feed

FEED is a book about living with zombies. More precisely, it is about living in a near future where zombies have appeared and the world has entered into an uneasy equilibrium with them. The protagonists are young bloggers who are chosen to cover a presidential campaign; for them, the break that propels them into the big leagues - and a step up from poking zombies with sticks on camera.

The author, Seanan McGuire, writing as Mira Grant, paints a convincing and thorough picture of life after the Rising. The story, told from the point of view of Georgia Mason (the name George, after George Romero, and its derivatives are the most common names for the children of the initial outbreak’s survivors), can be a little heavy on exposition, is rife with pop culture references (bloggers that poke zombies with sticks are called Irwins, after Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter; those that publish opinion backed up by fact are called Stewarts, after John Stewart of the Daily Show), and at times veers off into overly colloquial territory, but is otherwise entertaining and easy to read.

This is the first novel-length work of fiction I’ve read since Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, to which I credit the author’s Big Idea piece on John Scalzi’s blog. Combined with a set of sample chapters delivered wirelessly to my Kindle, I was grabbed and pulled right in, just like the victims of the zombies that inhabit the book’s world. I’m only 20% in so far, so if it goes pear shaped later on, don’t blame me. So far, though, FEED is keeping me completely entertained.