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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Into The Head of Shaun Mason *Spoiler Alert*, August 10, 2011
This review is from: Deadline (Newsflesh, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)
*Warning, this review contains spoilers for FEED, the preceding book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy read the review here ([...]), then read that book first.* It sucks to be the second part of a trilogy. The first part is young and impetuous, the vibrant child introducing us to new worlds and people while establishing the broad conflict. The last one is older, more mature, bringing it all together and providing us with a sense of closure. All the middle kids does is get everyone into as much trouble as possible. Boy, howdy does DEADLINE do that. Picking up scant months after the events of FEED, we're plopped into the head of Shaun Mason as he barely holds the crew of After the End Times together. The ghost of his dead sister is in his head, an officially deceased CDC researcher is in his apartment and his city is overrun with the hungry amplified. This new addition to the group has information that someone is willing to firebomb the entirety of Oakland to keep secret. It would appear that the conspiracy behind his sister's death is alive and Shaun will stop at nothing to get at the heart of the matter. Everything that made FEED my favorite novel of last year, as well as my second favorite zombie novel of all time, is still here: political intrigue, in-depth and honest characters that work their way into your heart and life, spot on social commentary on the way we live under the threat of a terror state and some damn fine "hold onto your britches while you fill them with poo" action. Of course, Mira continues to ratchet up the tension with the increasingly tightening noose around the necks of our intrepid newsies. Her previously proven Whedonesque willingness to kill off any character, no matter how important they may seem, certainly kept me on my toes in that regard. I specifically enjoyed the change in POV from FEED's supremely self-assured and driven Georgia to the increasingly apathetic and uncertain Shaun. His feelings of inadequacy and mental breakdown (he doesn't just talk to his dead sis, she argues back) provide the heavy emotional impact this go round. The world around and within him is collapsing into chaos and you'll feel every moment. Sure, it will leave you hanging in the air once the last page is turned, but that is what middle children do. Also, there's a revelation near the end that I want to call cheap but it does fit with the information we are provided earlier and I'm curious to see how it will play out in BLACKOUT. Overall, it's a hell of a worthy followup to FEED that had me tearing through the pages and left me salivating more. What else can you ask for? Reviewed by Shroud's Anton Cancre
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings about this one, September 3, 2011
This review is from: Deadline (Newsflesh, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)
I loved everything about "FEED", but I wasnt too sure about how much I would enjoy this book considering it's shaun that's now the main character, and he is kind of an idiot. I don't entirely mean stupid, but too tempermental and explosive as well. He is no longer an enjoyable or funny character since his sisters death. Understandable, but not sure if he was a good main character. Either way, I read the book and have concluded that I still maintain mixed feelings about it. It was enjoyable once I past the first 1/4 of the book where Shaun is too much of an insane whiny little b*tch. Than he starts to calm down and get back to business, which would of course be the conspiracy that killed his sister. That's all good and fun, but most of this book is about them sitting around doing their research on finding more about the truth than any actual action like the first book had. Going to areas that are designated hazardous due to zombie populations and the structures of the buildings, and than not seeing one single zombie...it's kind of a let down. Whatever, I liked the end and the teaser to the third book and I am looking forward to this one since it's obviously bringing back my favorite main character as well as making things more interesting as far as the actual virus is concerned.
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20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Trilogies" should be outlawed - unless they are written in advance, July 11, 2011
I love the world that Feed/Deadline has created. It is a great idea and I like the parallels to our fear driven world today. But, after the way the first book, ended, I wasn't sure I would read the second. I didn't like the shift in narrative, without a shift of style at the end of Feed and didn't know if I wanted to read a Shaun-centric story. But, I decided to give it a go anyway, and it started out reasonably well. Shaun is insane and he's the group's leader. The conspiracy left unresolved at the end of Feed gets bigger. They uncover even bigger scoops. And, then things get stupid. Our intrepid investigative journalists spend lots of time investigating, but not publishing their facts, which is the only way the plot continues to work since a conspiracy to shut you up only works if you don't talk. Then, the plot bogs down into a lot of milling around and it becomes obvious that at least the last 15-20% of the book is just random filler, and presumably, a set up for a third book. Then, a big development comes out of left field, and again, our journalists don't seem to do much with the info they have on it. Info, by the way, that they probably shouldn't have since it seems to require that Shaun suddenly become a scientific genius when he's been dumb as a box of rocks through most of the story. Then, we finally get a zombie attack just to set up a plot device and then the book ends. Notice how I didn't mention anything getting resolved. It just ends. I'm hoping the "preview" of the third book is a joke (or at least something the author reconsiders and takes back) because it is laughably bad. I doubt I'll read the third book based on the bad taste left by the end of this one and the ridiculous preview. If you like the world created by Feed, you might want to read this book. If you expect anything to be resolved, you'll be disappointed since the author seems more interested in setting up a third book than crafting a strong second one.
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