A Book Obsession..: Mira Grant

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Kirsten Reviews: Feedback by Mira Grant

, by KT

Feedback by Mira Grant

Newsflesh #4

FEEDBACK is a full-length Newsflesh novel which overlaps the events of New York Times bestseller Mira Grant's classic Feed and follows a group of reporters covering the Democratic side of the Presidential campaign.

There are two sides to every story...

Mira Grant creates a chilling portrait of an America paralyzed with fear. No street is safe and entire swaths of the country have been abandoned. And only the brave, the determined, or the very stupid, venture out into the wild.

Step inside a world a half-step from our own in this novel of geeks, zombies, politics and social media.

Feedback by Mira Grant, aka Seanan McGuire is the fourth book in the Newsflesh series and picks up the story with an entirely new cast of characters.This isn’t the place for new readers of the series to start, as there are spoilers for other books, but it does connect with previous events, from a fresh perspective.

Following the Rising, there’s been a shift in journalism, that being, it’s now done through blogging. Aislinn, Audrey, Benjamin, and Matt are housemates who all happen to be bloggers. They cover different industries, from makeup to news and fiction. Events start to move quickly when they’re picked to cover the campaign of Susan Kilburn, the blue pantsuit-wearing Democratic presidential candidate. Covering the Republican nominee are the Masons, who readers will remember from Feed.

Of course, no presidential campaign has ever run smoothly, and a zombie outbreak is the kind of disruption that makes more than a few headlines. On top of that, there’s a bigger conspiracy at work, and the bloggers soon find themselves targeted for uncovering and telling the truth.

For anyone who wants to be up to date on the series and the world, start at the beginning of the series, but anyone who doesn’t mind potential spoilers can pick it up here and enjoy a story full of zombies, journalism, and an interesting cast of characters trying to report the news and stay alive.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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Other Reviews:
All Things Urban Fantasy
Hot Listens
Brad K. Horner

Previous Books:
1. Feed
2. Deadline
3. Blackout

Kirsten Reviews: Symbiont by Mira Grant

, by KT

Symbiont by Mira Grant

Parasitology #2

THE ENEMY IS INSIDE US.

The SymboGen designed tapeworms were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the tapeworms are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is, and how they can be stopped.

Symbiont by Mira Grant is the follow up to Parasite, and the second book in a series which focuses on science, tapeworms, and the attendant horrors thereof. In a world where tapeworm implants are commonplace in order to enjoy a full, healthy life, the consequences are an inevitable transformation into zombies.

Sal, the protagonist and her friends must discover the reason the implants are malfunctioning, and if they can, how to stop it. In such a society, it is unsurprising that the government and scientists are working together, and their efforts to control the implants, a rising population of zombies, and Sal herself. This leads to a number of unpleasant encounters for Sal, including being held captive by the military, and learning exactly how dedicated some scientists are to maintaining the status quo, even at the expense of human life.

Without spoiling any of the story, readers should assume that these are not friendly scientists, and anyone who wants to ‘just take a blood sample’ should be avoided if at all possible.

There are both familiar characters, and a few new ones, from Fishy, a man who wrongly believes he’s actually in a video game, and therefore the world is not actually falling apart around him, and Ronnie, a tapeworm assassin who just so happens to be stuck inside a man’s body.

While all of the worldbuilding and focus on science gone awry is definitely interesting, this is a fairly substantial book, and not all that much happens. Sal finds herself in more than a few tight spots, but they don’t seem to move the plot along a great deal, although her character growth doesn’t stagnate, which is a good thing when the plot appears to be retreading some of the same ground of the last book.

As a cautionary tale, Symbiont is timely, at a time when science and technology are making huge strides, and any untested invention could conceivably, in the wrong hands, have similarly devastating effects.

Ultimately, one of the most unsettling aspects of Symbiont is not the zombies, but the companies, governmental agencies, and other authorities who, in attempting to offer a cure for disease, instead create an even greater threat to humanity.
(Received a copy from the publisher)

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