The worst narration I've ever heard

What disappointed you about Feedback?

I've listened to over 50 audiobooks and this stands out as the worst narration. I don't usually have strong opinions about it, but my god. There's a lot of the protaganist's inner dialogue and for whatever reason the narrator decided to draw out nearly every vowel sound. Ash is supposed to be this Irwin badass - and yet every thought is expressed like a plea. Listening to any other character was a relief.

Would you be willing to try another book from Mira Grant? Why or why not?

I've listened to all of the Mira Grant books and will do so so in the future as along as there's a different narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She made me hate the main character with her incessant vowel dragging.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Ear pain.

8 people found this helpful

Decent story, not sure if really needed

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. The narrator's accent, while appropriate for the character, made it rough for listening in longer batches than a few hours.

Any additional comments?

I liked having more story in the Newsflesh universe, but to be honest this doesn't appear to really add much to the series. I still enjoyed it but was looking for something else.

5 people found this helpful

A great read, when it gets out of it's own way.

One of the largest questions I had during the course of Feed (the original) was what was going on on the Democratic side of the fence. In that book, you would have thought the entire election process was a single-party race. Feedback exists to answer that question, filling in the gaps not only on the Democratic side, but offering a view into lesser- or under-used characters from the Republican party as well. And sometimes, that's the book's greatest downfall.

As someone who's read the original trilogy obsessively, I both appreciated and was annoyed by the symmetry to the original book--the attacks on the campaign that often followed similar ideas and themes, and were timed to nearly coincide with one another. While Grant did her best to lampshade the "reasons" no one heard of these events in Feed, the rationales used are flimsy at best, dropping any suspension of disbelief right on the floor.

The book only really picked itself up to a four-star rating about mid-way through, when (mild spoilers, sorry! It's only this sentence) the cast took a hard left turn away from the politics and started making their own way into the world.

That being said, Grant completely avoided one trap that often catches authors as they expand a 'verse: new characters hero-worshiping the original cast. Instead, the new cast offer some much-needed change in perspective for the Newsflesh world.

Part of me doesn't even want to mention this next bit, but as I've seen other reviews already expressing annoyance about it, my two cents is thus: While I never would have accused Grant of being close-minded, I'd always been a little bothered by the lack of outright LGBTQIA representation in the main series (barring a nod to Maggie and Buffy) and her general lack of a lesbian/bi/other female lead in any of her works, including the McGuire titles. The delicious, and realistic, diversity of Feedback's cast is like a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways and I hope she continues to expand her horizons and the voices of her main characters.

And I have to admit, some of the featured zombie-laden traps are absolutely inspired.

As to the narration of the audio-version, however...Georgia Dolenz's lead as Ash is spot-on perfect. Every other character, however, ranged from lacking to completely indistinguishable from everyone else. And though Dolenz hits a certain stride about mid-way through the book, the beginning of the book is filled with stumbles and emotionless deliveries of side-characters lines. More often than not, this made listening to the book a chore, rather than a treat. I lost track of how many times I needed to back track a minute or more just to figure out what was going on.

That being said, it certainly wasn't the worst narration I've heard, and I can't let that detract too much from an otherwise enjoyable book. I do hope that, if there's a follow-up book with this cast (and I suspect there will be), Grant takes strides to let the cast have their own story, rather than riding on the Mason's coat tails.

5 people found this helpful

Spin off with charm and queers!

This was a lovely and creative spin off from the main series. At times it was slightly repetitive, but only because it could be easily read as a stand alone book. The characters were queer community in a way that made me able to imagine what my life in the world created by the full series would be like. I loved it.

Kept me on the edge of my seat with unexpected twists throughout. Characters had complexity and depth, relatable and faced with hard choices. In depth thought about the ethical dilemmas of post apocalyptic science that are still relevant today- just because you can do something, should you? Is there any “going back” post world altering changes?

I’m now going straight for Mira Grants next spin off and then other series. Can’t wait!

4 people found this helpful

Another FANTASTIC entry in the Newflesh series

Mira Grant (pen name for Seanan McGuire) has done it again! Her Newsflesh series combines the survival horror of zombie apocalypse with the best political intrigue thrillers out there, while spicing it up with some really tough questions on human nature, the job of the news media as the 4th estate, and what it means to be a medical practitioner, among other things. I HIGHLY recommend this audiobook.

3 people found this helpful

Inexplicably poor

Where to begin? First, the characters. How it's possible to craft such wooden, one-dimensional, and deeply unlikeable characters, I don't understand. The main character's schtick is: I'm a tough Irish lesbian - I have nothing else interesting about me, I don't have the intelligence or patience for nuance, and my inner monologue is extremely painful to hear because it sounds like it was written by a broody goth pre-teen. The other main characters are no better: a guy that can't figure out his gender and insists on confusing pronouns - he can apply lipstick and fix a carburetor, but seems to be nothing more than a vehicle in which to place conflicting stereotypes; another lesbian with a backstory that makes little sense, but doesn't matter anyway because she rarely has more to say than that she loves her girlfriend; a dude that's the wimp of the bunch that inexplicably just keeps saying that he's a 'newsy', as if that excuses poor dialogue...he's also an extremely poor writer. Second...the plot. It was seemingly just a random series of unfortunate events. And the big conspiracy? Very weak sauce, barely rates as a conspiracy, and their response to it wasn't coherent within the context of their world. An editor must have pointed that out during a review, because we get a tremendous amount of explanatory dialogue that uses twisted logic to explain the character's choices. That wouldn't be necessary if their actions were logically consistent.

The first half of this book I was turned off by its preachy & creepy identity politics. The second half I was too focused on it's plot holes, logical inconsistencies, and incredibly juvenile dialogue to be bothered by it's preachiness.

If you're into young adult fiction, this might appeal to you. But it's really not a book for adults.

2 people found this helpful

NEED MOAR

Any additional comments?

Those who insist that this book is some kind of "list fulfillment" in regards to diversity have never hung out in the poorer parts of the East Bay. The characters and their relationships were great. These are characters I can relate to. I need more about them! Please!!

I didn't need the exposition on gender, pronouns, and homelessness in LGBTQ youth, but--based on other reviews--I imagine other people did. It felt much more like the author was letting loose in this book, not trying to hold things back in hopes of selling copies.

There were some mistakes in pronunciation. The author says Ash's full name is pronounced "ace-lynn" and the complete butchering of Buffy's last name made me cringe. Otherwise, the performance was great.

2 people found this helpful

Disappointed

I enjoyed the original trilogy and felt it was a fresh take in a crowded genre. This story just did not have the same flow. My belief is that the forced political correctness messaging was the primary purpose for this book versus trying to complement the trilogy overall. It was almost like a PC squad got to the author and complained of inadequate representation in the original series, so they wrote this as a peace offering.

1 person found this helpful

Not as good but still interesting

Enjoyed the story and seeing the “other side” but not enough of the story of the other side of the news flesh books

1 person found this helpful

So happy to be back in the Newsflesh world!

Newsflesh is a really unique take on the post-zompocalypse genre, presenting the most realistic setting for the state of the United States politics and journalism that I've ever seen. This installment continues that realism to account for the people who would be more on the fringes of that society, the people who wouldn't have the privileges available to the white, wealthy, and straight Masons of the original series. I was absolutely thrilled with the new characters and loved following their journey.

While this book does take place during the events of the original trilogy, I think it can be read alone with little issue. It contains depictions of LGBTQ people, nonbinary individuals, people of color, and Democratic presidential candidates, so if those topics bother you...get over yourself it's 2019.

1 person found this helpful