FEED

Feed by Mira Grant
purchased from local bookstore
Description from Goodreads:

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:

When will you rise?

My Take:
The first thing I have to say is that I absolutely loved this book! I have recommended it to everyone who would listen to me. I didn't write a review of it after I first read it, because, quite honestly, I was afraid that I wouldn't do the book justice. I had just started this blog and felt really intimidated by the idea of trying to get my thoughts down.  I re-read Feed and Deadline in the last couple of days to get ready for the last book in the trilogy, Blackout, which is out this month. Even the second time reading the books was great. I cried just like the first time I read it. I never thought that I would cry while reading a zombie book.  Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) does a really great job with these books and I have to give her credit for creating such a complex story while maintaining all the fun and urgency required by the genre.

Now, here's the thing. The zombies in this series are not so much the bad guys as hapless victims. They can't help what they become after they die. This was something done to them without their permission or knowledge. The whole process on how the zombies came to be is really fascinating and fun to read about.

Georgia and Shaun Mason are adopted siblings who grew up after The Rising and this is the only life they know. How unfortunate  . . . horrifying. . . exciting for them. Georgia and Shaun really have only each other growing up since their adoptive parents pretty much just use them as a way to get higher ratings for their blogs. Georgia and Shaun make a great team. They're both smart mouths with sarcastic senses of humor.  I loved the banter back and forth between Georgia and Shaun and Buffy and Mahir and -- well you get the picture. Great dialogue.

I thought the world building was well done  and the conspiracies in the story are just so crazy-wicked-great. (I know that's not a real term, but tough.) The story is fast-paced and I ended up reading straight through - even the second time around. Also, any book series that has this many references to The Evil Dead, Bruce Campbell, and Joss Whedon is going to be a hit with me. Just sayin'.  I thought that Feed is just what a zombie book should be - fun, scary (but not in the way you might think) and extremely hard to put down.

Now excuse me, but I have to get back to reading Blackout now. My review . . . (or geeky fan-girl gush-fest) of Deadline will be forthcoming.