If you read this review, be prepared for spoilers. As many spoilers as there are hungry zombies in the US of A, waiting to FEED on you. For you brainz.
But seriously, you know my policy. No spoilers, no reviews.
Recommendation: I do recommend this book. It got slow in certain parts, but the slow parts were so short, I was NEVER tempted to put it down. I give it a Grade A rating.
Feed, by Mira Grant
Characters:
- George — She’s an amazing anchor for the book. She was a solid anchor, and I never questioned any decision she made when I was there with her, witnessing all these events. Mira Grant wrote this well, as I imagined it all in my head. I saw everything from George’s POV. She’s strong, smart, and has a dedication she stays true to. She wants the truth, and will do anything to discover it. I get annoyed by POV characters who supposedly fervently stand for one thing, and then a few chapters later completely ignore that stance for no reason. Grant’s characters are real, and they stay true to themselves in all situations. There is no other character in that book that I would rather be witnessing through than George. She tells it like it is — Buffy’s smart but a bit of a ditz, Shaun is stupid and will definitely die before her, but he knows her like no one else does. She cuts to the chase, is constantly struggling with migraines but let that stop her, and you know she is the hardiest of all of them.
- Shaun — In Ch 1 he annoyed me to no end, but he grew on me after that, mainly due to his protectiveness of George. There’s not much that gets Shaun motivated or riled up… except George. He puts her first in all things, and there’s something to admire about that. He provided good humor throughout the book, and his devastation at the end just about killed me.
- Rick — I was suspicious of him at first, but I ended up liking him, especially after he took in the cat. That cracked me up. And I was upset when that poor cat was murdered. His story was sad, and the effort his
- Senator Ryman — At some points he seemed too good to be true, but on the other hand, that probably just says how jaded US politics is now. He would make a good leader. And he cut the bloggers some slack. I just wished he had acted more prudently at the end.
- Tate — Seems cliche, but honestly, is realistic for a corrupt politician. It’s sad that politicians are essentially cliche novel villains, isn’t it?
Plot:
- World building — Slowly Grant exposes us to the ins and outs of this world. The zombies, the political sphere, the history, the pathophysiology, to even the home insurance claims — it’s all thought out meticulously. Similar to the detail in Year Zero, Grant went above and beyond. I feel like she wrote this book thinking “what tiny detail would critics nitpick?” and then developed more details based on that. Brilliance, I called it.
- Thrilling — whenever the plot got slow, or you thought “oh, that sounds like a nice way to relax,” shit hit the fan. You just could not put this book down. Boom. Boom. Boom. Constantly.
- I’ve read a lot of reviews saying the political parts were boring, and they definitely did not add to the thrilling nature to the book. The one positive to them is they were our window into the history of this world, and how it functioned now. If our favorite bloggers weren’t on their campaign, they wouldn’t have any reason to leave California.
- The Backstory — Georgia and Shaun’s backstory was interesting, as was their close bond. It made sense why they were so co-dependent, and it didn’t bother me. In fact, it was probably the healthiest friendship out of anyone in the books. They only trusted each other to have their backs, and in this world, can you blame them?
- The Ending — I almost cried. Losing George was losing my window into this world. I didn’t want to see it through anyone else. Then going to Shaun’s POV — it was horrible. These two needed each other to survive, and the pain he went through was agonizing. I felt it worse than I have with any other book. So was George’s last blog post. I had to stop reading for a bit. I skimmed through the last chapters, I was so shell shocked. I honestly didn’t care what happened to Tate at that point. I didn’t care about revenge, because it wouldn’t change anything. I agree with Shaun — it wasn’t worth it. It just wasn’t.
When I character I love dies, I usually rally up for revenge with the other characters. Game of Thrones being the best example of this, I root for Joffrey, Cersei, Tywin, and Ramsey to meet their ends. The deaths of the beloved characters are hard, but you carry on your grief with the others in hope to make things right. Somehow, Mira Grant puts your grief beyond this. I’m not sure exactly how this is different from other novels, but it is. In some way, you care so much, without even realizing it, that as George is dying, you’re in denial. And no matter what happens afterward, her death is not worth it. It never is. That’s amazing writing there, and I give Mira Grant all the credit in the world. Kudos to you, for unknowingly make me care so much about George and what she meant to Shaun, that I was utterly devastated when she died. If Shaun had died… it would have been expected. But George? That wasn’t the plan.
Overall: Grade A book. I originally gave it a B-… but upon reflection, it was epic, it was solid writing, and it elicited an emotional response I did not know possible. Would I read it again? IDK if I could. Would I read the sequel? Maybe. I just don’t think I can read a book with Shaun narrating and George in his head. It’d just be so… sad. And like I said, after George’s death, is anything that happens in that universe worth it?
Maybe I’ll find out. We’ll see!
Confused by my grading scale, click here to find out how the grades relate to star-ratings you’re more used to seeing.