Feed

Now I had quite high expectations of this book, and....um. Well. Not quite achieved, I am sorry to say.

The plot was great; the characterisation was largely very good - but this is SCIENCE fiction, right? And the science is lacking.

It's a pity I'm a virologist - it's what ruined Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio for me too - because Mira Grant's virus/es are simply not believable. Mixing a picornavirus and a filovirus - common cold and Marburg for you civilians - would NOT result in anything that could "activate" in the ways described. Now, if she'd used the example of a lentivirus (similar to HIV) and thrown in rabies and a bornavirus, I'd be more enthusiastic - but she didn't.

And virus bodies? Crystals that reduce the moisture content of a body? Naaaaaaah....

Which is a pity, because otherwise, it's a cracking good story! Everything ELSE has the right sort of verisimilitude; the politics and the electronics and interpersonal stuff.

So if you're not a virologist, switch off any "that's not technically correct" tendency, and enjoy. If you are - close your eyes and mumble when the virus/es is/are discussed, and enjoy anyway. I still have the rest of the series to read!