Deadline

The sequels to Feed, which I loved. This is one of those unfortunate series where I kind of wish that the original book had been left to stand on its own. There was nothing wrong with these two, but they didn’t pack the emotional punch that Feed did, leaving me a little disappointed.

Do you ever read a book and think: "I just want to be best friends with the author. Can we just hang out and I can soak up her/his brillance? Pretty please?" Other people think this way, right? This is how I feel about Mira Grant. I declare myself a fan girl with pride.

Feed was one of my very favorite books that I read in 2011. I loved it, and it caught me largely by surprise, because anything with a designation of horror makes me skeptical, since I'm the biggest wimp ever. However, I was immediately charmed by Georgia's intelligence, sarcasm, and hatred of people. Whenever I love the first book in a series that much, I worry that the next one will be a disappointment. I mean, how can it be as good? Well, just let me say that literally from the quotes before the first chapter, my worries vanished. I knew from the beauty of the writing that I would love this one just as much...and I did.

These books are pretty massive, roughly 600 pages each, so they take some reading, even for a speed demon like myself. The world building in this series is freaking mind-blowing. I cannot even put into words how good it is. Grant has so many details, all intricately woven so it never feels like you're sitting back for fifty years of exposition. Well, at least, that's how I feel. I know some readers have been turned off by all of the focus on politics and science, but I loved that, even though science and politics are pretty much at the top of the list of things I hate.

Despite the length, I really never felt like the plot of Deadline dragged. I was constantly eager to keep moving and find out what was going to happen next. This book made me cry, made me laugh, made me seriously concerned for the state of humanity, and made me go WTF just happened (Ending, you were cray...why do I not have Blackout now?). You should definitely watch out for Grant's humor, which can be found throughout. She has this great, dark sense of humor that just kills me. For example, she describes grocery shopping in the post-Rising world as "not an activity for the faint of heart" (345). Yes, you do learn about grocery shopping in a zombie-afflicted world. The characters are all vibrant and feel so real. In a lot of ways, her style reminds me of Joss Whedon. Just saying.

At this point, I'm going tell all you peeps who haven't read Feed to bounce. Either go read my review for that book or, even better, GO BUY FEED AND READ IT RIGHT NOW. The rest of this review will have crazy insane SPOILERS for Feed, so I really don't want anyone without any knowledge of book one continuing on. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, folks who read Feed, that ending was insane, right? Talk about a book that stayed with me. I usually forget endings but I did not forget that for sure. WAAAAHHHHH! I love that Grant wasn't afraid to kill off the MC. I mean, that's just badass, but it's also difficult to recover from, which is why you don't often see it. This, too, explains my initial fear of this book; a narrator switch was compulsory and I adored George. Well, thankfully, Shaun totally works as a narrator. You even get some George, because, check it, all those happenings have officially pushed Shaun over the edge of sanity into crazy town. He's now hearing George in his mind, and not just through memories.

Usually, this is not a plot line I would be able to handle, but Grant has done it so well. See, the thing is that George and Shaun had only each other for so many years. They are more closely bound to one another than Heathcliff and Catherine, on top of being a million times less obnoxious. Because of this, it makes sense that he can't let her go completely. In fact, the only thing keeping him going is his need for revenge on whoever orchestrated her death, because Shaun's not buying Tate as a mastermind. Where Feed delved into corruption in politics, Deadline focuses on the medical profession, and the truths of Kellis-Amberlee. I don't want to go into any more detail than that, because that might detract from your joy on the journey. Just know that it's amazing.

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is, without a doubt, my favorite zombie fiction. With complete honesty, I can think of NOTHING that I would like to change about them. I could open the book up at random to any page, any of them, and find a quote I love. For me, the writing, tone, pacing, humor, world and characters are all absolutely perfect.

A strong(er) follow up to Feed. The only complaint I have is Grant's occasional deliberate obscuring of details.

Back when I read Feed last year, I had to stop at one point and kick myself, yelling “Why haven’t we read this sooner, you twit?! This is awesome.” So allow me to reiterate: “WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU WAIT TO READ THE SEQUEL?” (Much thanks to the Mark Reads blog, if only for the fact that this could have gathered dust on my shelf for a lot longer.)

On its own, Feed works very well. Most of the major plotlines are wrapped up, and we’re left with Shaun wondering what he’s going to do now that Georgia’s gone from his life. It’s a bittersweet and not necessarily a satisfactory ending—yes, the villains are dead, but Shaun’s world is shattered—but there’s no real major plot threads, and one could read Feed as a stand-alone. But there’s always more to the story.

Shaun was my favorite character from Feed, and picking up on the narration again, he does have a great voice. It’s made pretty clear in Feed that he’s not a bland copy of Georgia, and I like that a lot of his narration is pretty funny—not completely cynical, but you can tell how much Shaun’s been hurting since Georgia died. I also loved how Shaun’s grief and conversations with Georgia were handled. A lesser writer would have probably shoehorned the idea that Shaun was either going crazy or that his talking to Georgia was his method of coping, but Grant never gives us that viewpoint. I like that it’s more apparent that most people think that Shaun’s doing one of the above, but we do see his coworkers brushing it off as Shaun acting normal. And I also loved that no one told Shaun, “She’s dead, get over it.” I liked that Shaun’s grieving was addressed, and that it’s still raw for him, no matter how long it’s been.

In the first book, it was really easy to forget that the After the End Times wasn’t just Buffy, Georgia and Shaun running the whole site on their own, with the dirty work being handled by Mahir. I loved finally getting to see the rest of the team in full force here. It’s saying something that Mira Grant can introduce me to a new character, place them in a dangerous situation and me rooting for them to get out as soon as they could. (Daaaaaaave.) I loved the whole team, especially in how they all worked together. It never felt like they all had one role to fill and that’s all they were good for; I liked that Shaun asked for everyone’s input on the situation. Despite what happens in the book, I do ship Becks/Shaun (or Poking Dead Things. Can that be a ship name? No? Maybe?)—I loved their chemistry together, not just as a romantic pairing, but as colleagues and friends. (I should have touched on this above: I…as much as I loved this book, I really don’t like the idea of Georgia/Shaun. Yes, they’re consenting adults; yes, they’re not related by blood. I…it’s still uncomfortable to me. I’m holding off until I read Blackout before I make a decision on that.)

Kelly Connelly and her run from the CDC brings a whole new level to the massive conspiracy in the first book. While Tate did feel like a one-off maniacal villain, you could also argue that the CDC’s plans are just as maniacal and make no sense. Why would the Center for Disease Control want to stop studying reservoir conditions and a way to potentially cure or halt the development of Kellis-Amberlee? No, it doesn’t make any sense. But I’m interested in knowing why and following Shaun and his team as they hunt down the truth. Also, can I point out the brilliant pay-off with Kelly’s story when she first shows up in Oakland? It may seem like it’s out of left field with the talk of cloning and the ethical issues behind full-body cloning, only to be dropped when it’s revealed “OH BY THE WAY, reservoir conditions can cause amplification but then the subject can fight off the infection.” AND THEN THE CODA HAPPENS AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON ANYMORE. WHAT. WHEN DID THEY CLONE GEORGIA? HOW IS SHE FULL-GROWN. WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN.

(Also, Dr. Abbey is the best, I love her. She may be a rogue mad scientist, but she doesn’t give Shaun a lot of bullshit, and is willing to help him, so long as he plays ball. And she infected an octopus with KA.)

The greatest strength in the book is the amount of tension. After the zombie outbreak in Oakland, every time the group went on the move, I was on the edge of my seat. That last trip from Tennessee to Weed was just horrible. I’m not someone who reacts to a lot of jump scares—namely, because I can see them coming and I tend to ignore the part when the scary thing pops up. But when you’ve got something like an eerily silent trip across the United States, and not seeing a single person the whole team, I was just waiting for a zombie to pop out or guns to start firing. And it just made the eventual reveal even worse. You would think reading thirty pages of boring road trip scene would be…well, boring, but knowing that not one of these characters is safe, it made it worse.

SO THAT ENDING. I really wasn’t sure if Mira Grant was going to pull another death—honestly, I could have seen Shaun dying from a zombie bite; it’d be a more fitting death for him, given his Irwin past. But she doesn’t, and he’s actually okay. I don’t know whether it’s from Georgia or all that time out in the field, but that’s why there’s a sequel. And then the coda and Georgia and NO REALLY WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED.

Mira Grant takes the rule of great sequels—take everything great about the first book, and amp it up to eleven—and doubles it. If I hadn’t been doing a read-along, I probably would have finished this within two or three days, because I needed to know what happens next. I cannot wait to start Blackout and see how this all ends. (I’m going to assume it will have a lot of tears and nuns.)

Well this was just a whole lot of fun. Perfect scifi zombie dystopian escapist reading with a good, fast moving plot and some depth to it you can sink your teeth into. I liked #1, but now I am addicted. Deadline follows Feed, the first in the series, where we were introduced to professional blogger journalists and adoptive 20-something sister & brother Georgia and Shaun in zombie plagued America, as they get the professional gig of the lifetime following a presidential hopeful around as the news folk in his entourage.

Backstory: See, two experimental viruses, intended to cure cancer and the common cold, crossed paths and created an extremely contagious zombiefication virus affecting humans and other mammals over about 40 lbs. After what was termed "The Rising" of 2014, bloggers dominate mainstream media because the bloggers came through with information and warnings when the mainstream media didn't. The world is much changed, since the virus still rages. Much technology exists to test people entering and exiting homes, buildings, vans, etc., for the virus as it amplifies very rapidly in the body and zombies are murderous beasties. Red light= your comrades shoot you fast.

This volume carries on with Shaun, after Georgia's death in Feed due to political malfeasance. Their blogging news enterprise is doing great, but Shaun is heartbroken, haunted, and maybe a little crazy. He still talks to Georgia all the time, but now she just answers him in his head. Luckily he's given a reason to go on living when a CDC scientist turns up on his doorstep, on the run with some choice information about the conspiracy that caused Georgia's death. A pack of zombies turns up on her heels, and Shaun and his bloggers are soon also on the run with the CDC scientist, hot on the trail of the conspiracy, vengeance, and constantly tied into the internet to keep their followers apprised. The book ends with a heck of a cliffhanger, but it's an excellent ride! I'm slightly wary about the cliffhanger ending, I hope there's some believable science to explain things, but I expect another great tale. In eight months or so. Sigh.

I'd say this was better than Feed - more complex, more interesting main conflict - but some lazy writing in the last third of the book knocks it back down to three stars for me. Longer review later.

It is very difficult to review this book without spoiling the major twist ending of Feed; if you haven't read Feed, don't read this.

Deadline is great - engaging, fast-moving, and tense. It's much more a thriller than Feed was, driven largely by the fact that the daring Shaun is the main character. His peculiar insanity drives the book, and the over-the-top willingness of their opponents to incur collateral damage keeps things tense throughout.

I found it slightly less perfect than Feed, partly because George is just the best character, and as a hallucination she doesn't really pack the same punch, but really it's fantastic - three-quarters of the way through it, I glanced at the clock to make sure the bookstore would be open when I was done, because I wanted to get the sequel immediately.

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 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.

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.

Close but not quite as good as the 1st in the series, very much a transitional mid-series book. You definetly should read FEED first - and it is awesome so you should read it anyway.Shaun remains the only hero in this book having lost all his team in the previous one. However we still get Georgia's take on things because Shaun is no longer entirely sane, and hear's George's voice in his head - when he gets reall stressed he even visualises her. He gets stressed a few times! There was sufficient evidence at the end of Feed that the remaining bloggers suspect the CDC of covering up some form of information about the zombie virus. Of course it's always a difficult question - if the truth will harm people does anyone have the right to hide it? BUt it doesn't get answered that thorughly in this book.Instead we have a fairly normal conspircacy story with a few zombies thorwn in instead of on-the-ball security guards. The first time was just about at the cusp of belivability, the 2nd was frankly shoddy. No organisation should be making security errors at the level that allows a couple of kids to just walk in. Twice. Somehow the tension wasn't quite there either nor was that sense of wonder at the way the world turned out. It was all close, but just not quite as compelling as in the f1st book. In some respects Shaun acknowledges this because his sens of fun as an Irwin has left him, and he now heads the Newsies and only ventures intot he field when necessary. The banter and personalities between the team remain impressive.Not as good, but still worth reading. As the first chapter of the third book is tagged on the end, I can definetrly say I'll be reading it, but my WTF meter will be running on overload.

The only reason I didn't gasp, cry, and yell aloud at this book while I was reading it is because I was on an airplane for 90% of it and didn't want to freak out my fellow passengers.I recognize that this book has flaws, but I really don't care. I found it emotionally engaging, fast-paced, funny and tragic. Really looking forward to the next book.

It's really difficult to review books that form part of a trilogy and particularly difficult to do so without spoilers. So I'm just going to say that I really enjoyed this second book in the Newsflesh trilogy. Very readable and enjoyable, with characters that I loved, some great twists and turns and some interesting questions (as other reviewers have highlighted) around freedom of information and how much information governments should make available to their citizens ...

I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this book. After all, George was the best character in the first book, and she’s dead! Would I feel the same way about Shaun?Turns out I didn’t have to worry, because George is still a very large part of this book, if only in Shaun’s head. Rather than being focused on national news events, such as the presidential campaign, this book is focused on the disease that causes the zombies. Turns out, things aren’t quite as they appear, and George’s death may have been orchestrated by more than just one crazy politician.The events of the first book left everyone in this one more than a little shell-shocked, and the trauma affects many of their actions. I liked that this book gave us a little more of an idea of what things are like in the rest of the country, away from the big cities, when you’re not surrounded by security and RVs.One of the more interesting aspects of this series is the author’s imagined evolution of bloggers and blogging, where they become the real truth tellers of society. I think it’s become an even more compelling vision in light of what has been accomplished (good and bad) with social media in the last couple of years.There were big doings at the end of this book, and a major cliff-hanger. I’ll definitely be reading the third.

Grant’s Deadline is an adventurous, thrilling, chilling, suspenseful, and a non-stop action filled ride. Feed, the first book in the trilogy, surprised me because I didn’t think a zombie book would interest me, but Grant’s Feed definitely proved me wrong. Grant does a great job of making the story come to life and giving the reader characters that stand out as they fight against all the forces conspiring against them. Deadline is just as good as the first book and gives the reader some new characters to root for working side by side the old ones. Shaun is still reeling from the death of his sister and is a man without a mission. He gets a mission when a researcher shows up on his doorstep after being “killed” at the CDC. This visit proves to Shaun that the conspiracy that killed his sister is not dead. The truth is out there and Shaun intends to find it. I am still amazed at how well Grant gives her zombie story heart, and it is the power of this group of bloggers that make this story stand out. Overall this was an amazing read, and I cannot recommend this series enough. The third book is already sitting on my pile of books waiting to be read.

A major drop in quality from the first book in the series, Feed. It suffers from a virulent form of middle episode disease. Very little happens. The actions (or lack thereof) of the villains meander into the unbelievably dumb. Despite a great deal of heightened rhetoric on the annoying blog extracts that precede every chapter, the protagonists sit around hashing out where the plot stands for much of the book, then putter off to some new encounter which drips some action into the story, then return home to hash out what's happening all over again. The only real significant plot development happens in the last couple of pages and since I'm certain it will be talked about again and again in the third and final episode of the trilogy, I would seriously recommend just skipping this going to the last book.

Summary from Goodreads:"Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun."My Thoughts:I couldn't seem to coherently come up with my own summary of this book without giving away spoilers so I decided to use the above summary. I adored this book! Loved it so much that after turning the last page (and reading the little bonus section in the back) I was ready to start it all over again. I'm going to admit that I didn't think that it could live up to the amazingness that was Feed. But I'm happy to say that Deadline was JUST as good as Feed! That's two, blow me out of the water, recommend to everyone, AMAZING books that make up a trilogy. I cannot read Blackout. How could it possibly live up to these two books??? These may be two of my favorite books ever.One of the things that I loved about Feed was how surprised I was that I fell in love with the book. It was just SO good and the ending...all of it knocked me over in reading ecstasy. When I started Deadline I was excited to be reading it but I was super nervous as well. I was sure that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much...there was just no possible way to love it as much as the previous book. But it instantly sucked me back into Shaun's world and I loved every minute of it! I keep using the word love but there is no other way to describe it. I adored each and every page of this book and was left wanting more. This book instantly skyrocketed to my top 10 reads of 2012...heck, it may be my favorite book that I read this year. I suppose it is too soon to tell but it could be. I haven't really told you anything about this book and I'm not going to. I think that you should go into reading these books with little to no knowledge of the plot so you have no expectations. Just expect awesomeness. And if you ask me for a book recommendation I'm probably going to mention these. Just saying :)Bottom Line: An amazing read. An amazing 2nd book in this trilogy. One of my favorites easily! What else could you possibly need to know???Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book from the now closed Borders bookstore. BEST purchase ever!!!!

An excellent story about the end of the world with a very interesting twist at the end.

I did read the first book in this series. - and I liked it well enough - but it doesn't hold a candle to this one... not even close. The first book was more like an adventure story set in a world that had zombies, this one is a zombie apocalypse conspiracy theory - it's darker, scarier and much better plotted/paced than the first book.This story doesn't spend so much time meandering and focuses much more clearly on the horribleness of the source of the zombie apocalypse. And it the explanation for the zombies was well-done, believable, and terrifying. You know... I'd even go nearly as far as to say that you don't have to read the first book at all - other than one recurring character playing an odd role (and a nice twist), the stories are pretty independent.This book doesn't spin off into unrelated tangents, and the characters take reasonable actions to deal with the situations they find themselves in, for the most part. Sure, they're extremely lucky to get away with everything they do, but, really, there has to be some suspension of disbelief in a zombie book...No doubt at all that I'll be buying the next book in this series.

Grant's spin on a post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak is so creative and interesting. I wasn't sure how she was going to handle this one, since she killed off her main character in the first book. I wasn't disappointed, and I can't wait for the last in the trilogy.

If you are not reading this series, you are missing out. I cannot emphasize enough how good it is. If you like zombies, horror, or mad science, please run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and buy a copy of Feed, the first book in the series, immediately. In fact, I say BUY a copy, not download on your Kindle, because if you are like me, you may want to read it again someday, and a physical book is just so much more satisfying for that. There are revelations in this book that change the entire way you read the last book, so that after you read this book, you may want to go back and read that one again too. Be forewarned that there is something in this book (yes, other than zombies) that may be a little too much 'squick' for some of you. But it is very tastefully done, and while a major part of the plot, the details are left between the lines, for the most part.I grew to love the characters so much that the fact that I know Blackout (the third in the trilogy) will be their last appearance makes me indescribably sad. In addition to the kind of characters, few and far between, who become part of you, the book has some awesome 'what-if' apocalyptic science. It's believable and gripping and heartbreaking. If you don't want to read this more than you want to eat lunch by the time you've finished this review, I haven't done my job well enough. Someday, someone will make a list of seminal horror classics of the 21st century. This trilogy will be on that list.

I love this series. Can't wait for the next one. I'm glad the intro to the last book was included. Yes, the first one was better, but this is the middle book of a trilogy. You have to read Feed first. The people who complained about not enough zombies in the first one, will really hate this one. It's more about fear and grief and governmental cover-ups and conspiracies and the CDC. While it is a horror story, the genre is actually near-future science fiction and it looks like that's going to be much more apparent in Blackout. There is a lot of technical info dumping here, but I liked the world-building.

Book two of the Newsflesh Trilogy continues where Feed ends, leaving Shaun Mason to face the aftermath of the Ryman presidential campaign. Shaun is rather lost in this book with one foot inside the madhouse. The conspiracy that was uncovered in the first book now takes on new meaning and direction when Dr. Kelly Connolly from the CDC shows up on his doorstep with a horde of zombies following closely behind.There's a considerable amount of exposition in this book, which recaps events from the first book. This is good for readers who may have picked up the books out of sequence (but why would they when Feed is so awesome?!). However, it was sometimes annoying for me, as I have read Feed and because the exposition is reiterated occasionally and sometimes unnecessarily at different points in the story. But this was an easily ignored flaw for me as the story was thrilling enough to keep me going.One of the great things about the first book was Grant's (the pen name for Seanan McGuire) love and exploration of virology. The science comes through making the disease of the undead seem logical and possible. Top that off with a set of cool characters who you want to root for, and you've got a rocking good book.

Deadline is the second book in Mira Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy. This review assumes you have read the first book Feed and will spoil it for you if you haven’t. Proceed with caution!It’s been one year since Georgia Mason’s death and her brother Shaun is still struggling. Chasing zombies isn’t fun for him anymore. Now his focus is on finding out who is responsible for Georgia’s death and exacting his revenge.This book focuses less on the actual zombies than Feed did and more on investigating deeper into the conspiracy uncovered in Feed. I’ll admit that some of the more scientific aspects discovered about the Kellis-Amberlee virus that were explained in this book were hard for me to follow. I’m not sure if that’s my fault or the author’s. I’m hoping that it will all make perfect sense after I read the final book in the trilogy, Blackout. (It doesn’t come out until June 2012. Boo!)The one thing that bothered me in this book and that kept it from being a five-star review is some repetitiveness. It seems like we are constantly reminded that Shaun drinks Coke even though he doesn’t really want to and that he is probably crazy. That got a little irritating after a while – we can tell Shaun is crazy because he acts crazy.Overall though I thought this book was fantastic. It took my breath away at times just like Feed and the ending left my head spinning. I can’t wait to read Blackout.

This is book two of Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy, featuring bloggers, zombies, and big old conspiracies. I spent a fair bit of last month looking for a good "airplane book." You know, something fast-paced and fun, something engaging but not too demanding. You wouldn't think that would be difficult to find, but somehow I kept ending up with tedious, poorly-written stuff that just seemed calculated to make a long plane flight seem even longer. The best of them was Robopocalypse, and even that was a little too generic and cheesy to be entirely satisfying. Clearly, I should have just grabbed this one off the to-read stacks instead, because it's got pretty much everything I was looking for: action, humor, suspense, an interesting premise, a zippy pace, even a bit of intelligent subtext involving things like the trade-off between freedom and security. Also, dialog that doesn't read like the author has somehow never heard actual humans speaking, something that is by no means a given. But, while I did like the first book in the series, I just didn't expect this one to be quite as enjoyable, mainly because I thought the most appealing aspect of Feed was in the thoughtful, surprisingly believable way that it explained the zombie plague and explored the social consequences of living in a post-zombie-apocalypse world. And I didn't figure there was a whole lot more to say about that. But if anything, I actually I liked this one better. It does, in fact, explore the zombie-animating disease and its implications a little more, but mostly it's just a fun read.It's certainly not a perfect or flawless book. Among other things, the conspiracy plot may require more suspension of disbelief than the zombies. But, boy, did it scratch the itch. Or, at least, it would have if it hadn't ended on a huge, WTF-ish cliffhanger. When the heck is book three coming out?

In general, I am Officially Bored with zombies.Still, I really like this series- both "Deadline" and the earlier volume "Feed" (which is an utterly brilliant title for it!).(I do have some quibbles with the science- which I wouldn't have if it had more hand-waving and less attempts to be explicit; for example, I can accept FTL drives, as long as the authors don't make me read lots of bullshit physics to "justify" them. Similarly here; while i won't go into it here unless there's a clamoring, the biology of the virus doesn't hold up- and that's more of a problem the more Grant tries to explain it, at least for me. I may be weird in this, of course.)Anyway- mostly it's a thriller, and a truly excellent one that i enjoyed very much indeed, and i'm greatly looking forward to the next installment.

I love really good zombie books and Mira Grant's Newsflesh series is, to me, one of the best. I love her characters and I love (love to hate, too) the fact that she has no qualms about killing of characters we've gotten to know throughout the course of her books. What I also like are the twists and turns she throws into her books. In Feed they were a bit different than in Deadline, but they work well in both books. As with the previous book, once I finished this one, I couldn't wait to read the next book in the series. Depending on how it ends, I might have to buy all three books, rather then just get them from the library! The world Grant has created is enough like our own to scare the crap out of me, but also to make it interesting and engaging. I seriously cannot wait for book three.

(Contains spoilers for the first book--beware! And honestly, you have to read the first book first.)His sister might be dead, but Shaun Mason still runs the most popular news blogging site in the post-zombie-apocalyptic world. So when a CDC science goes rogue with her knowledge of the virus Kellis-Amberlee, she contacts Shaun to tell all. Thus starts another conspiracy investigation that makes blogging the most dangerous pass-time still going. By the end of this book everything has changed, including the rules Shaun & his staff always held as gospel to let them survive in such a world.It's rare that I enjoy the second in a series as much as the first. They usually lose half a star, at least. This time I'm just as impressed. It's a combination of the story's breakneck pace, the way it all feels real and possible, and the hints of more conspiracy right down the road. Seen this time from Shaun's perspective rather than Georgia's, the world is a bit new again, and that really helps keep it fresh. He's a little bit of a psycho for me (he wants to punch nearly everyone in the face) but even that is tempered by the idea, "Who wouldn't be that psycho at this point?" And if the world is populated by people who all seem to be either Shaun's age or his parents' age, that pretty much works with the blogger mentality.Great stuff. I'm just annoyed I read it so quickly after release, and now have to wait a year for the third book.

Okay, I really am not a zombie fan. But blogging the zombie apocalypse won me over, and this second book in the planned trilogy was just as force-me-to-keep-reading as the first. Now Shaun’s the narrator (for most of the book, anyway) and he’s struggling to deal with the fallout from the conspiracy revealed in the first book. Also, the zombie outbreaks are getting, unbelievably, worse—and the reason why is more terrible than he could have imagined. Getting Shaun’s surprising perspective on his relationship with George also turns this thriller into a fascinating inquiry into the nature of truth and how, if at all, we can trust secondhand reports filtered through someone else’s experiences. And then there is the epilogue, which made me jolt up screaming “What! How can you make me wait for the third book when you did that?” So, go read it!

Shaun Mason is a shell of his former self. He doesn’t find joy in poking at zombies or blogging anymore. His life feels empty because his sister Georgia was killed. He doesn’t feel completely alone because George speaks to him in his head. Although well aware that the voice isn’t really George, he still speaks to her and makes his co-workers uneasy coupled with his penchant for rages and bursts of violence. Everything turns around when a CDC scientist fakes her own death and comes to him for help. Her work researching KA reservoir conditions is being repressed by someone killing everyone else on her team. Her research could lead to the real people that killed Georgia. So, after avoiding a messy murder attempt disguised as a zombie outbreak, Shaun and his news team need to stay one step ahead of their enemies and figure out why this research is being suppressed and how it relates to his sister’s death. Shaun needs to keep enough sanity to not completely alienate his friends and stay vigilant because the slightest mistake could mean the death of everyone he cares about.I loved Deadline. As with the first book, I was completely glued to the page within the first chapter. If I had my way, I would have sat and read this book for as long as it took me to finish it. But in real life, pesky things like eating and sleeping forced me to reluctantly put the book down. The aspect that struck me the most was the detail in describing the Kellis-Amberlee virus and how it works. I’m always interested in the science aspect of zombies because I like the zombie mechanics to actually make sense within the world. This virus is the most unique I’ve ever read because a dormant version of it is in each and every person. I really couldn’t have asked for more scientific detail, which made the world incredibly realistic. When I read the book, I felt fully immersed in this wonderful and terrible world that seemed so much like our own. In Feed, I noticed Shaun, but he didn’t honestly make a huge impact with me. Georgia’s character outshined him, mostly due to the fact the she narrated that book. He really shines in Deadline and has many more facets than I previously thought. Fiercely loyal and quick to anger, Shaun is an emotional character who feels crazy and broken since his sister died. The only one who really understands him is her voice in his head. He knows she’s dead and not really speaking to him, but the inner voice still provides insight and guidance. Shaun grew as a character from being shallow and adventure seeking to someone more fragile and serious. Through all of his pain, he never once gives up on finding answers. I enjoyed getting to know Shaun. I really want to reread Feed now and pay more attention to his character to better see the changes he’s gone through.Deadline is a relentless adventure. The plot doesn’t stop and alternates between heart-stopping adventure and slow burning mystery solving. I like that this book is half action movie and half cerebral mystery. The ending is completely shocking, but sets up the next book. I’m glad Deadline isn’t a typical second book, where it’s typically just filler for the finale. I can’t wait for the next book and I would recommend this to all zombie fans.

This is the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant. The third book, Blackout, is schedule for a May 2012 release. This was an absolutely excellent continuation of this series. Things that happen in this book will absolutely take your breath away; it is absolutely engaging and really makes you think.After the death of his sister, Shaun is at a loss as to what to do with his life. Then a doctor from the CDC shows up with some really interesting data and Shaun is drawn into a plot that is bigger than him and his sister ever dreamed. Now Shaun and he fellow bloggers are trying to unravel the plot around the virus before someone stops them, like terminally stops them. This book was absolutely engrossing and just full of awesomeness! If you enjoyed the first book you will enjoy this one. This book is told from Shaun's perspective, although Georgia is present as a voice in Shaun's head. There are a wonderful cast of characters, some new, most of them old favorites from the first book. The book alternates between heart-pounding action scenes and periods where the characters are trying to piece together the conspiracy and mystery surrounding Georgia's death. There is definitely some heartbreak in this book, people die as to be expected in a zombie book. But this is so much more than a zombie book. There is discussion on disease, conspiracy, blogging, and conditioning humanity as a whole to live in fear. Grant does an excellent job discussing these things and obviously has done a lot of medical research as well as techie research.As with the last book each chapter opens with blog entries from the characters involved; included are some previously unpublished blog entries from Georgia. The plot has many twists and turns and is well-woven and completely unpredictable at times.For the most part I absolutely loved this book but there are a couple things that might bother readers. Grant does a lot of recapping throughout; I personally like this because it's been a while since I read the first book, Feed. I think readers who have recently read Feed might find the amount of recapping frustrating. Also having Georgia as a voice in Shaun's head is weird, I think it does really tie into the story later, but in this book it was just kind of strange at times.Those who have decided not to read this series because it is a "zombie" series, should really give it a try. It is about so much more than zombies. It is about searching for the truth, empowering humanity to make their own decisions, conspiracy, and disease control. There is a lot about blogging in here too, which I love because obviously I blog a lot :-)Overall an absolutely steller addition to this series. I loved Feed and I loved this book too. If you haven't read these books you should they are awesome. I love the characters, love the plot, love the accuracy of detail, and loved the fact that I couldn't put this book down. Everyone should check this book out! I can't wait to read Blackout next year.

Major Spoilers AheadThis book is some kind of amazing. I missed George and her aspergers-like obsession with truth in a way that even Shaun's voice-in-the-head couldn't much help, so I liked the surprise ending quite well. The whole book is full of delightful twists, but the one it ended on made me simultaneously squee with joy and want to hit something. Speaking of hitting things, Shaun did a lot of that, in this book. I know he's in mourning and all, and he's got more than a right to be upset, but sometimes I wish one of the team had hit him back. Not nice of me, I know, but still.Can't wait for the next one in the series to come out, too bad I've still got roughly a year to go.