Book review: Feed by Mira Grant
Like almost all my reviews, this is spoiler-free.
*
I have heard the opinion, stated by such horror greats as Clive Barker and Eli Roth, that horror must be gory to an R-rated extreme. I disagree, not because I have a problem with gore, but because I don't like the idea that anything creative must adhere to a set of guidelines. If a horror story doesn't need gore and torture and mutilation to make its point and tell its tale, why should it have to have it?
Feed is the perfect example. It's 2034, twenty years after the zombie apocalypse, and the world has gone on. Most places are so dangerous that average people are afraid to step outside their homes, and journalists now need to have firearm licenses and hazard training. Online blogs have become more relevant than ever because the "real" news lost all credibility when it badly documented the zombie outbreak, resulting in many preventable deaths.
Enter Georgia "George" and Shaun Mason, a couple of young, ambitious sibling bloggers determined to bring the truth to America and damn the risks. When they become the first bloggers invited to cover a presidential campaign, they think they're on their way to professional status, and indeed, their hit-count raises by the day. Unfortunately, someone in the campaign doesn't want them reporting, to the extent that they're willing to kill George and Shaun, and anyone else, to get the Masons off the campaign trail.
Feed is zombie horror, but it's also a story of political intrigue, and it balances both aspects expertly. The zombies are the mindless hoards of Romero movies, and so they appear in the book as weapons used by humans smart and soulless enough to use them as weapons of assassination. Thus, the zombie scenes are mostly action with George and Shaun doing a lot of shooting and strategizing. The rest of the book takes place on the campaign trail, keeping up with the ugly world of politics--which, the siblings quickly realize is much more dangerous than just poking at the undead. They're determined to see their job through to the end, but as friends die, zombie attacks increase, and the politics grow murkier and nastier, Shaun and George realize they're not just connected to a political campaign. They're on the trail of the biggest government secret of all: who created the zombies in the first place?
This book is incredible; it is truly original, taking old ideas and combining them in new ways with a compelling voice. Zombies have often been used as political commentary, but putting in an actual story about politics alongside the zombies isn't something I've seen before. The zombie fights are easy: point a gun at them and shoot. The political parties are hard: you don't know who your friends are and you can't kill your enemies. The two sides of the book balance each other and neither is allowed to dominate. Thus, I never got bored reading about political BS because after a little of that, we'd have a zombie outbreak. But the action didn't get dull either, because after blowing off some zombie heads we'd find a new bit of political intrigue George and Shaun had to follow. The plot kept moving this way and stayed gripping until the last pages.
The characters are equally interesting. George and Shaun are not idealistic, kind-hearted altruists out for the good of mankind. They are rude, cynical, and antisocial (both refuse to date) and in parts of the book they act in ways that make you want to hit them. Don't mistake me; they're mostly likable, sympathetic heroes, but they have realistic flaws and occasional scenes where those flaws get the better of them. They made Feed much more interesting than novels about the cardboard cutout protagonists you too often find in commercial lit.
The world of Feed is very well fleshed out--no pun intended--and this has drawn some complaints from readers. Grant goes into long and detailed explanations about how the virus that causes people to become zombies came about, and the various procedures used to keep people safe from them. She seems to know every inch of her world and every law on its books, and you're going to know about them too. Personally I thought that added to the book, as she did a good job spacing the information throughout the story. She made it seem like zombies were a real threat, like WMDs or terrorism, dealt with in the same way by the government; thus, the threat seemed more real and frightening. The only complaint I myself make is that a mystery is introduced into the book early on, but it's almost insultingly easy to solve. I am the type of person who is stumped by Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, and I got this a few pages in. You will not be surprised to find out who the bad guy is, because pretty much the moment you meet him, you know it's him.
But except for that one detail, Feed is what mass-market commercial fiction strives to be above all things: entertaining. It has intrigue, action, family interaction, blogging, and zombies--what else is there?
Best horror book I've read in years. Recommended to any fan of horror, political intrigue, or action.