Feed is a story of politics and internet journalism. And zombies. It begins with an idiot poking a zombie with a stick, so you know that it's not your typical political pot-boiler.
The Mason siblings are bloggers in a not-so-distant future when the world has been overrun with zombies. It's actually a pretty lucrative career, since bloggers have become more trusted news sources than traditional journalism. Bloggers were the first to break the news of actual zombie infections back when media outlets were still dismissing zombie videos as the product of too many George Romero movies. There are three types of bloggers: Newsies - who report on the facts, Fictionals - who write poetry and short stories about the state of the world, and Irwins - who go around in infested zones poking zombies with sticks to get a reaction (and a lot more website traffic).
After a particularly successful and suspenseful day poking zombies, the blogging team of the Mason's website After the End Times receives a much-anticipated message - they have been selected as the exclusive blogging team to follow Senator Ryman on his campaign to win his party's presidential candidate nomination. A chance like this only comes along once in a lifetime, and is the sort of thing that will set the Mason team up for life. The campaign trail of the post-Rising era is fraught with drama and danger, and politics post-Rising have taken on an additional tint of paranoia with the threat of zombie outbreaks at campaign locations. In fact, it was almost brushed off as routine when zombies broke through the defense lines at a campaign stop in Oklahoma.
And then a zombie outbreak occurred at Senator Ryman's home just as he was receiving the party's nomination. The Masons soon find themselves gripping the zombie tiger by the tail, and the consequences of the presidential election might have greater worldwide repercussions than ever imagined.
Just remember, folks, the election cycle last year was pretty rough, but at least no one had to deal with the infectious undead at the polls.
I really enjoyed reading this. It was just the right balance of zombie action and behind-the-scenes drama. The first chapter is a dramatic chase scene where the Mason siblings try to escape a small horde of zombies who have managed to sneak up on them in an infested zone. If two people on a small motorcycle trying to escape a group of flesh-hungry undead isn't enough to grab your attention, then you may possibly be a zombie yourself.
The characters are fleshed out fairly well, though you are limited to interactions from the point of view of Georgia "George" Mason. This means that the only characters you really get attached to are the Mason siblings themselves, since the other members of the cast don't interact with her as much. The restriction to her point of view works well to develop the central mystery of the book, too, since her limited interaction gives you a good list of suspects for who is trying to sabotage (and possibly murder) Senator Ryman.
The setting is interesting, as the author chooses to set things in a modern world where humans haven't totally lost control of the situation. Sure, there are areas that are completely overrun by the undead, but things haven't deteriorated to the point where we aren't able to get things like electricity, internet, gasoline, ammo, or groceries. There was an initial panic, sure, but after that, things settled into a routine that just happened to involve zombies and a healthy dose of paranoia. The virus itself has limitations built into it, so the only threat comes from things that are over 40 pounds in weight. This means that, unlike other zombie novels I've read, there's no risk of infection from something like a zombie squirrel or a mosquito bite, but it doesn't rule out interspecies transmission entirely.
The only criticism I had for this was the identity and motive for the "bad guy". I don't want to give anything away, but when I got to the part that revealed the "who" and "why", I admit that I did roll my eyes a lot because it was a little one-dimensional. Believable, sure, but in a way predictable. I was expecting more of a twist than what I got.
I'd recommend this book to people who liked Max Brooks's World War Z, or to young adults who enjoy stuff like The Walking Dead and are waiting for the next season to start. As a zombie novel, it's pretty tame violence-wise. There's minimal description of gore and guts, so squeamish readers don't need to worry.
I am looking forward to reading more books in the Newsflesh series. I am hoping that other books will detail how other countries and areas handled the zombie outbreak. Unfortunately, I have another library book that's due in a few days, so I won't be able to jump immediately into the second book, Deadline, so look forward to that later.
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