[Book Review] Feed

Zombies VS. Bloggers is a great idea and as you can see from the RSS Feed on the cover it’s a great marketing idea. Feed is World War Z for the twenty-something geeks.

Feed written by Mira Grant aka Seanan Mcguire and published by Orbit takes place in a world where Zombies rose up twenty years ago and humanity fought back until humanity won out even if the Zombies are still moaning about. In this world, bloggers Shaun and Georgia Mason are our eyes and ears. Humanity may have fought back against this Rising but not without it’s consequences, the world does continue to turn but most live in zones with different security measures per insurance guidelines, family pets are recommended only to be so big and some out there think unleashing the Zombie hordes is a good thing.
The twins are celebrities in the blogging world thanks in part to their adoptive parents. One of the consequences is the effect it’s had on Georgia’s eyesight, she cannot tolerate direct sunlight without the aid of glasses or spooky colored contacts. She is a Newsie. She likes to report the news and keep the zombies and arms length, Shaun is the Irwin in the family, he enjoys going out and poking Zombies with a stick. One could easily see Shaun and Jason Stackhouse as drinking buddies. Along with a rag tag group of Scoobies that includes Georgette “Buffy” their fanfic/poem writer, (gasp) a honest to god real newspaper writer and small dose of minor background blogging newies they report the news to get the ratings!
So, imagine their surprise when their application is accepted and are brought on board the presidential election campaign trail for Senator Peter Ryman.
Once the crew get on the campaign trail, the Zombies shamble, the blood flows, the bodies start dropping and the con-spiracy plots begin to swirl. In most horror movies, no one is safe and you can practically call when each archetype is going to die. In Feed, it’s never that simple. If I sounding deliberately vague it’s because I’m trying to keep spoilers to a minimum. Our plucky heroes begin to uncover more threads as their own number begins to dwindle until the bitter end which Mira manages to keep all the balls rolling until she pulls the rug out.
Much of the story is told from Georgia POV laying out the world building with the plot ongoing and chapter ending blog posts from either Shaun, Georgia “Buffy” or any of the other minor blogging characters. I liked all the characters, none of them stood out as a boring two dimensional character. The influx of Zombie books of late and after all the Zombie movies the world building in Feed was not “been there, done that” and beyond the few Buffy or Romero references this book stands on it’s own as a great read.
This a first book of a the Newsflash Trilogy. Book number two entitled Deadline should arrive in May 2011 and book number three Blackout in May 2012.