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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I picked this up with the intention of bribing my son to read it. Yes, I know, not the most rational of things, but three months into an extraordinarily long school holiday, I wanted him to do something that didn’t involve watching YouTube, listening to music, studying obsessively and gaming.
It worked, he picked it up, but it was me who ended up reading it at a ridiculously fast pace. Unable to put it down.
What a fun, action-packed, fast-paced book.
I’d seen the series on the shelves of Whitcoull’s, and knowing as an author how damned hard it is to get your books on their shelves, figured it must be good.
I wasn’t disappointed.
On many levels, for any teenager, finding themselves in a world without adults would appear wonderful! Let’s face it, no parents to tell them to turn off their computers, to stop watching TV, to be home by dark.
But to find themselves without computers or phones, that was an idea of genius, because suddenly being forced to cope by themselves with no adult guidance and no Wikipedia. Oh my, life gets hard.
I loved Sam, the reluctant hero. A true-born gentleman, and leader, who blatantly cared for every one of his allies, and had their well-being and the safety of their little nation in his heart.
Astrid, and little Pete, brought out the real strengths in his character, but also highlighted his weaknesses, and it was shown in every aspect of the story.
Caine and Diana, man, they were nasty. The perfect villains, and to that their little team, they made for a roller coaster of a ride that had you chanting for the good guys and praying the bad guys would fall flat on their asses.
Actually, as a mom, and I found it hard seeing children die in this, I found myself waiting for the moment they got their true comeuppance.
MacDaddy was a mark of genius, as was Mother Mary, and Breeze. Oh, and of course Lana.
I did however find myself waiting to discover Quinn had some kind of remarkable powers and was disappointed by his role. All the time I kept hoping and hoping, and I guess I’ll keep hoping and hoping through the series.
This book left just enough to make me want to go out and buy book two today. So it done it’s job!
So, if you want a wild, well written, by the seat of the your pants read, then this one comes highly recommended. For teens and adults alike.
It worked, he picked it up, but it was me who ended up reading it at a ridiculously fast pace. Unable to put it down.
What a fun, action-packed, fast-paced book.
I’d seen the series on the shelves of Whitcoull’s, and knowing as an author how damned hard it is to get your books on their shelves, figured it must be good.
I wasn’t disappointed.
On many levels, for any teenager, finding themselves in a world without adults would appear wonderful! Let’s face it, no parents to tell them to turn off their computers, to stop watching TV, to be home by dark.
But to find themselves without computers or phones, that was an idea of genius, because suddenly being forced to cope by themselves with no adult guidance and no Wikipedia. Oh my, life gets hard.
I loved Sam, the reluctant hero. A true-born gentleman, and leader, who blatantly cared for every one of his allies, and had their well-being and the safety of their little nation in his heart.
Astrid, and little Pete, brought out the real strengths in his character, but also highlighted his weaknesses, and it was shown in every aspect of the story.
Caine and Diana, man, they were nasty. The perfect villains, and to that their little team, they made for a roller coaster of a ride that had you chanting for the good guys and praying the bad guys would fall flat on their asses.
Actually, as a mom, and I found it hard seeing children die in this, I found myself waiting for the moment they got their true comeuppance.
MacDaddy was a mark of genius, as was Mother Mary, and Breeze. Oh, and of course Lana.
I did however find myself waiting to discover Quinn had some kind of remarkable powers and was disappointed by his role. All the time I kept hoping and hoping, and I guess I’ll keep hoping and hoping through the series.
This book left just enough to make me want to go out and buy book two today. So it done it’s job!
So, if you want a wild, well written, by the seat of the your pants read, then this one comes highly recommended. For teens and adults alike.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book . . . well, this book was difficult.
It didn't take long for me to know I wouldn't really like Gone but I tried. Oh, I did try. But Gone read like a first draft, clunky and overladen with useless, unnecessary descriptors and details, overstuffed with characters, and with far too much plot. And at the end, the book didn't really come to a close. Everyone in the book kept saying that something was over, but I didn't know what had really happened.
Don't get me wrong, the book does have some really good stuff, and some chilling moments (the Coates Freaks, for one. I seriously was stunned). But it seemed like Grant just had this obsession with going darker, stranger, bloodier, and it just got old after a while. There were also things that happened that were left unexplained and unresolved, the biggest issue of which I had was with Orc and Howard. What the heck even happened? What happened to Orc? I get the whole FAYZ mutating stuff but the thing with Orc was sudden and unexplained, and it was just accepted with no explanation. No anything.
Let me try to get my thoughts into order. First off, there were way too many characters. Sure, some of them were great, but then more characters were introduced. And more. And even more. It's like Grant tried to put every type of personality type and every character trait into his book. It left me dizzy and most of it was unnecessary. Most of them were just to prove how absolutely horrible life in the FAYZ was. Maybe they were there to be a glimmer of hope in the absolute bleakness. I don't know. I felt like 70% of the characters could have been cut and the atmosphere would still be there and raw and evocative.
Where did the plot go? It all seemed crazy. Like Grant had this epic idea for a novel, and just started writing, letting everything take him away until he had no control over it himself. And see, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. On a first draft. After which all the polishing starts to happen and trim away the lumbering pace of the novel. Many of the events left me wondering if they were only in the book to create drama, not to fulfill plot. Actually most of the events made me feel cheap. Made me feel like the book was all glitter and light effects. Everything was a trap, the bad guys were always 100 steps ahead of the good ones. It didn't matter what anyone did, everything turned out to be a trap because supposedly those things make stories epic. Right?
For a novel with 558 pages and about 128 K words, the relationships between characters seemed rushed. Astrid and Sam immediately fall in love. Why? Because it's more epic when there's an "absolutely in love" couple to tear apart later. There really was no reason for them to be so in love, except that Astrid had this magical power of intuition and Sam was the brightest light in her sky. It just . . . it all just felt set up. Everything felt like it was trying to top what had just happened.
It felt like chaos.
I feel like I have to say sorry for posting this review because there are so many rave reviews for this and I keep hearing good things from people I know, but I just couldn't get into it and I couldn't like it. It has the potential to be wonderful, but maybe if Grant polished it up and cut at least 60% of it out (or at least simplified).
It didn't take long for me to know I wouldn't really like Gone but I tried. Oh, I did try. But Gone read like a first draft, clunky and overladen with useless, unnecessary descriptors and details, overstuffed with characters, and with far too much plot. And at the end, the book didn't really come to a close. Everyone in the book kept saying that something was over, but I didn't know what had really happened.
Don't get me wrong, the book does have some really good stuff, and some chilling moments (the Coates Freaks, for one. I seriously was stunned). But it seemed like Grant just had this obsession with going darker, stranger, bloodier, and it just got old after a while. There were also things that happened that were left unexplained and unresolved, the biggest issue of which I had was with Orc and Howard. What the heck even happened? What happened to Orc? I get the whole FAYZ mutating stuff but the thing with Orc was sudden and unexplained, and it was just accepted with no explanation. No anything.
Let me try to get my thoughts into order. First off, there were way too many characters. Sure, some of them were great, but then more characters were introduced. And more. And even more. It's like Grant tried to put every type of personality type and every character trait into his book. It left me dizzy and most of it was unnecessary. Most of them were just to prove how absolutely horrible life in the FAYZ was. Maybe they were there to be a glimmer of hope in the absolute bleakness. I don't know. I felt like 70% of the characters could have been cut and the atmosphere would still be there and raw and evocative.
Where did the plot go? It all seemed crazy. Like Grant had this epic idea for a novel, and just started writing, letting everything take him away until he had no control over it himself. And see, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. On a first draft. After which all the polishing starts to happen and trim away the lumbering pace of the novel. Many of the events left me wondering if they were only in the book to create drama, not to fulfill plot. Actually most of the events made me feel cheap. Made me feel like the book was all glitter and light effects. Everything was a trap, the bad guys were always 100 steps ahead of the good ones. It didn't matter what anyone did, everything turned out to be a trap because supposedly those things make stories epic. Right?
For a novel with 558 pages and about 128 K words, the relationships between characters seemed rushed. Astrid and Sam immediately fall in love. Why? Because it's more epic when there's an "absolutely in love" couple to tear apart later. There really was no reason for them to be so in love, except that Astrid had this magical power of intuition and Sam was the brightest light in her sky. It just . . . it all just felt set up. Everything felt like it was trying to top what had just happened.
It felt like chaos.
I feel like I have to say sorry for posting this review because there are so many rave reviews for this and I keep hearing good things from people I know, but I just couldn't get into it and I couldn't like it. It has the potential to be wonderful, but maybe if Grant polished it up and cut at least 60% of it out (or at least simplified).
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Hm. Yes, hm, is basically what I thought when I was done with Gone. The premise is not bad. Adults disappearing is always a good start to create some chaos and it gives the novel a 'Lord of the Flies' feel. Then they meet the dome from King's 'Under the Dome' and finally they develop superpowers. The classic shooting things out of your hands kind of superpowers. It's all a bit much and the writing is mediocre, plus there's only so many sadistic teenagers I can take. I couldn't connect with any of the characters either and I don't think I'll pick up the rest of this series.
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Racism
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Racism, Xenophobia
The book was about fourteen year olds and younger so it felt very young to me because it was. I had a hard time envisioning some of the characters reacting the way they did because it all seemed too mature to me. That being said, I enjoyed the story and the world. The premise was interesting. I wish there had been a bit more explanation for some of the weird things going on. I really liked the explanations that were given though. I understand there is a sequel and I will be reading the sequel but I'm not rushing out to do it right now. Overall, good book but better for the younger crowd than the older YA fan.