I picked up this book, after seeing the name on a list of decent zombie fiction. While the other book I picked up (Down the Road) wasn’t worth it, this one seriously was.

Feed, by Mira Grant. Book one of the NewsFlesh series.

This isn’t your typical zombie novel. This isn’t during the rising. It’s about 20 years later or so, with people having pretty much adapted to the zombies existing. That’s not to say things are back to normal though.

That’s the thing I really like about this book. It’s written in first person perspective, neatly straddling the line of too much exposition, and not telling you a thing about the world. It doesn’t have large screes of info dump. The largest covers why there are zombies (Genetic engineering gone bad. Twenty years ago, it would probably have been nuclear) and even that one is all handled in character. It helps that the protagonists report the ‘news’.

I quote the word news, because they’re bloggers. News is a very loaded word these days. In the search for ratings, and hence advertising, news shows and newspapers sensationalise what they report. This is one theme that’s brought up. Along with the limited ‘agility’ they show. Mention is made of how they were slow to report the zombie outbreaks.

Like most good zombie fiction, it’s not about the zombies. It’s about the people, and how they are changed by the situation. Like the Romero films, it’s social commentary. It’s not very in your face, but it’s there; for once, it’s actually fairly positive. At least, it is if you’re the right kind of person. Sheeple need not apply.

The characterisation is pretty good. Weak on some of the supporting characters, but that’s me looking for a fault. I was left with the impression that the protagonists were well defined, even if I couldn’t precisely define them myself. Every act just fitted into the whole. Which is, pretty much, the best you can ask for. A full definition just means that they’re at best two dimensional.

TL/DR : Buy this book. Read it. Enjoy it.