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Penny's Reviews > Deadline
Deadline (Newsflesh, #2)
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Penny's review
bookshelves: disappointing, dystopian, i-see-dead-people, i-think-i-m-gonna-be-sick, reviewed-books, weirds-me-out, wish-i-could-unread, zombies-aliens-vampires-dinos, incesty, crazypants-protagonist, blerg, siblings-that-hug-and-kiss-a-lot
May 26, 2011
bookshelves: disappointing, dystopian, i-see-dead-people, i-think-i-m-gonna-be-sick, reviewed-books, weirds-me-out, wish-i-could-unread, zombies-aliens-vampires-dinos, incesty, crazypants-protagonist, blerg, siblings-that-hug-and-kiss-a-lot
***Warning: this review contains spoilers for Feed***
I really don't know what I can say about this book besides how disappointed and frustrated it left me. Not that I was expecting something incredible mind you. I mean, it's not like Feed left me begging for more so I have no idea why I gave Deadline the time of day.
Actually I do know.I'm not too bright. I was going to purchase The Demon's Surrender on Tuesday June 14th, because that's when it was released, but for whatever reason the audiobook was not available for sale at audible. So I wasted a precious audible credit on this ridiculously long piece of trash. How long is this audiobook you ask? 15+ hours.
Yes, more than 15 hours of what amounts to a really long episode of The Incredible Hulk, featuring zombies and the magical world of news blogging. Except to make things extra funThe Hulk Bruce Banner Shaun, our main character, has his dead sister's voice stuck in his head running commentary on everything he does. And he talks back to that voice. Vocally. Like, all the time no matter who is around.
When people encounter Shaun's strange behavior and make the mistake of asking if he's feeling okay,Bruce Shaun looses his crap and 'splodes out of his clothes in a fit of rage, turns green and goes on a punching spree. And he's all 'HULK MAD! HULK SMASH! HULK KILL!' starts acting like a massive douche-canoe--like, way more douche-y than he usually acts--and threatens to punch the crap out of whoever has the nerve to ask him about the state of his mental health.
That wouldn't be such worrisome behavior if he were some crazy urine-soaked hobo who lives out of a refrigerator box. But see, Shaun is the head blogger at popular news blog he and his (dead) sister started a few years before. He has a ton of employees all over the world.
Mr Crazy Pants is in charge. Really. And that's where my first issue with Deadline springs up.
Who in their right mind would put up with that crap? The answer is no one. Not even people who are supposedly friends with said crazy person. Especially when that person has not contributed ANYTHING worthwhile to the blog in over a year. A person who doesn't even make any real decisions anymore. A person who does little more than show up and carry on conversations withthe dead sister living in his head himself and threaten to punch people, occasionally carrying out those threats, breaking noses in the process.
We're supposed to believe that his employees are that loyal and/or so stupid they'd be willing to stick around and take that sort of abuse. Bloggers who are at the top of their fields and could go to a number of other news blogs or easily start their own.
One could argue that he just lost his sister and his friends/employees are just really patient and understanding, but here's the deal: his sister died a year prior to the events in Deadline. Plus, they live in a world where zombies run free. Every last one of them have lost close friends and loved ones yet none of them act like Shaun.
So...what makes Shaun so special?
Nothing. He's not special. Which is why I grew weary of this book almost from the get go. But I kept reading because I thought Shaun was going to calm down and pull his act together. Don't want to be all spoiler-y but it needs to be said: that never happens. In fact his behavior worsens yet NO ONE takes a cattle prod to his crazy ass; no one throws him to the zombies just so they can get rid of their little "Debbie Downer".
There is a whole lot of other stuff that happens which, I'm sorry, doesn't really matter because (view spoiler). To be honest, I feel there is little of importance that goes down in this book. It's all a bunch of happenings that don't amount to anything in the end. If you've read Deadline and you don't agree with me, that's cool. Just do me a favor and ask yourself this: what, if anything, happened in this book that wasn't made so completely pointless by the way the book ended? I bet your answer is along the lines of 'nothing'.
And then there's the plot holes. So many plot holes. Gigantic ones. One in particular that is so infeasible, so massive you sort of want to write Mira Grant hate mail while reading it. Or maybe that's just me.
Speaking of holes, am I the only one that thinks the answer to the zombie problem, should a zombie apocalypse ever occur, is the Grand Canyon? I mean, it's a massive hole in the ground, right? All we'd have to do is round up and herd all the zombies to the Grand Canyon. We could walk them in at ground level and then brick them in, or just let them walk over the cliffs (this option is rather inhumane but, hey, it's flesh-eating, disease-carrying zombies we're talking about not adorable puppies and kitties). I'm also willing to consider using Carlsbad Caverns, as it is also a massive hole in the ground and I'm not a huge fan of New Mexico.
Also:
/tangent
Don't even get me started about Shaun's (not at all thought out) motorcycle rideof karma from zombie hell. I'm sorry but who is that stupid? Why would anyone let anyone else ride a motorcycle into a place so insanely infested with zombies? I kept wondering why they couldn't strap that thing to the back of the van, or, I don't know, LEAVE IT BEHIND. Hell, even if there really wasn't room left inside the van, Shaun could have easily strapped himself to the roof, or (call me crazy) strap some of their equipment to the roof of the van in order to make room for him. Either way, he would have been safer.
One last thing: (view spoiler)
I will not be reading the third book in this series. One-and-a-half stars.
I really don't know what I can say about this book besides how disappointed and frustrated it left me. Not that I was expecting something incredible mind you. I mean, it's not like Feed left me begging for more so I have no idea why I gave Deadline the time of day.
Actually I do know.
Yes, more than 15 hours of what amounts to a really long episode of The Incredible Hulk, featuring zombies and the magical world of news blogging. Except to make things extra fun
When people encounter Shaun's strange behavior and make the mistake of asking if he's feeling okay,
That wouldn't be such worrisome behavior if he were some crazy urine-soaked hobo who lives out of a refrigerator box. But see, Shaun is the head blogger at popular news blog he and his (dead) sister started a few years before. He has a ton of employees all over the world.
Mr Crazy Pants is in charge. Really. And that's where my first issue with Deadline springs up.
Who in their right mind would put up with that crap? The answer is no one. Not even people who are supposedly friends with said crazy person. Especially when that person has not contributed ANYTHING worthwhile to the blog in over a year. A person who doesn't even make any real decisions anymore. A person who does little more than show up and carry on conversations with
We're supposed to believe that his employees are that loyal and/or so stupid they'd be willing to stick around and take that sort of abuse. Bloggers who are at the top of their fields and could go to a number of other news blogs or easily start their own.
One could argue that he just lost his sister and his friends/employees are just really patient and understanding, but here's the deal: his sister died a year prior to the events in Deadline. Plus, they live in a world where zombies run free. Every last one of them have lost close friends and loved ones yet none of them act like Shaun.
So...what makes Shaun so special?
Nothing. He's not special. Which is why I grew weary of this book almost from the get go. But I kept reading because I thought Shaun was going to calm down and pull his act together. Don't want to be all spoiler-y but it needs to be said: that never happens. In fact his behavior worsens yet NO ONE takes a cattle prod to his crazy ass; no one throws him to the zombies just so they can get rid of their little "Debbie Downer".
There is a whole lot of other stuff that happens which, I'm sorry, doesn't really matter because (view spoiler). To be honest, I feel there is little of importance that goes down in this book. It's all a bunch of happenings that don't amount to anything in the end. If you've read Deadline and you don't agree with me, that's cool. Just do me a favor and ask yourself this: what, if anything, happened in this book that wasn't made so completely pointless by the way the book ended? I bet your answer is along the lines of 'nothing'.
And then there's the plot holes. So many plot holes. Gigantic ones. One in particular that is so infeasible, so massive you sort of want to write Mira Grant hate mail while reading it. Or maybe that's just me.
Speaking of holes, am I the only one that thinks the answer to the zombie problem, should a zombie apocalypse ever occur, is the Grand Canyon? I mean, it's a massive hole in the ground, right? All we'd have to do is round up and herd all the zombies to the Grand Canyon. We could walk them in at ground level and then brick them in, or just let them walk over the cliffs (this option is rather inhumane but, hey, it's flesh-eating, disease-carrying zombies we're talking about not adorable puppies and kitties). I'm also willing to consider using Carlsbad Caverns, as it is also a massive hole in the ground and I'm not a huge fan of New Mexico.
Also:
/tangent
Don't even get me started about Shaun's (not at all thought out) motorcycle ride
One last thing: (view spoiler)
I will not be reading the third book in this series. One-and-a-half stars.
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Reading Progress
May 26, 2011
– Shelved
June 14, 2011
–
Started Reading
June 14, 2011
–
35.0%
"Compelling story so far. Unfortunately a lot of the characters are starting to get on my nerves. If this persists I'm going to start hoping they all die and reanimate. Specifically Shaun, the MC. The boy is crazy-go-nuts and has a short fuse. He keeps threatening to punch everyone in the face--his employees, strangers, men and women. I suspect the psycho would punch a baby if it got on his nerves. Ihopehedies!"
June 15, 2011
–
100.0%
"Freaking cop-out of an ending. It pretty much undermines the point of this entire book. Plus, even though I'm not a geneticist I know cloning doesn't work like that. A POX ON MIRA GRANT'S HOUSE!"
June 15, 2011
–
Finished Reading
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
disappointing
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
dystopian
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
i-see-dead-people
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
i-think-i-m-gonna-be-sick
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
reviewed-books
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
weirds-me-out
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
wish-i-could-unread
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
zombies-aliens-vampires-dinos
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
incesty
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
blerg
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
crazypants-protagonist
November 7, 2011
– Shelved as:
siblings-that-hug-and-kiss-a-lot
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Lucy
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rated it 2 stars
Jun 16, 2011 04:54AM
Agreed on the massive cop-out ending. (view spoiler)[Advanced clone aging for plot sake = annoying. Retained memories that a clone would have no way of having = incredibly annoying. I wasn't crazy about Feed, but I respected an author willing to kill off their main character in a first person narrative. It was a risk most people don't take. Realizing she never actually took that risk = epic fail. (hide spoiler)]
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Excellent review, a great modifer to the hype.
I assumed the ending was that the CDC had used George's blood to clone her and will now in some way use her against Shaun.
Yeah, that's what I assumed as well. The thing is, even if they built a shiny new clone of George, that clone wouldn't have her brain, retain any of her memories. Don't even get me started on the fact that they somehow grew this new clone in one years time. So they have the technology to speed age a clone AND THEN slow down the aging process to regular speed? That kind of technology is available but not the technology that would allow someone to hack into a building security system from a smart phone? While we're at it, why is this uber-advanced society still using thumbdrives?
And the storm. What was with that? Since when is a tropical storm let alone a hurricane, able to make it across the entire united states? Even if it managed to effect the nations weather system, there still aren't enough Mosquitos in the whole of Cuba that could cause that sort of devastation. And I'm sorry but don't you think it's more likely that a widespread outbreak would be caused by all the zombies that are still running wild all over the united states? By the way, how could a mosquito be a carrier when all animals under 40 lbs cannot be carriers.
Which brings me to my next point: how is it possible for children who weigh less than 40 lbs to become zombies?
Sorry about the long response. Every time I think about this book all those questions (Plus others) go through my head.
Your review convinced me that I shouldn't bother reading the sequels. I already had a hard time with Feed and its narration style. After I finished the book I kept wondering how readers could feel emotionally invested in the story. For me, Georgia's narration style was pretty dry. There were no emotions in the way she narrated the story and I couldn't connect with her or with any of the other characters in the book. Plot was meh. The political stuff (the campaign) made me fall asleep, even if it was interesting at first.I read the spoiler tags and have to agree with you because to me Grant's move in Deadline sounds like a big, fat cop-out, too. (view spoiler).
Now that I've decided that I won't continue with the series, I'm really curious how it all ends. (view spoiler)
I agree with almost all of your criticisms, especially about the ending. I had loved the twist that Shaun may not have had to kill George if they had known what reservoir conditions did, but that nice little bit of anguish is completely undermined. In regards your questions about mosquitos and < 40 lb. humans, I believe I remember that it takes 40 pounds of weight for an animal to amplify, not to be a carrier. All mammals are carriers, just not necessarily capable of amplifying into zombies. And I am right in remembering that it's only mammals that carry the KA virus, right?
I was alright with the way Feed ended. I gave it four stars because I thought it was interesting, just not what it was marketed as. I was looking to see if I should even bother with Deadline and I think this was a good enough rant for me. I like to look at all sides and the problems I had with the first book are definitely in the second one. Thanks!
