Feed - Mira Grant It was really tough to rate this one. My initial feelings on it were about a 3, until the events of the last 25% of the book made me decide to bump that up to a 4. In the end, I had a really good time with book. That said, while there were things I really liked about Feed, there were also several other factors that really annoyed me.

First for the good stuff: I love the premise behind the book, the zombies-meets-social-media theme and the world Mira Grant has created where the CDC is the most important organization in the country, where children are trained in firearms as young as 7, where Alaska has been ceded to the infected, where one cannot go anywhere without submitting to half a dozen blood tests, and where the population has come to depend more on social media instead of the mainstream news to get their up-to-the-minute trusted news.

We get to meet a trio of bloggers -- Georgia "George" Mason, our narrator who identifies herself as a "Newsie", or someone who only goes after the cold, hard facts. Her brother Shaun, an "Irwin", who takes on the riskier side of zombie reporting, thriving on danger, adventure, and working up the crowd. Finally, there's Buffy, a "Fictional" whose contributions include writing poetry and serials and short stories for their site. Apparently, people living post-"Rising" are nuts for that kinda stuff, but hey, I guess I would be too if I were cooped up in the house all day hiding from the walking dead.

So at first, the story was good and the characters were good...but only to a point. Initially, I had a hard time getting a feel for the main characters, trying very hard to like them...until I just gave up and admitted to myself that I couldn't. All three characters played to stereotypes: Shaun the goof. Buffy the flake. George the straight up hard-nosed reporter. On top of that, I thought they were all kinda full of themselves. I didn't find them all that interesting, so it was difficult to care.

The story also felt very "telegraphed". As it unfolded, our three blogging protagonists accompany a Senator on his campaign to become the next president of the United States...and of course, bad things started happening. Thing is, I was able to predict the outcome before I even got halfway through the book. Also, because of the whole presidential campaign plot line, there's a good deal of political talk and it can hinge on a bit preachy, so just a caveat if you're not really into that kinda thing.

But like I said before, the second half of the book started picking up for me. Even though I felt it was little predictable, the action and tragedies and zombie attacks in Feed are described extremely well, and these sections of suspense really made up for it. And I have to admit, while I guessed the main plot, I still didn't see the finale coming.

As well, while the characters themselves were still flat to me, their relationships and the way they were handled, on the other hand, touched me emotionally. George and Shaun are not your typical siblings, and though their closeness sometimes borders on a little creepy, Mira Grant conveys their genuine love for each other so well that it's almost palpable, as well as their friendship with their co-blogger Buffy. When things really started ramping up later on in the story, the resulting dynamics were for me the best part of the novel.

Closing thoughts, this was a good book. I like the zombie-genre, but I'm also not a die-hard fan by any means, no pun intended. But if you are, then I'd say this is highly recommended. A must read, even.