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young adult book reviews & more

Gone by Michael Grant

Gone [GONE -LIB] [Library Binding]Welcome to the FAYZ, short for Fallout Alley Youth Zone. There’s no one who’s over the age of fourteen; they’ve all “poofed,” they’re just gone. But the strangeness only starts there. There’s a circular wall, or maybe dome, surrounding the land within a ten-mile radius from the nuclear plant. The wall is impenetrable and burns you if you touch it. There are strange mutations in the animals, such as seagulls with talons, winged snakes, and talking coyotes. Some kids have also developed strange powers. The rules of the world are changing, and Sam is running out of time before he turns fourteen and is bound to poof.

The kids from Coates Academy come down to the town of Perdido Beach, and one of them, named Caine, basically takes over. He acts as if he’s benevolent, but people are dying, and it’s because his sheriff and Captain Orc’s little gang of bullies keep beating people up who break the rules imposed on them by Caine. And while some of these rules are actually valid, others prevent people from gaining any power to oppose Caine.

Sam, Quinn, Edilio, Astrid, and Little Pete find themselves thrown together for survival. Sam knows that something is off about Caine, and he also has a power to shoot fire from his hands. They are constantly running from Caine or one of his allies. They eventually meet a girl Lana, who is a healer, and discover that Little Pete has special abilities of his own. When they save a bunch of kids with power from Caine, who had them imprisoned with their hands cemented in blocks, the kids join their movement to take Caine down. The struggle escalates, and all their lives are at stake.

When I first read the summary for this book, I was extremely intrigued. This new world is almost like a parallel universe. I really enjoyed the references to Harry Potter, Star Wars, Hollywood, Agent Orange (the bad), and other literary works. Reading into Astrid and Sam trying to figure out where they were and what was happening to their world was very stimulating. There is a lot of exciting action in this novel, and even though the kids’ powers sometimes seemed like they were taken from the movie The Incredibles, I still enjoyed it. I wanted to cheer and scream at the ending of the novel, and I really hope there will be a sequel to this book. Gone was simply an amazing book; I don’t think I can stress that fact enough, and I recommend it to everyone. This book is very thick, and I hope its length will not discourage anyone from reading this fantastic story.

Rating: 4.75

Review copy borrowed

13 munch(es) :

Chelsea said...

Ooh, I've really, really, really been wanting to read this! You're lucky to have a copy. Great review. =)

the story siren said...

isn't this book awesome!! i loved it! i'm glad you liked it too!! oh! and there is going to be another..... actually it is going to be a six book series!!! i just want to read them all right now!

Anonymous said...

I read this book in 2 days! I couldn't put it down, it seemed each word was vital to the story and plot line! I can't wait until the next book comes out!! I too, loved the reference to 'muggles.' Haha, I loved the review but you might want to change
and Sam is running out of time before he turns fourteen and is bound to poof.

to
and Sam is running out of time before he turns fifteen and is bound to poof.

but otherwise i LOVE your site it's very creative!

Anonymous said...

I think I'm gonna pee my pants if I have to wait all the way till june for the second book in the gone series to come out that book was like amazing I loved it so much it is my favorite book by far

Anonymous said...

I read this book in one day; i could not put it down. I had my nose burried in it through the majority of my classes.

Definetly a great book. Rank it high!

Anonymous said...

whats the next book gonna be called?!?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

i love this book. why cant the second one come out sooner. i heard that it will be called hunger or sacrifice. either one is interesting i think. Mr.Grant you need to make this a 10 book series or something because i love them and cant live without them. I also hope that in the second book that sam and astrids relationship deepens. and is quinn good or bad? and i do not think that the people on the cover look too old they look the perfect age. if you make a movie you have to have the people in the cover as astrid and sam. Mr. Grant please reply to these messages and please tell all your fans the aproximate date of the release of hunger or sacrifice. and please tell us if it will hunger or sacrifice. you are the best author i have every heard of. your books are better than twilight and maximum ride books even though i love those books. but i dont like the twilight "saga". anyway i just wanted to say that i am one of your many fans and that you need to keep writing. and i dont think that the intervals between the release of the books is too large because it gives me something look forward to in the summer.

big fan Mr. Grant :)

Anonymous said...

absolutely wonderfull book. i really enjoyed reading it and can't wait for the second book to come out. big fan of the series :)

Ric Noell said...

The second book in this series is called Hunger. I just got my hands on it and am looking forward to reading it! Gone was one of the most brilliant teen fiction books I have read in recent years, and Hunger looks to be at least as good!

Anonymous said...

The third is gonna be called Lies.

Anonymous said...

ive found out that the forth book is called plaugue

Anonymous said...

This book is terrible. I never want to read it when it's time to read.

Anonymous said...

In the FAYZ, you disappear at 15, not 14. Just thought u should get that corrected...

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