Newsflesh Trilogy Book Review

Title/Author: The Newsflesh Trilogy: Feed, Deadline and Blackout and associated ebook novellas: Fed, Countdown, San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea by Mira Grant.

Publisher/Year: Orbit Books. 2010, 2011 and 2012, and 2011, 2012, 2012 and 2013.

How I Got This: The library and the internet

Why I Read It: I saw the cover for the first book and picked it up, read the blurb and thought it sounded interesting. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Let me start with: I'm not particularly a fan of zombies. I don't relish watching zombie movies or tv shows(I still haven't got around to watching The Walking Dead, yet), and I had never until last week(that I can remember) read a zombie book.

The Newsflesh Trilogy books hold the honour of being the first zombie books I have ever read. And I loved them!

When I think of Zombie stories I generally think of something more along the lines of Resident Evil(the movies because I've never played the games)- where the plot is run for your life, the zombies are chasing you. Basically something set during the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse. The Newsflesh Trilogy is not this.

It is set post zombie apocalypse by about twenty years. The world has reached a relatively stable sense of being, with people living for the most part relatively comfortably in highly fortified buildings for the most part and constantly taking blood tests before they go anywhere and do anything to ensure they haven't turned into zombies or been exposed to the virus.

In this world however, there are some other big differences. Blogging is a profession, a lucrative one, as it was shown that they were the ones to tell the truth- and be unafraid to do so, when the zombie apocalypse started. It evolved so that many journalists actually maintain blogs and have licences and all sorts of bits and pieces in their arsenal(figuratively and literally) to stay ahead of the competition- and more importantly, to stay alive. Also pets have become a thing of the past for the most part with any mammalian animal over about 40 pounds(eighteen kilograms) being able to go into spontaneous viral zombie amplification and turn into a zombie form of itself.

Enter our main characters- Georgia "George" and Shaun Mason. A sister and brother who are bloggers, along with their friend and fellow blogger- Georgette "Buffy" Meissonier, who get chosen from a pool of applicants, to cover the campaign trail of Presidential candidate Senator Peter Ryman.

What follows is a fantastic mix of zombies and politics and of course intrigue and conspiracies.

The first book, Feed, is fantastc- once I got past the first chapter I could not put it down.

The second book, Deadline, follows with less politics as the election is over and a hell of a lot more conspiracy, and intrigue. Faked deaths, mad scientists and breaking into government facilities before going into hiding.

The third book, Blackout, has the entire cast of characters in hiding for their lives against government departments. They are offline for most of the book- through necessity more than choice. The events of the previous two books culminate in a fantastic ending to the trilogy. I really am not going to say how it ends because it just wouldn't have the same impact if you knew before you read it.

There are also some ebook novellas to accompany the series which are more of what I would expect of a zombie story.

Fed is an alternate ending to the events of the first book, Feed. It is good but I won't tell you what happens because that would ruin the story. I will be honest, the events in the original ending, made me cry. Who ever heard of a book about zombies making someone cry?!

 

San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats follows the outbreak(rising) in the early weeks when it hits San Diego Comic Con. At this point people have heard reports of some outbreaks but as the news outlets are mostly denying it, very few really even have a clue what is going on. It follows primarily a group of Firefly fans who were setting up a booth before the outbreak occurs and they get locked into a convention centre with zombies. The book is told in the format of a blogger interviewing the only survivor of the events in 2014 and I guess almost could be considered flash backs in which she recalls what she remembers and knows.

Countdown is another one of the ebooks. I guess you could say it is the first chronologically speaking in events as they occur, and covers the start and outbreak. I haven't read this yet but it is next on the list.

The final book is How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea and is set in post-rising Australia and from what I can tell from the blurb for it, it follows conservationists and their battle to maintain the natural beauty of Australia until a cure to the zombie plague can be found. I also haven't read this one yet, but the thought of zombie kangaroos and koalas makes me want to read this as soon as possible!

One of the things I love about these books, apart from the story itself, is the brilliant coverart. It was a combination of the title as well as the image more commonly associated with RSS Feeds on the internet that actually made me pick up the first book. The rest of the books have covers that are equally as brilliant with the mixing of imagery that is well knows with grittiness that can be expected from a zombie story. I highly doubt I would have glanced twice at the first book if it didn't have the image of the blood and the grittiness it implied.

All in all, I highly recommend these books. Especially if you want a story that has all the zombie stuff but with a fantastic plot behind it.

~~Random Logic~~

Books, Travel, Study and Planning a Move.

So I have been planning to update recently with some book reviews but I keep getting distracted by starting to read other good books- I highly recommend the Divergent books by Veronia Roth and the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant- so those posts will come when I hit a wall in the book reading. I have also been very busy on another note.

I started looking for jobs for when I finished being an au pair, and I was looking all over Europe, not just in Finland to find as many opportunities as possible. I ended up applying for a job in Rhodes, Greece, and I got it! So I will be moving to Greece as of the 29th of August... that gives me just under 3 weeks until I move.

I also travel to Ireland next week for a friends wedding! YAY! Weddings! YAY! Travel! I am there for a week and then when I come back, I think I will have two days here in Vaasa before I travel south and visit friends in Turku for a few days and then a day or so in Helsinki. I am tempted to try get in a day trip to Tallinn just for the hell of it before I leave as well. I love Tallinn and I don't know when I will get a chance to visit again. This also means that I have to do most of my packing for the move before I even go to Ireland, so that I just have to really worry about packing what I take to Ireland with me when I get back to Finland.

On top of all that planning, I have been doing the Archaeology MOOC that I talked about a few posts ago. The final exercise was due last week and the results were given this morning. I got full marks for everything! YAY! I'm happy with that because, apart from my language classes which have often been fairly informal in terms of any kind of homework, it is the first study I have really done on anything since high school. It was really fun and interesting too. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in history. It is run through the Coursera website and is called Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets. I will probably also post some more of the stuff I wrote for exercises here at some point. One of the other students had the idea to start a blog for the students to post to with different archaeological themed things and I am going to be a contributor to that as well.

So basically to sum up my life I have been busy. Things are going to get fun and exciting over the next few weeks. I am excited to go to Greece and sad to be leaving Finland. Also I have never been to Greece so I can't wait to see some of the historical sites. At least the history geek inside of me will have fun!

Well that's all for now folks! I will try to post something up between Ireland and Greece at the very least.


~~Random Logic~~

Yksi Vuosi Sitten....

One year ago....

One year ago, I left Australia.

One year ago, I was sitting on a plane.

One year ago. I moved to the other side of the world.

One year ago....

That's right folks! If you haven't guessed it already- today is one year since I left Australia for Finland... and what a year it has been.

I didn't really know what to expect when I decided to come back to Finland, especially coming back here and becoming an au pair. It has turned out to be an amazing experience.

When I left Sydney airport, my mum, dad and younger brother were there to see me off. There were lots of hugs. I got on the plane and flew to Finland via Abu Dhabi and Dusseldorf.

The first people I saw when I got into arrivals at Helsinki-Vantaa airport were my friends Veera and Nupur. One greeted me with a sign, the other with chocolate, both with hugs! I almost ran them over with my baggage cart. Nupur drove us into the city centre where we had lunch and chatted for ages and then drove me as far as Salo where she lives.

When I got off the bus from Salo to Turku, I was met by two more friends, once more with a poster as well as chocolate and other Finnish goodies. It was a good day.

I stayed with one of my friends for most of a month before I started working as an au pair, and we caught up often on weekends after I started working. The best thing about some friendships is that it doesn't matter how long it has been since you have seen that person... you still get along and it doesn't really feel that long. And that is definitely the case with Sanni!

This last year has been a pretty amazing experience. I worked for one family until mid-February and then started with a new family in a city called Vaasa at Easter. Both have been interesting, and as with any jobs there are ups and downs.

I have learnt a lot more Finnish than I knew 12 months or even just 6 months ago- especially since I came to Vaasa because I speak only Finnish to the children here. I learn new things every day!

I have renewed my love affair with libraries. In Australia over the 5 years before I had not borrowed very often from libraries as I would just buy the books that I wanted. If there is one thing I do miss from Turku now that I am in Vaasa... it's the library. Vaasa does have one... it's just not as big.

I got to visit Spain last September(yes I know I never did end up writing a blog post on that!), Stockholm in December, London in March, and Estonia last July, over new years and then again in March. I have seen parts of Finland I had never visited before, and seen new things in some places I had visited. In August, I am going to visit Ireland and attend a friend's wedding. I just booked my tickets today!

I have made some amazing new friends in the past year. Au pairs and otherwise. I've made friends from all sorts of countries, who speak all sorts of languages. I've travelled with those friends and introduced them to places I love. I've discovered new places to love and rediscovered old ones.

 

I've been to my first music festival, sunbaked in parks like the locals, eaten new foods, relearned to ride a bike, experienced the aftermath of a snowstorm and the chaos it can bring on a large city(thank you Stockholm!).

All in all I have experienced! I have put myself out into the world and experienced. How long I will be in Finland for, I don't know. What I do know is that I will not regret having been in Finland. I think that if I do leave Finland this year I would like to try and stay in Europe. Maybe I will see if I can find a job in another country and move there. Maybe try and learn another language and experience more but that's for another time! So, sorry to all you people in Australia.... I don't think I'm coming home anytime soon!

~~Random Logic~~

A Little Princess

Last week I went to the library and I was looking through the books for children and young adults in English to see if there were any good books. I came across one book in particular. One I haven't read in a long time, but that I have loved since the first time I did read it. That book was A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I first read this book when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It was not long after the newest movie adaptation of sorts had been released, and my dad had taken us out one evening to the shops and we ended up in a bookstore where he either told us we could choose a book each, or I bugged him until he got me a book. Either way I came home with the book and proceeded to read it. I loved it, and read it many times as a child.

Fast forward to last week and I decided to borrow it and read it. I have to say that I love the book as much as I ever did as a child. I'm not sure what it is exactly that made me love this book but I think maybe it's the fact that there is some mystery and romanticism to it. It also has some great imagery and descriptions. Having read it again, as well as having read The Secret Garden over New Years, it makes me want to go and rediscover more books from my childhood that I loved and read many times. I'm thinking I might see if the library has Little Women and borrow that and re-read it.

Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets

So I have been planning on writing a new post recently. I even have ideas for it and kind of know what I want to write, but the last few weeks have been pretty crazy. I started a Finnish course at the end of May, the children I look after started holidays the next week, and I also started an online course or MOOC about archaeology. Needless to say with that and also making new friends and spending time with them I haven't been left with much time to write... plus I would feel incredibly guilty if I wrote a blog post without having done my archaeology course homework.

So anyway.... the course I started is through a website called Coursera. I came across it thanks to the Time Team Facebook page where they recommended the course that I signed up for. The course is called Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets and into the third week now I am loving it! I have always enjoyed history and especially archaeology- I wanted to be an archaeologist for many years, and I am not really sure I've given up on that possibility yet, so it's fun. The course itself is through Brown University in the USA and the Joukowsky Institute which is situated at Brown.

So the course itself consists of video lectures, some required reading, weekly quizzes and weekly exercises or assessments if you want to call them that. The exercises are all peer assessed as with the sheer number of people who enrol in the course as well as the free nature of the course, there is no way that the staff could mark everyones exercises.

I just got the results of my week 1 exercise today and I was very happy. I got a 3- which is the top mark, and some really nice comments. As a result, I thought I would share what I wrote here. I will first post the requirements, then my response, then the comments I recieved.


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Option #2: Archaeological expressions

Find one form of artistic expression (poetry, film, literature, trash fiction, music) that draws on archaeology and archaeological uses of the past*. Write a reaction piece in which you:

1. Identify and describe the artistic work you have chosen.
2. If it could be helpful to your classmates, provide a link (URL) to any relevant online content (e.g., YouTube clip, SoundCloud sample, IMDB page, etc.).
3. Explain why you chose this particular piece.
4. Critique the piece. Does it convey an accurate impression of archaeology? Is it significant, either artistically or archaeologically? Do you like it? Would you recommend it to others, and if so, who?

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The work chosen for this archaeological comparison is called "The Curse", and it is episode thirteen of season four of the television series Stargate SG-1.

In this episode, one of the team members - Dr Daniel Jackson of SG-1, discovers that his archaeology professor from college - Dr David Jordan was killed in a lab explosion that has been attributed to the Curse of Osiris as he was working with artefacts recovered from a shipwreck of an expedition carried out in 1931. He attends the funeral and catches up with former colleagues he has not seen in five years. He stays behind after the funeral and discovers that items from the collection have either been stolen or misplaced, and works to help discover what has happened to them.

I chose this piece because it shows some of the issues that archaeologists and institutions face with regards to artefacts and ownership once recovered as well as the storage, testing and treatment of artefacts. It also addresses the beliefs of many people in curses being placed on items from tombs especially those of Egyptian mummies.

The episode starts with the characters of Dr Jordan and Dr Steven Rayner discussing some artefacts that had been recovered from a shipwreck of an expedition known as the Stewart Expedition undertaken in 1931. Dr Jordan lets Dr Rayner know that the opportunity has come up to have scans done on a canopic jar. Dr Rayner suggests that they just crack open the canopic jar to which he is told that the Egyptian government expects the items to be returned intact. He expresses some disagreement with this pronouncement stating that it is the find of a lifetime and they are "just handing it over".

This reflects on an issue that is facing the archaeological community and institutions around the world more and more often these days. Many artefacts were taken at times in the past when countries were either colonised, under occupation or before there were laws regarding what could be taken or even what could be excavated. As a result more and more countries are trying to recover items that they consider to have been looted from their past causing much controversy amongst those who believe they have a right to the items who make arguments on both sides of the divide as is the case with the Parthenon Marbles.

When Dr Jackson discovers the report of the death of Dr Jordan, the article states that the Curse of Osiris has returned. This alludes to the belief that curses will afflict those who disturb the tombs and holy places of ancient civilisations- in this case those of ancient Egypt. Later in the episode when Dr Sarah Gardner is showing Dr Jackson the artefacts, she says that they are supposedly cursed and that all the members of the original expedition died within a year of the discovery and Dr Jackson says that it had been attributed to mould spores. Her response states that mould spores do not make front page news.

These instances as well as later deaths of two more people show the pervasiveness of beliefs in "Mummy curses" which started in the 19th century with very little truth behind them as well as their common use as a trope in television and movies to make a plot more interesting or entertaining.

When Dr Jackson goes to find the museum curator in the storage area for the artefacts, she blames the state of the storage area on budget cuts. She also states that the crate in which another item was stored, was mislabelled and, that she had therefore only discovered the item a few days prior. She appears to be the sole person working in the department possibly due to the budget cuts she has stated and has a large number of items to catalogue. The sheer number of items shown to be in storage show the fate of many archaeological finds today with many artefacts remaining in storage for long periods of time after discovery and initial study, if study commences at all.

On a whole I believe this piece to show a somewhat accurate depiction of archaeology. It shows that not all archaeologists work in the field and that there is more to archaeology than digging up treasures and, that there are issues faced by those who work in the field of archaeology. I enjoyed it and would recommend this piece to people who like history and science fiction as well as people who like to see fictional archaeologists on film and not blowing up temples.

Gateworld: The Curse - http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s4/413.shtml - Last accessed 9 June 2013

Wiki: The Curse - http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/The_Curse – Last accessed 9 June 2013

National Geographic: Curse of the Mummy - http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/curse-of-the-mummy/ - Last accessed 9 June 2013
 

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Peer 1 → You completed and clearly expressed your response. Very well done.

 

Peer 2 → Having watched a few episodes of SG-1 in the past I was familiar with it's format and the the origins of some of its ideas in ancient Egypt. I found the piece both interesting and well researched. Although fictional representations of archaeology and archaeologists are often ridiculous you have pointed out that this does not necessarily always occur and that they can sometimes put forward ideas and concepts that are very representative of the truth.

 

Peer 4 → Good use of an excellent episode from SG1 to illustrate the required topic. Certainly original and clearly expressed. Do you watch the Abydos videos with the same slant as I do? Thanks.

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I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think.

~~Random Logic~~

Speak Up and Be Brave!

I've been thinking about what I wanted to do for a new post here for the past week or so. 

A few days ago I came across a video for a song by Sara Bareilles. I had heard the song before but thanks to a post she put up on Facebook I saw the official video for the song and I fell in love with the song even more.

The song is called Brave, and the basic message behind the song is to not be afraid of who you are or what you do. Don't let others decide who or what you should be and stand up for what you believe in and your own desires. The video shows this message through a series of clips they rotate through of people dancing in public spaces outrageously without any thought of what others think. It shows people being who they want to be. I think it's a great message. It's a message that I think needs to be told more and more often in today's society. 

It's a message that hits fairly close to home for me.

When I was younger and to a much lesser extent these days I was a very shy and quiet person. I didn't have many friends in primary school. Not so much because I didn't want to have friends, but more because I didn't really know how to connect with most of the people I went to school with. I always felt like an outsider and putting myself in the spotlight was something to be avoided. Not only that, but I was also I guess a bit more of an I guess intellectual child compared to most of my classmates. I spent a lot of my time reading as a child, which is something I am not ashamed of by any means, and I spent many lunch times in the school library both in primary school and high school. 

The problem was not my being ashamed of who I was and what I liked, the problem was other kids making fun of me for those reasons. I was teased for wearing glasses as well as reading and had books snatched from my hands and thrown across the playground on a few occasions as a child. Because of these incidents I ended up with pretty low self esteem. I used to pretend I was sick at school so I could go home because I didn't want to be at school. It was my way of trying to avoid the bullies because the school wasn't doing anything to help with a problem they had been told about.

As I got into high school things changed for me. I went to a high school where there were very few people from my primary school and they were people that I could and did get along with mostly. One of my first moments in high school that I remember was being asked by someone I had known when I was quite young what I was interested in. I told them that I loved Star Wars. The response I got was along the lines of "Star Wars? That's for boys!" She then turned to a random girl behind her and tapped her on the shoulder and asked her "Don't you think Star Wars is for boys?". The response was unexpected by both myself and the girl who asked. "No, actually. I quite like it myself."

I made new friends in high school including the girl who also liked Star Wars, friends who liked to read, who liked science fiction and fantasy and I could talk to them about these things. We shared books and spent as much of our lunchtime in the library as we did out of it. Just from having those friends and being able to talk to them about things I began to truly feel that I wasn't a freak and I wasn't so strange. I began to embrace my "weird". I still got bullied on occasion but I didn't let it get to me as much as previously because I had a support system in my friends with similar interests

At around the same time as this I started to get into online forums and message boards associated with my fandom of Star Wars. It was a very liberating thing because I began to connect with people who had similar interests. Many were around the same age as me due to the resurgence of the series with the prequels. Some of my best friends to this day I made through fan sites.

So when I heard the song for the first time I really felt close to the message of the lyrics. I know what it's like to have words thrown at you so as to belittle you. I know the feelings that you feel when that happens. I know what it feels like when the adults who are meant to be your support system and and guidance don't do anything to stop it or help you. I hate to see bullying.

Most recently as I have mentioned on several occasions I have been working as an au pair. In the first family I worked for the children would often call each other names and I really hated it. One day when it was getting particularly bad I got the three children together- even the four year old, because I think you are never too young to learn not to be a bully. I had them in a circle and I asked each of them what they felt like when someone called them names. I asked each of them what it felt like when their brother or sister called them names and I asked them what they think their brother or sister felt like when they called them names. The response was they they felt horrible and that their brother or sister or anyone else they called names felt horrible too. I told them I knew what it felt like. I was bullied as a kid. It is NOT a nice feeling. After that day I do believe I saw and heard less name calling and teasing between the kids. Maybe I was just imagining it or maybe I really did see less of it. Either way, it is better to try than to let bullying go on.

So I just want to say if you are reading this. Watch the video. Listen to the lyrics and if you have children, work with children or just know children- then share it with them too. It's never too soon to teach children both not to be afraid of bullies, but also that it isn't right to be a bully.

~~Random Logic~~

The Da Vinci Code Book Review

Back in 2003 when I was still in high school a new book was released to great publicity and popularity. That book was The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Now I love to read but I often don't read books that are subject to a lot of hype because I find I often don't like them. If I do read them, then it usually happens much later once all the hype has died down.

So, last weekend, just over 10 years since the book was first released, I borrowed it from the local library. I was hoping that it was going to be a good book- the premise isn't a bad one, and I like thrillers with a religious and/or historical twist to them. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed by the book.

Dan Brown is definitely not the best writer. Even before I got too far into the book I was finding that I was getting bored and forcing myself to read more hoping it would get better. It didn't really. There are many pages where I found myself wanting to skip the page, but also the rest of the chapter.

Another issue I had, was that I often felt like I was reading the same things over and over again and that added to the boredom factor. I think the main issue with the writing beyond the style itself was the flow of the story. I found myself guessing the plot twists(who is the mysterious 'Teacher'?) or answers to the little riddles(the answer to the second cryptex) throughout the book, well before they occurred. I felt many scenes just dragged out and that it could have been a much better book if the pace was picked up. The events of the book itself take place within a very short period of time, but there isn't a massive amount.

All in all I wouldn't recommend this book to someone looking for a novel with a bit of vatican/religious or historical conspiracy thrown in. I would recommend books by authors such as Charles Brokaw, Andy McDermott, Raymond Khoury and James Rollins. All of these authors have novels that are well written, thrilling and most importantly not boring to read.


~~ Random Logic ~~