This is either the worst possible time to read Mira Grant’s Newsflesh series, or the best possible time to pick. I went back and forth while I was reading. Is it wise to read about a pandemic during a pandemic? Ultimately, I decided it was, as long as the pandemic is strictly fictional and written by Mira Grant aka Seanan McGuire.
At the beginning of Newsflesh, everyone is hiding in their homes afraid of a rampaging virus. They are terrified of being around one another for fear of contagion and they take constant blood tests. And there are zombies. Lots of zombies. It turns out that the Kellis-Amberlee virus, a result of two different lab experiments gone wrong, turns people and animals into mindless vectors, driven to spread the virus and to eat.
One of Grant’s smart choices is that she does not set her series at the beginning of the zombie Rising. Her books feature the generation after the first dead rose, the people who have grown up accepting this danger as part of their lives. This allows her to drop us straight into the new world, showing how zombies have changed, but not ended, life. It feels real and immediate, with needed backstory coming in bits and pieces as a part of the tale.
Shaun and Georgia are used to living with zombies; the living dead are a part of their daily life. Their goal is to grow their blogging site into a major news site. Following the presidential campaign gives them their chance. Things end up going pear shaped in ways that even people used to living with zombies find dangerous. It seems there are conspiracies afoot. The the two bloggers and their tech person, who goes by Buffy, find themselves in increasing danger.
Newsflesh is an intense and unstopable juggernaut. Once I started, I put aside all other reading and dove in. There is danger. There is hearbreak (oh, so much heartbreak!) and urgency. The cast expands as the two main characters gather new friends (don’t expect everyone to live). Through it all, Grant keeps the focus on her characters. Yes, there is still something of the world to save, but the focus is on the personal: The friendships, allies, and enemies made along the way.
There is good writing here. Grant knows how to build the tension, when to provide a break, and how to build a world. Best of all, there are other books by Mira Grant or her alter ego, Seanan McGuire available. Mira Grant writes the horror; Seanan McGuire writes everything else. She goes to strange and wonderful places under both names.
Find out what else the author has written as Mira Grant here. Books and news about her work as Seanan McGuire are on this website. She is also now writing as A. Deborah Baker.
You can find the Newsflesh books in one, collected edition, The Rising, or in individual books: Feed, Deadline, and Blackout
