I just finished Feed by Mira Grant, I don't know how to feel
I know that I wanted to like it, I know that I should have liked it. I'm usually a pretty bad critic of anything because I usually find some good in most things I read-with the literary pariah, Twilight as the usual exception- but the book has left some doubt in me, and checking online has shown, that my feelings of doubt aren't widely shared amongst the rest of the population
Feed, to start off has an amazing premise. A completely original look at the zombie apocalypse. The zombies do rise, but due to humanities knowledge of Zombie lore, society stays in tact. This story follows a group of bloggers on the presidential campaign showcasing the rise of the importance of bloggers in the future, and also zombie attacks. Great premise, but there were a few too many flaws within the book that kept it from being the star it should have been.
I feel like Grant was telling me who the characters were, they weren't doing it themselves. They didn't feel like real people to me and I had a hard time visualizing them in my head. Whenever Shaun and Georgia, the main characters, made jokes, I felt awkward as if it was the author making the characters seem witty, not them doing it themselves. This book had a lot of death, which I'm fine with, I am a Joss Whedon fan after all. But the death that affected me most was Lois the cat. That's probably partially due to the fact that nothing upsets me more than a cat death, but I still should feel more than I currently do for the characters. Georgia's death did affect me, but not so much for the character, more so for the fact that they killed off the main character in the first book. I wasn't expecting that and major props goes to Grant for having the balls to do it. Now we have a new narrator in Shaun, and I don't really have an opinion if that's a good thing, because I still don't really know who Shaun is. I can't feel the connection he and Georgia share, the one that was supposed to be so important throughout the book. Not like I could in the superior Wind on Fire trilogy which has a similar brother/sister bond theme. After 500 pages I should understand the main characters, but I don't, and it shouldn't have to take another 500 for me to do so.
My other big problem was the conspiracy a.k.a the plot. It was disappointing for me as a reader to find out the big bad was the person who looked most like they'd be the big bad. I kept trying to pay attention to other characters with thought that they might become the villain, but it ended up being the mean Governor who hated the main character, and apparently the tobacco company. Also the fact that the conspiracy was over religion, had a been there done that feel to it that couldn't stem my disappointment. I love shocking twists in books, I felt like I was robbed of one here. The only shock I received was George's death, and a shocking death is not a replacement for a good plot.
Hopefully the conspiracy will be fleshed out more in the second and third book, I will give the sequel a chance. Maybe it reads better as an entire series. The main theme of the novel is the importance of truth, and the truth is, this series isn't off to the best start.
