Reviews are for every day, not just for Hogswatchnight.

[seanan_mcguire]

It's time a "please help me, I can no longer find anything in my rolling note file" review roundup. Always fun!

As an aside, before I get to the notes, I have learned something about myself with Blackout. Normally, negative reviews are interesting and even a little educational for me. They help me learn what I can still improve in a series, even though I cringe a little whenever says something in Book #2 is an "obvious reaction" to criticism about Book #1. (By the time I see reviews of Book #1, I'm working on Book #3, if not Book #4.) But with Blackout, my experience has been very different, because the series is over. I already know what I need to work on as a matter of improving as an author, and I don't want to hear people criticize this story. It's done; my imaginary friends are gone; they're not coming back. It's made collecting reviews a much more careful process this time, as I get way more upset about even mild negativity.

(Please note that I am not saying "No one gets to negatively review the final book in a series/trilogy." I'm saying "I do not benefit from reading these reviews, and they make me sad, so I'm trying not to do it." Honestly, you can, and should, review anything you want, any way you want.)

And now...reviews:

Bea's Book Nook has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is a roller coaster ride, with emotion, action, character growth, more action, quirky characters, and not a lot of zombies. I actually would have liked more of them (and I'm not a zombie fan), but when they do appear, watch out!" Hee. She also says that I "take chances," and that makes me happy.

A Reader of Fictions has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout has the humor and intelligence of the prior books (plus a ZOMBIE GRIZZLY), making a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series. I say 'pretty' satisfying because I really want more. Like right now BUT IT'S OVER. Well, except for some novellas." Any review that gives a shout-out to the zombie bear is awesome by me.

Oh, yay! The Guilded Earlobe has reviewed the audiobook edition of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is full of adventure, betrayal, true love, sacrifice, conspiracies revealed, surprise enemies and allies, fascinating science and of course, zombies. It has everything you want in a series finale, leaving you both utterly fulfilled, and desperately wanting more. Blackout is hands down my favorite Audiobook of 2012, and if it doesn’t top my list at year end, then some miracle of audiobook greatness must have taken place to knock it off its perch." Yeah...that works for me.

Gina Rinelli has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Do yourself a favor and read these books. I can't say that enough. A couple times during Blackout I stopped and thought I can't believe a person wrote this. It's a level of storytelling that hasn't been matched for me since J. K. Rowling, the way everything fits together to just blow your mind. I may be fangirling at this point. I don't care. You need to read these books." I'm blushing.

Rob Bedford has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is both fine novel and a fine conclusion to the Newflesh Trilogy. I enjoyed the random zombie novel here and there, but when I read Feed I was totally blown away, which set the bar high for Deadline. That bar was met and with Blackout and the whole Newsflesh Trilogy, Mira Grant has completed what should be considered the quintessential zombie narrative for the early 21st Century."

On that note, have a great day, and don't get eaten by dead things.

Comments

[dostehseh.livejournal.com]

Tangentially related, like a Livejournal review, I wanted to say how impressive I find it that you put so much effort into replying individually to a lot of your comments here. I think that's pretty impressive. I don't know if you hear that a lot here, but if you don't, you ought to.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Aw. Thank you. :)

[jane-dark.livejournal.com]

Not a review, but I think that making the NYT Bestseller List at #15 (http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2012-06-10/mass-market-paperback/list.html) is pretty sweet. Or am I behind the times and has Mira already done that with previous books?

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

I hadn't known about that! Holy crap, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

No, she hadn't, but I'm trying to get up to the point where I can post about recent events.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

My husband just finished Blackout yesterday and says to tell you, he loved the trilogy, loved the zombie bear, but still has not forgiven you for Lois.

I laughed at him.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hee.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

have a great day, and don't get eaten by dead things.

or live things either. I going to Book Club tonight.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

I was actually reading Blackout during a recent gaming session - which was fine, as most of the action happening at the time was unrelated to my character. But when I suddenly burst out with "OMGZOMBIEBEAR!" I was roundly scolded.

Not for reading during gaming, mind you, but for giving the GM ideas. :-)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's not a good way to win friends and influence people.

[scarybaldguy.livejournal.com]

Gotta admit, that's a lot more creative than Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.

[seferin.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I liked it. You are a skilled enough author that I am willing to provide suspension of disbelief, and it was a pleasure to discover things I thought were plot holes were actually plot points. In the areas where I did get kicked out briefly, you managed to reel me back in fairly quickly with the skill in which you wrote and the care in which you built your world. Areas where I might want more information were treated as "She is focusing on something else, which is why she doesn't explain this" vs. "She's making shit up as she goes."

I think this is an excellent series, both as a novel about zombies and as a demonstration on the differences between objective and sensational journalism.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased. :)

[denisen1.livejournal.com]

Didn't post review on Amazon (there were so many, I knew I'd just be repeating), but since I'm here, lemme just take a moment to wax rhapsodic, but I was tempted after reading your extremely-dark-but-hard-to-put-down Grants Pass short story to try another of yours. From the first paragraph in Feed I was roped in. Found myself reading just a paragraph here or there at stoplights, barricading self from kids, dogs, husband in bathroom to read just a chapter here or there after work, and read entire series in about three weeks ... Awesome imagery - I could see your scenes happening in my head. Zombie bear = nice gift to your characters and readers alike! Loved the mini bulldogs, the hotel, the gas station! Esp loved the ending of the series. Except that it ended. Moan ... Didn't Jack Chalker (or someone like him) write that a trilogy really consists of four books?

[lauowolf.livejournal.com]

"Barricading self from kids, dogs, husband in bathroom" seems like a perfectly reasonable reaction to these books.
Or are other people not finding themselves analyzing the survival possibilities of home and office spaces?

[denisen1.livejournal.com]

I am, to rather depressing effect. There's only so much damage I can do to zombies with a whole basketfull of books and a pile of mixed safety and hair pins ... Purchase of a machete would likely result in finding our 11 year old playing with it on the front lawn ("Watch this, Mom!"). That said, a sternly delivered "That's enough, now settle down" might work on rampaging zombie hordes ... right? Right?? Hello ... ?!?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Aw.

Thank you. <3

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the NY bestsellers rank [for June 10]. That is a page to keep a link to. ^_^

BTW, as a rpg referee, I like the idea of zombie bears. A dash of zombie makes any game better IMO [or would that be a 'stagger of zombies'?].

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I like "a moan of zombies," myself.

[yellowblackhaze.livejournal.com]

I loved the whole series and hopefully I'll get some time to reread them all.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hopefully!

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

Not only do I agree with these awesome reviews, but the about-to-be-12-yr-old boy who was excited as anything to get his very own copy Blackout for his birthday a few days early agrees COMPLETELY. (I also got one for my sister, but she hasn't read it yet.)

So, totally yay! We're just going to sit back like good little readers and wait and hope and wait and hope for the movie, now that the rights are optioned, because Sean and Georgia on the big screen would be the best zombie movie EVER.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Okay, that? Is the sweetest thing.

Yay.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

My mom used to send me off to summer camp (as a counselor) with the admonition: "Stay out of the bears." I'm not sure what the equivalent admonition would be in the case of zombie bears, aside from "Don't poke THAT with a stick, you crazy Irwin."

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

"Don't poke THAT with a stick, you crazy Irwin..."

"...use this pruning hook. Much more solid, and the hook on the end has multiple uses..."

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Best admonition ever.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

That was after we had the bear we called "Ninja Bear" who was sneaking around camp and scaring the Scouts. Despite a vast number of deadfalls, it broke into the garbage shed and made a huge mess, so we had to have a garbage run (boating garbage across the lake!) with shovels. Yuck².

[funjon.livejournal.com]

So, I have to share a couple of my thoughts about the Newsflesh series with you. I hope you are amused :)

One, I haven't fallen this hard for a fictional series since Harry Potter. If you ask my wife, she will probably tell you I'm a bit of a Potter freak. So yeah, I mad <3 these books.

Two. So. I started reading Feed before I left for a 9 day driving vacation across the southwest and midwest. Finished after 5 days. Read Deadline in two days. Blackout in nine hours. Midway through Deadline, on the second day of the trip home. I got sick. Like, 104.5ºF fever, hallucinating vivid dreams, food poisoning sick. I woke up in a strange place (hotel room), with people quietly shuffling around outside, and thought "OH HOLY JESUS THE FUCKING [REDACTED] SOLD MY ASS OUT AND IM GONNA END UP LIKE [REDACTED FROM EARLY IN Deadline]!!".

I was freaking out for six hours after that.

Well done, Seanan. Just. Yeah. One of my favorite series of all time.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

This makes me happy. :)

[dragonsally.livejournal.com]

Zombie bears and Zombie deer tickle my fancy.

Once I've finished rereading the series I'll be doing a glowing review!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[goddesssaint.livejournal.com]

Seanan, I was so psyched to see my review (Bea's Book Nook) mentioned on your blog. I was at work, sneaking onto the internet, and squealed in joy when I saw it. I get excited when an author likes my review enough to mention it. BTW, FEED was my first ever book review, though not the first posted on my blog. I love your writing, both as Seanan and as Mira.

I also agree with dostehseh; it's wonderful that you take the time to respond to comments. Laura Anne Gilman does that too, and I enjoy it, even when it's not my comment you all are responding to.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad you were pleased to be linked. :) Not everyone is thrilled to be reminded that authors see reviews, too.

Thank you for reading!