Apocalypse Please - Muse

Deadline
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 581
Review Copy Provided by: Orbit

Description from Goodreads:
Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

First Sentence: "Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-seven years: with an idiot—in this case, Rebecca Atherton, head of the After the End Times Irwins, winner of the Golden Steve-o Award for valor in the face of the undead—deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens."

Review:
Do you ever read a book and think: "I just want to be best friends with the author. Can we just hang out and I can soak up her/his brillance? Pretty please?" Other people think this way, right? This is how I feel about Mira Grant. I declare myself a fan girl with pride.

Feed was one of my very favorite books that I read in 2011. I loved it, and it caught me largely by surprise, because anything with a designation of horror makes me skeptical, since I'm the biggest wimp ever. However, I was immediately charmed by Georgia's intelligence, sarcasm, and hatred of people. Whenever I love the first book in a series that much, I worry that the next one will be a disappointment. I mean, how can it be as good? Well, just let me say that literally from the quotes before the first chapter, my worries vanished.  I knew from the beauty of the writing that I would love this one just as much...and I did.

These books are pretty massive, roughly 600 pages each, so they take some reading, even for a speed demon like myself. The world building in this series is freaking mind-blowing. I cannot even put into words how good it is. Grant has so many details, all intricately woven so it never feels like you're sitting back for fifty years of exposition. Well, at least, that's how I feel. I know some readers have been turned off by all of the focus on politics and science, but I loved that, even though science and politics are pretty much at the top of the list of things I hate.

Despite the length, I really never felt like the plot of Deadline dragged. I was constantly eager to keep moving and find out what was going to happen next. This book made me cry, made me laugh, made me seriously concerned for the state of humanity, and made me go WTF just happened (Ending, you were cray...why do I not have Blackout now?). You should definitely watch out for Grant's humor, which can be found throughout. She has this great, dark sense of humor that just kills me. For example, she describes grocery shopping in the post-Rising world as "not an activity for the faint of heart" (345). Yes, you do learn about grocery shopping in a zombie-afflicted world. The characters are all vibrant and feel so real. In a lot of ways, her style reminds me of Joss Whedon. Just saying.

At this point, I'm going tell all you peeps who haven't read Feed to bounce. Either go read my review for that book or, even better, GO BUY FEED AND READ IT RIGHT NOW. The rest of this review will have crazy insane SPOILERS for Feed, so I really don't want anyone without any knowledge of book one continuing on. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, folks who read Feed, that ending was insane, right? Talk about a book that stayed with me. I usually forget endings but I did not forget that for sure. WAAAAHHHHH! I love that Grant wasn't afraid to kill off the MC. I mean, that's just badass, but it's also difficult to recover from, which is why you don't often see it. This, too, explains my initial fear of this book; a narrator switch was compulsory and I adored George. Well, thankfully, Shaun totally works as a narrator. You even get some George, because, check it, all those happenings have officially pushed Shaun over the edge of sanity into crazy town. He's now hearing George in his mind, and not just through memories.

Usually, this is not a plot line I would be able to handle, but Grant has done it so well. See, the thing is that George and Shaun had only each other for so many years. They are more closely bound to one another than Heathcliff and Catherine, on top of being a million times less obnoxious. Because of this, it makes sense that he can't let her go completely. In fact, the only thing keeping him going is his need for revenge on whoever orchestrated her death, because Shaun's not buying Tate as a mastermind. Where Feed delved into corruption in politics, Deadline focuses on the medical profession, and the truths of Kellis-Amberlee. I don't want to go into any more detail than that, because that might detract from your joy on the journey. Just know that it's amazing.

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is, without a doubt, my favorite zombie fiction. With complete honesty, I can think of NOTHING that I would like to change about them. I could open the book up at random to any page, any of them, and find a quote I love. For me, the writing, tone, pacing, humor, world and characters are all absolutely perfect.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "The one thing I have absolute faith in is mankind's capacity to make things worse. No matter how bad it gets, we're all happy to screw each other over. It's enough to make me wonder if we should have let the zombies win."

"Declare this an emergency
Come on and spread a sense of urgency
And pull us through
And pull us through
And this is the end
This is the end of the world"