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)

Not what I was looking for...

Just like all other reviews it is not a zombie book in the traditional sense...which I thought would be good since I was getting sick of the military veteran zombie book...I do like zombie books a lot but I get tired of all of the main characters being former military...I like ones that give a slightly different twist, so I thought this book would be worth trying. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't what I was looking for...

What I liked about it:
1. The narrator was good
2. The characters weren't annoying

What I didn't like about it:
1. The story line...blogger follows presidential candidate on campaign...it may have gotten better but I didn't make it through the whole book only about 50%. To me it was a bit on the boring side...

Politics as usual...Full of Zombies.

Newsflesh is Political thriller and a Medical thriller woven together, in a world filled with Zombies.
The first volume, FEED, sets the stage and is pretty much all about the politics, following a presidential campaign in a future USA where people can't (or won't) gather en masse, travel in armed convoys, and still expect candidates to visit every state kissing babies.

The story is engaging, the characters interesting, the plot intriguing and the author is ... Wonderfully evil. Thank You Mira, may I have another.....

A story about people...

Would you listen to Feed again? Why?

Yes. Despite a couple of minor editing issues, it's a well told story with just enough difference in its execution to make it stand out as refreshing.

What other book might you compare Feed to and why?

Feed's similar to Brook's World War Z in that it's a portrait of people with a back drop of the zombie apocalypse. Feed's focus isn't on horror in the traditional sense, but on how people deal with a world that's been turned upside down and inside out.

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

The primary focus character, Georgia Mason, is the one you get the most "behind the eyes" time with. Despite the occasional jaunts into the heads of the other protagonists in the troupe, the book is really mostly told from her point of view. Georgia's an interesting duck. She's tough, but not heroic in the traditional guns blazing sense. She has a nice mix of pragmatism and idealism that makes her feel very realized as a character.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Don't want to spoil, but yes. There's a particularly devastating reveal, just before the section marked book four in the text that actually teared me up. It was well handled, with only a minor flub in dialog tone at the end.

Any additional comments?

The best zombie stories are people stories. No one cares about the shamblers too much. What we're really interested in the people who have to deal with the horrific reality of the walking dead. That story gets told mostly when the zombies aren't "on screen." It's told in their interactions and choices as they deal with other people in the story. Feed really hits on that and does its job well.

This is the experience you get an audiobook for

The Newsflesh trilogy is a perfect example of what audiobooks do really well: take great books and bring them right into your head in three dimensions. Mira Grant (who also writes as Seanan McGuire, in case you want to check out her other work) hits a nerve with this story of a horror that's become everyday reality, and the political corruption that it seems can't ever be killed. If you think things can't get any crazier than they are in the first book, wow, are YOU in for a surprise!

A huge part of what makes this such an excellent audible experience, of course, are the readers. Throughout all three books, all of the readers are first-rate. It's amazing (and surreal) to hear the female reader doing the male character's voice as her character thinks of what her brother said, and later hearing the male reader doing the sister's voice. If they can pull THAT off, imagine how well they do everything else. Seriously, these books are full of win from the first minute through the last.

a political thrillelr with a killer zombie twist

It’s 2012 and Earth is suddenly and effectively exposed to a mutated virus that quickly infected millions and changed the world over night. So what do you do when the people who are supposed to be dead get back up and start coming at you with hungry (infected) chompers? The smart people take what they learn from the popular zombie movies of George Romero and they kill them before they get to them.

20 years later and people have learned how to fight back and not get dead. Humanity gained back its numbers and slowly took back (most) of their countries and humanity gained back control from the undead forces. Well, for the most part… they have earned to co-exist with the threat of infection and so life goes one. And with humanity politics is never far off.

Can I once again express my gratitude for zombie fiction where zombie culture not only exists but is utilized to protect the remaining population? It saves me from unnecessary eye-rolling and the plot from predictable reactions I can always do without when it comes to zombie fiction.

It was also awesome to see blogging so important to the plot and not as just a hobby or a creative outlet. Don’t see that a lot in media, so it was a pleasant surprise. :) The plot and world building were spot on, by the end of the world building left no questions unanswered. It’s obvious the author did a thorough job researching everything from politics to medical science and created thoroughly believable world.
a little more on FEED and blogging

After the population got their shit together, they realized traditional news can not be trusted (there’s a shocker). Every one knows where there is a pandemic, there’s at least 10 government agencies trying to cover it up. So when the panic settled, and people have mostly rebuilt their numbers, they’ve learned to take what traditional media says with a grain of salt and have turned to sources they knew they could trust: bloggers just like them, reporting what they learn from experience. Bloggers have since divided into three major groups:

Irwins: These bloggers face danger head-on by interacting with zombies and spreading the word on new ways to kill zombies or how the zombies are adapting. These guys are the adrenaline junkies of the FEED world.

Newsies:These are blogging reporters that deal in facts and keep everyone updated on whats going on in the world. Sometimes this job brings them into dangerous situations, but they aren’t drawn to it like the Irwins.

Fictionals: The writers of the FEED universe, they entertain people with stories.
my thoughts on character development

The plot wasn’t the only thing Grant does well, she’s also mastered the art of character development. Shaun, Georgia, and their techie best friend, Buffy, are the main characters of FEED. Each main character is a blogger with their own ranks, titles, and blogs. Shaun is the Irwin of the group. His sister and closest friend, George is a well-respected Newsie and her voice is the book’s main point of view. They share a close bond that would be seen as unhealthily co-dependent in our world, but is just a sign on of the times in FEED. Both Shaun and George are the characters’ I connected with the most.

Buffy rounds out the trio with her technical skills and her Fictional blog, but to be honest I never liked her all that much. She never seemed as loyal to the group as the siblings were, and I soon learned why in the most shocking way. *hint hint*

After the three best friends are chosen by Senator Ryman to cover his presidential campaign, they combine their individual skills into one new site devoted to their new political journey. The experience quickly turns dangerous and I watched (in anticipation) every character go through obvious character growth that helped to nail home exactly what role they played and why.

The superb narration helped make this audiobook a 2015 favorite.

I couldn’t possibly write an audiobook review without mentioning the narration! Paula Christenson was the main narrator for FEED; she narrated the entire story with Jesse Bernstein narrating the last few chapters. I believe he also did a couple supporting voices and clips from Shaun’s blog in between important chapters. I have a feeling Bernstein will have a bigger role in book 2, and will have more of an opinion then. :)

Christenson did a great job of holding my interest. I could clearly distinguish every male and female character, which had to take a lot of hard work with such a large cast of returning characters. The male characters’ were handled very well and contrasted nicely. I never had an issue with the way their voices were portrayed, like I have with a few other audiobooks I’ve read that were also single narration. I couldn’t have enjoyed FEED as much as I did without the awesome narration, and will be looking out for more books narrated by Paula Christenson in the future. :)
I loved FEED and you will, too! (I hope)

This book was a five-star read for me, so clearly I enjoyed myself. If you are looking for more blood and gore than political thriller, this may not be the zombie book for you, but there was enough zombie action for this zombie enthusiast. :) I will warn you it isn’t a “zombie survival” story, so don’t expect it to be one and you won’t be disappointed. It was a nice addition to the story and shouldn’t be missed! I quickly purchased the second audiobook in the series and cannot wait to continue the trilogy!

Love the book

I enjoy this book so much! I have read the series several times. I just wish the people reading were different.

Excellent Read

This is a very fun book, in the old timey zombie-as-metaphor style. The book is clever, the main characters are likable, and the primary reader is both energetic, emotive, and able to portray many different characters effectively. I don't know why they bothered to hire a second reader for the two or three small paragraphs he ended up reading, but from his admittedly brief appearances, he's not bad either.

This is a very interesting, and very unsettling, take on the zombie mythos. It represents a look into a world where threat is ongoing, and while it doesn't offer much in the way of scares, the constant grinding paranoia of everyone in the book (you must take blood tests to go inside, you must take blood tests to go outside, you must take blood tests to enter different parts of buildings etc. etc. etc.) actually increases the tension as the book continues. You realize the lengths that people have gone through to protect themselves, and ultimately, how useless they all are.

Many zombie stories end up being pretty silly, but this one, both as a critique of fear-culture, and as a story in its own right, is something very interesting, and very worthwhile.

If you're interested in either blogging, or zombies, or what happens when you mix the two of them together and shake vigorously, give this book a read.

Boring - yawn - yada yada yada?

For those of you thinking of purchasing this book as a good zombie thriller or entertaining read - pass. It's more about a regular Joe senator being followed around by three bloggers on the campaign trail. The author is trying for a new angle on a zombie thriller but falls short. All the in depth detail about life after the "uprising" is ridiculous. I don't buy it. Zombies & zombie animals running around and life pretty much goes on in comfy houses, people working, government intact. I say Bull^%$$. I LOVE a good post apocalyptic /zombie book and this just isn't this. It is more of a political statement. Author tries too hard. Not enough action. I'm 6 hrs in and there's been one zombie attack & one "encounter" with the lead characters. That's it. The narrator's raspy voice is annoying in and she really doesn't do that great of a job except on Georgia the lead character and the airhead Buffy. Every one else falls flat..............I'm stopping now just can't finish - I pass - Next.

A New Genre of Post Apocolytpic Thriller

This very clever title blends modern journalism with a rather new setting. The subject zombies (seemingly silly at first) is dealt with with a fair deal of sophistication. The author manages to make them seem a real scientific possibility. (Rabies, for example, turns lesser mammals into biting drooling aggressive creatures in order for the virus to spread itself. (Although the author herself would have done well to have mentioned that.)

While the story is entertaining it is not perfect. For example. A reader may tire of the seemingly endless security precautions on every single page including blood tests described in painfully excruciating and repetitive detail. They should have been edited out. (That's why it's a 15 hour book.)

While I'm glad the book was far more sophisticated than just the video game carnage fest it might have been... after a while a bit of of gratuitous violence might have been a refreshing change from focus on the technology of keeping up video "feeds" to the Internet.

The narration is spot on. The sophisticated tone of the sister contrasts well with her smart mouth brother. Both narrators are pitch perfect. They really add to the writing.

All-in-all a fairly entertaining 15 hours. But not quite a classic. (You know the writing can be improved when the writer allows one's mind time to consider better and different directions for the plot and its devices.)

A Quailty Story Set in a World Full of Zombies

Firstly, I must say that I do not consider this title, a zombie book. Or better yet I do not consider it a zombie action title, so if you are looking for over the top zombie action, this is not it.

This is a brilliant story: a world in which scientist just wanted to rid the world of some of our more common health problems, which eventually created a great up rising of zombies. After most zombies were killed and a system was developed to ensure persons were safe from another uprising. Though so much has changed a lot as stayed the same.

In a world were recognition and ratings are still important for any news publication or blog, the main characters finds themselves raising to the top on the heels of following who they hope to be the next president of the United States.

It is a book full of news, entertainment and politics set in a world were zombies walk the earth and the virus that created them in the first place can be used as a terrorist weapon.

This story is full of some twist and turns that leads to an unexpected conspiracy, it is beautifully written and the attention to detail allows you to full appreciate the story and understand that world that they currently live in.

The narrator did a great story justice and brings out the true entertainment value of the title.

If you are into, hidden conspiracies, politics and news with a hand full of zombies throw in, this book is it