Feedback

When I heard that another book in the NewsFlesh trilogy was coming out, I quite literally squealed in delight. Grant’s trilogy is one of my favourite scifi stories, and I have devoured all the novellas that she has put out in the universe. The chance to learn even more about her post-zombie world was exceptionally exciting! Did the book live up to my expectations though? Well, to be honest, I was somewhat disappointed. Grant’s witty dialogue and brisk plotting were there, but the pathos of the series was missing. Fans of her work will still enjoy this addition. It is the Newsflesh series, after all. But Feedback is no Feed. I should also warn readers that I would not jump into the series at this point. Read the original trilogy first to get a sense of the world. You will not regret it! (view spoiler)[SPOILERS AHOY Feedback occurs during the same time period as Feed. While George, Shaun, and Buffy are following the lead Republican candidate around the country as he campaigns for nomination, Aislinn, Ben, Audrey, and Mat, our protagonists in Feedback, are shadowing Governor Kilburn as she tries to win the Democratic nomination. Like the Masons, Aislinn and her buddies run into constant problems on the road. They uncover part of the CDC conspiracy. And… well, didn’t I already read about that? Feedback’s biggest plot related problem is that it gives its readers nothing new. In her novellas, Grant takes the NewsFlesh characters to far flung places, from Australia to horrifying historical events. The stories focus on aspects of the world or characters we don’t know much about. (Here’s my plug for Rise – it’s a fantastic collection!). Feedback, on the other hand, covers the same ground as the original books, and is constrained in what the plot can do given the existence of the Masons’ story. In short, the characters get hired by one of the Democratic hopefuls. Ash prevents the Governor from being eaten by zombies at a rally. She figures out that this was an assassination attempt and other nomination prospects have been attacked as well. There is an attack at the Democratic National convention and many Irwins die. This too was planned. At some point, one of the Governor’s staff members is revealed as a CDC plant and he tries to kill our intrepid heroes. Ben and Ash survive, but Mat is infected. Audrey saves Ben and Ash with her magic EIS connections or something. The whole CDC isn’t going to actually cure Kellis-Amberlee issue gets revealed to our heroes. They all start running to Canada. On their way, they are kidnapped and forced to remain in an abusive community that felt very inspired by the most recent Mad Max film. They escape, meet Dr. Abbey, then finally flee for real to Canada with plans to head back to Ireland. All the same conspiracy issues from NewsFlesh occur, but this set of characters doesn’t actually do anything about what they discover. They place their safety ahead of saving the world, which is a perfectly legitimate choice for people to make, but it’s not as compelling a read as the original trilogy. Part of the reason as to why Feedback didn’t seem to carry as much weight as its predecessor series was that the relationships didn’t feel as strong. I just didn’t believe that this new set of characters were all that devoted to one another. In the main Newsflesh series, the romantic relationship between George and Shaun isn’t revealed right away, so when readers find out that the main couple are in love, it is quite shocking and makes you rethink what you have read so far. The two are presented as best friends, and Grant takes cares to really build their closeness and trust for the readers. Thus, the relationship feels earned and real. Their story is compelling, and we get to watch the development of said relationship throughout the terrible events of the book. In Feedback, on the other hand, the relationships are established before the book begins. For example, we are told that Ash and Audrey are girlfriends, and they kiss and cuddle like lovers tend to for the first few chapters. However, their relationship is status quo. As anyone who has been a shipper in fandom well knows, a lot of the dynamic of a love story comes from seeing the characters fall in love. Sure, Newsflesh turned that on its head, but in a very novel manner. In Feedback, we just have normal, everyday girlfriends. Well, we don’t actually. They don’t spend much time together as girlfriends once they leave home. They are busy doing their jobs on the campaign trail, then Audrey is angry at Ash for almost dying, and then Ash is angry at Audrey for covering up her past. I didn’t feel like their romantic relationship was given enough time to flourish in readers’ minds before it was faced with all these trials. I had no reason to hope that they remained together in the way that I mourned for George and Shaun. This weakness in the portrayal of the relationship between Ash and Audrey was echoed in how individual characters were presented as well. Unfortunately, the protagonists in Feedback all felt like George, Shaun, and Buffy-lite. To start, we have Aislinn (or Ash). She is our POV character, a feisty Irish lady who is an Irwin. Irwins are bloggers that engage in risky behaviour like poking zombies with sticks. She is very dedicated to the field, much like Shaun. In fact, she feels a lot like Shaun in her temperament (aside from not having a fake version of her lover in her head all the time). I enjoyed the fact that she was very conscious of weaponizing her femininity, but I would have preferred to see a character that was less impulsively drawn to adrenaline rushes. Give me a different type of Irwin to contrast to Shaun! I think Ash was more calculating that he was, but the two were still too similar. Ash is platonically married to Ben, our George replacement. He’s a serious Newsie. Less sarcastic than George, but dedicated to the news. At least, that’s what we are told. We’re told a lot about Ben by Ash when I would have preferred to see him in action instead. He’s a Black man, he struggles with ensuring that his team avoids poverty, and he’s incredibly patient with the situation that he and Ash are in. Honestly, I would have liked to see Grant write him more as a person who viewed blogging as money. News as something that puts food on the table. Sure, he didn’t suffer from George’s unhealthy obsession with THE TRUTH, but like Ash and Shaun, he felt too similar to his Newsflesh counterpart. Audrey rounds out our main three. She’s also the character that I liked the least. Audrey writes hard noir stories, and her chapter excerpts all have to do with her troubled relationship with Ash. This saddened me because I really would have liked to see exactly why people valued fictionals. Why did a presidential candidate want one on the campaign trail? What does Audrey have to offer other than sad pieces of fiction about her lover wrapped in the trappings of imagined characters? Audrey also fulfils the Buffy role in the book as the great betrayer. She was once a CDC/EIS agent, though she voluntarily left the organisation when she felt that she could no longer work for evil. This twist bothered me for two reasons. I do not buy that the evil CDC, responsible for killing so many people, just let her walk away and didn’t care. I also felt like the story got nothing out of her background. “I was just a cog” didn’t really cut it for me. If you want to bring in that connection, use it! And then we have Mat. Oh, poor Mat. Mat is gender fluid. Grant/McGuire has been adding more character diversity to her books lately which is much appreciated. Unfortunately, Mat really doesn’t have much of a character other than the fact that they are gender fluid. They are Ben’s best friend, and fulfill the fashion blogger role of the team. However, the vast majority of their part in the narrative deals with the pronouns that they use. I know that they are somewhat flamboyant, smart, and good with computers and mechanical things. Unfortunately, that’s about all I know. Mat dies in the book, and while I don’t think that this is an intentional case of “bury your gays”, the death stings not because I was sad about the character, but because it was a waste of a character. Fans get upset with media that kills off queer characters because said media can’t think of another way of handling their existence. Given Mat’s lack of characterisation, his death, even though he was a main character, didn’t feel that impactful. Especially when compared to George’s death. Mat’s entire existence seemed unnecessary. The plot didn’t need them as the character drama centered on the other three. They represent really important representation in fiction, but they were not properly built into the story. Overall, Feedback is a collection of interesting ideas that were never explored fully. There are so many tidbits of plot and character that got dropped in, but few received the development that they really needed to make this sequel as good as the originals. For instance, I would have loved a more coherent message about gender. There were so many interesting little comments about the way that gender was conceptualised in this society, and how was used by individuals for their own purposes, that I would have liked to see these ideas tied into the central plot. That would have really differentiated Feedback from the rest of Newsflesh. However, despite my critiques, if you are a fan of the face-paced plots and quip filled dialogue so common in Grant novels, Feedback will be fun and is worth a read. It’s just not fantastic. (hide spoiler)]

It was good. I like the different take on FEED. I liked the new characters and I think more than the Masons. Mira/Seanan is just so good. So many more of her books to go :)