Book Rec: Feed, by Mira Grant
Jun. 11th, 2010 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anthimeriaIt's been a bit; I've been coming down from the awesomeness of WisCon and then I didn't get two jobs I really wanted, one right after the other . . . let's just say that forthcoming publication credit has been a bright light and leave it there.
Another bright light happened today--I picked up the first in a STACK of books loaned by my friend, Elena, while I was staying with her for WisCon (link to her site is off to the right). I picked the book basically at random, and because it was so thick that I didn't think even I could finish it in a day--the plan was to read a hundred pages or so, and then write for the rest of the day.
Yeah, that happened.
Feed's a new book--came out May 1, by Mira Grant, who also writes as Seanan McGuire.
Also, it's deeply ironic that I'm blogging about this book, which stars a pair of sibling bloggers.
I got hooked by the action and the main character's voice right away. George (Georgia properly, after George Romero, but her brother only calls her Georgia when they're in imminent danger of getting chomped by the living dead) has a great, solemn sarcasm and talent for comebacks that I envy. Her brother (the Amazon description says "twin" which works, but isn't strictly accurate) is cheery and a great foil for her without ever being overbearing.
Feed is a post-zombie-apocalypse book, and I'm rec'ing it even though I don't, as a rule, like zombies. They're sloppy, they're gross, they tend to be handled with a heavy hand and an eye to the grotesque that makes my stomach churn (I don't watch many horror movies, either). Grant handles them extremely well, with an eye to the disease that makes the dead rise and the society that would arise when your loved ones can become infected with one bite--quarantine, blood testing, hazard zones, and the terrible emotional reality of having to shoot people you knew who aren't people any more. Like "World War Z", the only other zombie book I can rec to date, Grant handles the realities of zombies and treads that all-important line between humor and horror.
That said, don't ever expect her to pull a punch. This book took off from page one (er, well, there's an actual takeoff on page 14, but metaphorically) and didn't let go--I read all nearly-600-pages this afternoon and evening, unable to put it down. There's plot out the wazoo: conspiracy theories, politics and zombie disease control, and characters who are real people from the moment they're introduced, every one of them.
One of the most important points about this book is that the zombies aren't the point. It's the world the zombies have made, and what people do in that world: love, corruption, patriotism, betrayal, loyalty, determination. It's a blogger-style journalistic exercise. To borrow a phrase from the book, it's the watershed moment for George: her life and everything she works for.
Mira Grant handles the extensive and often complicated exposition extremely well. Information is given when it becomes necessary for the story, and even though there are whole sections of the book that serve as a history of the world post-zombies, I never once got bored. And I bore really easily.
My recommendation aside, this is NOT a book for the faint of heart. I have a feeling that I'll be examining doors and windows for possible zombie-entrances for a while. It is in no way a gore-fest, but it's a book with a zombie apocalypse, and as I said, Grant doesn't pull punches. I think the bruises are worth it, but it's still going to take a while (and maybe a happy book or two) to scrub Feed out of my head.
Of course, I can't wait for the sequel, which is too bad for me since this one just came out!
Another bright light happened today--I picked up the first in a STACK of books loaned by my friend, Elena, while I was staying with her for WisCon (link to her site is off to the right). I picked the book basically at random, and because it was so thick that I didn't think even I could finish it in a day--the plan was to read a hundred pages or so, and then write for the rest of the day.
Yeah, that happened.
Feed's a new book--came out May 1, by Mira Grant, who also writes as Seanan McGuire.
Also, it's deeply ironic that I'm blogging about this book, which stars a pair of sibling bloggers.
I got hooked by the action and the main character's voice right away. George (Georgia properly, after George Romero, but her brother only calls her Georgia when they're in imminent danger of getting chomped by the living dead) has a great, solemn sarcasm and talent for comebacks that I envy. Her brother (the Amazon description says "twin" which works, but isn't strictly accurate) is cheery and a great foil for her without ever being overbearing.
Feed is a post-zombie-apocalypse book, and I'm rec'ing it even though I don't, as a rule, like zombies. They're sloppy, they're gross, they tend to be handled with a heavy hand and an eye to the grotesque that makes my stomach churn (I don't watch many horror movies, either). Grant handles them extremely well, with an eye to the disease that makes the dead rise and the society that would arise when your loved ones can become infected with one bite--quarantine, blood testing, hazard zones, and the terrible emotional reality of having to shoot people you knew who aren't people any more. Like "World War Z", the only other zombie book I can rec to date, Grant handles the realities of zombies and treads that all-important line between humor and horror.
That said, don't ever expect her to pull a punch. This book took off from page one (er, well, there's an actual takeoff on page 14, but metaphorically) and didn't let go--I read all nearly-600-pages this afternoon and evening, unable to put it down. There's plot out the wazoo: conspiracy theories, politics and zombie disease control, and characters who are real people from the moment they're introduced, every one of them.
One of the most important points about this book is that the zombies aren't the point. It's the world the zombies have made, and what people do in that world: love, corruption, patriotism, betrayal, loyalty, determination. It's a blogger-style journalistic exercise. To borrow a phrase from the book, it's the watershed moment for George: her life and everything she works for.
Mira Grant handles the extensive and often complicated exposition extremely well. Information is given when it becomes necessary for the story, and even though there are whole sections of the book that serve as a history of the world post-zombies, I never once got bored. And I bore really easily.
My recommendation aside, this is NOT a book for the faint of heart. I have a feeling that I'll be examining doors and windows for possible zombie-entrances for a while. It is in no way a gore-fest, but it's a book with a zombie apocalypse, and as I said, Grant doesn't pull punches. I think the bruises are worth it, but it's still going to take a while (and maybe a happy book or two) to scrub Feed out of my head.
Of course, I can't wait for the sequel, which is too bad for me since this one just came out!