The Newsflesh Series by Mira Grant

The quick cut: A brother and sister duo find their dream job turned wrong when the presidential candidate they're following brings to light the reality of the virus changing the world.

A real review:

While the medical research organizations may try to experiment in order to learn and make breakthroughs, sometimes they instead lead to new problems. In this series, an unfortunate combination creates a new virus and makes zombies a real problem.

They cured the common cold and cancer. It was supposed to bring about a new era of humanity where everything only improved. Instead it led to a new virus that leads their victims to do only one thing: feed. Is there a cure for this? Or will trying to eliminate it lead to new issues?

The series here is about so many things all at once: action, science fiction, political thriller, and found family vibes. That being said, it actually all melds together as a great story with a wonderfully intricate world building.

The first three books are really their own trilogy, with the fourth being a separate yet related story. The first three follow blogging siblings Georgia and Shaun Mason. The fourth book follows a different group of bloggers, unrelated to the Masons. The Masons make for far more interesting lead characters with more fully fleshed out character development. After having the Masons at the core, anything else feels like less than.

The story is so complex here and it's hard to do it justice. It's fascinating to see how the world recreated itself post-virus changing everything. While COVID flipped out lives upside down - this is a world where nothing went back to the way it was. Daily repeated testing and fear of the virus ending your life is a daily fear. That's not something we live with anymore and it's interesting seeing what that path looks like. I'm still happy it's not a reality we have though.

An interesting series with a strong world building core.

My rating: 4 out of 5 (Series)