Friday, September 4, 2015

Book Review: Feed

Seanan McGuire (writing as Mira Grant)
2010
Nominations: Hugo
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ –

Feed is a zombie apocalypse novel. Zombies are trendy subject matter. And, as I’ve said before, zombies are the only fictional monsters that I’m terrified of enough that I studiously avoid watching even supposedly great movies and TV shows about them. But this book is really, really fun, and it’s making me rethink my sweeping anti-zombie-story stance.

The story takes place in 2047, three decades after a zombie apocalypse has killed off much of humanity and changed America into a shuttered, defensive, constantly vigilant society.

What happened was that back in 2014, medical researchers developed two separate helper viruses: the Kellis virus, a cure for the common cold, and the Amberlee virus, a cure for cancer. Both worked as planned on their respective targets. And, separately, the two cures would have been miracles for humanity.

But when the two came into contact with each other, as they quickly did, they combined to form the highly virulent hybrid Kellis-Amberlee virus, which not only spread like wildfire through the human population, but also had the unfortunate effect of causing people to die, and then after they were dead, to rise again as flesh-eating zombies, mindlessly seeking live people to gnaw on, until they eventually fell apart and died a final, permanent death

At first, most people didn’t really know (or want to believe) that a zombie apocalypse was really happening. It was George Romero fans and people in the sci-fi internet community who first recognized it for what it was and developed strategies for survival. They rapidly discovered that everything about the Living Dead movies was true, and the films became survival guides. To wit:

  • To kill a zombie, you have to shoot it in the head (or otherwise decapitate it)
  • A zombie bite will kill you and then cause you to become a zombie
  • Recently-turned zombies are faster and slightly more intelligent (and thus more dangerous) than longer-turned zombies
The disproportionate survival of internet users meant that by 2047, the primary news medium has become internet blogging, which provides the world’s only real information lifeline. And, accordingly, the main characters in Feed are Georgia and Shaun Mason, brother and sister journalist bloggers, whose job it is to go out into the still-dangerous parts of the country to report what is going on to the majority of the population that is too afraid to leave their homes.

Georgia is the primary narrator of the story. She is snarky, witty, anti-establishment, and standoffish to all but her closest friends. She is also entirely devoted to her brother and to reporting the truth. The fact that she has a Kellis-Amberlee-related eye condition is a constant challenge for her to overcome, and a constant tension-raising reminder of the virus.

Georgia’s brother Shaun is a little wilder; he likes to go into the countryside and poke zombies with sticks to keep the viewers entertained. But underneath the daredevil image, he is devoted to his sister and to the team of support people who work for them, and would never seriously endanger them on purpose.

The book opens with a dramatic motorcycle zombie chase scene in which Georgia and Shaun barely escape with their lives. It hooks you in immediately and the action and/or suspense don’t really let up from there. Moments after returning from the motorcycle chase, Georgia and Shaun’s news team is invited to cover Senator Peter Ryman, who is running for president. They are embedded with the Ryman campaign and are thus in the middle of it all when, after a speaking appearance, the senator’s entourage is attacked by someone who sabotages the warning systems and injects some of the supporters and security personnel with the zombifying Kellis-Amberlee virus. Georgia, Shaun, and the remainder of the senator’s staff are able to fight off the recently-turned zombies, but then the senator’s home is attacked in a similar way, and one of his daughters is killed.

At that point, they all realize that someone is set on seeing the senator dead, and it becomes a race against time for Georgia and Shaun to figure out who and why before the election—and before they get killed themselves.

Feed is as fun and easy to read as a Stephen King novel, but with an extra Generation-X snarkiness that is really appealing. This book is proof that you don’t have to have an obscure writing style or a zillion ultra-clever intertwining plot lines to make for an absorbing and fulfilling read. Engaging characters, a well-planned plot and ending, snappy and funny dialogue, and near-constant suspense will do that just fine. And although the book reads mostly as a light horror-mystery-action adventure, there is a large twist at the end that adds a great deal of seriousness and depth to the plot—and probably kills any chance of it being made into a Hollywood movie.
                                                                                            
One warning: this book is the first in a three-part trilogy. (I'll be reviewing the second installment, Deadline, in my next post.) If you think this novel might be one you want to read, and you don't like spoilers, do not read the descriptions on the backs of any of the subsequent books or any reviews of any of them before you read this one.