Deadline

Disclaimer: This review may contain spoilers.

I was a little hesitant to read Deadline right after Feed because of the switch in POV and I was still heartbroken with the way it ended. I was used to reading Georgia’s POV and I don’t know how well would I react with Shaun’s given that I don’t usually read books with male POVs. I was half-afraid that I wouldn’t like this and was worried that Deadline wouldn’t live up the expectation since I was flabbergasted with Feed. But my worries are baseless. Mira Grant is an effing genius!

Deadline by Mira Grant

Newsflesh Trilogy #2
Mass Market Paperback, Orbit, 581 pages
Science Fiction, Horror, Zombies

Read on June 1, 2011

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.

I liked Feed but I devoured Deadline.

This book was more entertaining and full of heart stopping zombie action than the first book. Deadline is (I think) as wordy as Feed but seeing this world in Shaun’s eyes was more fun and emotional.

Shaun is on top of my list of why I so loved this book. I don’t remember caring for a male fictional character without wanting him to be my book-boyfriend but with Shaun, it was different. His character felt so real and emotional that swooning for him just because he has unexplained hotness was inappropriate. Instead of wanting him for myself, I want him to find happiness and end up with whom he wants to end up with. That’s how Shaun’s pain and raw emotions affected me. He is a mixture of everything. He is amusing, impulsive, sarcastic and a little insane. Well, his coping mechanism is crazy, but we use what works for us right? And we are talking about Shaun so that’s a little expected.

Borrowed copy from Tina. This was my traveling companion when our team went to Tagatay for our team building.

The secondary characters were more prominent in Deadline. I love knowing the people behind After the End of Times and this added to the appeal of the second book. We were introduced with wonderful characters like Mahir, Maggie, Aleric and Becks. I liked how Mira Grant added personality to the characters we only knew as “staff” in Feed, because we get to see how the Rising affected their lives and how they ended up as journalist. I really don’t want to invest emotionally to any new characters (after Feed, I think I have the right to be cautious), but I can’t help it. Mira Grant has this cunning ability of making you care for her characters even if you knew you might get heartbroken in the end.

Unlike Feed, Deadline ended in a major cliffhanger. This is the reason why I’m so glad I just found Newsflesh Trilogy this year because if I’ve read Feed in 2010 and has to wait a year for the second book and another year for the final installment, the wait and anticipation would kill me!

I started reading Blackout a few months ago but I can’t make myself finish it yet. I kind of don’t want to let go of the characters I’ve learned to love so I’m trying to savor the feeling Deadline left me. I will finish the series next year, but even without finishing Blackout yet, I can say that Newflesh Trilogy is the best series I’ve discovered for 2012.

Fantabulous: I can’t stop talking about it!

Related Post:
Feed by Mira Grant

Challenges:

Book # 87 of 2012

Other Reviews:
Medieval Bookworm
The Well-Read Redhead
Xpresso Reads

Blurb & Photo Credit: Goodreads
Book Photo: Owned & Edited by ShanaTalks
Book Copy: Borrowed from Tina