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)

Entertained me but didn't engage me

Any additional comments?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Here I am, a self-proclaimed disdainer of zombies, reading another zombie book. Hey, I do like to stretch myself and explore genres and subject matters I'm not overly fond of. Tastes can change.

I wasn't overly impressed with this book. Don't get me wrong, the writing is excellent, the structure and events are great, and I did like the characters. But in my opinion, based on my own interests and aesthetic, Feed just wasn't quite worth the sum of its parts. It is NOT a bad book. It just didn't grasp me the way some others have. I spoke to a friend who had also read it (he didn't finish it), and I summed it up as this:

The book entertained me, but it didn't engage me.

I felt one step too far back from the action. I loved the narrator, Georgia. I loved Shaun. I loved Buffy and Steve. But I was never one of them. I didn't belong with the crew. I think another holdback for me on this was that it is politically centered, with the campaign, and I don't care for politics much (if at all).

I think the tastes for this book are a little more narrow than some, which isn't bad. There is a great audience for this book. I just wasn't part of it.

loved it

I Read a ton of zompoc fiction. If you don't mind YA titles, this story is compelling and an overall great listen.

Great book - loved it!

Would you consider the audio edition of Feed to be better than the print version?

I have already recommended this book to multiple friends. Really enjoyed the story and I keep thinking about it even though it's over. Looking forward to listening to the next one in the series!

What other book might you compare Feed to and why?

Raising Stony Mayhall - its another good post zombie apocalypse book.

Better than I expected!

This book exceeded my expectations. The narration was great, I loved the characters and the story sucked me in. I thought the writing was well done and am glad I listened to it. I read some of the negative reviews after I was done and while I understand how some of those could be true for some people, give this book a chance if you can. First story I've heard about a mostly successful society after a zombie outbreak.

Great Zombie Book and an even better Narrator!

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

This book had tons of suspense and the narrator was great at depicting all the different charaters.

What did you like best about this story?

Kept me wanting more.

What does Paula Christensen and Jesse Bernstein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I honestly prefer reading to listening but I had a long 27 hr drive so they were the next best thing I could hope for. They captivated me and made the time fly!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The truth will kill you sooner or later!

You'll Eat This Up

What did you love best about Feed?

The most impressive thing about Feed is that it has no right to be good. It's built out of a collection of parts that annoy the hell out of me, starting with the obnoxious male bro character on page 1. But, you know what? I loooove that obnoxious male bro character. He's so good. Which isn't to say that he stops being obnoxious, or bro-ey, because he doesn't. It's just that Grant (McGuire) pays actual attention to the quality of his interpersonal relationships and his inner life, giving him a depth of characterization that trumps the fact that he's an obnoxious jerk who I hate.

And maybe that's the best review I can give for this book: In Feed, Seanan McGuire (as Mira Grant) makes me love the things I hate.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sean, the guy I already said I hate, is one of my favorite characters, but the star of the show (and rightly so) is Georgia. Her voice carries the novel and her choices carry the plot and she's great.

Which character – as performed by Paula Christensen and Jesse Bernstein – was your favorite?

Paula Christensen has put all other audiobook performers I've listened to to shame. Her voices, inflections, and performances for each character are wonderful, but, again, it's the performance as Georgia that steals the show (with Sean in a close second).

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"The News Just Went Viral"

Feed, The Mondern Day Zombie Epic

Would you try another book from Mira Grant and/or Paula Christensen and Jesse Bernstein ?

This book has been great for what it wants to do, but I have been struggling to go onto the next book. The way the book was written was hard to understand at times, and made it difficult to keep a flow in the book. But overall the story line was very amazing and detailed. It acutally made me think it is possible for a zombie invasion in the United States and see how the nation would actually react.

Would you be willing to try another book from Mira Grant? Why or why not?

Maybe... Im not a fan of the writing style, but the story itself is very catching. I find myself wanting more of the story, but wishing it was written in a better format.

What does Paula Christensen and Jesse Bernstein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They bring a total emotion into the book. Im glad I can listen to the book instead of reading it because I can grasp a better knowledge of the characters emotions.

Do you think Feed needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, because the book ends off in a way that should lead to another book.

Best Zombie

Best Zombie series ever! Original, thought provoking and impossible to stop reading. Timely and weirdly prescient.

Nothing about this didn't work.

This is unlike any zombie story you will read or watch. Where most zombie stories fall into the category of fantasy, this is sci-fi. (The author made someone at the CDC very nervous checking her facts.) Most zombies take place in a world where nobody has heard of zombies; the lead character in this story is named after George Romero, who is hailed as a hero in this world because his work prepared humanity for survival.

The Rising was a couple of decades ago. This is a story set in a world where everything fell apart, but humanity has put mostly everything back together, and now we live in a world where things don't stay dead, and that's the New Normal. But it's an entirely different normal, as every aspect of life has changed. The world the characters inhabit is very well thought out.

The characters? Also amazing.

The story? ALSO amazing. And while this is the first book in the series, it's a self-contained plot, wrapping up all of its major threads while leaving the world open for the sequels.

Zombies...I'm in

Many friends and family know I am a huge fan of zombie stories. If it has zombies in it, I'm there absorbing all the carnage. I became a fan of Mira's work with her Into the Deep series, mermaids are also a big obsession for me too. I'm reading this series in kind of a chaotic way, I bought on audible the collection of all the shorts thinking I scored on the whole series (lol, not my brightest moment but eh) I enjoyed the novellas so much and didn't need to know much about the main story really to enjoy them. I now am embarking on the series itself and wowza, this stuff is easy to digest quickly and super interesting in the format of how zombies became and how the world survived/is serving in the story. I am excited to read the rest of Georgia and Shaun Mason's story.