Grace at Feeding My Book Addiction is doing another readalong this month-a horror novel to offset the sappy mush that is Valentine's Day.
From miragrant.com: 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?
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Warning: Spoilers!
I was exceptionally excited to read this book, as I am a huge fan of anything zombie--books, video games, internet memes, pretending to be one to scare my co-workers. This first installment in the Newsflesh trilogy has been a little disappointing so far. The information dump necessary to set the scene seemed a little bland and dry, but I will say I'm exceptionally intrigued by Georgia's brusqueness and Shaun's laissez-faire attitude. Buffy's character fades into the background for me. Perhaps this is intentional, and in the second half of the book she is the unexpected heroine. Grant's nod to zombie culture icons like George A. Romero, arguably the "father" of zombie apocalypse movies definitely put a smile on my face, and I love to hate the Masons, Georgia and Shaun's adoptive parents. The amount of "affection" shown by the parents directly correlates to the foreseeable increase in ratings that the parents can obtain with public displays of family togetherness. Not quite Toddlers & Tiaras-bad, but still...
I think (hope) the second half of the novel will be much better than the first, and the two subsequent novels will only improve the story line. I can't wait to find out who's behind the sabotage attempts on Senator Ryman's presidential campaign. The obvious answer would be David Tate, but that seems too predictable, and Grant has definitely surprised me already with some of the plot twists. It was very difficult to stop reading after the second book when the news is revealed to Georgia and the reader about the outbreak at the Ryman horse ranch.
Grant also subtly works in some moral dilemmas, such as the hotly-debated Mason's Law. I definitely found myself thinking about which side I would support. I definitely am a bleeding heart, especially when it comes to animals, but the constant unknown having large animals around all the time would be incredibly nerve-wracking. Which side do you think you'd support?
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Other Posts:
Alice @ Tales of an Intrepid Pantster
Grace @ Feeding My Book Addiction
Jennifer @ The Book Den
I suspect I'd fall on the bleeding-heart side, wanting animals to live and let live until they start munching on someone. Even then, y'know, there are predators in the animal kingdom . . .
ReplyDeleteHaving actually had dinner with the author, I'm kinda biased in favor of these books, but the infodumps always seemed inadequate to me. While one can treat this as a standalone novel (and I'm willing to bet most of the readalong crew will), there's a lot more to explore and find out in Deadline.
I'll finish it (and I know Grace is a bit of a trilogy completionist, as well). I like zombies, and despite the pace of the first half, I'm enjoying it. The blogger perspective is definitely a fresh idea.
DeleteOh, good!
DeleteI've always been impressed by this author's books, on an originality and creativity level, on the level where she did her homework (she did a panel on disease vectors, antibiotics, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria at Arisia, and it was FASCINATING), on the level of writing such delightful characters and compelling plots . . . I just love her stuff, and I love being able to talk about it with people.
I just finished the third part of the book, and WOW. I a) stayed up late to finish it and b)had a weird combination Feed meets Hunger Games dream.
DeleteYou were able to put it down? You're a stronger woman than I. I finished the last couple hundred pages in one sitting, and was wicked impatient to find out what happens next.
DeleteI wanted to, but it was already 1 AM and I like writing up final impressions while the book is fresh in my mind.
DeleteI wanted to, but it was already 1 AM and I like writing up final impressions while the book is fresh in my mind.
DeleteMakes sense. I've been known to look at the clock, say, "Since I'm already awake past my bedtime, I might as well finish . . ."
DeleteThis is not conducive to daytime alertness, FYI.
I'm a bleeding heart, too, but I wouldn't want to allow people to have pets over 40 lbs. That seems to be a ridiculous notion to consider. I wouldn't want to give up hope and destroy them all either, but they shouldn't be contained by the average citizen.
ReplyDeleteTrue. The danger of furry ticking time bomb may be too much for most families to handle. Besides, cats would come in under the 40-pound threshold, so I'd be fine.
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