Tag Archives: bloggers in fiction

June 23, 2012 · 8:43 am

Blackout by Mira Grant (The Newsflesh Trilogy #3)

Blackout by Mira Grant

**WARNING: This should be fairly obvious, but you really shouldn’t read this review until you read Feed and Deadline first. MAJOR spoilers for the first two books. Read those first, then come back here, kay?**

 

 

You’ve been warned…

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe I flew through this whole trilogy in less than 2 weeks. But, that’s how addicting it was.

At the end of Deadline, major shocker revealed: Georgia is somehow, impossibly, alive. Also, there seems to be a second Rising happening -  a storm in Florida brings death and zombies, spreading at an alarming rate. Oh yeah, and Shaun is apparently immune. Holy crap the revelations just kept coming in that one. It all set up the final book really well.

And once again, I can’t talk too much about the book I’m actually reviewing here because I don’t want to spoil anything. Basically though, in Blackout stuff gets crazy and the CDC is after Shaun and his team really, really hard. Of course there’s a lot of tension and suspense, and big new twists. There are definitely some moments that tug on the heartstrings a bit, and times when you really don’t know who can be trusted.

This was a really good conclusion to the trilogy, but it’s my least favorite book of the trilogy. (Of course, Feed is the best.) Maybe it’s because all the really really big surprises happened in the first two books, but it felt like there was a little more filler in this one and it could have been shorter. Part of it might be just me – I’m a bit jaded and I already assume that our government lies to us about everything. So the big end-game conspiracy didn’t seem as scary as the plots in the other books.

Also, there’s this – but seriously, THIS IS A HUGE SPOILER, so highlight if you want to read it:

I don’t like the hidden-romance thing between Shaun and George. When I read the first books, one of the most refreshing things about this series was the fact that there wasn’t a major romance between the two main characters. I really liked their close sibling bond, and it didn’t seem unusual due crazy parents and living in a zombie-infested world. Turning that into a romance seeemed like such a sell-out move.

Anyways, this was still a great book that I read in just a few days, and I’m really sad that the trilogy is over. It’s definitely going to be on my Best of 2012 List at the end of the year. The world-building in these books is just incredible, and I’m already looking forward to re-reading these someday.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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June 18, 2012 · 6:00 am

Deadline by Mira Grant (The Newsflesh Trilogy #2)

deadline by mira grant

**WARNING: Seriously, you need to read the first book, Feed, before you read this review because it has a ton of major spoilers if you haven’t read the first book. Go read Feed. Now. For real, what are you waiting for?**

 

So, obviously Deadline is the second book in this super awesome trilogy. If you’re reading this, you’ve read Feed (seriously, listen to the warning above) which means you know how Feed ended… Can I just take a second to tell you how much I cried my eyes out over that? Seriously, tears everywhere. And I was at work - thank goodness it wasn’t busy or people would’ve thought something was wrong. Nope, just me being devastated over the death of a major character. I have to say this though – while I kind of saw Buffy’s death coming, I was not expecting Georgia to die. And even though it was SO FREAKING SAD, I had to give major props to Mira Grant for having the cojones to do it.

Deadline picks up several months after the events of Feed. Shaun is the narrator now, and he’s struggling to live in a George-less world. He’s still running After the End Times, but half-heartedly and most of his staff thinks he’s crazy because he talks to George. Like out loud, because he can still hear her in his head. Seriously heart-breaking stuff. Anyways, he’s just trudging along and hoping that one day he can catch the bastards truly behind his sister’s death until one day a CDC  researcher shows up on his doorstep – a CDC researcher who should be dead. With her comes secrets, zombies, and classified info on what is now proving to be a bigger conspiracy than anyone knew.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about Shaun as a narrator, but it worked really well. It probably wouldn’t have in the first book – George’s death hits him really, really hard and the anger and depair over that shows through. He wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if he was still his happy-go-lucky Irwin self. We also get to see more of some of the other characters – Becks, Maggie, Mahir, and Alaric all play pretty important roles.

I flew through Deadline in about two sittings. There is probably a little less action than in Feed, but it’s because of the whole conspiracy thing. Instead of making the book more boring, it actually made it even more tense and scary. Also, stumbling upon this conspiracy leads to a lot of talk about the Kellis-Amberlee virus and how it works, which is really cool to read about. There are also a couple things that open up a whole new realm of things to ponder – medical ethics, the use of fear, personal responsibility, etc. Deadline probes the effects of a post-zombie apocalypse world in a deeper way, and it’s intense.

Also, I love how bloggers are so important in this trilogy. Of course it’s not like they’re book bloggers, but still :-)

Deadline is an awesome addition to The Newsflesh Trilogy – shocking, intense, and brilliant. If you can’t tell, I’ve tried to avoid saying too much about the actual plot because I don’t want to to ruin anything for you. But other course, there was ANOTHER CRAZY ENDING and I’m starting the last book, Blackout, ASAP. I’m so glad that I hadn’t started this series earlier, because waiting for the books to be released would have been torture.

Sarah Says: 5 stars (especially impressive for a 2nd book, which are notorious for not being as good as the first or last books)

~Sarah

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June 11, 2012 · 9:05 am

Feed by Mira Grant (The Newsflesh Trilogy #1)

Feed by Mira Grant

You know, about like 3 months ago I got Feed out of the library and never got around to it. I borrowed it again from the library last week, and finally read it, and HOLY CRAP guys I really loved it.

In this trilogy, it’s about 2039-2040 and zombies have been around for the last 26 years. When some scientists created cures for cancer and the common cold, it created the Kellis-Amberlee virus that spread and created zombies. The story follows bloggers (and siblings) Georgia and Shaun Mason as they follow a big conspiracy story about the infected, even though it means putting themselves in danger.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys, but I will try to tell you the things I loved about it. This is the first zombie book I’ve read that takes place decades after the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse, and Mira Grant did it very, very well. The zombies aren’t necessarily the focus of the book – this is not a book about trying to survive the beginning days of a zombie outbreak, this is a book about how humans are still coping with zombies decades later. There’s some zombie action, but the story is much more about how much has changed. I LOVED how much thought and detail Mira Grant put into thinking up this world. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything because it’s much more fascinating if you discover it all for yourself.

I also really liked the characters. Georgia is a great tough girl – she’s bad-ass and strong and not all overly sentimental and she’s just great. Shaun is her goofy brother and he’s kind of a thrill seeker, but they work really well together and are really close. There’s also a great cast of secondary characters, such as their techy friend Buffy and Mahir, who lives overseas.  And the bad guys were the type of baddies that I love to hate.

As for the storyline, I was totally sucked into the big conspiracy plot. This is one of those books that I would find myself thinking about while driving or doing dishes, trying to figure out who can be trusted and who the real bad people are. And the end of the book… oh man. Huge shockers. I seriously cannot wait for my sister or honeyman to read this book so that we can talk about it!

Anyways, this book was crazy good. I have ZERO complaints about it. I already went and bought my own copy of Feed, as well as the second book Deadline which I’m going to start today.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars

 

 

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