Saturday, August 1, 2009

Gone


Gone by Michael Grant

Release Date: July 1st, 2008
Publisher: Harper Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 558
Overall:

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...
When I was looking for Michael Grant’s website, I stumbled upon a post where he talked about his goal for writing the Gone series. His goal was “To creep you out. To make you stay up all night reading, then roll into school tired the next day, so that you totally blow the big test and end up dropping out of school.”

I think that sum up Gone pretty nicely. There were moments where I was absolutely shocked by what I was reading. When Lana was hurt in the desert, I cringed and actually had nightmares that I was the one who was hurt. I spent two nights reading this while I was in college and it was a fast read. The writing was smooth, and the transition between point of view was easy to follow.

The characters were nicely developed. Grant took his time turning Sam into the leader that everyone expected him to be. It wasn’t like “Bam, parents gone, now Sam is the leader.” It was gradual, took time for him to realize what was going on. He grew up. You can also see this in the characters of Astrid and Quinn. Astrid realizes whom she can trust, growing up and closer to Sam. Quinn becomes his own character, having making his own mistakes.

It’s a good story that is not only a Sci-Fi/Fantasy tale, but a coming of age story. It shows the issues all the characters go throw and what it means to step up when it’s time.



Who Might Like This Book:
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovers


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4 comments:

ReggieWrites said...

I've seen this book around. You're review made me want to read it! I'm going to order it off amazon now. FANTABULOUS REVIEW!

Eli said...

I really enjoyed this book! And I agree with your review. :) I can't wait to read Hunger-- :)

Natascha De Marco said...

I feel ya! This book is definitely a 3 hearts! Great review ^^

~The Book Pixie said...

I want to read this sooo bad! I can't wait. Thanks for the review. Let me know if you feel like passing it on. ;) lol.

~Briana


“Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book." ~ Author Unknown

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