Blackout by Mira Grant

Blackout by Mira Grant

My rating: 2 of 5 stars




Jacket Blurb:  Rise up while you can. -Georgia Mason

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. They uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse


Hugo Nominee 2013

Book three in a series that focus's on the people living in a world dominated by zombies - but it's not about the zombies themselves.  Our group of main characters continues to struggle against the Center for Disease Control's nefarious plots of corruption and conspiracy but without the edgy blogging that dominated book one and two. 

I thought this book could have been about 100 pages shorter and better for it.  The running hither and tither in great angst and anticipation, fighting suddenly amplified lab assistants, large angry animals and fast talking around nervous independent settlers had gone it's course.  The one positive was there was a bit more personal interaction and thus more character development through that interaction than in previous books.

Uff.  Trying to do this without spoilers...

The book felt like a rehashing of the previous two books, where our illustrious team is up against impossible odds: the threat of death imminent from guns, grenades, decontamination procedures that kill, zombies and imminent amplification; and yet, miraculously makes it out the other side of the building to run away and fight another day.   Very much a been there. Done that.

By the time we hit Big Revelation One and Two, instead of being thrilled and titillated, my reaction was one of sarcastic, eye rolling, "Oh, we didn't see that coming...".   It was compounded by two plot lines that should have merged immediately yet the author continued for numerous pages replaying the scene from alternating perspectives.  Once was enough.

When it comes down to it, I liked book three the least, I had a hard time finding the motivation to continue reading it, and was very glad when it was finally over.



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