Blackout

** This review contains spoilers for the first two books in the series. **

Deadline ends with some huge revelations. Shaun is immune to Kellis-Amberlee and Georgia has been cloned for who knows what reason. Blackout continues right after those relevations. Georgia discovers she's a glorified lab rat in the CDC and has no idea why they would want to clone her, but she aims to find out and escape. Shaun has gotten a little better. He still talks to the Georgia in his head, but can act in a basically normal way when he absolutely has to. He and his faithful After the End Times crew are send on a crazy mission. The Kellis-Amberlee virus has mutated and it's now possible for insects to carry it. These particular insects are menacing Florida, which is a hair's breadth away from becoming a completely lost cause. Will Georgia escape the CDC and meet up with Shaun? Will Shaun and his bloggers save Florida from complete annihilation?

Blackout is told from two alternating points of view, Shaun and George's. This is necessary to get the full experience of both of their situations, but also gave the book a different feel. I like that it almost felt like reading two different books until they met up. I enjoyed seeing their inner mental workings as events progressed; scenes like when George came to terms that she wasn't really the Georgia Mason and what how Shaun's inner George behaved when he saw her again are unique and unexpected. Even though these characters change and go a little crazy and die, both of their goals never change: find out the truth and get it out to the public or die trying. Even when their lives have turned upside down and close friends have died in the process, their goal remains unwavering. Their close knit group of bloggers are like family and they are fiercely loyal. All of these characters are dynamic, interesting, detailed, and, above all, real. I feel for these characters more keenly than most I read and I think it's due to the writing. It can make me sob in public (which I totally did with Feed, in the computer lab at my school; it wasn't pretty) or laugh out loud.

Blackout is a lot different from the other books in the series. It has a less zombie action/carnage, but the action and pacing are not diminished in the least. I found myself trying to read slower only to prolong the reading experience. I would have devoured the book in one sitting if I could. The action scenes are tempered with calm ones in a way that feels organic and fluid. The twists and turns in this book are crazy. Some of them I saw coming, but most caught me by surprise. My only issue with the book is the ease that some situations were resolved. The ending felt an eensy bit less awesome then the last two books, but it may be because it's the last book in the series and there is no needed tension to get to that next book. I am trying really hard not to spoil anything in this book, so I'll just stop gushing here.

The Newsflesh series is one of the best zombie series ever and I'm sad to see it end. I wish I could explore more about this awesome world, but I understand why it ended where it did. So many facets of this universe are explored and explained that it seems like it should take a lot longer than 3 books to do it. Mira Grant/Seanan Mcguire is an amazing author and I will read anything she writes. I will be rereading this series for a long time to come.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins