Book Review: Feed by Mira Grant

I've actually read 2 of the Hugo nominees so far, I'm just behind on my reviews. This was the last one I read, I'm going to have to think a bit further on Dervish House before I put up a review.

Novel: Feed
Author: Mira Grant

In 2014, an act of eco-terrorism releases an untested cure for the common cold into the atmosphere. Days later, upon coming into contact with an experimental cancer cure it mutates into a highly virulent airborne pathogen. Good news, no more cold, flu or cancer. Bad news, the dead are rising and they aren't happy!



The summer of 2014 is called the Rising, where millions lost their lives, only to be reanimated by the virus in their bloodstream. During this time, traditional news media lost credibility and instead bloggers and internet news found themselves at the forefront of a new world order.

Set 20 years after the Rising, Feed follows sibling bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason as they head out on the road reporting on the presidental campaign, and finding out that the most dangerous things out there aren't necessarily the dead.

While I enjoy the concepts of a good zombie apocalypse, I've never really enjoyed much of the media surrounding it. I've seen Dawn of the Dead, played Left For Dead on the PC and own a couple of RPGs on the subject, but frankly the gore and general horror doesn't appeal. If anything, my preferred zombie movie is Shaun of the Dead. So when Feed arrived, with is Horror genre sticker on the spine, I was afraid I was getting more horror than I liked in my SF!

However I was presently surprised to find it a novel that concentrated on the characters, rather than pages of descriptions of zombie attacks. In fact I'd imagine that true zombie fans may well be disappointed by the lack of horrific zombie attacks in the book. While zombie attacks occur (as you'd expect) the horror comes from the surrounding situation not the attack itself. The scenes are well described, but lack vivid descriptions of blood and gore, something that suited me well, but might not true horror fans.

The ideas behind the world are well thought out as well. The reason behind the zombie's reanimation feels more plausible than you often get and a world paranoid about being infected is well written. I liked the idea of a world where most people live in secure gated communities, and depending on bloggers to go out into the dangerous world and report back on what's out there.

The plot itself is engaging, well paced and full of entertaining characters. While it may be light on the horror, it is full of intrigue, twists and turns, of which I was surprised by them all.

I really enjoyed Feed, and will be eagerly waiting its sequel later this year. The big question is, is it good enough to win the Hugo. Unfortunately, I have the suspicion that it won't. I've only read Dervish House of the other nominees, but thats a complex novel combining Turkish culture with science fiction. I'm not sure Feed has quite the gravitas to compete, but certainly is my preferred novel so far.