Review: FEED by Mira Grant

FEED by Mira Grant

Where do I start? How about, wow? That seems as good a place as any for a book that made me laugh out loud then cringe, that left me breathless with fear and anticipation for the characters and made me cry. More than once.

Yep, I cried. Real salty tears that clouded my vision and left me almost – almost – unable to continue reading. And I don’t cry easily. Ok, so I cried when I read Charlotte’s Web but seriously, what kind of hard-arse didn’t?

All this in a zombie novel. So not what one would expect from the genre that usually specialises in the gruesome mauling of people, the eating of braiiinnnzzz and the survivors holed up in some dilapidated building waiting for rescue or fighting their way out with machetes.

Yes, there was plenty of gruesome too. I would have been disappointed if there hadn’t been. People were eaten. There was plenty of action and fighting and gunshots and explosions – but that wasn’t the focus of this story. The focus was on the people, the real-life, breathing humans who inhabit a strange new world where zombies are a fact of life not a sideshow.

I should probably go back a little here and give you the gist of the story. Have I lost you already?

The year was 2014 and cancer and the common cold were cured but in the process something new was created, something terrible that nobody could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Twenty years after the Rising, the story takes place, told for the most part, in first-person by blogger Georgia Mason who, along with her brother, Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives – the dark conspiracy behind the infected.

Tagging along as part of the press contingency for Senator Peter Ryman’s campaign for the White House, Georgia, Shaun and their co-workers, Rick and Buffy, will out the truth at all costs – even if it kills them.

What they discover is far deeper than any of them could imagine. Instead of skeletons in the closet of the man who would-be president, they become the targets of something far more dangerous and sinister than mere zombies.

This is a world where zombies are a fact of life. Every human walking the planet has been infected with the Kellis-Amberlee virus which lays dormant in the system until either it spontaneously multiplies and sends the host into amplification or, the host dies – either way, the host is dead and reanimated as a zombie. Those reanimated seek only one goal: to feed and to duplicate the virus in as many others as possible. Breakouts are frequent and security measures have been enacted to deal with that.

People no longer meet en masse and entry (and exit) to and from all public spaces is dependent on a blood test – a positive test means instant death.

Also in this new world – the role of the online blogger has been increased with the majority of the world receiving their news through this medium. Bloggers report the news and make the news. Georgia Mason is a newsie through and through – her search for truth all encompassing.

I categorise this book more as a crime thriller than an average zombie novel, though it’s certainly horrific, it doesn’t fit within the boundaries of horror. The bad guys here are human – and not the reanimated kind.

This is a story that focusses on human nature and interaction, on a search for truth, on integrity and the lengths people will go to for what they believe is right. Above all it is a story of betrayal – and some of this is so brutal it will take your breath away.

The voice of the first person protagonist is fresh and real and through it, through Georgia, we ride the highs and lows every step of the way. Sometimes the exchanges between Georgia and her brother Shaun are enough to make you seriously laugh out loud, others are simply heart breaking.

The best zombie novel I’ve ever read and one of the very best novels of any description I’ve read in recent times, Feed is a book to be recommended.

Can hardly wait to get to my favourite bookstore (Thanks Notions Unlimited) and purchase the next instalment – Blackout.

FEED by Mira Grant

574 pages

Orbit Books

ISBN: 978-0-356-50056-0