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.

I’ve seen my fair share of zombie movies, but when it comes to books, I’ve never actually read any zombie-themed stories (although I’m not counting fantasy series with living dead type monsters, I mean proper zombies-in-our-universe). So I don’t have that much to compare this book to besides the movies. One thing though that almost always annoys me in zombie films is that most characters have no idea how to deal with zombies or have never even heard of them. It’s as if they’re in a world where zombie movies don’t exist. Or it’s set in a apocalyptic future where zombies are threatening to take over.

In Feed that’s quite different. It’s set 20 years after a “zombie” outbreak; this is a world where people grew up with zombie movies and have adapted to a different way of living to deal with the outbreak. The zombie virus is dormant in every living person and can get activated when it comes in contact with the live virus (aka the zombies). Besides that it also gets activated if you die. Now think about it: how would this change the world you live in?

Mira Grant takes that idea and fleshes it out. Buildings require blood tests before entering, being a doctor is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and George, Georgina and Georgette are popular kids names (because of George Romero in case you didn’t get why). I loved discovering how this world works; Grant has created an interesting future and I wonder if there was a zombie outbreak how close to the truth this could be.

The story is about a blogger Georgia, who together with her brother Shaun and their friend Buffy, is invited to cover a senator’s presidential campaign. They slowly discover a conspiracy… Yeah, it sounds a bit cheesy, but before I knew it, I got so invested in Georgia’s story. First book in a long time that made me cry and that’s a tough thing to do.

What didn’t completely work for me was how the blogging and online world was explained. In the future every blogger fits a certain category; you have the Newsies, those who write up the news and are objective about it; the Stewarts, those who comment on the news; the Irwins, adventure/action/zombie-antagonizing bloggers; the Fictionals, those who write stories or poetry (including of course fan fiction); and finally the Aunties, recipe/mummy/lifestory bloggers. Then there was the way each blog had ratings and a spot in the uber list of rankings, as if it was more kindred to traditional broadcast media. Also: no mention of Twitter, but I’m guessing this book was written before that hit. It doesn’t diminish the reading experience, but I wished this was a little more similar to reality.

I really enjoyed Feed and I’m now really curious to what else Mira Grant has written (this is her first book as Grant, but she also writes as Seanan McGuire). Feed has a great story, which sucks you completely in. And it’s got a fascinating world to discover along the way.

Feed by Mira Grant – Available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.49 and on Amazon.com for $9.99.

Shale is the lowest of the low-an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It’s the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn’t get him killed first…

Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous…

The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die.

Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all. Water is life and the wells are running dry…

I always love it when a fantasy book has some proper world building. Instead of going down the familiar route of alternative middle ages, I prefer it when fantasy series try something a little different. In The Last Stormlord it’s all about water.

Water has become so rare that the entire community is built around it. There once was a time when people were dependent on random rain and they barely survived that era. Then the Stormlords came and water became regulated. The Stormlords would pull water from the clouds and shift them to the cities that needed it. Each city and each citizen receives an alloted amount of water, unless you live on the outskirts or in the slums and aren’t a ‘proper’ citizen.

But at the start of this book we find out the current Stormlord is dying and there is no replacement. As the Stormlord grows weaker decisions have to be made: which cities get water and which get cut off? It’s an interesting premise and Larke does a great job describing the class divide and the harsh choices the characters must make.

There are 3 different story lines at the start, which (of course) all merge at a certain point. The first is about those around the failing Stormlord: his son Nealrith, rainlord in his own right, but not strong enough to be a stormlord; and Ryka and Kaneth, two rainlords who are forced to marry to heighten their chances of a Stormlord offspring. The second is about Terelle, a girl sold to a ‘snuggery’ (read: whorehouse) but flees before she’s forced into a life she doesn’t want. And then there’s Shale, a boy with water powers, enough to maybe be a Stormlord some day.

I really enjoyed this book, although it was a whole lot bleaker than I expected it to be. Larke raises some interesting moral dilemmas and makes you wonder what you’d do in that type of situation. I can’t wait till the next book comes out! I so want to know how this story continues…

The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.58 and on Amazon.com for $7.99

For some book series I won’t be reviewing the individual books; at least not when I’ve read 3 books of the same series after each other. Then I can just as well review them in batch. 

This review is about Gena Showalter’s Lords of The Underworld series. I’ve read the first three books: The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss and The Darkest Pleasure. It’s set in our modern day world, but with a mythological twist. Do you know the myth about Pandora’s Box? The story’s real, but we humans don’t know the entire truth. Pandora was a warrior charged by the gods with protecting the box. Insulted because the gods chose Pandora as the box’s protector instead of any of them, a team of immortal warriors deceived Pandora and conspired to open the box. By doing so though they released powerful demons, whose only cage was now destroyed. The gods punished the warriors by using them as the demons’ new cages; each warrior was cursed with a demon. 

Each book in the Lord of The Underworld series is about one of these warriors and their heroine. The first book, The Darkest Night, features Maddox, the Keeper of Violence. Because of the demon locked inside of him, he’s prone to vicious, violent outbursts, lashing out at anyone who’s near him regardless whether they are friend or foe. But all that changes when Ashlyn Darrow enters his life, a psychic tormented by voices of the past.

I won’t reveal who the couples are in the following two books, cause that just spoils part of the story. Each heroine though is a perfect match for her hero, without being weak and helpless. Showalter knows how to write strong women, and each book delivers something different.

So far I’m loving this series just as much as Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series and JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. Like those books this series has a strong mythology, adapting “common” myths into a paranormal fantasy world. I love how not everything is revealed at the start and that you slowly start to discover there’s more to this world than initially seems.

From the three books, the third has the weakest main story, but it makes up for that with glimpses of what may come in the next couple of books. Hints of potential future heroines and plot lines are shining through that story and I’m really curious to see how the next book will unfold.

The Darkest Night: on Amazon.com for $6.99, on Amazon.co.uk for £6.29
The Darkest Kiss: on Amazon.com for $6.99, not yet available on Amazon.co.uk
The Darkest Pleasure: on Amazon.com for $6.99, not yet available on Amazon.co.uk

When it comes to books, I’m much more into fantasy than into scifi (or should I say syfy now?). Still I was glad to win this book, Agent To The Stars, from the Fantasy and Scifi Lovin’ Blog. 

Agent To The Stars has a bit of a history. It was the first “book” written by John Scalzi in 1997 to prove to himself that he could write a novel. No publisher wanted to pick it up though, so in 1999 he released it online as a shareware novel; if people liked it, they could pay, but didn’t have to. Once his second novel got published, a limited run of 1000 copies of Agent To The Stars was released in 2005 and surprisingly to the publishers they got snapped up in no time. A year later Agent To The Stars finally got published the “proper” way.

The premise of Agent To The Stars is simple: Tom Stein is one of Hollywood’s upcoming young agents. He’s got a major movie star, Michelle Beck, as his main client and has just completed a multi-million deal for her. But then his boss introduces Tom to his new clients: the Yherajk, an alien race with an image problem. They’re big blobs of slime who communicate through horrible smells… and they want to be Earth’s new friend. Now Tom has to solve the problem of how to introduce these new “friends” to the rest of world, without causing panic and chaos.

This has to be one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long, long time. There are so many “laugh out loud” moments in here; it was just so fun reading it. It’s also one of those books that you don’t want to put down. I didn’t read it in one sitting, but every time I picked it up, I just flipped through the pages, and felt terrible when I had to stop and get on with some real work. 

I don’t often say this about books, but I could definitely see a movie based on this. Compared to other books it also wouldn’t require that much tweaking and cutting. The book is pretty short and a single movie could cover it all nicely.

Highly recommendable to everyone who wants a good laugh. And if you’re not convinced yet? You don’t have to buy the book; the entire story is also available on John Scalzi’s website.

Agent To The Stars by Joe Scalzi is available on Amazon.co.uk for £6.29, on Amazon.com for $7.99 and on John Scalzi’s website for free.