She Treads Softly: Feedback

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Feedback

Feedback by Mira Grant
Orbit: 10/4/16

eBook review copy; 496 pages
ISBN-13: 9780316379342
Newsflesh book 4
http://www.miragrant.com/

Feedback by Mira Grant is a highly recommended new addition to the Newsflesh series set 20 years in the future and on the presidential campaign trail during 2039-40. (And really, a zombie novel set during a presidential election year is almost irresistible.)

After the Rising, journalism now consists of online reporting through blogs. Aislinn (Ash) North (originally from Ireland), Benjamin Ross (her husband for green card purposes), Audrey (her girlfriend), and Mat (techie and gender-fluid) are housemates who work and live together. Ash is an Irwin blogger whose blog is called "Erin Go Blog," and Ben is a Newsie whose blog is called "That Isn't Johnny Anymore." Audrey is the fiction blogger and Mat has a makeup blog. They are surprised, but thrilled when they are selected to cover the campaign of the blue-pantsuited Democratic presidential nominee, Susan Kilburn. The famous brother and sister team, the Masons (from Feed), are covering the Republican presidential nominee.

The tension and danger rises when zombies begin to disrupt and attack campaign stops. Obviously, a conspiracy is afoot that will potentially affect the election. Ash is a tough, funny, woman who tells it like it is, but when Ash discovers a hidden agenda, her team may be the next planned target.

Expect the action to come hard and fast in this latest Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) novel narrated by Ash. Add to the list of expectations, or things to anticipate, plenty of political intrigue, zombie attacks, and even more paranoia. Although this is being touted as a new entry point for the original Feed series, new readers may want to consider starting at the beginning as starting here will mean spoilers for the previous books. If your goal is just to read a rip-roaring zombie novel with a diverse cast of characters, then go ahead and start here.

The series consists of: Feed, Deadline, and Blackout. Rise is a collection of Newsflesh stories.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.