FEED by Mira Grant

I have been waffling on reviewing FEED. This mostly has to do with the fact that, within the Fantasy-Faction Forum, I have been very vocal about my love of this book. I literally cannot say enough good things about this novel, or its author. I should let the track record speak for itself: In the year (yes, one year) since I found this book, randomly, on a shelf in Borders, I have read it approximately five times.

To be blunt, I find FEED to be one of the best novels about zombies that I have ever read. I think, for me, it mostly has to do with the fact that the characters I’m reading about seem real. I relate to Georgia, Shaun, and Buffy. I understand the concepts of blogging, about their family dynamics, about how things have changed since the Rising. This is one of the books that has become one of the ones that I read when I feel like I need to visit some old friends. When I reread FEED, that’s exactly what it feels like; visiting with friends I haven’t seen in a while. I always learn something new, or pick up on something that I didn’t the last time I read it.

To start, Grant jumps right into the action. She doesn’t mess around. If I’m not mistaken (and I might be; I don’t have the book with me as I write this review), the book starts with Shaun poking a zombie while Georgia watches from their motorcycle. From there, the opening chapter devolves into a high-speed chase involving said zombie, a couple of his friends, a fence used as a ramp, and some airtime. We get a close look at what it’s like to live in the Post-Rising world; multiple blood tests are necessary every day to be sure that you haven’t gone into amplification, especially if you’ve been out in the field. Even if you haven’t seen a zombie; if you’ve brushed up against an animal that weighs over 40 pounds, there’s a chance that your personal infection will kick off. There are areas that you have to have about fifteen different clearances to enter and then, even if you have those clearances, the military still has a right to shoot you if you come out. Some places, like the state of Alaska, have been ceded to the zombies because it’s too difficult to root them all out.

In addition to all the zombies, George, Shaun and Buffy are the personal blogging team of Senator Ryman, who is running for president. They get the feeling, pretty early on, that someone is out to sabotage the race. Whoever is doing it is using zombies to get the job done. Suddenly, our happy team of bloggers is right in the middle of a journalists dream: bio-terrorism, murders, espionage…What more could they ask for?

The basics of the story: zombies. Lots of zombies. There’s also a lot of talk about the blogging the team does, the website they run, and the politics they’re involved in. Personally, I don’t know a whole lot about politics, but I found this book entertaining despite all the political mumbo-jumbo. I loved most of the Ryman team and the ones I didn’t care for didn’t stick around for long, anyway.

Overall, I loved this book. Number two in the series, Deadline, releases on May 31, 2011. While I probably won’t be going to any midnight release for it, I imagine I’ll be out on June 1st to grab it. Grant hit the nail on the head with this series, and I am looking forward to seeing how the whole story pans out.

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