Hellos and Best Books of 2011

These past two months have been such a crazy mash-up of insanity, holidays, Yuletide, and Issues that I kind of started to hide from anything that wasn’t Absolutely Required because everything was stressing me out.  And then, of course, once that starts, it’s hard to stop hiding because there is Much Guilt.

But luckily there has been the start of the New Year and an acknowledged place for New Beginnings so I poke my head out again to say how much I missed all of you and how much I’ve missed this crazy book blogging thing we do.  So hi!  I doubt I will be posting as much as I had been last year, but I want to keep posting and keep up the conversation.  

To make this a real post, I just want to take a moment to look back at the best books I read in 2011.  I didn’t review them all, but I did review some, and I’ll link to those reviews in the list.

• A Brief History of Montmaray and FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper - My favourite books of the year.  The story of the royal family of a tiny (fictional) island in the Bay of Biscay in the late 1930s. Gorgeous history, fantastic characterization. I can not wait for the third book.  Can. Not. Wait.
• Entwinedby Heather Dixon - An amazing and magical retelling of the fairytale Twelve Dancing Princesses. The author managed to create distinguishable personalities for each of the twelve sisters which is a feat in itself.
• Deadline by Mira Grant - The sequel to Feed which came out in 2010. Somehow Grant avoided the 'second book of a trilogy' curse with a further exploration of the world, the virus causing zombies, and the wonderful characters she makes us fall in love with.

• All These Things I've Doneby Gabrielle Zevin - Not a dystopian, but a future New York where coffee and chocolate is banned because caffeine is a dangerous drug. A mafia princess (the 1st person narrator with a unique and interesting voice) tries to protect her siblings and find her own path after their father is murdered.
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson - Hilarious and terrifying on the same page.
• White Cat and Red Glove by Holly Black – Utterly brilliant writing and worldbuilding.
• Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper - A mourning emporium with a cameo from Charles Dickens.
• Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys - Heartbreaking and gorgeous.
• Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty – How did I last this long without reading them before? I have no idea, but I’m kind of glad I got to read them all in one big bite.

• Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman - Asian dragon lore and girls dressing as boys. An incredibly unique magic system and an epic fantasy.
• If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman - These are books you'll weep over. And they're amazing.
• Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins - Technically I read Anna at the very end of 2010, but I reread it about 6 times in 2011 so I'm counting it.

I don't know how real journalists do it! I always feel so badly when I'm choosing for 'best of' lists. All the poor books that I really liked but just didn't quite measure up!

Waiting on Wednesday: Blackout by Mira Grant

There's not a synopsis or cover picture for Blackout yet, so I can't post those this week, but I'd figure the cover will fit in with the other two of the Newsflesh Trilogy.

Blackout

Mira Grant

June 7, 2012

I've already reviewed both Feed and Deadline (with as few spoilers as possible), and it's fair to say that these two books have been my favourite books of 2010 and 2011 respectively.  They're zombie books. but they're about what happens after the zombie apocalypse.  How society has changed and people have adapted to 30 years of the living dead.  Feed's more of a political thriller that follows the Mason siblings (professional bloggers) as they cover the 2040 US Presidential campaign while Deadline really looks at the idea of disease, how it spreads, and what to do when the groups you trust most seem to have betrayed the world.  They're incredibly good.  Shaun and Georgia Mason (named by their adoptive parents for Shaun of the Dead and George Romero) are heroes (and journalists) of the highest order - sacrificing everything to find  the truth and stopping at nothing - even sometimes the bounds of reason - to make sure the truth gets out.

I'm waiting with baited breath for the conclusion of the trilogy and the answers to the questions raised in the oh-so-cliffhangery ending of Deadline.  I was a little tentative about the possibility of a 'second novel slip' in Deadline, but Mira Grant proved me completely wrong, and I'm confident that Blackout will absolutely blow me away.

"Alive or dead, the truth won't rest.  Rise up while you can."

- Georgia Mason

Review: Deadline by Mira Grant

Deadline
by Mira Grant
June 1, 2011
Purchased my Copy
Goodreads Page
Amazon Page
Grade: A

Deadline is the second in the Newsflesh trilogy. Don't read Deadline without reading Feed, the first book! My review of Feed, if you're interested can be found here.

Synopsis (from Publisher): 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.

---

Review: I waited for Deadline breathlessly, but also I was the tiniest bit wary. How could any book live up to Feed's excellence? Add that to the fact that second installments in any trilogy are difficult, and there was definitely a bit to be wary of.

Deadline, however, managed to fulfill all my expectations and even hopes. Things have changed for the Masons and for After the End Times, but our heroes adapt, deal, and go more than a little bit crazy while doing so. Deadline is less of a political thriller - no following the campaign trail this time - and more of a conspiracy story, but the tension, the danger, and yes, the zombies remain the same.

I seriously loved Deadline. My major concern while reading it was after a blow-you-away opening sequence, the story seemed to stall out, but trust in Ms. Grant's writing, after a few chapters, it's less stalling out then slowly, slowly building to an insane climax.

Excellent book. I need Blackout RIGHT NOW...but I'll be reading Deadline again while I'm waiting.

Review: Feed by Mira Grant

Feed
by Mira Grant
May 1, 2010 
Purchased my Copy
Goodreads Page
Amazon Page
Grade: A

Synopsis (from publisher): In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, intended to act as a cure for the common cold, and a cancer-killing strain of Marburg, known as "Marburg Amberlee"—escaped the lab and combined to form a single airborne pathogen that swept around the world in a matter of days. It cured cancer. It stopped a thousand cold and flu viruses in their tracks.

It raised the dead.

Millions died in the chaos that followed. The summer of 2014 was dubbed "The Rising," and only the lessons learned from a thousand zombie movies allowed mankind to survive. Even then, the world was changed forever. The mainstream media fell, Internet news acquired an undeniable new legitimacy, and the CDC rose to a new level of power.

Set twenty years after the Rising, the Newsflesh trilogy follows a team of bloggers, led by Georgia and Shaun Mason, as they search for the brutal truths behind the infection. Danger, deceit, and betrayal lurk around every corner, as does the hardest question of them all:

When will you rise?

---

Review:
This is simply the best book I've read in ages. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a zombie story, political thriller, murder mystery, virology story or all of the above.

It is very definitely a zombie book, and I don't advise reading it at night. Or in rooms with large picture windows that will give you nightmares later...or maybe that's just me. One of the quirks of this particular type of zombie is that since it's caused by a virus, everyone will become a zombie once they die. And by everyone, I mean every mammal over 40 lbs. So we have zombie deer, zombie giraffes, and zombie raccoons as well as Grandpa keeling over from a heart attack and suddenly wanting to eat your brains. Creepy, yes.

Our trio of main characters are bloggers chosen to follow the presidential campaign of Peter Ryman, the good Senator from Wisconsin. The politics aren't always the most sophisticated, but the possible political landscape of a post-zombie United States is incredibly interesting.

The politics are fun, but the characters give Feed its heart. Georgia Mason - head blogger of After the End Times - narrates most of the book with input from her brother Shaun. I've a soft spot for siblings in literature, but the Masons are an amazing pair while Georgia herself is one of my favourite characters ever. The third main character Georgette Meissonier calls herself 'Buffy' because she's "cute, blonde, and it's the end of the world." It's excellent, and Buffy's another beautifully drawn character.

No overt romance for romance fans, but the friendships and interpersonal relations more than make up that. The plot starts out with a bang, does a good deal of necessary world-building and then has a long, suspenseful build to a worthy climax. I cried more than once.

Excellent book.