Feed by Mira Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“We’re the all-purpose opiate of the new millennium: We report the news, we make the news, and we give you a way to escape when the news becomes too much to handle.“
I thought this was epistolary fiction, with the bloggers telling the story solely via a collection of blog posts. Which is the main reason why I didn’t pick up this book sooner. Not a fan of that type of story telling. I was positively surprised that this is a more conventional novel.
The book is set after the apocalypse, in a world where we have somewhat adjusted to living with zombies and managed to carve out livable spaces. No eventual triumph over the dead in sight. Instead we take a look at how society develops with zombies as part of life, in a world that functions despite the thread.
I would have liked to read more about the effect the outbreak had on everyday life. How society coped or didn‘t, what the world looked like. More background, more details, maybe more interaction with normal people. I guess that would have been a different novel altogether. Instead this is a political conspiracy novel, with some zombie action thrown in.
A little too repetitive. I don‘t need an explanation how the body weight impacts the amplification of the virus several times. I understood it the first time.
World building was ok, I had hoped for more. Character development was ok, a little too cardboard template, but not bad. Mostly believable, as type casting goes. One surprising plot twist. The bad guy/conspiracy stuff was predictable and not terribly suspenseful.
Summed up: Good entertainment, something to read on the beach, nice amount of action.
I am pretty sure I will pick up the next book of this series. ★★★★½
