I think this was decent enough but it took a really long time to get going. It was an interesting concept in our over-sharing, constantly digitally hooked up society but felt a little under-developed. The main issue was that I didn't really like either of the main characters and their parental bond with their child did not feel terribly convincing. Because of this, the novel lacked the same human impact as Station Eleven and didn't quite leave up to comparison with other post-apocalyptic thrillers which I have enjoyed. It seemed to have a heavy helping of 'dark and twisty psychological thriller' in the vein of Gone Girl and while it was probably on the higher quality end of those, it still felt slightly over-done. I don't think I will re-read this but it was all right.

An interesting take on the dystopian trend, with a vast, descriptive landscape and I felt the book was very reminiscent of The Giver. Would definitely recommend for fans of the dystopian-centered and sci-fi books!

An enjoyable read following a technology apocalypse. The impact of social media seems so prevalent these days that this book presents a stark future, one where the more you think about it the more horrible it becomes. Certainly an interesting concept.

Love, love loved this book!! I'm not a person that usually goes for and reads dystopian books but the blurb had caught my attention and after finally having time to read and finish it I could not recommend it more!

I loved the premise but just couldn't connect to the characters and writing.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the idea of mankind linked to the www and connected together. I wouldn’t be surprised if this does happen in the future. I great premise, writing style, although there were times where I drifted off. But all in all I enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

2018 is already shaping up to be a fantastic year for fiction. The Feed by Nick Clark Windo (review copy from Headline) is a thought-provoking post-apocalyptic tale about social media, climate change and identity. It masterfully blends themes with a lightness of touch and real emotional punch.

In Clark Windo’s near-future, we are all permanently connected to each other through brain implants and the Feed: a lightning fast social media link that connects us all at the speed of thought. Privacy is no more as people increasingly live their lives digitally, storing their knowledge, memories and experiences on servers and backing themselves up each day. But that safe, complex world collapses suddenly when the Feed goes down, shortly after the assassination of the President. The shock kills many, leaving only a few left, trying to eke out life in the ruins.

Tom, Kate and their young daughter Bea are among their number, living in a small community on a farm. Relying on the Feed has left them with little or no knowledge of how to survive. They don’t know how to grow food, cook, build or repair things. But with the help of a couple of older people who remember life pre-Feed, they are trying to rebuild knowledge and a life. Until Bea is kidnapped one day, triggering Tom and Kate to search for her. A search that inevitably takes them on a journey of understanding that reveals the real cause of the collapse.

Clark Windo plays with some of the tropes of genre fiction, giving them a contemporary update. This is a novel that nods towards classic horror staples with a Survivors-style post-apocalyptic vibe and a distinctly literary fiction interiority. The immediate aftermath of the Feed collapsing creates zombies unable to function and unused to having to speak. And pervasive throughout the novel is a body-snatchers horror of a person’s implant being used to have them taken over by an alien consciousness. In a post-collapse world without the intimacy of directly-shared thoughts and where the ability to read body language and facial expressions is a skill that has ossified, people are forced to ask themselves how they know who a person close to them really is.

Tom is particularly well-drawn. As a son of the family responsible for the creation of the Feed technology, he has chosen to reject his place. He is characterised by the desire to forget the past, to find ways to live on and to be self-sufficient. The oblivion of forgetting and being forgotten is his first response to any trauma. Yet he cherishes his memories of his relationship with Kate, clinging on to them through adversity.
There is a climate change undertone to all this too. The Feed consumes huge amounts of energy. Our social media habits are putting increasing pressures on power supplies. (All so we can share cat videos and photos of our lunch.) Clark Windo asks if this is really worth the eventual price.

Goodreads rating: 5*

I'm a huge fan of dystopian novels. They are like what could happen if things were to change. I actually find them more frightening than horror stories. The Feed doesn't disappoint. The characters are intriguing in how they are surviving. The setting in the not too distant future is scary on how much we rely on technology and what happens of it were to go.

I actually saw a lot of people talking about The Feed on Twitter following the Headline New Voices event in Manchester, and so when I saw it available for request on NetGalley I jumped for it because of the hype.
Bar The Hunger Games trilogy, I'm quite a newbie when it comes to dystopian books. The idea that this book seems based on is essentially humans getting far too carried away with digital innovation. This results in them pretty much having technology implanted in them, connecting the whole world. So, this was definitely a different kind of read for me but I actually really enjoyed it in the end, and even better is that it gets you thinking about innovation in a different way. If you're wanting a thrilling read which will make you think about the future, this is an awesome book for that!

More detailed review on my website - link attached

Not my usual fare, I know, but when I read the blurb of The Feed and when I witnessed the fantastic PR stunt the folks at Headline pulled the day they revealed this book on Twitter, I knew I HAD to read it. (And if you're wondering what the stunt was, the Headline twitter 'feed' went down. Their profile picture was a solid black square, their twitter header was the same. Something had gone 'seriously wrong' and it was fascinating to see how people reacted. Kudos to whoever came up with the idea and whoever was manning the Headline timeline that day. It was pitched perfectly and worked a treat!)

The Feed is a dystopian thriller with a hefty dose of sci-fi added to the mix. Like I said, not my usual fare but I think it's good to step out of your comfort zone every now and then, especially for a genre reader like myself. I tend to enjoy dystopian thrillers, there's often a very strong crime component in many dystopian tales which will always appeal to me. However, the sci-fi element did make me a little nervous.  I am not a sci-fi reader, I have very little experience of reading sci-fi (does Douglas Adams count?) and I felt a little out of my depth. But I was so keen to read The Feed that I put these feelings to one side. And I fell head over heels in love with the start of this book. I was smitten. I loved learning what The Feed meant to the characters encapsulated in this strange online world, in particular to Tom and Kate our lead characters. I loved the idea of the Feed and I was well and truly gripped. So gripped I couldn't stop telling my husband about the Feed, reading sections out to him while he politely smiled and nodded.

When the Feed went down I was on the edge of my seat, lost in this new savage world and I didn't want to put the novel down. What the characters lost was heartbreaking, so clearly a destructive addiction ready to tear it's users apart. Powerful, thought-provoking and very intense writing from this talented debut author.

The writing throughout the book is superb. The author has a talent for creating a scene in his reader's minds, so sharp and so crisp. The issues raised in the book gave me a lot to think about. I want to talk to other readers about this book and that's always a good sign, right? (In fact, I would love to know. If you have read The Feed, would you want to be enabled or would you be a Resister? Let me know in the comments.)

I will say one thing. I loved, loved, loved the start of this book. The middle section and the end were well written but I found myself losing interest a little. I loved the author's ability to transport you to a world where you wouldn't necessarily want to live or stay for any amount of time. But I was just a smidge disappointed with the middle section and the conclusion. I keep asking myself whether this book just wasn't for me but then I remind myself how much I enjoyed the start, so that can't be the case.

Having sat here staring at the screen for a few minutes I think I've worked it out. The Feed 'COULD' happen. It's something that 'may' be in our future. We're already all glued to our phones and tablets 24/7 so would it be such a great leap to move to something like the Feed? Maybe not. The later sections of the book I think I found harder to believe and that may be where my problem lies. Regular readers of the blog will know that I like my crime reads to be real (for example, I struggle with certain supernatural elements) and that may be the issue for me here. I didn't believe enough and that could be why my attention waned. Going back to my earlier question and flipping it a little, maybe I'm not the right type of reader for this book...?

Would I recommend this book? This is a well written, interesting novel which raises a lot of pertinent questions. I would recommend it, yes. And I would pick up a second novel by author Nick Clark Windo in a heartbeat. I strangely love the idea of the Feed in a fictional sense. I'm not so sure about in an actual, physical sense though. What do you think? This book really got me thinking and I liked that!

Four out of five stars.

I chose to read and review an eARC of The Feed. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

I promised my daughter recently that I would try to read more books in her preferred genre and she would then agree to read a few more psychological thrillers! She reads a lot of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction and often has a few zombies running around her kindle as well! So when I saw the blurb for The Feed I thought it sounded like a book that we would both enjoy. But weirdly enough we had quite different reactions to it and not what you would expect from our usual preferences! She found it more literary in style than she would normally read and struggled to connect with it, whereas I absolutely loved it and have struggled to find a book to match the intensity of my reading experience since I finished it! I just can’t get it out of my head…..unlike “The Feed” itself which is the root cause of all the problems in this brilliant book!

To begin with though I got rather overwhelmed by the sheer onslaught of technology and futuristic terminology terms so I worried it was going to carry on like that and I would struggle to understand what was going on and why. But everything started to become clearer the further into the book I got, although the “taken” part continued to puzzle me as I wanted to know more about what was happening to the characters who were being “taken” in their sleep. And more importantly WHY? Eventually I did…….And that’s when something just clicked for me and this book became completely unputdownable! There was a twisty OMG moment that came completely out of the blue and from that moment on, I was hooked until the final page.

I can’t talk about the plot in detail because I want The Feed to affect others as much as it did me. I am very guilty of being permanently glued to my phone, constantly “googling” answers to questions I have, connecting with friends on Facebook, reading, booking travel, connecting with work, taking photos of family etc and I do struggle if I don’t have access to it! On holiday I try to have a week’s social media break but after about an hour I’m hunting down the nearest Wi-Fi connection, just so I can “check” that I’m not missing anything!! We are definitely the FOMO generation! Go into any coffee shop and I guarantee most people will have some sort of electronic device in front of them and groups of people will spend more time interacting with that device than with each other, recording their day for others to watch and only living their lives from behind that camera and not experiencing the real life emotions in front of them. So the scariest thing for me was that this vision of the future and the idea of The Feed was actually quite plausible. Could a similar concept potentially be a real part of our existence in the not so far off future?

I got very tearful towards the end, which surprised me, but by that time I had become completely invested in the storyline and formed an emotional attachment to the characters. Not all the characters here were likeable but the situations they found themselves in were often desperate therefore it was impossible to judge them. When you have a family you will do anything to protect them and a primeval need to survive becomes both your friend and your enemy.

I really didn’t expect to enjoy The Feed as much as I did. I lived through Tom and Kate’s search with them, journeying through a familiar landscape changed beyond recognition in a scarily realistic portrayal of a dystopian society. This is a thought provoking, dark and disturbing concept for a novel and the idea has been expertly explored, especially for a debut. It may have taken me a few days to get into it but it will remain with me for many more!

Highly recommended by me!

A hard-hitting and slightly disturbing post-apocalyptic novel about the dangers of reliance on technology and uses up the planets resources.

Now I love a bit of Sci-Fi and was thinking that this would be a generic novel about people addicted to technology, everything crashes and they have to live in tents kind of book, while rediscovering their love of nature, which is is definitely not. This book has so many different strands to it, that it's very difficult to categorise.

What I like most about this book is that it's set in the UK and it took me until I was a third of the way into the book to actually believe it! A decent, intelligently plotted book that didn't take place in America! 5 bonus points :)

Also - characterisation. Brilliant! The characters are well-rounded, and emotive. You love them, hate them and feel indifferent to them, while they make mistakes, messes and triumphs. More bonus points.

Societies addiction to social media and technology is not the only theme. It also tackles environmental issues, relationships, the parent-child bond, and what actually makes a person "THEM"?

I loved this book and cannot recommend it highly enough. The ending hit me like a blow in the stomach and I will not forget his for a very long, long time.

http://www.speculativeherald.com/2018/01/25/review-the-feed-by-nick-clark-windo/
For a debut novel Nick Clark Windo has come up with an impressive and thought provoking story with a post-apocalyptic world that comes scarily close to believable. Set in a possible near future Windo brings to us a world where people are so obsessed with their ‘feeds’ that they’re practically incapable of functioning when everything comes crashing down.

Many of us live our lives pretty much glued to the internet with mobile phones becoming an absolute necessity. You pretty much can’t leave home without your phone, it has maps, the internet, books, twitter, facebook, goodness knows how many apps and even your camera and ability to pay for goods, oh, and I almost forgot – sometimes people try to call or text you. Now take this information and instead of carrying a phone around all day implant a chip directly into the human brain and provide people with a constant stream of information. Your family can message you directly, send emotions and memories, information about anything can be relayed immediately to your brain, the need to study or read has become defunct and even the way you perceive others can be altered. To be honest, it doesn’t read as a huge leap of imagination does it? We’re never really more than a couple of steps away from all sorts of information and this concept just takes one step further in the natural progression of an ever developing world.

Now, imagine all that information coming to a fairly abrupt end. Most of us stamp around like children if our wifi suffers a momentary blip. Just imagine how we’d feel if we lived in a world where information was relayed into our brains the minute we thought of the need – then strip that all away and think about the withdrawal symptoms and trauma. Your brain has become a lazy underused place where memory is rarely exercised and problems solve themselves. How would you know how to survive with all this information taken from within your grasp?

As the story begins we glimpse Tom and Kate, pre collapse, they’ve both disabled their feeds and are experiencing an almost unheard of private conversation. At the same time a series of events, starting with the assassination of the President, are about to change the nature of the world as they both know it.

We then jump forward. Tom and Kate have survived the apocalypse and are holding things together on a small settlement with a few others. Things aren’t easy and starvation is a very real possibility that keeps them constantly in search of resources to help them farm and grow food. It’s a dangerous world. Many have died but the ones who remain can’t always be trusted. On top of that there is the very real possibility of being ‘taken’ whilst asleep. The story then takes a dramatic change when Tom and Kate’s daughter is abducted from the camp and the two set off to find her.

What Windo does remarkably well with The Feed is provide a mystery and a final reveal that are incredibly unexpected. The mystery of the ‘taken’ and the discovery of what caused the collapse make for a compelling hook and keep you reading at quite a breakneck pace – even in spite of a fairly slow start. He also manages to create a tense and fear laden atmosphere, exacerbated by the fact that the characters and the reader never truly know whether or not everyone is really who they say they are.

The world building is well done and I enjoyed the style of writing. I can’t deny that I set off with an almost ambivalent feeling that this would be much the same as other books I’ve read of a simiar nature and so the fact that the author managed to come up with something so unique was a very pleasant surprise indeed. What is familiar is that the world here is one of decay and abandonment. There are some scary critters out there, wild dogs and even wilder humans. There’s also an element of pantomine – not everyone is as scary as they seem. Sometimes scary things are a form of protection or a ‘go away’ signal.

In terms of criticisms. Well, overall this is an impressive debut with some unique ideas. Of course I could spout off similarities to various other books and films but on the whole this book stands proudly on its own two feet. The only thing that I had a little struggle with was the characters. I confess it’s difficult to really like any of them very much. Part of me thinks that this is how I’m supposed to feel. There’s a strong feeling of fear and mistrust running through the book and this spills out into the way everyone behaves. Always looking sideways at each other, questioning each other at every turn. You start to become equally jumpy and it makes it difficult to latch onto anyone that you really want to see pull through. That being said, and even though I’m always banging on about good characterisation being fundamental to my enjoyment of a book I didn’t ever feel the desire to put this down. I needed to know what was going on here and eventually the characters, or one in particularly grew on me. I think this was an intentional but risky way of writing. Also, as mentioned that has a fairly slow start in terms of action, I’d say the first 30% is all about laying down the foundations for a good read. My final niggle relates to the ending – I really liked the ending in one respect but I also struggled with another element (which, I won’t go into for the sake of spoilers).

The conclusion of this story leaves me with many thoughts. A slight feeling of horror that this could ever happen and a determination to not be too reliant on the wonders of technology (she says with laptop on her knee typing away). More than that though I can’t help feeling a sense of awe at the complexity of what Windo has created. It’s difficult to really expand on it too much without giving away spoilers but there are definite areas of misunderstanding between the people in the world that has collapsed and those that helped to bring that collapse about and these prejudices and ignorances have massively helped to destroy and kill. I can’t really say more than that but it’s an impressive and thought provoking peace, particularly if you take the time to think about it carefully. There’s also an element of complete mind-fuckery going on here – sorry to swear but part of the reveal involves something that just does my head in because it’s such a conundrum. That’s all I can say about that though. I know I have lots of teasers in this review and it makes me feel guilty but I genuinely don’t want to spoil the story for potential readers.

Overall I think this was a good read. If you enjoy post apocalyptic stories that contain an element of surprise this could be just what you’re looking for.

I liked the idea of this as its not something I usually go for but Im afraid it wasn't for me,I couldn't get into it. Im sure others who love this genre will though

A difficult one to pin down, this post apocalyptic tale with a difference was something of a struggle for me at first because it felt a little disjointed , and seemed to jump between a couple of different time periods . Set in a not to distant future where society's obsession with technology has reached new heights, and constantly having access to your social network is hardwired into your brain rather than relying on a device you carry around with you, its not hard to imagine this is a believable version of the future. When disaster strikes and all access to the feed is cut off, the world soon disintegrates into chaos and war. When their young daughter is stolen from one of the few remaining communities left, our protagonists Tom and Kate decide to leave the relative safety of their enclave in search of her, but their journey has revealing and devastating consequences.
The idea of a complete breakdown in technology is an interesting if relatively popular one in this genre, but taking that and using the idea that the person closest to you could effectively be "hacked" , and a surprising revelation that spins the plot in a new direction midway through the book , elevate it into something more original. Without spoiling anything I can say that this spin made me enjoy the book far more, and even made me regard the often unlikable characters with some degree of empathy..

A book set slightly in the future, this tells the story of how social media has developed to such an extent that everyone is now directly linked to the internet. Everything is fed to them, so that they no longer have to learn to do anything for themselves. Something goes wrong however: something of apocalyptic proportions. People are Taken, and their feed is invaded. This can happen when they sleep, so no one sleeps alone. This follows Tom, Kate, their daughter Bea, and the people that they try to start a new life with on a small holding after the Collapse.
I really, really enjoyed the last third of this, which is when everything started to happen. This is the only reason why I’ve scored it a 3.5/4. That last third was really very good, however the first two thirds did drag a little for me. I’m glad I persevered though!

A stunning debut! I absolutely loved The Feed and have had to leave my review for a day to get over the book hangover it gave me. I was also left with that itchy brain feeling when a book totally gets under your skin and explores the darker locations of your imagination bringing to the surface even darker thoughts.

The Feed is a cautionary and timely tale of how much we rely on social media; the internet is streamed directly into your brain and your memories/dreams etc are saved in something similar to Dropbox. Inevitably something goes wrong and The Feed collapses leaving people at a loss and struggling to function in a world without constant updates, contact and knowledge. Not only that, people's bodies are being invaded in their sleep - going to sleep as themselves but waking up with someone/something else inhabiting their mind and body. Scary stuff!! Invasion of the Body Snatchers terrified me as a teen and reading this brought back those feelings; what if your husband/wife/child truly isn't who you think they are??

One of the scariest parts of The Feed was that it made me think...hmm this sounds totally plausible...would I go for the implant?! I love that this book made me think and that you're never quite sure who the "bad guys" are. No spoilers but the reveal when it comes is mind blowing. Fantastic stuff and I look forward to more from the author.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy of The Feed

The Feed is a really unique, interesting dystopian-style novel (I won't say 'thriller' as I don't think it's really that kinda book, and I'll explain why) which I enjoyed reading.

I felt that it was fairly slow to start with, taking time to build characters and a sense of this world that Tom and Kate (and the people around them) live in. Because a lot has changed between the real world of today and the fictional world that the story is set in, there's a lot to take in with regards to details and occurrences as things begin to fall apart. We then skip forward 6 years and see how things have developed.

I struggled to warm to the main characters, but there's kind of a reason for that as you read on. There are some interesting developments and surprises which took the book, for me, from a fairly slow read to suddenly a much more interesting one - I really like the way the author ramps up the tension as the book goes on. The second half of the book definitely features more 'action' but I still wouldn't categorize this as a thriller, as it's much more about the characters and the setting they live in, rather than what they're doing - though of course this does play a key part too, as they desperately try to search for their missing daughter.

I loved the idea of humans becoming reliant on a kind of social network which is embedded inside us; with our seemingly growing reliance on social media and technology, this is a very pertinent story which makes you sit back and consider how realistic this is. Worryingly, I can actually imagine this kind of thing happening one day.

I don't want to say any more as I don't want to give too much away, but this is definitely a recommended read for anyone who enjoys a different and intriguing dystopian read.

The Feed is a futuristic look at something that could possibly happen.  An implant that gives wearers 24-7 access to news feeds, people's lives, their feelings, where physical communication has been taken over by virtual communication. Tom and Kate are the main focus of this story, Tom insists that he and Kate do have time "off Feed" and spend time talking, this is difficult as it is so much part off them.  When the feed collapses Tom and Kate go back to basics, and head into the country.  The story jumps forward six years and they have a daughter Bea.  Things are bleak but they are surviving, but when their daughter in taken they try to find her.  It is this part of the story that explains the details of the feed and what happened.

I will admit to struggling with the beginning of this book, I couldn't quite see where the story was going and didn't understand the concept of "The Feed".  But I could see that there was something about it that intrigued me more than just a little bit.  I am glad I persevered with this book as suddenly it started to come together, things started to make sense.  Once these things started to fall into place I found a really enjoyable read, with some great descriptions of a bleak lawless landscape where people made the most of what they have got.  Tom and Kate I didn't warm to immediately, but they seem to fit and almost mirror the desolation and loneliness of the land.  When I got the plot I really enjoyed it, it plays well on the fear of an advanced technologically dominated future, one that I am sure many people will see as a definite possibility. I know I do! 

Overall this is a good read, a bit of a slow amble along in the beginning, but picks up pace to a satisfactory conclusion, with some good unexpected twists.  It is not heavy on technological terms, Nick has kept it understandable.  A book I would recommend to readers of a futuristic mystery, thriller and science fiction genres.

Utterly addictive.

This is a blinder of a debut, the dual narratives of Tom & Kate paint a picture of a dystopian world that one day could actually become a horrifying reality.

The concept is entirely unique, the plot thought-provoking and refreshingly different to other books in this genre. At times I feared I was almost addicted, hungrily turning page after page, tutting and muttering to myself when real life got in the way. This is a book overflowing with originality and one which I highly recommend.

Thank you to the Publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended.