Feed

The Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1

By: Mira Grant

Narrated by: Paula Christensen, Jesse Bernstein

Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Feed is an electrifying and critically acclaimed novel of a world a half-step from our own that the New York Times calls “Astonishing” a novel of zombies, geeks, politics, social media, and the virus that runs through them all - from New York Times best seller Mira Grant.

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: Feed.

Now, 20 years after the Rising, Georgia, and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

More from Mira Grant:

Newsflesh

• Feed
• Deadline
• Blackout
• Feedback
• Rise

©2010 Mira Grant (P)2010 Hachette

Critic reviews

"It's a novel with as much brains as heart, and both are filling and delicious." (The A.V. Club on Feed)

“Feed is a proper thriller with zombies.” (SFX)

"Gripping, thrilling, and brutal... McGuire has crafted a masterpiece of suspense with engaging, appealing characters who conduct a soul-shredding examination of what's true and what's reported." (Publishers Weekly - starred review)

a near-future immersive America

I'm not big on the zombie genre, but I do like sci fi/fantasy, so I gave this book a chance. There are weaknesses - virus levels are measured in microns (a unit of length, not of number or concentration), internal inconsistencies, the villain at the end acts out a cliche that makes no sense in context (despite the speech he gives to indicate murderous insanity) - but despite all these flaws, I just wanted to keep listening. The author paints vivid pictures in an America just a few decades from now where (suspend disbelief) technology has progressed stunningly in response to a virus that creates "night of the living dead"-like zombies through a (suspend disbelief) lab-engineered mutation of the common cold. The fact that zombie-ism is contagious, and that transformation isn't immediate, is central to the plot, but the contradictions between the virus origin story and the way it behaves made me think that an origin story actually subtracts from the plot. So just power through the parts where the book's version of virology is discussed, and power through ridiculous scenes like the narrator taking the time to explain her brother's dating history during a zombie mob attack, and immerse yourself in an interesting thriller where the journalists are targeted because they tell the truth, and the harshness of a zombie-filled world forces people to horrible, soul-dimming acts of mercy and love and self-protection. "Sophie's Choice" with a virus instead of Nazis.

Political journalism in a zombified world

Most zombie stories are about the apocalypse and subsequent collapse of human civilization. This story presumes that life will go on because reanimation is just another disease, like small pox and cancer, that people need to worry about dying from but doesn't stop them from living.

Which means we still hold elections, and elections need to be covered by the journalists of the 21st century, the ones on news websites. And in 2040, there is a backroom conspiracy to manipulate the choice of the people.

A good political thriller set against the backdrop of zombies instead of the Cold War or Global War on Terrorism. Clever, well presented, and fascinating to contemplate.

The story is riveting even though........

There weren't a lot of Zombies, That said .......the conspiracy that unfolds through out this book is priceless! Excellent Book!

Yes, it's well worth a credit.

First of all...I am not a huge zombie fan, not that I don't like them, but that's not what drew me here. I am a huge sci-fi fan though. The negative comments seem to be from people only wanting a zombie book. I get it. But that aside, it's a pretty good read(listen). While the narrator isn't going into my top 5, she's not bad. And I wasn't bothered by a lisp at all, I actually listened for it and still didn't feel like it was Cindy Brady. Mira Grant is a pen name for Seanan Mcguire, an author I found and devoured all the books in her series,(Rosemary and Rue is the first, highly recommend it) went looking for more and stumbled on these. The Characters are well thought out and have a good amount of depth. I'm going now to purchase the next book. I say give it a chance if your not looking for a straight up zombie book, but a good sci-fi book.

Great characters, superb performance

A bit of everything: post-apocalyptic America, politics, conspiracy, blogging, and of course the undead. I was immediately drawn to the main characters, they are all likeable and I found myself rooting for them. The story isn't crazy complicated, but you don't see everything coming either. A good, light-hearted listen (if you consider blasting zombies in the head light-hearted) that kept my attention but didn't make me think too much. The narrators do a superb job (one sub-par English accent can be forgiven).

what a pleasant and compelling surprise!

I had no idea I was going to enjoy this as much as I did and am so glad I took a chance on it! I will be reading everything Mira Grant aka Seanan McGuire wired from here on out

Slow at 1st but pics up steam pretty quick.

The 1st few chapters lays the foundation for the rest of the story. If you can endure it, this is not your typical zombie apocalypse book. Unlike most zombie stories that depict a ravaged almost Mad Maxx kind of world, this one depicts it as just one of the so many things society has had to deal with. Society marches on with a thriving government. nothing collapsed.
If you like high tech, conspiracy theories, political drama, bloggers, and the occasional zombie to poke at with a stick, stay on for the long haul. A lot of research was put into this story and it pays.

Good book

What made the experience of listening to Feed the most enjoyable?

I was a little surprised with this one. I was expecting some corny zombie book however it turned out to be quite good. It had a bit of everything mixed in. Even though it's a series you don't have to listen to the next ones as it doesn't leave you on a open ended or cliffhanger, which is always good.

Interesting...

This book is very intriguing at most. The concepts of life in a post apocalyptic internet rich world of zombies are very cool. Being a blogger so to speak myself, I thought the mix of how technology and the internet works today carried over very well in relation to how things work in the book. But I found this book hard at time's to listen to. The constant over analization and self reflection gets annoying. For all the little bits and pieces you get of actual action and scenes playing out in the book, you get 25 minutes of drawn out explanations of self reflection and in depth description of characters and their relations to the main character. The overall picture you get of the world is great, but there was time's I felt pulled out of the book to think about things and speculate about them but when you dive back in to the action you're like, wait, what? I forgot what was going on exactly. It takes forever to get going, and when it does, it's pretty drawn out. Maybe I'm just too impatient. I found myself liking the other supporting characters more then the main character. I'm glad I read the whole book, but if you had to ask me to read it again or something similar, I would turn it down. First book in a while I've had to work to get through. It's a relatively short listen, but it felt much longer then actual longer books. I feel like if the overlying story was more exciting I would have been more into all of the contemplation and narrative opinions and speculation the main character has about everything that goes on in her world. I feel like the setting was layed out perfect but the execution wasn't up to par.

OK maybe I am a Zombieholic

I guess it is time to come clean. Although I never expected it, I am a fan of the genre, and no longer afraid to admit it. This offering clinched it. This book , as some have pointed out, isnt really a zombie story. Yes, they are part of the story, but it is about a group of bloggers selected to follow a presidential candidate during a zombie infested US Presidential election campaign. Someone doesnt seem to want him to get elected.

I had no problems with the narration. I thought both did a good job becoming the characters. The only thing that threw me a little was a voice that reminded me of a King of the Hill character but that was minor.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and may go on to the next one soon