Poor reviews, expectations, and endings.

I loved the ending. Loved, loved, loved. And to me it made so much sense. Excited about the next book, but in the interim my to read pile towers over me; no sense being frustrated when now I know about your books as you and can read them while I wait, plus the 99,000 other books I buy despite a serious lack of free time. I knew it was a trilogy before I started, and I bought Feed and Deadline at the same time on a very, very strong recommendation, and I am so thrilled to have found you!

I do admit to being baffled when I read reviews of a book that I really liked and someone else thought it was horrible. Sometimes I am all, "well, I suppose I can see your point even though I was fine with that," others I didn't notice what bothered them, and sometimes it's just...weird.

I did hear a particularly nasty review of Feed on a podcast (so not linking, but it seemed like whatever I liked, they didn't and vice versa about all the books they were reviewing) where they were griping about Buffy being a magical hacker with a too-easy password. Now, yeah, I can see why that would bother True Programmer Geeks. But on the other hand, uh, magical hackers are in everything, and sometimes are a plot requirement, and since most of what they do aren't comprehended by us mortals, it seems magic anyway. (And as for the password, I don't think one of the normal ones these days like fUcKth1$$hit71 (or whatever) just rolls off the tongue in a narrative, so sometimes you just have to go with it for the sake of story practicality.

Anyway, glad you're good at letting this stuff roll off your back.

being a magical hacker with a too-easy password

I'd argue it was an intentionally easy password so that she could pass it off verbally or have it guessed after her death. Everything available on in that directory was placed there by Buffy specifically to hand to the George & Shaun. Especially the video.

But then I used to do tech support. ;)

You're very brave to post a negative review, and I respect you for that. I agreed with some of his points, but not the overall tone, and at times I did wonder how closely he'd read the book. As for the trilogy thing that I don't get. Ever since I first heard about Newsflesh it was ALWAYS advertised as a trilogy, I can't understand how someone who professes to have liked Feed as much as this reviewer did was not aware of that. Feed could have quite easily stood alone, less so Deadline, but I was always aware that they were books 1 and 2 of a trilogy. I look forward to Blackout and hope that the proposed Mira duoloy gets the go ahead as well.

I wondered how closely he'd read Feed too. For example, cloning was mentioned during the dinner scene at the beginning of Feed.

When all was said and done with DEADLINE, I only have one complaint:

I have to wait until May 2012 to find out how it all ends?!

But that's it. :)

It really is one of my favorite books by you. I've given up trying to figure whether I liked DEADLINE or ONE SALT SEA more just let them have matching thrones on the book case.

When I read _Deadline_, I read the last chapter almost without blinking, I think. Then I read the last line, at which point I gasped, looked up, and shrieked, "McGuire, you BASTARD!"

This is a compliment. I tend to find myself shrieking that at the ends of Jim Butcher's books, too, not to mention the occasional episode of NCIS. Well, not with your name as the apostrophe, but you get the idea.

(Then I read the "Extras" portion. Then I started counting weeks until March.) (Also, just for reference, I knew going in that _Deadline_ was book two of three, so I was not surprised to be left dangling over a cliff, just by which particular cliff it was.)

The thing that boggles me most is the trilogy hate. Most middle-of-trilogy books have cliffhangers. This was clearly stated to be a trilogy all along. I can understand being ack! about the cliffhanger (whether one finds that fun or aggravating is a question of taste), but being surprised that it happened? Huh.

Treasure for me, but then I view trilogies as a whole, not as separate books.

On a side note, after finishing Deadline, I think its original title fit the book better.

For what it's worth? I LOVE Deadline. I love it more than Feed. It has vaulted to the top tier of my favorite books ever. And by this I mean that there are certain books I can't choose between to have just one favorite and Deadline is now one of those. You even do something in it that I HATE in zombie stories and I still love how you did it, enough for me to add an asterisk next to that rule sucking. So while one person might dislike it, you have at LEAST one person who loves it.

I loved the mental illness factor. I have DID, and there are not many heroes in books for us to identify with. I loved the reveals, thru interactions with other characters, of how close Sean and George were. And I have defended this ending before, and will do it again.

Yes, the ending made me want to withhold Monster dolls or something, till we got more. But that, to us, was the POINT of the ending. My sister and I read them when they first came out, and we still do things like tonight, while she is visiting from out of town, instead of saying goodnight...we each laughed like mad scientists and said "When will YOU rise...?" For zombie fanatics, you have written something that has become part of our cultural iconography.

Yup, everyone's entitled to their opinions... even when they're wrong. ;o)

And negative reviews of Feed or Deadline are just so very wrong. The ending of Deadline (love the previous title, btw) shocked the crap out of me and made me happy - and made me happy because it shocked me. Keep up the good words, Seanan.

Yes, I must say, I know endings probably get an even more subjective reaction that the rest of most stories, but I really just... I loved the way Deadline ended. Especially knowing it's a trilogy. It's just very hard for me to imagine having a reading experience with Deadline that would lead to upset or irritation at the ending. To me as a reader, it made so much sense, not just in how things actually ended, but in the FEELING they ended on. Yeah, I just don't get the "eh?" reaction. I would go so far as to say I was rather thrilled at the shape of Deadline, and where it leaves us for Blackout.

I read both Feed and Deadline over the course of two days, one each for one day (the benefits of working in a library!). I understand what the reviewer is saying; a few things in Deadline didn't quite work for me, as presented, but that didn't stop me from devouring the thing.

That being said, there are parts of that book that are truly masterful. Your world building is just incredible, realistic and fascinating, purely on its own, and that's not taking into account the very engaging cast of characters. And that is not praise I give lightly. I'm greatly looking forward to the last book of the series.

I had only two mild disappointments with Deadline: First and most important, you didn't somehow manage to top the subtle cover/title pun you did with Feed (I think that tops up as one of my favorite puns ever). Secondly, I'm slightly leery about the use of cloning, since, at least as far as I'm aware, cloning doesn't really work that way IRL. Yet, I suppose. But you've yet to let me down, so I trust you to handle it well. (And if not, eh, oh well, mild inconsistancy with tech in a spec fic novel, who'da thunk?)

Also, I got accidentally spoilered on the ending of it -- someone tweeted that their friend just finished reading it, and screamed at the ending, and my mind immediately went 'A reaction like that can only mean [SPOILER]'. And, sure enough, if not quite in the way I'd expected -- but I thoroughly enjoyed (and screamed at) the ending despite it being 'spoiled' for me.

...as far as I'm aware, cloning doesn't really work that way IRL.

I'm not entirely sure that the scientists expected it to work that way.

Hello,

I know my comment is super super late, but I hope that you find it and can respond, because I really need some clarification.

I want to start off by saying that I love your novels. I've never read a zombie book quite like it. It's original and very thought provoking about how our society would adapt to zombies. I liked Georgia a lot too, to the point of where I was so mad at the ending that I had to rush the book back to the library so it wouldn't haunt me, and I refused to read Deadline until the librarian spoiled the end for me.

But something that has always made me very uncomfortable is the relationship between Shaun and Georgia. I am trying to approach this as respectfully as I can, so I hope I do not offend you, as my intention is to get clarification.

I have Googled this until I'm blue in the face, but everyone has come to the same conclusion that I have about the pair after reading Deadline, particularly the scene with Shaun and Becks: Shaun and Georgia are sleeping together.

They've always been extremely close, to the point of suspicion, but I wrote that off as surviving together and depending on each other, etc. But.. the way Shaun acted, and how he said Georgia's name in that particular scene, was like a slap in the face.

Are they really sleeping together? Is their relationship romantic? This has been haunting me since reading the book. If they are, which I assume is the case, why? I know they aren't biologically related, but...

I hope that my comment does not offend you. I really just want to understand. Like I said, I love your book, but that part made me so uncomfortable I almost had to stop reading for a bit. I hope you can shed some light on this situation for me.

Sorry for the book! I was just trying to be very articulate and careful with my words. Thank you for reading this.