Because this is a review of the second book in a series, this review contains spoilers. If you have not read Feed, don't read this review. I will also be spoiling this book, as there are some things I absolutely have to get off my chest about it. So, you've been warned.
One year after the events of Feed, Shaun Mason is in charge of After the End Times. One year after the events of Feed, Shaun is still deep in mourning over the loss of his sister, Georgia "George" Mason, and he's hell bent on discovering who really killed her and why. He gets his first solid lead one day when a scientist from the CDC shows up on his doorstep with a gift-wrapped package of information and data - a scientist that's supposed to be dead. And the implications of the data she's brought with her are too terrifying to contemplate.
This book is told entirely from the point of view of Shaun Mason. Unfortunately, Shaun isn't a very good narrator. He's a thrill-seeker turned investigative reporter, and he's not very good at making incisive observations or asking the questions that need to be asked. To shore up his weaknesses, his dead sister has taken up residence in his skull to provide insight and prompt him to ask about things. At first, this seemed like a normal coping mechanism, but after a while it just felt like the author was regretting her decision to kill George off in the first book and was looking for a way to bring her back into the action.
The other reason Shaun isn't a good narrator is because his emotions range from "brooding" to "angrily punching walls" without a lot of in-between. Some of it, yes, can be related to grief, but in a world dominated by grief and loss on a daily basis, it seems unbelievable that someone can be so dysfunctionally grieving a year after a loss. I'm actually surprised that his coworkers/friends have stuck around him for a year without holding an intervention meeting. Even under non-zombie apocalypse circumstances, there's only so much that people will put up with.
The world-building is fleshed out a bit more in this book, and readers get their first glimpse at how the Rising was handled overseas. The virus is also somewhat "fleshed" out as well, and we learn a little more about how it ticks and why it's so difficult to contain. (The short answer is: because of government conspiracies...)
Unfortunately, as a sequel to Feed, this book falls pretty flat. The pacing is far too slow, and too much time is spent having the characters argue with, distrust, and complain at each other. In addition, like Feed, this is a zombie outbreak story without a lot of zombie action,.Unlike in Feed, it doesn't make sense that there are so few zombies showing up. I mean, there are points where the characters are on long, deserted stretches of road that would be prime zombie hoard locations in any self-respecting survival horror game or horror movie, but the worst they encounter is lousy convenience store food and the odd zombie deer. For a world overrun with zombies, it's pretty convenient that our intrepid heroes never actually have to deal with them.
Some of the "emotional impact" moments felt pretty hollow, too. Characters die, but they don't have the same emotional punch as the deaths in Feed. I think this is largely because the supporting cast doesn't get very much fleshing out due to Shaun's disconnectedness from them. It makes sense that he's disconnected - after all, he's suffered a great loss and he's hesitant to let anyone else get that close again - but when you kill people off and lock readers into the point of view of someone who doesn't have strong connections to the people that were killed, it's hard to get the readers to care about the loss. Sure, it's sad that someone died and left people behind, but there is nothing to give it that personal sense of impact.
The book also goes a long way to try to either undo what Feed was trying to accomplish, or create "edgy" complications that there isn't any need for.
First, there's the Targaryenesque relationship between George and Shaun that was never, ever mentioned in Feed. I mean, I guess it isn't technically incest because they're not blood relatives, but if something like that was going on, you'd think that George, a trusted Newsie narrator who never shied away from divulging uncomfortable details before, would have dropped a few mentions of this relationship during her narration in Feed.
Next is the introduction of Shaun's plot-armor, er, I mean, strange immunity to the zombie virus. Sure, he can still be killed in other ways, but taking away his infectability removes a lot of the tension and risk for him. Suddenly, the Big Bad's most dangerous weapon is rendered completely useless against him, so they'll have to try more conventional - and harder to cover - ways to get rid of him.
Finally, there's George's resurrection as a clone. Even if I were willing to believe that they were able to create a complete clone - aged up to the proper age and everything - and memory transfer of a young adult in a year, I feel like it completely undoes the impact of George's death in Feed. What was the point of killing her off if you were just going to bring her back at the end of the second book? Did the author realize she'd written herself into a corner by removing her only good narrator? Was she just checking "edgy" boxes? How do they even manage to transfer George's memories, anyway? No technology is ever indicated to exist that would allow human brain data to be transferred between brains - I mean, they're still basically using technology similar to 2014-era technology. It leaves a lot of questions to be answered in the next book, and I'm not sure that everything will be answered satisfactorily.
Overall, I'm really disappointed in this installment. I'll probably still read the third one in order to complete the series and find out the answers to some of my questions, but it won't be for a little while.
No comments:
Post a Comment