Blackout - Mira Grant

I'll start by saying that I probably should have allowed more time to pass between reading the prior book (Deadline - you can read that review here) and this one. I was a little burnt out by the repetitive nature of some of the statements made by the narrators and I understood the conspiracy laid out so I didn't need it needlessly detailed in some parts.

Book 2 ended on such a cliffhanger that I wanted to get right into this one, but that ended up feeling more like reading an exceedingly long book, rather than reading two separate stories and my experience as a reader suffered for it. 

Things that hadn't bothered me in the first book started to bother me in this one. First, both Shaun and Georgia needlessly repeat themes and statements that are no necessary. There is also large parts of unnecessary dialogue between the news team characters at given points. If this were a first book, this would make sense to establish the report between the characters, but at this point it just feels like overkill and unnecessarily lengthened the book. 

In this installment, Shaun and Georgia Mason (the clone version) are reunited and work together to uncover the final chapter in the wide-ranging government conspiracy that is causing people to be killed in the continuing battle against the Kellis-Amberly virus. The story ropes back in President Peter Ryman and Vice President Richard Cousins, both notably absent from the second book in the series. Their involvement shows just how high the conspiracy goes. 

In the end, Georgia and Shaun must decide how much truth they can reveal and whether the world is ready for it. The conspiracy angle is a bit diminished when you consider this is a world-wide issue and even though the United States Centers for Disease Control may be committing crimes and covering up truths, it's hard to swallow that the rest of the world may be playing by the USA's rules and not uncovering these truths on their own.

In any case, the book does manage to wrap up the entire thing nicely, without being overly saccharine or too convenient. The final book just missed some of the freshness and pop that existed in the first book, even if it was a solid ending to the trilogy.

3/5 Stars.

Deadline - Mira Grant

Meticulously researched and well written. Mira Grant's second installment in the Newsflesh Trilogy doesn't disappoint, even if it does feel sometimes like it's the middle book treading water until the ultimate finish. 

Deadline continues where Feed left off (you can read that review here) - Georgia and Shaun Mason, brother and sister news team followed the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman to the nominating convention, only to have Georgia killed by a vast conspiracy which included Gov. Tate, the other possible candidate. Tate dies at the hands of Shaun without giving up the head of the conspiracy and Shaun vows to track down those responsible for Georgia's death. You see, a freak accident explained in exquisite detail in the first book, caused two viruses to combine to create a super virus that redirects the body'd energy into becoming a shambling infected vessel determined to infect or eat any living thing. Yay. 

Deadline picks up a year after those events with Shaun as our new narrator. I have to say, I miss Georgia. She was analytical and wry. Shaun's great, but he's no substitute, the fact that Mira Grant has written him to be aware of this drawback is next level aware and I appreciated it. To deal with the trauma of losing his sister, the only person he's ever loved, he latches onto a non-corporeal (not literally) Georgia, who speaks to only him. The rest of the team just rolls with it and it only occasionally becomes a concern. 

In any case, the conspiracy starts rolling once a CDC doctor winds up at Shaun's Oakland apartment, claiming she has some secret information to deliver. While she is delivering the message, a massive outbreak occurs and the team is running for their lives to evacuate the city before it is "cleansed" in a massive fireball. The information the doctor shares is that individuals with dormant virus conditions are dying at disproportionate rates to the rest of the country. In this world that means these people, like Georgia, are being targeted. 

In his quest for answers, Shaun unveils even more secrets that dwell right in the heart of the CDC. But a massive outbreak suggests a terrifying evolution in the disease. The action in this book was more subdued than the last time as the characters aren't moving around quite as much and the book lulled in moments where the main focus was setting up events for the conclusion in book three, but the book took the time to lay it all out and I'm sure book three is going to be a great conclusion. 

It's hard for the second book in a trilogy to outshine it's predecessor and Deadline is no exception. But the cliffhanger ending and the revelations added excitement of their own and made Deadline an enjoyable read. This is a must-read for anyone into the Zombie genre.

4/5 Stars. 

Feed - Mira Grant

I'm really torn on giving this book three or four stars. I really enjoyed it. It was really well researched. Exhaustively researched. Exhaustive. Yeah sometimes I felt the details were exhaustive. The background research bogs down the story line sometimes and slows down the action.

Feed is an interesting offering in the zombie apocalypse genre. Following the combination of two miracle drugs each curing their own affliction but then combining to create a super-virus which, yep, reanimates dead people and causes them to hunger for others' flesh. Oops. Thanks science. The research into virology and epidemiology is so well done. It's amazing. But, it also reads a bit like a peer reviewed journal.

The thing that I love most about the book is that in the midst of the zombie outbreak, the country has recovered somewhat. The government is still functional. People still have jobs and live throughout the country, except Alaska (sorry Alaska). But it's sort of a life goes on and technology evolves rather than disappears angle that I really enjoyed.

The story follows Georgia and Sean Mason as they, in turn, follow the campaign of Senator Ryman as he runs for president. They become attached to the campaign as embedded media. Georgia, the "newsie" covers all the straight forward news for their combined blogging/news/multimedia site. Sean, the "irwin" is the part of the team that pokes zombies with sticks and films it for an adrenaline rush. Buffy, the fictional, writes poetry but also handles the team's technological needs.

The three team members each have their responsibilities covering the Senator's promising campaign. As they travel with him, they endure one zombie outbreak that starts to look a bit like sabotage and then uncover a plot to use the zombie virus as a weapon - terrorism in 2039. How much will their pursuit of the truth cost them? Well, it's not all hugs and puppies folks.

Still the inventiveness and thorough approach to the story deserve some well earned accolades for author Mira Grant. I imagine the next book in this trilogy (why is it always a trilogy!?) will likely flow faster since a lot of the background material is out of the way.

Let's call it 3.75 Stars because it's closer to 4 than 3.