Book Title: Blackout (Newsflesh Trilogy #3)
Author: Mira Grant
Rating: 5/5
This review will not be spoiler free from any of the Newsflesh books Feed, Deadline and Blackout so read at your own risk.
All three books in the Newsflesh Trilogy are fast paced addictive reads. The books follow a blogging team in a post apocalyptic world where the cure for cancer and the cure for common colds created a virus that awoke the dead. Throughout this series you're never sure what is the truth or who you can trust, even when we see things we're not sure what to believe! These books take you on a wild ride of speculations, conspiracies and a whole lot of suspense.
Blackout starts right where
Deadline left off, in a white room with a mirror and one woman who we all thought had left us in
Feed, Georgia Mason. We soon discover that this isn't
our George but subject 7b, a 97% as close as they've gotten thus far, clone of Georgia. Where
Feed was in Georgia's P.O.V up until the end, and
Deadline was in Shaun's up until the end,
Blackout shifts between Shaun's P.O.V and Georgia's giving us insight into both worlds and linking them together perfectly.
Characters and Relationships: The characters in this story are really amazing. The Georgia and Shaun in
Blackout are two different people then who they were when this trilogy started, and in Georgia's case she is a whole new person struggling with her identity. I truly grew to love and care for a lot of these characters. I was devastated in
Feed when George was shot with a syringe, I was utterly shocked when I read the final chapter in
Deadline and
Blackout just reminded me why I loved all these characters. George II is struggling with being a clone and being this new person with this dead woman's memories and dna structure but she finds herself and who she is as Georgia's clone all at the same time. Shaun was broken after
Feed and though getting Georgia back doesn't repair him in the slightest it subdues his internal Georgia just a little bit. Throughout
Feed I thought to myself, these two really don't have the typical brother sister relationship and it's actually starting to get a little creepy. In
Deadline I was thrilled to see Shaun have a physical relationship with someone and then for him to mumble George after broke my heart probably just as much as it did Becks, so when
Blackout literally blew the lid off the roof with revealing a kiss I was shocked that she went there. Georgia and Shaun's relationship is still creepy but in this weird crazy whacked out world where these two people only had each other I guess I could see where this love bloomed but still it's a little creepy (only made slightly less creepy that this isn't even his Georgia anymore and a clone but still weird) Becks is probably my favorite person along with George and Shaun and was so torn up that she stayed behind to help the others escape but it's totally her. I loved the moments with her and Shaun and was actually hoping that he'd snap out of it, still can't get a grasp on G&S even if "other people" figured it out but Becks held her shit together pretty well after seeing the last guy she slept with kiss his sister cause I think I would've flipped. I loved seeing Rick again I really missed him in
Deadline and I think a part of me always thought (hoped) him and Georgia would've had a fling (or at least Georgia and Steve or even Mahir at one point, I don't think I ever thought that Mira Grant would've actually had Georgia and Shaun a couple) There were so many people who were introduced that I thought were pretty awesome too, all of the EIS who were helping Georgia (George, Gregory, Katheryn, Dr. Kimberley) and some of the crazies that Shaun and his team met (Fox, The Monkey) and it was good to see The Mason Parents redeem themselves albeit only slightly. I really loved how much we saw of Buffy/Georgiette being mentioned, she wasn't my favorite in
Feed but the people who knew her best still loved her so I guess I can't really hold anything against her but I
love that even after her death people can not hack into any of her shit because she's just that damn good. I can't leave out Maggie, Mahir or Alaric either. We almost lose Maggie too and it was good to see them get to take over After the End Times in the end.
Plots Subplots and everything in between: Blackout shifts between Georgia II's story and Shaun's. Georgia is being held captive in a CDC building in Seattle.
In the first chapter Georgia already identifies herself as a clone and throughout her portion of the chapters she starts to find trust in some of the EIS team and has to play along for the CDC. Georgia is shown some of the other clone subjects and is told a lot of information about what the CDC is planning. The EIS want to break Georgia out and ruin the CDC's plan they want her to get the truth out there just like the real Georgia would've done. Before they can break her out they have to remove all the tracking implants in her and while drowsy from surgery she gets a visit from our old pal Rick. Shaun on the other hand is trying to get the members of his team to safety first starting with Alaric's sister. She was in Florida when the mosquito outbreak happened and Shaun and Becks are going to the Mason's for help. The Mason's at first seem like they will turn the two in but change their minds and decide to help them out, even as far as getting Alaric's sister from Florida and temporarily taking care of her. Becks and Shaun meet up with Mahir and Maggie in Seattle (surprise surprise) where they try to acquire some fake ids, in order to get these they need to break into the CDC. Here is where the story links up. Shaun is baffled when he realizes the others can see Georgia and in a moment of hysterical fear, he asks Georgia to prove herself in the one way that only she knows how or else he will blow his brains out, so she does and she lays a big kiss on him. So shocked I re-read this paragraph over because I couldn't believe it! It takes awhile for the group to trust her and believe her story but eventually they do and it's almost like the whole team is back together.
The Ending: Becks! Poor Becks, and the scene with Shaun at the end was so sad. I love that Mahir finished off the story for us and that After The End Times did continue without the Masons but I was so expecting to see one more word from them at the end. I liked that this story ended with what they were trying to get the whole time the truth out there. This trilogy is amazing and I truly hope that the Mason's decide to speak to Mira Grant again because I'd love to see something else from this amazing world.
Title: Angel and Faith #10 Women Of A Certain Age
Angel and Faith return home to find Giles' two great aunts in their home. They're obviously magically since they look like they've never aged which they hadn't up until Angel destroyed the magic in the world. Apparently these two aunts have been making deals with people that they get to cash in when they get their first gray hair and that day has come, of course they expect Angel to protect them since it's his fault that the magic is gone. It sounds sort of silly but this issue was really amazing. We got to see a lot of different monsters that these ladies dealt with, and one in particular was pretty nasty. 
