Fed

Newsflesh #1.5

by Mira Grant

An alternate ending to the first novel in the Newsflesh trilogy, Feed.

It can be read also on the webpage of orbit books - orbitbooks.net

Be advised there are major spoilers for FEED contained therein. If you haven’t read FEED yet, don’t go any further. These books are fantastic as the many Newsflesh fans will tell you. You’ll want to enjoy every surprising twist and turn on what has been one wild ride for the Mason siblings.

But if the crew of After the End Times are old friends of yours, then by all means continue and read FED or download a pdf.

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic

53 pages, ebook

First published May 16, 2012

About the author

Mira also writes as Seanan McGuire.

Born and raised in Northern California, Mira Grant has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the Swamp Cannibals scenario remains unchallenged.

Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.

Mira sleeps with a machete under her bed, and highly suggests that you do the same.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am really glad i didn't read this right after i read feed. it would have been really unsatisfying. as an alternate ending, yeah it works, but it's really just kicking someone when they're down. i mean, it's already bleak, both if you are the kind of person who is really sensitive and the idea of a world destroyed by zombies is enough to bring your emotions to the surface, but also if you are made of somewhat tougher stuff and get, you know, attached to characters (stay away from george r.r. martin, you). and then there's me, who usually doesn't get emotionally attached to books, but i genuinely did love these characters, and the first book is distressing enough. to have had it end this way would have been annoying, like "why bother reading any more if she's just gonna be a dick about it?" which, instead, she gave us two more full-length novels and good lord 8 splinter stories now?? yeah, the new one was released a few days ago:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

jeeez. and now she is officially the smiths: a band with more greatest hits albums that studio ones. well done, mira grant…

i could read these all day, though, so i cannot complain.

come to my blog!

[Wendy Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn it to hell, Mira Grant. Just when we thought you couldn't make us cry any more, you come along with another scenario that punches us in the gut AGAIN.

You can read this alternate ending to FEED at the bottom of the BLACKOUT review on our blog which is ONLY safe for those who have already read the first book. I keep saying this, but holy frak, that woman is an evil genius.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fed is an alternative timeline of the end of Feed. If you think the real ending was an emotional punch in the gut, wait until you read how it could've happened. Fed is available for free on Facebook if you "Like" this page.

Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) has often hinted that she knows what would've happened if Feed had ended differently. In Deadline, there's a reference to the figurehead working for the bad guys having been planted to specifically prey on one scenario. Mira Grant has said in interviews that the ending to Feed was what it needed.

I must say, this alternative isn't what I imagined. I imagined someone being more apt to relax her guard, to the bad guy getting away, to perhaps an outbreak during the Republican National Convention.

That isn't what happens here. What does happen is a huge spoiler for the real ending, though, so I won't discuss it in any further detail. If you read and liked Feed, I recommend that you read this alternative, as well. Fed contains significant spoilers for Feed, as many of the events that occur in Feed also occur in the alternate-universe version.

Where it matters, though, the story veers sharply, and some might say disturbingly. I was pretty well braced from the original ending, but it still broadsided me. So be warned.

She's right, though. The ending we got to Feed was the one that needed to happen. This story, if nothing else, hammers that home.

[elizabeth • paper ghosts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um, what the hell was that?!

When I read an alternate ending, I expect a real alternate ending. Not just the character names switched around. Because that's pretty much what this is. Replace every instance of 'Shaun' at the end of FEED with 'George', and you've got your "alternate ending".

I just finished FEED, and saw the link to this on the Goodreads series page. I definitely had an emotional response to the end of FEED. It was gut-wrenching. It was tragic. It was perfect.

But I thought, what the hell? Usually an alternative ending is a happy thing. It's just a little bit of fanservice for those who wanted everything to turn out okay in the end.

This? Not that.

It was very, very weak. I though the narration change from Georgia to Shaun at the end of FEED was, perhaps, a little indistinct. Their voices were definitely different, though maybe not as much as I would have liked them to be. This little snippet, however, reveals just how apparently interchangeable the Mason siblings are.

Spoilers ahead! Only read it you've already skimmed this novella and/or read FEED.

In my mind, Georgia had to die in the end. It's just not as sad if Shaun dies, because we haven't been inside his head this whole time. It's also the possibility that neither one of them thought would happen, and so of course, it's the one that did. Those chapters of Georgia's demise were the best in the entire book. It makes Shaun buck up and carry on, proving he's not just a secondary character.

If this had been a nice little alternate universe where both lived, I wouldn't be complaining.

If this had even been Shaun dying, and Georgia finding the strength to carry on, I wouldn't be complaining.

But to take such a strong female character and have her commit suicide? Because she just can't live without her adopted brother? Is Georgia really so mentally weak, after all we've seen her go through? Like Shaun at the end of FEED, wouldn't she want to make sure everyone had paid before offing herself?

I definitely could have seen them both dying in the end, but not this way.

I loved the first book, and I'm definitely going to be reading the others. I'm just glad that this is not how the book ended, or I wouldn't even be bothering to continue. This is an incredibly weak excuse of a piece of writing. Switching the names around is not acceptable.

I'm just glad this was free. I'd have flipped if I'd paid for this.

[twstrfries · Rating 3 out of 5]

I said I won't read this yet. BUT. It's in FB. It's just one click away.

I like Feed's ending better than this.

I kind of had an idea that they'd both die in this. But I never thought Georgia will commit suicide. I mean, yes maybe the grief is too much but killing herself is out of her character.

Good thing I still felt numb after reading Feed. It's an alternate ending. I'm glad it was NOT the ending or I'll throw all the books within my reach. (I can't throw my kindle eh so other books na lang. :D)

Read my other reviews at Off The Wall

[Aaron Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read the author's opening along the lines:

"It is not what happened.
But it could have.
We came very close."

I thought I would get the happy ending I didn't got from the original one. I thought that "close" is something everyone wanted -- something triumphant.

I should have known better. This is a zombie novel in the first place. But still.

BUT.

Mira Grant -- or Seanan Maguire, whatever appeals to you more -- don't do this to me again. And please see a shrink. Stat. That is the truth and I believe I don't have to die for it.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm beginning to see how the remaining books in this trilogy have more than 4 stars rating even though they are just not that good (or at least, I've only read this- the 1.5, and Book Two)- the people who read the first book and liked it continue to read, and since they liked the first book, they are more likely to enjoy and highly rate the remaining books... even if they are just plain AWFUL.

This is 90% of the last few chapters in Feed, with some slightly different wording. By which I mean, the author changes the names "Shaun" and "Georgia". That's just about it. Shaun dies instead of Georgia in the van attack, and then Georgia Slits Her Wrists WTH. Is this supposed to be enjoyable? I can create a better story with mad-libs. How is Find/Replace on a Word Document suddenly considered an Alternate Ending? (And what reputable author even puts OUT alternate endings? Only fan fiction writers, I think... most authors know that their audience doesn't WANT an alternate ending)

I think the most painful part are the reviews that say that this is amazing. What did you read that I didn't?! You know what would have been a cool alternate ending? The zombies winning Completely and taking over the world. Or a Zombie Kangaroo invasion. Or even Ryman being part of the conspiracy. You know, nothing fancy. But ANYTHING other than Cut and Paste!

I was about to read the third book for today but honestly, I don't even know if I can stomach it. This was just plain drivel. I'm not a fan of an author who is all about such cheap thrills (see book 2) and Cut and Paste (see this awful 53 page piece of worthless trash).

I think this series is about to get a lot worse.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend Fed.

*****

You would've thought that there is an alternate ending because Mira Grant wanted you to have a not-so-earth-shattering ending compared to the real ending of Feed. Goodness, think again. Mira writes to torture us Newsflesh fanatics. Torture, i tell you! :)

I still liked the ending of Feed after I read Fed. I mean, if i have to choose heartbreak (Fed) over the previous bigger heartbreak (Feed), i'd choose Feed's heartbreak. I say, why not go for the bigger kill eh, Mira Grant? Just finish me already! LOL

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

This alternate ending to Feed fell far short of the original. There's a reason the ending to Feed is the way it is, and it's because this one was pretty unsatisfying. While this version is technically a worst case scenario, it didn't have the same gut-wrenching emotional charge that the real ending provided. After all, the worst part about Georgia's death wasn't actually her death--it was Shaun's grief, the necessity of him delivering the kill shot, and his struggle to deal in a world without her. That was missing in this version, which makes it, in my opinion, much less compelling.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read Feed yet, don't even try opening this. Read it first, digest it, and then come back for this when you're ready enough to do so.

Well if you think having your heart broken from Feed wasn't enough, try this alternate ending. I never thought it could happen this way, but when you think about it, this seemed like the way it could and would happen.

Of course, if you've read Deadline, questions will pop up about how this ending happened. But that doesn't make this less heart breaking.

Mira Grant, I am in awe.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep, the original version is better, I wouldn't have liked this to happen at the end of Feed.

"This is another way the end of Feed could have gone: it picks up with the events of what would originally have been chapter twenty-five.
It is not what happened. But it could have. We came very close.
Rise up while you can."

[Zen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? I cried at the ending of Feed and did it all over again with Fed.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an alternate ending for Feed. As Grant put it:

This is another way the end of Feed could have gone: it picks up with the events of what would originally have been chapter twenty-five. It is not what happened.

But it could have.

We came very close.

The actual canon ending has more punch. I think I prefer it, from a critical standpoint. But bizarrely, I think I would have preferred the Deadline that would have resulted from this ending. Rick being gloomy and morose until something came along to make him snap out of it? Oh hell yes, I'm on board for that.

If you haven't already read Feed (and ideally, Deadline), go read it/them first. Then come back and read this. (If you haven't read Feed it would be spoilery as all get out as well as confusing. And there are some things from Deadline that make this a more interesting read if you know them.)

[Paul Bonamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so, spoilers for basically All The Things here. Because we can't really even talk about where Fed splits off from Feed without spoiling Feed, and I want to be able to talk about things we'd only learn later in the 'real' timeline. You've been warned.

I discovered Fed exists by way of TV Tropes (which, really, is how my life seems to work some days), and set about immediately finding a copy and giving it a read. The very careful foreword notes that the book splits off at the beginning of Chapter 25, which, for those who have read the book, is the chapter in which Georgia is assassinated. (If you haven't read it, what are you doing here, behind a spoiler tag?) This time around, the dart full of live KA tags Shaun rather than Georgia, and things run from there. Interestingly, Shaun manages to figure out what's happening before they make it to the van, giving him the opportunity to get Rick and George safely into same and then set up shop outside, to fend off the oncoming horde, rather than force George to do him in. I expect the first chapter is from Shaun's POV specifically to allow this to work out properly, and give him a chance to sign off, as it were.

From that point, the story runs basically parallel to the original. Georgia writes up a post revealing what's happened, Steve turns up to rescue her and Rick, and off they go to the end game with Tate. There are a few little hiccups along with way, where perhaps text from Feed wasn't quite edited into the new George-lives-Shaun-dies timeline, but it all hangs together reasonably well, right up to the inevitable dual funeral epilogue.

In terms of emotional impact, the (initial) Death of a Mason doesn't seem to hit as hard here as it does in Feed. It could be that I like George more, but really I think a lot of the power in her death stems from the way it's handled. Watching Georgia and Shaun make the preparations to let her write that last post, reading same as she clearly struggles to keep it together long enough to get the truth out, and then a sudden flash and pain and we're dumped into Shaun's point of view is the sort of emotional wringer that, in the right hands, can be simply incredible and so perfectly human. Shaun gets hit, and it's clear that he's going to amplify any time now, but the van door closes, and that's just it. No descent into zombiehood, no last gasp of humanity calling for an end before it loses itself. Locks flick, and that's the end of Shaun Mason as far as the narrative is concerned. This is, to a large extent, likely justifiable as a way for Georgia to do what needs doing, but still.

Of course, the other major problem with the whole "Shaun got an arm full of live KA" thing is the big reveal (well, the penultimate reveal, at any rate) from Deadline: the dude's immune. The heroic sacrifice is lovely and all, but it's not like he actually would have forced Georgia or Rick into shooting him before he ate them if he'd gotten into the van. There would have been a good deal of hand wringing, probably, and then a lot of deep confusion when he utterly failed to turn into a zombie the way he was supposed to, but that just makes the rabbit hole that much deeper. I suppose there's the potential for reveal along those lines (similar to the "she would have gotten better" whammy) if the series carried forward from Fed rather than Feed, but I've no idea how that would work, short of him somehow making it out of the Center.

Complicating the whole 'if the series carried forward' issue is Georgia's suicide. It's exactly what everyone would have expected from her, and if I recall aright the method of her death is actually speculated on correctly in the later books. Knowing what we do from those books, it's remarkable how well the Conspiracy read George. As Fed shows us, if they'd actually managed to kill Shaun they'd have gotten away with it, no problem, because Georgia decides that Tate's the end of the conspiracy, deals with him, and goes to join Shaun, leaving no one behind with any real motivation to do anything about ferreting out the rest of the story. Heck, somehow Rick even ends up staying on with After the End Times, apparently, so it's not like he could have been on hand to pull the Project Shelley / Georgia II gambit. It's amazing just how lucky that dart hitting George turned out to be, which is not a phrase I would have expected to use of a situation that turned a major character into a haunted house for the next two books.

Getting back to the thought about the power of Georgia's death in Feed, as oppose to her and Shaun dying in Fed, I've one final remark. I knew, in advance, that Georgia was going to die in Feed because that had already been spoiled for me. The glowing recommendation of how it was handled is one of the reasons I picked up Feed in the first place. (Also, I have a soft spot for hero journalists and zombie stories.) Even so, her death was incredibly powerful, and the entire see-death-coming/die/switch-POV-characters thing was handled better than I would have imagined possible. I knew Shaun was a goner from the outset here. How could he not be? It's not like there are that many ways to change the end of Feed without it suddenly becoming rainbows and kittens. And it stood to reason that Georgia would follow close behind him. That was also totally expected, I didn't expect it to phase me, and it didn't. Until I got to the last paragraph of the epilogue:

The Masons did what they knew and loved best, and they died for it. Not before Shaun saved her one last time, not before Georgia found her truth. Maybe that was enough. Maybe this was all over. And maybe it didn't matter, because our story ended with a razorblade and a bathtub full of water, and a girl who never knew how to cry weeping in the only way she knew how. Even if it wasn't over, someone else was going to have to save the world next time.

and suddenly everything that had made George's death the first time so very powerful was there again. It's no longer a simply tally of the bodies: their deaths are human again, and we're seeing the impact on the people closest to them, as we saw with Shaun. And knowing what's to come for the world, after that point, it makes the whole thing that much more poignant. Not only will the team not be put back together, but there may not be anyone else out there to try to save the day.

On the whole, Fed is an interesting little work, though it hold precious few surprises plot-wise. Being lead to think about what makes a death scene so very powerful is an interesting sort of thing, though.

[Brok3n · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a difference a few inches make...

**Spoilers for Feed follow **

(Also spoilers for Deadline and Blackout, but I will protect those in spoiler tags.)

Fed is an alternative ending for Feed. It is available free from Orbit books as a PDF download. At 53 pages it's either a long short story or a very short novella.

When I reviewed Feed, I wrote, "The book ends well". Feed ended with Shaun Mason putting a bullet in the brain of the love of his life, his sister Georgia Mason, because she had become a zombie. (That's the big spoiler for Feed I promised above.) I thought this was a splendid ending. Tragic, yes, Gruesome, yes, but Feed is, after all, a zombie novel.

I added the remark, "While I say, 'The book ends well,' I'm pretty sure that many readers are going to be unhappy with the ending." That was certainly true. For instance, one Amazon reviewer, following in the long tradition of people inventing arbitrary rules that artists proceed to flout, stated that it was not allowed to kill off the first-person narrator at the end of a novel, because then how could the the story ever be told? (As XKCD has noted, some people struggle with the concept of "Fiction".) As it turns out, McGuire has an answer for that objection. At the end of Deadline Zombie Georgia is resurrected with memories intact, so there is indeed a narrator capable of telling the story of Feed.

McGuire introduces Fed with these words:

This is another way the end of Feed could have gone: it picks up with the events of what would originally have been chapter twenty-five. It is not what happened.
But it could have.
We came very close.

which almost gives the impression that McGuire herself doesn't quite get the concept of fiction (or truth). "Very close" here means a few inches change in the positions of Shaun and Georgia at a crucial time. As McGuire's introduction suggests, it makes a huge difference in outcomes. And that is all I can say!

Blog review.

[Jessica Willis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cool seeing the other side of the twist! Tho I can see why this version didn't win out. The original is much more emotional. Parts of this was not edited to suit the new version but it was a good short read

[Dustie Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

bit of a bummer innit

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original ending was better. This one has less... heart, maybe: more grit, less sense of resolution and less depth to the characters and their choices. It doesn't quite wrench at you the same way or motivate you to read a sequel. Actually, I think it cuts off the possibilities for the sequels at the knees. Or, rather, it decapitates those possibilities, then cremates them.

Furthermore, this alternate ending of the first novel disregards the plot twists about people with K.A. reservoir conditions which lead to so many revelations about Shaun and George in the second and third novels.

I could do without senseless suicides in my horror novels, too, thanks. (Let's pretend for a second that it's fine and pick apart the way it's done. Why would this character choose to reanimate by slit-wrist method? It doesn't click with the fundamental aspects of this character's personality, who owns a gun and knows how to use it, but mostly it's just depressing and disappointing as fuck. I don't believe it makes sense for them to want to bounce back an undead just because so-and-so may have, or to piss off parents, etc.)

Your other ending was better, Seanan (Mira).

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hadn't really planned to read this at all. An alternate ending to the book Feed , which I read nearly 20 months ago, and having read the two sequels to Feed already it didn't seem that important to read this anymore. But, the short story, How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea , bubbled to the top of my next-in-series shelf before Mira Grant had gotten around to writing it yet, so I substituted Fed instead.

Grant herself describes this as: "It is not what happened. But it could have. We came very close." By which, I assume she means that this is the original ending, leaving Feed as a stand-alone novel rather than the first in the trilogy. While in Feed Georgia is infected and dies leaving Shaun to fall apart, in Fed Shaun is the one who is infected and Georgia is unable to cope and takes her own life. The similarities are striking – just reverse the names and instead of having two books for the survivor to fall apart and then hook-up with your clone, just have the survivor shoot herself in the head. Having read, and enjoyed, Deadline and Blackout this becomes a fairly unsatisfactory ending. I guess Grant thought so too as she changed the ending of Feed and gave us the rest of the universe too. Thank goodness.

[Kat_merle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fed
by Mira Grant

Fanfiction for Newsflesh Trilogy

Can I really call it FANfiction when it was written by the author herself? I remember shortly after Feed was published Mira Grant saying she wanted to write an alternative ending to feed where one key detail changed and how the story would have ended. With the final installment of the trilogy coming out Grant allowed herself that chance and posted it to Facebook as a teaser for Blackout. I of course devoured the story and then was amused when it was alluded to a little in Blackout as the characters began discussing the same scenario. I felt the alternate ending was well written and believable and it made a nice addition to the other stories sent in this universe. I am glad Grant was allowed the opportunity to play a little more with her characters and share that with us. Read and enjoy but ONLY if you have already read Feed. If you haven't read Feed go read that now and then catch up.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because that's a happy alternate ending to FEED . . .



Yes, I feel like I must resort to some sort of humour and gifs to counteract how depressing this was. Depressing in a good way! A good way that broke my heart and pretty much destroyed me! But good!

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

one things for sure if that had been the ending to feed there would not have been a sequel.

[usagi ☆ミ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap. I'm glad things didn't end this way, but still, this is a great alternate ending!

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alternate ending to Feed. Though I have to be honest, I don't even remember much of the first book's ending. :P Some things are clearer in my mind, but others not so. But I am not sure if what I remember is true or not. :P So this was a pretty great read, heartbreaking though, and creepy because of the zombies. I loved it when she confronted that crazy dude and how she handled it. I loved the tiny parts in between the chapters, they were wonderfully written. I definitely cried at points. I want to re-read the first book again. Maybe soon. It was an amazing book.

[Jim Scriven · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alternate ending to Feed, book 1 of the Newsflesh Trilogy. It's just a few chapters, but dramatically changes the ending of the novel. Well done, but Mira Grant certainly made the right choice in the actual ending. This one lacked the emotional impact of the true version. But the writing was still seriously on point, and I'm glad I read this.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure whether this was just as bad, more bearable or worse, but I am gonna go for more bearable cuz that whole van scene wasn't there

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, this was such a great, but scary, read, of how things could've gone in Feed. Had a great time!

[Eric Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a short story - an alternative ending to "Feed" but an interesting concept - let readers see how the book might have ended.

[Roberta R. (Offbeat YA) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mini blurb: What if the first Newsflesh novel had ended differently? Picking up with the events of Ch.25, Fed proposes an alternate, even more heartbreaking scenario to the ending of Feed...if it had been a standalone.

***

Uh...no. It's my understanding that this ending had been conceived (and probably even written?) in case Feed wouldn't get the chance to be expanded into a series - also because this is the only time so far that Grant/McGuire has made alternate endings for one of her books available - and if so, I'm REALLY glad her publisher allowed her to continue, because as far as endings are concerned, this one is extra-depressing and morbid, and would have totally ruined the book for me. Also, it would have robbed us of a spectacular (if tragic) chapter in Feed. So...no.

Note: Newsflesh is a finished series that has been around for years now, so I decided to only write mini - or, well, midi 😅 - reviews for its installments, to ease my review burden. Add to it that this one is, in terms of length, a short story, and you have yet another reason for my writing only a mini review for it...

[Bisquit]

I'm sorry but this book sums up all of my problems with the first book of the series, Feed. If you can simply switch a character, and the text, interactions and reactions of the other characters mostly stay the same, even if the two characters are alike, then something went wrong. Those characters of Mira Grant in Feed and in Fed simply lack depth - they are there so the plot can work out, but that's it. The plot doesn't revolve around the characters, the characters revolve around the plot.

Maybe you want to argue, tell me that Shaun and George are so alike, that it works. Well, they are similar in their codepence on each other, how they can only really open up to each other, but otherwise, they are two completely different people. Georgia is cold, more distanced, prefers to be cautious. She is the one who doesn't run away from the truth. Shaun is socialable, loves to entertain and to be in danger. He is the one not truly accepting what happened. He is the one still seeing the other one's ghost, but she? She doesn't give in to illusions which is the reason she killed herself. They are two different people, so please portray them as such, and don't simply recycle most of what you wrote. Because the worst thing is that it works.

About the issue of these two books being sexist... well. It does seem like George was the weaker of the two in Fed, but is it really true? I don't necessarily think so. She waited until she could execute her plan, which she had since she first thought Shaun would be the first to die. She had been intending to do so for years - it had probably already become a fixed idea in her head. She was also the one who couldn't say goodbye, while he could. I think that that does make a difference - even though my feelings tell me that what George did just didn't fit with her obsession of the truth. I KNOW that George wasn't necessarily weaker than her brother, but I do feel like she was.
Also, that thing about the female strip-tease politican was sexist, no way around it, seeing as the other politicans were male and a lot more skillful than her. I'm not even sure why she was included - her role was non-existant.

Simply put, don't read this unless you really liked Newsfeed as it's mostly the same of what happens in the original, not much point in reading it, really. If you want to know what happened, read the other reviews. They pretty much summarize this work. One thing though: If that had been the end of Newsfeed, I would have dumped the book with two stars.


* As this work is an alternate ending to the original, I won't rate this. I count it as part of the original as it picks up in the middle of the plot. The original ending was a lot better than this version though, so if I had to rate it, I would give it less than the Feed.