Feed by Mira Grant

Feed by Mira Grant
Buy Feed by Mira Grant at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Science Fiction
Reviewer: Loralei Haylock
Summary: A book filled with menace and fear that grips you hard from the opening lines and doesn't let go. Absolutely superb.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 592	Date: June 2010
Publisher: Orbit
ISBN: 978-1841498980
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In 2014 the common cold was cured. So was cancer. But in their wake something terrible came – the two viruses used to cure the ailments combined to form a terrifying plague that turned humans and large animals into the living dead. Now what's left of the human race lives every day with the fear that the virus they hold dormant in their bodies could go into amplification, causing them to turn. People stay indoors, stop meeting in crowds, and conduct most of their lives online.

But, some things have to go on as usual – such as the presidential campaign. When news bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason get invited to join Senator Ryman on his campaign trail, they see it as a ticket to the big time. Their own site, their own staff, and finally the money to buy a place of their own. Only they never realised exactly how big the story would be, until they find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy that seems determined to stall Ryman's political career. Georgia and Shaun are determined to find the truth, even if it kills them…

I'll admit, I picked this book for two very silly reasons. 1 – it has zombies in it, 2 – the image on the front cover of the 'feed' symbol painted in blood amused me. Blog feeds, zombies feed, haha. (I'm easily amused.) I thought this book, with its unlikely premise of blogs and zombies would be worth a few giggles – an entertaining read for a sunny day in the garden. How wrong I was. And how glad I am to be so wrong.

Feed is an incredibly dark tale of post zombie apocalypse America – a world ruled by the fear that, any moment, anybody might undergo viral amplification and become one of the shambling undead. The idea that the threat is not only from the danger zones where the zombies are, but from within the 'safe' areas is a great one, and it fills the book with tension from the first page.

Grant has done an incredible job of making everything, from the reanimating virus to the world Georgia and Shaun live in, entirely believable. I'm no virologist, but everything sounds so plausible. She puts pages into the world building, but despite the need for some exposition – usually cunningly disguised as a blog entry – the likeable characters and the sense of danger weaved into the prose save it from ever coming even close to being dry. You are sucked in to the world so instantaneously, it's hard to leave it behind and return to the real world.

Feed is a book filled with menace and fear that grips you hard from the opening lines and doesn't let go. Probably won't even long after the final page of the final book in the trilogy. Absolutely superb.

My thanks to the publishers for sending a copy.

Fans of zombies may enjoy Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead, a book filled with great short stories.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Feed by Mira Grant at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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