well hello ridiculous plot twists
Finished Deadline today. I was sitting in my cubicle with this ridiculous urge to pee and about 20 pages left. Guess which I chose to do? Yup. Read Deadline. I couldn't even be bothered to walk the 10 seconds to the toilet and continue reading while pissing.
Once again Mira Grant demonstrates her inhuman ability to grab you by the balls and drag you along with a pathetic inability to do anything but read her book. I had many issues with the way she characterized her people (specifically Shaun Mason) and there are still some plot issues I'm dealing with but I definitely appreciate how well she can keep up suspense, mystery, and build mood. When she wants to creep you out she can and when she wants to get your blood flowing she does that too.
I would say that a problem I have with some of her prose is how much she tells instead of shows. "He looked scared" or "he looks like shit because he's so tired" doesn't quite cut it. Sometimes she'll show. Bags under the ends. Wrinkles. That sort of thing. But I don't think it's enough. It's not enough to keep me in the moment at least.
The plot has thickened to a nice oatmeal consistency if the oatmeal's been left out for 10 days. I don't know how we're going to conclude it but she has definitely escalated the stakes the the appropriate levels and I appreciate that. It's difficult to deliver a nice conspiracy theory that makes audiences properly satisfied with its scope without feeling completely deflated by how unrealistic it feels. I can see the big con and I like it and I can't wait to see where she goes with it. It's something else that I'm bothered with, something that will be under... dun dun dun....
- Alright. So. WTF?! Seriously. Georgia is ALIVE?! As a clone?! Ahahaha. You know that is just so preposterous I don't even know what to do with myself. Because well. Ok. So I mean. Where the hell do you start? Well for one, why did they even bother cloning her? Wouldn't it be better for everyone if she stayed dead? Well everyone save Shaun who went from being delightful to borderline annoying as hell for much of the book. Borderline because he still had his moments of glory. So there's that. I guess there's SOMEONE out there who thought whatever is going on with her is valuable. Second, I'm down with her being a clone but why does she still have her memories?! Am I in a Cory Doctarow novel or something? Did they introduce some technology that allows for the uploading of one person's sentient consciousness into a clone's body while I was off reading something else? It makes sense if they'd talked about this kind of thing before, that yeah we totally know how to harvest people's memories from their brains and put them somewhere else. Or did she get a brain transplant or something? But this just seems completely random and I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing how Grant explains it. I really REALLY am. Also, does this mean George is no longer immune to the KA virus? It was her reservoir condition that allowed her the immunity but she does have retinal KA anymore. Did the geniuses that cloned her at least, you know, inoculate her?
- And speaking of the clones, how is it that they now have cloning capabilities that can accelerate growth but not the means to cure this freakin' virus? I know the CDC's being douches and making things worse but the rest of the world? I think Dr. Abbey could figure out why Shaun's immune if the rest of the science community can figure out how to create the exact copy of another human being and have them reach adult age within a few months.
- Also, I think it's funny that I was reading about bugs becoming new vectors for KA and then I went out to buy mosquito nets and bug spray for my Ghana trip. I really liked that part. The whole abandoned America feel and then realizing people are being infected with KA through mosquito bites. Brilliant. The mood, the build up, and the awe shiiiiiit feeling that came after. It was all well done.
- Dr. Wynne being bad. I saw that one coming back in Feed though I wasn't sure with how straight forward Grant seemed to be. Now that he is a villain I have renewed hope in her ability to create unpredictable and initially amiable antagonists. I wonder now what's going on in Washington with Rick and the pres. Also, was it weird to anyone else how Ryman just up and picked Rick as his running mate? That's so random. I get that Vice Presidents are essentially useless sacks of bones but still. Rick? We barely knew him and suddenly he's all, "I'm the vice president." Weird.
- I really like Dr. Abbey and I'm looking forward to meeting this Dr. Shoji character. I'm also sort of relieved George is alive despite how WTF and this is completely ridiculous it is. Sure it's bad news for Becks (how about we find her someone else to like) but it's good news for Shaun. I wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to hold on. It's sort of sad though how little he's able to function without George. I feel like she would be better at it. I really do. Also, Mahir is the man. At least someone out there is a REAL adult.
I feel like I have more to say about this book but right now they're all visceral reactions to the general mayhem the last 300 pages were. Maybe when I get my head back together I'll have more to say.
Once again Mira Grant demonstrates her inhuman ability to grab you by the balls and drag you along with a pathetic inability to do anything but read her book. I had many issues with the way she characterized her people (specifically Shaun Mason) and there are still some plot issues I'm dealing with but I definitely appreciate how well she can keep up suspense, mystery, and build mood. When she wants to creep you out she can and when she wants to get your blood flowing she does that too.
I would say that a problem I have with some of her prose is how much she tells instead of shows. "He looked scared" or "he looks like shit because he's so tired" doesn't quite cut it. Sometimes she'll show. Bags under the ends. Wrinkles. That sort of thing. But I don't think it's enough. It's not enough to keep me in the moment at least.
The plot has thickened to a nice oatmeal consistency if the oatmeal's been left out for 10 days. I don't know how we're going to conclude it but she has definitely escalated the stakes the the appropriate levels and I appreciate that. It's difficult to deliver a nice conspiracy theory that makes audiences properly satisfied with its scope without feeling completely deflated by how unrealistic it feels. I can see the big con and I like it and I can't wait to see where she goes with it. It's something else that I'm bothered with, something that will be under... dun dun dun....
- Alright. So. WTF?! Seriously. Georgia is ALIVE?! As a clone?! Ahahaha. You know that is just so preposterous I don't even know what to do with myself. Because well. Ok. So I mean. Where the hell do you start? Well for one, why did they even bother cloning her? Wouldn't it be better for everyone if she stayed dead? Well everyone save Shaun who went from being delightful to borderline annoying as hell for much of the book. Borderline because he still had his moments of glory. So there's that. I guess there's SOMEONE out there who thought whatever is going on with her is valuable. Second, I'm down with her being a clone but why does she still have her memories?! Am I in a Cory Doctarow novel or something? Did they introduce some technology that allows for the uploading of one person's sentient consciousness into a clone's body while I was off reading something else? It makes sense if they'd talked about this kind of thing before, that yeah we totally know how to harvest people's memories from their brains and put them somewhere else. Or did she get a brain transplant or something? But this just seems completely random and I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing how Grant explains it. I really REALLY am. Also, does this mean George is no longer immune to the KA virus? It was her reservoir condition that allowed her the immunity but she does have retinal KA anymore. Did the geniuses that cloned her at least, you know, inoculate her?
- And speaking of the clones, how is it that they now have cloning capabilities that can accelerate growth but not the means to cure this freakin' virus? I know the CDC's being douches and making things worse but the rest of the world? I think Dr. Abbey could figure out why Shaun's immune if the rest of the science community can figure out how to create the exact copy of another human being and have them reach adult age within a few months.
- Also, I think it's funny that I was reading about bugs becoming new vectors for KA and then I went out to buy mosquito nets and bug spray for my Ghana trip. I really liked that part. The whole abandoned America feel and then realizing people are being infected with KA through mosquito bites. Brilliant. The mood, the build up, and the awe shiiiiiit feeling that came after. It was all well done.
- Dr. Wynne being bad. I saw that one coming back in Feed though I wasn't sure with how straight forward Grant seemed to be. Now that he is a villain I have renewed hope in her ability to create unpredictable and initially amiable antagonists. I wonder now what's going on in Washington with Rick and the pres. Also, was it weird to anyone else how Ryman just up and picked Rick as his running mate? That's so random. I get that Vice Presidents are essentially useless sacks of bones but still. Rick? We barely knew him and suddenly he's all, "I'm the vice president." Weird.
- I really like Dr. Abbey and I'm looking forward to meeting this Dr. Shoji character. I'm also sort of relieved George is alive despite how WTF and this is completely ridiculous it is. Sure it's bad news for Becks (how about we find her someone else to like) but it's good news for Shaun. I wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to hold on. It's sort of sad though how little he's able to function without George. I feel like she would be better at it. I really do. Also, Mahir is the man. At least someone out there is a REAL adult.
I feel like I have more to say about this book but right now they're all visceral reactions to the general mayhem the last 300 pages were. Maybe when I get my head back together I'll have more to say.