basement and seriously injured or screwed over often and so it reads as realistic. I liked the idea of the story in general, how it focused on a few characters meandering around the countryside, looking for a good base camp, only to lose it either to the shamblers, or the desperate humans who want that piece of territory too.
And I very much enjoyed the plot twists, especially the point-of-view switcheroo in the middle, which brought a fresh dynamic to the story. The transition was seamless; the author did very well at putting a different slant on two separate streams of consciousness, effectively putting you right in the drivers seat of two different mind-sets, and I applaud that because not many writers can pull that off. Another great positive is the fact that, although the entire story has a rather depressing morale, you don't FEEL depressed reading it because it's a fun, action-packed adventure with a fantastic ending.
I wasn't overly impressed with the sexual element of the storyline (too short, too manly-man 'I have lots of inches' wham-bam for me) , but it's not often that a male author can nail sexual chemistry in a way that a female reader will be able to sink into and let's face it; the target audience for this novel is NOT going to care and would probably write it the exact same way anyhow so most of y'all can probably disregard that. But for a girl, the female characters were a little too one dimensional for me so although I enjoyed it and no other chicks will too, it's as sexy as any action novel/ movie can be expected to be.
And this would make a pretty good movie :) There were some very inventive weapon choices in there, and the bad guys are kind of fun so nothing about the novel feels stale or recycled to me.
Overall, Shamblers was a nice quick read, fits into the genre perfectly, brings something new to the table and was incredibly well-written- no 'Indie author' red flags at all. Pick it up if you're a fan of the genre and need a light-hearted escape from the heavy emotional hitters like David Moody (I needed an energy drink and a vacation after Autumn to cheer the hell up) - you won't regret it. ...more
To be fair, these zombie apocalypse books tend to fall into the category of depressing or action packed and so yes, it makAutumn bummed me out.
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To be fair, these zombie apocalypse books tend to fall into the category of depressing or action packed and so yes, it makes sense that Autumn bummed me out. It had nothing to do with the characters within the story, who I didn't form any sort of attachment to, but the overall mood of the book was quietly desperate and left me feeling heavy.
David Moody writes beautifully. I'd heard beforehand that this book was terrifying and by the fifty percent mark I was scratching my head, trying to work out if some people scare very, very easily but then there's a shift and it is creepy. The haunting element to the book doesn't kick in until about halfway through and then it escalates. I won't say rapidly because there's nothing rapid about Autumn. Everything is slow, monotonous and subtle, but it is done well.
There is a lot of repetitiveness to it however, which detracted from the experience for me and I think the whole thing could have been so much more powerful if the characters had been a bit more flushed-out or if it had felt like more was at stake. From the start, they're fighting for a life that clearly wasn't worth living so it's really the human race you're worried about, not the protagonists. And the main characters did some pretty bizarre things. The fence thing, not with-standing. If you had a working car, why not find somewhere that already had a decent boundary? And their obsession with electricity.... bloody hell.
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The writer paints a very vivid picture but unfortunately, it's a bird's eye view. I felt like I was floating over the whole thing, never getting close and to the author's credit, not wanting too because the undead get pretty ghastly towards the end.
I'd recommend to anyone who who goes for the nitty gritty details of survival, rather than a wild ride.
'Civilisation slipped into its second kind of dark age on an unsuspecting trail of blood.'
I'm a huge Stephen King fan so it's no shocker that I loved 'Civilisation slipped into its second kind of dark age on an unsuspecting trail of blood.'
I'm a huge Stephen King fan so it's no shocker that I loved Cell. I got exactly what I was looking for- a traditional post-apocalytptic tale with a twist!
Cell starts as abruptly as most Zombie novels- the 'incident' occurs by the end of the first chapter and it's done well. I loved the fact that it happened somewhere I know- somewhere I've been. It made it very easy to picture how it goes down.
Clay is as likeable as is his sidekick. You care for this man- are both happy and then disappointed for him- by the end of the first chapter. You get the impression that he was a bit of a man-child; separated because his graphic novels weren't selling and his wife had grown impatient, and then when he gets published- celebrates with an ice cream cone and intends to buy himself and his son a comic book as their own reward. How adorable! And yet the first thing he'd done was buy an overpriced and thoughtful gift for the woman who had left him, and is anticipating telling her of his change in fortune in that idyllic way artists do! So right from the start, you're on his side :)
I think the initial 'zombiefying incident' is crucial to these stories. And I am so sick of the same thing happening over and over again which is why I got a kick out of the phone thing. 'The Pulse' appears to be a sort of technical terrorism but as always, there's that grey supernatural fog of his ( A grey haze of Dandelion fluff- a pocket fog) drifting across the novel, clouding things and making you question the true source of the agitation while you try and think around corners.
The story is about one man trying to get back to his child. Okay that's pretty typical but really, in the end, what else have we got to fight for? And it follows the protagonist as he collects a few hangers-ons and attempts to cross state lines with them in toe. But unlike most Zombie movies, when the characters are just trying to get to high and far ground to set up camp, King's ensemble actually try and do something; they try to help and save the world a little bit.
What I love about Stephen King novels is the level of class he manages to inject into these horrific situations. He can be gruesome without being brutal, gory without turning your stomach. His eloquence brushes over the most gut-wrenching details the way shock sedates the mind when real tragedy strikes. And he does this in Cell. The horror is like a shadow, always lurking but never really descending to blacken out hope.
In many ways, this was reminiscent of The Stand, but The Stand was epic too and one of my favourites so I can forgive that ;) There's a parallel between the two stories when it comes to the force threatening the world: Don't read this if you want to know exactly what the hell happened or who 'happened' it, because King is as coy as ever. There's a representative of the evil, but he seems to be more of a puppet, than the puppeteer. There's an ending, but it seems to be the mental sort of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' where the reader gets to fill in the blanks by themselves. For me-the eternal optimist- it ended on a high, hopeful note. But I'll never know if that's the tune he wants me whistling ;) The man's a bit sadistic.
In the end it was classic King all the way and a quick read despite its size. he did what I love the most; I just worship King's ability to make day scarier than night, and then night scarier still. Dried blood is so much creepier under the sun, isn't it? ...more
I had some major misgivings when the second instalment of this trilogy began from a new point of view focusing on a whole new set of chGloomily pretty
I had some major misgivings when the second instalment of this trilogy began from a new point of view focusing on a whole new set of characters and I actually had to re-read the beginning a few times because I kept losing interest. And I am referring to the first few pages- that is all. Once the first scene was set things got engrossing again and I have to say that although the storyline was very similar to the first-a brand new love triangle, one girl, two guys, major anguish and catastrophe-I liked TDTW even better than the first. In fact I really enjoyed Gabry as a heroine, and the way she grew was wonderful.
Carrie Ryan writes YA romance so well. She really captures those butterflies and even if the rest of the story was crap (which it certainly isn't) I would still want to finish it and rate it high because of the bittersweet romances playing out amongst the undead. She writes carefully, prettily and simply making even the most bleak circumstances movingly and gloomily beautiful. And though this series is just one heartbreaking disaster after the other it finally found its hopeful voice towards the end of this book and I am excited to see how it plays out; I only hope it plays out well. Please please Ms Ryan- give us a Happily Ever After! ...more
I loved this book. I can't say that enough. It's difficult to ascertain exactly why because not much happens in TFOHAT. Best book I've read in a year.
I loved this book. I can't say that enough. It's difficult to ascertain exactly why because not much happens in TFOHAT. It's like so many others and unlike all of them at the same time. Story lines start heading in one direction and veer off in another. The heroine is selfish. The supportive characters frustrating and not nearly enough back story shared to explain what is going on or why they got there....
But I just loved it!
I guess you could chalk it up to an intriguing love triangle. Well-written tension, and incredible scene setting on the author's behalf. But as an author, this is one of those books that comes along and makes you think:
WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I WRITE THIS?
It's haunting and beautiful and much like 'The Village' which is one of those movies that just resonated with me and has never lost its grip.
Read if you like Zombies, love triangles, YA fiction, haunting characters and mystery. ...more
Much in the style of Jamie McGuire's Red Hill this is a Zombie/Dystopian book that stands out from the rest for the fact that is like any others I havMuch in the style of Jamie McGuire's Red Hill this is a Zombie/Dystopian book that stands out from the rest for the fact that is like any others I have read yet :) It's more suspense then horror, and the emphasis on emotional drama actually overrides the whole 'walking-dead' aspect.
Off the bat-Gotta high five the author for the 'Steve Irwin shout-outs' for foolishness and bravery :)
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Aussie Aussie Aussie! That's right down here, we eat the ZOMBIES mate ;)
Feed is about people trying to love their lives after the world as they knew it has ended. Though there are many survivors from pre break-out, there are many post, and this is where our protagonists hail from. They are a team of young bloggers questing for status, and when they land the dream blogger job-following around a candidate for the President of the U.S.A, they pack up and join a caravan-following the senator from one town to the next as he campaigns. While they are doing this, they are trying to report honestly, stay alive not only from the Zombies they encounter, but the live virus living inside all of them which can erupt at any given time. Thus, their lives revolve around travel, important functions and tedious blood-testing rituals for securities' sake AND drama when both the truth and security fail them time and time again.
Feed starts out a few decades after the apocalypse has happened but unlike other dystopian books I've read, there is no mystery regarding what had gone down which I find very refreshing. I get frustrated when there's a 'disconnect' between the old world and the new but this is written in a way that keeps both worlds within a singular, though distant focus.
And it's believable. I always thought that the Zombie genre as a whole Od'd on the part where they wipe us out completely. In Feed-there's quite a lot of hope. Survivors are scattered everywhere in large groups and not only has the internet survived-it has become the centre of our existence and seems to be the only reason why we still have an existence at all. Blogging has all but replaced traditional media. To me, that sounds like as much of a nightmare as a Zombie apocalypse, but the author spins it so you feel comforted by the blogging frenzy. The people are the path to the truth and those who are most reliable are public figures with heavy influence. Think Perez Hilton famous-that's what these guys are aspiring to.
I love the characters. The heroine and hero are a brother/sister powerhouse, who have been raised by a husband/wife powerhouse and are trying to get both out from under their parent's thumbs, and out of their parents shots. 'George' Georgia Mason and her brother Sean are incredibly down to earth and likeable and they don't 'go up the stairs' in the horror movie sense, so you don't spend the entire book cringing while they take incredibly unnecessary risks. For the most part, Georgia is the narrator for this book in first person perspective, but there are excerpts from the blogs of Sean, their tech whiz Buffy (Love the full name) and another later recruit, Rick, to give additional insight. I won't get into the other characters because I cannot do so without spoilers but let's say, the author makes it difficult to truly get attached to anyone in this book because everyone seems to have a slightly corrupt or cardboard streak. But I love the head of security dude Steve.
Feed has a great vibe. If you are a blogger, you are going to love this. I learned a lot of stuff about how these networks work and the reflection cast by the media rings very true and will probably make you want to switch off the news for a few days. There's no romance-which is a bit sad because I kept waiting for it and seeing twists where there were none-until the end and you see a 'Oh crap' moment coming and it was not something I anticipated so I am both pissed at, and impressed by, the writer for having the guts to go for it.
This was an engrossing, hard-to-put-down and by all means, prolific and brilliantly written story, for sure. I will read the rest of the trilogy but it could have stood alone or even, have been separated into two different instalments for how the mood of the story shifted, but I digress.
This is a high 4-like a 4.8. The only issue I had with Feed is that it had a slight tendency to repeat certain processes undertaken by the characters in too much detail, too often. Like with the logging into networks and blood-testing...I knew where they were going with it but some chapters could definitely have been whittled down a lot. And though the author made a point about computers being our saviour, the protagonists of this book are already fairly zombie-like thanks to their reliance on being logged in. Don't know if it was on purpose but I giggled a few times.
But definitely the Best 'non-gory' Zombie book yet (The zombies only hold influence over a very small part of the plot) , just beating Red Hill. Read it if you enjoyed Red Hill, I am Legend, The Passage or if you just like a lot of action and suspense without the romance :)
Well this was a helluva book. I was really excited to read an apocalypse/zombie tale from a romance writer and I was not disappointed. If there is sucWell this was a helluva book. I was really excited to read an apocalypse/zombie tale from a romance writer and I was not disappointed. If there is such a thing, this is definitely a girl-friendly zombie story. In Red Hill, a virus has broken out via flu shots and the infection escalates so quickly that you're into it by the second chapter...which is pretty typical of apocalypse stories. And I say 'stories' not books because I've only really read one another infection novel-The Passage by Justin Cronin. Other than that, I'm referencing movies. The story is told from alternating 1st person POV and it is executed flawlessly! Plot is good-several small groups of people in dysfunctional relationships are fleeing the contamination zone with the idea of getting to the same property-Red Hill, a farm house owned by a doctor. Half of the story is the journey there, these different groups within the same area all attempting to migrate to Red Hill believing that it is a defendable, sustainable and isolated safe-haven. We all have a place in mind I think-a bolt-hole in case of Zombies, so it's nice to see how many people have the same idea, but makes me think I need to change mine so I don't end up fighting others for it ;) The second half of the story is pretty painful, as all of these different-stroking folk attempt to co-exist. And no it's not like the movies-they're not out to kill each other for a crust or anything. But it's more about how people will relate to one another when the primary goal is survival. It raises the question: 'So if he was the last guy on earth...?' The writing is great. I can't fault Jamie McGuire. The characters are intriguing but nothing entirely original there. And though the story-line adheres to the typical apocalyptic formula, there are some nice variations thrown in to keep it interesting. One issue I had is that the Zombies lose their scare factor pretty early in. Maybe it's the pace at which they walk or how easy they are to kill or the fact that they're referenced as 'Teds' and 'Shufflers' but instead of being terrified when they came into a scene, I was imagining this:
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In truth I was a little more scared of the heroine, Scarlett by the end then the 'shufflers.' But I would be her in this same situation. And probably find myself as Zombie bait given the trouble she causes in the name of good.
What I liked most about this book was that it wasn't horrific in the typical sense. The zombie gore is kept to a minimum. Rather, the damage inflicted is the emotional kind. I was on the edge of my seat a lot more in regards to the characters personal lives and as it turned out, that was a safe place to be. Though the violence is less, the global impact less terrifying and nightmare-inducing and the usual : 'Oh god what if one jumps out of the closet...?' not as all-encompassing, this book will upset and shake you. Once again (god I'm having bad luck with this lately!!!) I have to put my mummy-bonnet on and caution anyone over-sensitive to take a deep breath before reading this. There are some very upsetting themes in this book. Well, for me there was. Two scenes in particular had me cringing and you really can't get too attached to anyone because a lot of people die so sadly yes, it loses a star because I'm the HEA kinda girl. But there is a hopeful thread woven between the tragedies and I really couldn't turn pages fast enough! I was in a dressing room for my 4 year old's stage debut this afternoon hurrying through the last two chapters and crying out: 'No!' 'Oh yes!' 'NO!" And it's pretty hard to get an audible reaction out of me! Jamie McGuire has a real gift for building personal tension-whether it be worry, sexual pre-occupation, a crush or heartbreak, she gets it so right that you cannot help but become emotionally entangled with her books. I probably will read this again, and can't recommend it highly enough!
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