{"id":18848,"date":"2010-10-07T11:55:28","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T17:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=18848"},"modified":"2010-10-07T11:55:28","modified_gmt":"2010-10-07T17:55:28","slug":"review-three-readworthy-books-feed-the-jennifer-morgue-blameless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/review-three-readworthy-books-feed-the-jennifer-morgue-blameless.html","title":{"rendered":"Review: Three Readworthy Books (Feed, The Jennifer Morgue, Blameless)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Feed <\/em>by Mira Grant (2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book was awesome. It’s a zombie story, but with a twist — it’s been twenty years since the zombies rose, and humanity has managed to get back to … well, more or less normal in adapting to the ongoing zombie threat.\u00a0 Playing as a metaphor for worries about terrorism, this works brilliantly, as we see how society has slowly warped itself over the prospects of death and not-so-pretty resurrection.\u00a0 It’s also a tale about how blogging and crowd-sourced media could play out.\u00a0 It’s also a ripping tale of political suspense, of relationships, of fear and loathing and love and obsession and … none of that does it justice.<\/p>\n

Though some of the plot points get a bit crowded out by the end, calling this one a “taut thriller” would be an understatement.\u00a0 It’s not a horror novel, except for slow, low horror that sits inside all of us.\u00a0 Nor is it a crunchy technical tale, though the technical and social details Grant paints of 2040 are lovingly crafted and believable.<\/p>\n

This is ostensibly the first of a series. I’ve rarely read such that didn’t scream for a sequel, but this story works perfectly well stand-alone novel. A really fun, really readable, really engrossing book.\u00a0 Very highly recommended.<\/p>\n

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The Jennifer Morgue <\/em>by Charles Stross (2006)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sequel to The Atrocity Archives<\/em>, this is the further adventures of Bob Howard, hacker and computer mathemagician within the UK’s “Laundry,” the covert (but oh-so-bureaucratic) supernatural security agency. One part Dilbert, one part Bond, one part Lovecraft, this novel is both mordantly witty, generally thrilling, often hysterically funny, world-building clever, and occasionally touching — not to mention just a lot of well-written fun.<\/p>\n

(Eld)richly recommended, to the extent that I’m tempted that the next volume in the series (The Fuller Memorandum)<\/em> is now out in hardcover …<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Blameless <\/em>by Gail Carriger (2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The third in Carriger’s “Alexia Tarabotti (Parasol Protectorate)” series, this is an improvement on the (still-fine) previous volume.\u00a0 The books are set in Victorian Europe, vaguely steampunky and definitely supernatural, with vampires and werewolves as known parts of the world and society, as are extraordinary inventors, sinister holy warriors, and many discussions of manners, etiquette, hospitality, foreign customs, and the inconveniences of certain female conditions (of questioned parentage).<\/p>\n

It’s a quick read, silly but well thought out, quite entertaining, and generally charming.\u00a0 I’m definitely looking forward to the next volume. Genteely recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feed by Mira Grant (2010) This book was awesome. It’s a zombie story, but with a twist — it’s been twenty years since the zombies rose, and humanity has managed to get back to … well, more or less normal in adapting to the ongoing zombie threat.\u00a0 Playing as a metaphor for worries about terrorism, … Continue reading “Review: Three Readworthy Books (Feed, The Jennifer Morgue, Blameless)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19211,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/16\/zombie-apocalypse-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-brains.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":0},"title":"ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Brains)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-Nov-10 5:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Zombies are so commonplace in horror fiction as to have become almost pass\u00e9 (right alongside vampires and werewolves, with ghosts, demons, angels, and fae maneuvering to follow). \u00a0Especially in the movies, you can expect a new zombie flick every year or three, lurching forward to eat the brains (and increasing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/zombies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19234,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/17\/zombie-apocalypse-wherein-i-pick-the-authors-braaaiiinnns.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":1},"title":"ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! (Wherein I pick the author’s BRAAAIIINNNS)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Nov-10 12:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I talked about a new book coming out in the \"Choose Your Doom!\" line from Doom Press\/League Entertainment, Zombie Apocalypse! Today, I have an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with one of the authors, DeAnna Knippling.\u00a0 Being such close friends, we got together over coffee e-mail and I asked her a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/deanna-knippling.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6250,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/10\/03\/aim_for_the_hea.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":2},"title":"Aim for the head","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 3-Oct-04 2:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some films become cult classics. Shaun of the Dead is richly deserving of this fate, and I'd love to watch this film several times more, on a regular basis. Generally...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"shaun.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/shaun.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10720,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/10\/battlestar_galactica_nouv.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":3},"title":"Battlestar Galactica: Nouveau Zombie Flick","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 10-Nov-06 9:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"I just had this revelation in a discussion I was having with someone about BSG. It's all about the zombies. Zombie stories (when not played for laughs) are about...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/galactica.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9738,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/08\/dawn_of_the_dems.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":4},"title":"Dawn of the Dems","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Nov-06 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Doyce cites an an Amazon.com snippet during his review of Dawn of the Dead: The Zombie Archetype easily accommodates almost any satire, but tends to focus on mockery of crass...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15344,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-g-is-for-girls-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":18848,"position":5},"title":"BT09 – G is for Girls (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 1:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am going to be posting about something other than comics -- like maybe my cause -- sooner or later. 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Girls, Vol. 1, \"Conception\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #1-6] Girls, Vol. 2, \"Emergence\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #7-12] Girls, Vol. 3, \"Survival\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #13-18] Girls, Vol. 4, \"Extinction\"\u00a0(Image)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}