Customer Reviews

Deadline (Newsflesh, Book 2)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

*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

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.

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.

This review does not contain spoilers for either FEED or DEADLINE. One year has passed since Shaun and Georgia Mason found more than they bargained for as they investigated the truth behind the Kellis-Amberlee virus, a mutated cure for human disease that led to the uprising of the dead. The events that transpired then have an enormous impact now as the high-profile bloggers from After the End of Times uncover a conspiracy that is even bigger than they ever imagined. A CDC researcher fakes her own death in a spectacular fashion and shows up at their headquarters, and soon the whole team is battling zombies, mutant dogs, and the ever-present ghosts of their past.

When I finished this book late last night, my thoughts were "I have not a single criticism to offer. Not a single one." And this still holds true. Without exception, every question and doubt I raised with Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1) is answered here. The action is incredibly intense, the story is densely and intricately plotted, and the book is exceptionally well-paced and exciting. Readers who are leery of zombies still shouldn't have much of a problem, because although there are more tense encounters with the undead, the violence is relatively contained and there are no gross or gratuitous scenes. Most of the terror comes from heart-pounding action and chase sequences, as well as the knowledge of the overwhelming consequences if the team fails in its quest for truth and justice.

Shaun, Georgia, and Buffy all loom large in this sequel, but we also get to know the other staffers better, including the elegant Mahir, the fiercely determined Becks, the quietly steady Alaric, and the sad, tragic Maggie. Most significantly, however, the narrator has shifted to Shaun, whose personality comes through loud and clear in his bitterly funny words, his decisive handling of his team, and his desperately emotional struggle to hang onto what he loves most. Mira Grant met and exceeded every expectation I had for this book, particularly in the devastating truth that comes to light about what might have been. I knew from Feed to expect an emotional reaction, but I could not have prepared myself for the terrible knowledge that these characters have to face. I was literally whimpering from the pain, and tears were streaming so hard that I couldn't see the page.

This is a searingly intelligent novel, with hard questions about medical ethics, government responsibility, and the nobility and folly of human nature. And just when you think the author has delivered everything she possibly could, there is a HUGE twist at the end that made me bolt upright and scream in the middle of the night. This twist has far-reaching consequences for both the characters and for society as a whole, and it also answered questions I had about the future in a crazy and unthinkable way.

It will be another year before the third book in this trilogy will be released, and I'll spend much of that time waiting in agony to find out what happens to the characters I've come to care about so much. But oh my stars, what a pleasure it is to be so incredibly excited and thrilled and moved by an author's work.

Mira Grant continues the adventures of Shaun Mason in her book Deadline, book two of the Newsflesh Trilogy. Shaun with his sister tagging along in his head, is put in grave danger after a CDC employee shows up on his doorstep with a bunch of moaning zombies in tow. With some quick thinking and an unexpected tragedy (from the reader's perspective), Shaun and his team are able to flee to relative safety where the find themselves mired in the conspiracy that George, Shaun's sister, only hinted at in the first volume of the series, Feed. Some minor zombie killing and much investigating ensue.

Where the first book was clever, this one reads a bit more like an unpolished Michael Crichton novel. There's lots of investigating and getting in trouble, but not so much of the fun zombie killing from the previous novel. Basically, this is more about the conspiracy and Shaun searching for the truth rather than reacting to the zombie threat. Not that that's a bad thing, but it does tend to bog the story down a bit when the action bits would keep the flow going.

Unfortunately, the excessive repeating of 'important' information continues in this book. I'm not sure if it's bad writing, bad editing, or both, but within the first two hundred pages, there are at least three moderately in depth incidences of the way Kellis Amberlee came into being, two more than necessary for those who have read the first book in the trilogy. The best bits are when Shaun and co. are fighting zombies or on the run from the government. As soon as they slow down, the story bogs in too much science and explanation. While a bit of background is good, the repetitive nature of certain parts and confusing narrative of others makes this middle volume a challenge for those of us looking for an easier read. That being said, Deadline is still smart and clever in its way, just not quite on par Feed.

The new cast of characters is refreshing since the story shifts away from the politics and gets more into a medical mystery. Most of the main cast are carryover from the previous book, just with increased presence. Becks essentially has Shaun's previous role as the enforcer when it comes to zombie killing and has the sort of semi damaged personality that female warriors always seem to come with. Alaric is the Newsie, telling the story like it is when possible. And Mohir, thankfully given a large role in this story, is the one character who really has a lot of lose and still manages to find his way into more danger while still being clear headed. Along with the Fictional Maggie, the team has to dig deep into the conspiracy behind the spread of KA and into themselves to soldier on.

While Deadline is still a decent book, the writing begins to work against itself after a time, either being too repetitive or not moving fast enough. Essentially, the cast in is danger, they threaten to release important information, and then they go into hiding, waiting for their chance to escape to a new 'safe' location. In other words, this feels like a middle book, and not one of the better ones. This might be because Shaun is the new narrator and his talking to the George in his head seems a lot less like he's crazy and a lot more like he's actually smart enough to figure things out as he manages to do much of the way. Pretty good for an Irwin who is apparently crazy enough to hallucinate a dead sister in the flesh. And then he tells us he's crazy every time anyway.

I wasn't thrilled with the book in the end, but it was by no means horrible. A step below the first one for sure, but should be read if you enjoyed the first one. I'd give it a 2.5, squarely in the middle.

One bad thing about George dying at the end of FEED is that her death left Shaun to narrate the sequel, DEADLINE. I wasn't sure I wanted to read a book written entirely from Shaun's point of view. Especially not depressed, grief-maddened Shaun, who's not nearly as much fun as comic-relief Irwin Shaun was.

One good thing about George dying at the end of FEED is that I knew from the first page of DEADLINE that Mira Grant doesn't pull her punches. I knew I couldn't count on her to keep beloved characters safe or even safely on the "good" side of the moral line in the sand. I expected some crazy twists and turns, and I wasn't quite so gutted when they came along. Or, on the downside, quite so surprised.

And on the one hand, Deadline is seriously awesome. The main plot picks up on one of the unexplored element of FEED that I badly wanted to know more about - already a good sign - namely the reservoir conditions, like George's ocular Kellis-Amberlee. What spurs those conditions, what do they mean for the overall evolution of the virus? The answer, DEADLINE'S first really killer twist, sends Shaun on a hunt for more information that ultimately blows the conspiracy he (and George) had begun to crack in FEED wide open.

But for all that, I'm not ready to pass judgment on DEADLINE. I'm not ready to call it a success. It leaves too many questions unanswered.

For example: In DEADLINE, Georgia lives on in Shaun's mind as a figment of his imagination. She chats with him, they have conversations. Everyone, even Shaun, sees this as a sign of mental illness. He can't let go, he can't move on, so instead he has a relationship with an imaginary Georgia.

But throughout the novel, Georgia supplies ideas and information that Shaun couldn't generate on his own. She knows facts that he wouldn't remember, processes information faster than he would, and remembers character quirks about their friends and employees that he never knew. She seems like an independent entity, and Shaun doesn't seem crazy. Even his willingness to admit that he's crazy is proof that he's not crazy.

I know that the NEWSFLESH series are zombie books, so clearly there's an element of the magical or impossible, but that's why I appreciate Mira Grant's incessant discussion of virology. Aside from the fact that I find it interesting, it's kind of like a pledge. She's promising to keep her alternate reality as real as possible. She tells us about things like yellow fever and malaria to reassure us that she's basing her pseudo-science on real world phenomena.

So what's up with George in Shaun's head? There's no realism or pseudo-science to her disembodied voice. It's impossible. I hope Mira Grant has a good explanation for this, but until I hear it I'm going to be worried that there's a huge element of the book that's impossible and magical and makes no sense.

There are other examples, but that's the biggest and the safest to discuss, since it's present from the beginning.

FEED could have been a standalone novel. It felt like one to me. DEADLINE is not just a sequel, it's an obvious link in a chain. That makes it less impressive in some ways, but has the potential to make the series as a whole much stronger. By the end of the book, the post-Rising status quo is over. Add up all the revelations and all the curveballs, and there's an endgame in sight. The zombies are going to take over or they're going to lose everything. And, whoever's narrating, Grant is going to keep us in the thick of it.

I find it very hard to believe that so many people are giving this book 5 stars. It's by no means a terrible book, but it's plagued by a myriad of faults. We once again return to the very well defined world of post-rising Earth, but it seems as if time has ground to a standstill. The plot moves so slow that it's incredibly hard to become interested in it even 1/4 of the way through. This book is also an extreme example of how you can slim down a book or essay by taking out redundant information. Shaun, the new main character of the book, repeats the same "people don't get/my crew understands me talking to my dead sister" line far too much. By the 100th page, this information was repeated at least a dozen times, and in paragraphs much larger than they needed to be. The characters also talk a lot without saying anything, and are constantly muttering some unimportant expletive under their breath, further serving to pad the book with unneeded and unnecessary information.

The characters are all also extremely bland. The author tries to set up character development and emotions, but every character feels extremely interchangeable most of the time. One character from the first book dies fairly early on, and despite the fact that I liked him in the first book I found it hard to care in this one. All semblance of personality he once had was completely drained from him in between books, and he became another interchangeable character.

Overall, I can't recommend this book to anyone. Even if you loved Feed (or maybe especially if you did), you'll find it very hard to even come to like this book.

Mira Grant has a gift for the plausible horror tale. an awesome read that flowed well and worth the time to get into it. And the last chapter? made for much angst that the next segment isnt due for 6 months!

Very recently, I finished Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1), and I rather enjoyed it. Immediately followed it up with Deadline, which, I must say, is a shot better in almost all areas.

It's worth noting that this series really isn't about zombies. The first one was heavily political, but this one leans toward the science more than the first did. The zombies remain the backdrop for the crazy amounts of effed-uppedness, but ultimately the books focus on humans.

Which brings me to my one quirk with this book, and others have mentioned it... Shaun and George's "relationship" has taken on a really, really creepy tone. While I don't believe this was a legitimate aspect of their relationship, and it might not even have been an intentional addition to the story, it does add some creep to an otherwise excellent book.

Overall, a really worthwhile read. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but that seems to be the average anyway. :)

(Newsflesh Trilogy Series #2) by Mira Grant

For those of you who don't know Mira Grant is actually Seanan McGuire author of the popular October Daye Series.

I loved Feed her first book in this zombie trilogy, and I totally flipped for Deadline. The pace was much faster, the stakes much higher and the ending..lets just say I haven't fully recovered. This has to be one of the best mid-trilogy books I've ever read. The protagonist Shaun Mason, who in the first book was a happy go lucky dare devil, must come to to terms with the loss of his sister and heading up the Newsflash team. I will be first in line to get the third book in this trilogy..Blackout.