Review - Blackout by Mira Grant

Rise up while you can. -Georgia Mason

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.

I read Blackout by Mira Grant so quickly after reading Deadline that it's still a little fuzzy where one book ended and the other began. I'm still not 100% certain I didn't add some details from book 3 in my review for book 2. Oops.

I will say that I have never been so obsessed with a series of books in a LONG time. I literally could not put these down. I'd read at red lights while I was driving (ONLY at the red lights), took it to my daughter's gymnastics class to pass the hour and 15 minutes I had to wait, read until I fell asleep at night, took it to read while I waited for my kids to finish with Girl Scouts.

Fantastic series.

Shaun is still a little crazy, but his team is there for him. George v.2 is lucky to have people working in the ranks of the CDC to remove her and return her to her brother. Or... not return her I guess since technically she's a clone and she's never ACTUALLY met him before. But she remembers him. She remembers him because, more or less, George v.1's brain was scanned and implanted in to George v.2. She is 97% actual Georgia Mason.

So in this particular installment there are, as the blurb states, zombie bears, infected mosquitos, backstabbing doctors, hostage presidents, tropical storms, foxes, cats, monkeys (read it and you'll know what I mean)... It's a lot of action and not everyone comes out of it unscathed. Maggie is injured and Becks... well... she was a hero in the end.

Like I said before, I was totally obsessed with this series. It didn't matter that a lot of the information on the scientific aspect of things didn't really stick with me, I caught the general idea of what was being said during those parts. That's what mattered.

How often does your favorite character die, or does the main character/hero of the story die and you just WISH the author would write a new one and bring them back some how? How often do you watch movies and someone dies and you just sit there stunned with your mouth hanging open going "Well that can't possibly have actually happened.... they'll be back in another episode... RIGHT?!?" Well, a big round of applause to Mira Grant because she found a way to bring George back. Sure it may not sit well with some reviewers, but honestly... how many of you didn't at least say "Wow, that sucks" just once after she died in Feed? I think I admitted that I cried. Just a little. ::cough::

And how many of you weren't totally heartbroken that Shaun was just going completely off the deep end?

I didn't really know what to do when I finished this book. It's one of those stories that just kind of leaves you breathless after not giving you a chance to sit still the entire time you're reading it. The whole series I mean. Not just this book in particular.

Normally I would say I wish there were more books following Blackout. And in a way, I do. I would love to see more of this highly technological post-apocalyptic world. But I think that Shaun and George deserve some time off.

I would highly recommend this series. To ages 16 and above, if I haven't said it before as there are some mature situations (aside from all the dying and stuff). It's quite an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse story and one that I think is absolutely fantastic. Just once, the world doesn't completely fold in on itself and die. It ADVANCES! How cool is that? There are also some really interesting tidbits at the end of the stories that sort of add to them or perhaps help you to understand them better. So, if you've been on the fence about reading the Newsflesh Trilogy, hop off and go open it up!

Review - Feed by Mira Grant

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Fantastic story. I loved Feed by Mira Grant. Completely different than any zombie/post-apocalyptic story I've read and completely awesome.

Georgia, Shaun, and Buffy are journalists. Georgia is strictly news, Shaun is action and opinion, and Buffy is what they call a Fictional. She writes poems and stories and stays away from field work and the grim bits of reporting. The trio are picked to accompany a new presidential candidate along his campaign trail and end up with so much more than they bargained for. More than anyone bargained for.

This was definitely a unique story in that, while there were zombies and there was a plague that destroyed most of the world it seems, it did not cripple it. If anything, in the not so distant future, technology is more advanced and things are more or less running business as usual, just with zombies on the side. There are schools and blogs and newspapers, there are presidential elections and corrupt politicians and publicity stunts galore. There is also an actual disease behind the cause of the change. A disease that they tell you from the beginning that everyone has (animals included) but that stays dormant until death (with the exception of some situations).

I found myself jealous during most of the story of all of the high-tech gadgets that they had and their ability to record and display and just get their stories out to the world almost immediately. I was also jealous of George's relationship with her brother. I wish me and my brother could have been that close. Best friends.

Their parents made me angry though... this is where the publicity stunts come in. That seems to be all they wanted George and Shaun for. Publicity. After the death of their first child when a dog over 40 pounds "amplified" and bit him, you would have thought that being in the spotlight was the LAST thing they wanted. But no. They used it to their advantage. I guess if they hadn't, though, Shaun and George would not have had the opportunities that they did.

Buffy disappointed me though. Turning on her friends the way that she did. I wasn't sad when she bought the farm. Maybe I should have been, but I wasn't.

Another story where I hated the ending. Absolutely hated it. I cried, I won't lie. It was so sad. I picked up the second book to start reading it, not long after I finished the first one, but I haven't been able to bring myself to actually open it yet.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a different kind of zombie novel. Again, it's for an older crowd, but you won't be disappointed for giving it a go.