I’m primarily familiar with Mira Grant, a.k.a. , through her filk music and through the folks in the Pacific Northwest who know her. That was enough of a connection, though, to make me quite pleased to hear she was pursuing a writing career, and certainly I was pleased to see that as urban fantasies go, Rosemary and Rue stood out for me as better than normal in an overcrowded genre.

That was before I read Feed.

Now, granted, I’m a sucker for a good zombie novel. But what makes a truly kickass zombie novel is a plot that’s much less about the zombies and much more about the world that a zombie outbreak creates, and Grant does this in spades in this book. I’m not sure what impressed me more, and there’s a lot to impress here: the backstory of the Kellis-Amberlee virus; the various complex social and political changes that happen in America as a result of the Rising; the fact that in this world, George Romero is considered a national hero; or the upsurge of bloggers as a source of organized journalism. Either way, it makes me very much want to up the ante on my own writing efforts. Take note, my fellow writers. This is how worldbuilding is done.

And when you take impressive worldbuilding and throw in highly engaging characters on top of it, the result is riveting. I loved the two protagonists, Georgia and Shaun Mason, as well as the supporting crew surrounding them. I loved Buffy the support tech chick, who quips that she’s blonde and cute and hunts zombies, what else should she name herself? I loved Rick, who signs on with Georgia and Shaun after working for actual newspapers. I even loved Senator Ryman, a halfway decent politician.

Quotes from the various major characters’ individual blogs add a lot of lovely atmosphere to the book. Be sure to read them in depth, too. There’s lots of detail you don’t want to miss, and the blog excerpts are of critical importance in the climactic end of the book.

Watch out for that climax, too, because it’ll totally make you tear up. Or, aheh, so I’ve heard. *^_^*;; Five stars. Because I mean, DAMN.