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fai_aka's review against another edition
3.0
The story just gets weirder, more ridiculous and more confusing. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the series.
r_books_dragons's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
caseyflemingo's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book for so many reasons. I like how most of the characters are recovering from events of the previous books, and you can really see how hard life in the FAYZ is for them. Caine’s group is on the verge of starving to death, which brings Caine to a desperate, even more cruel, person, just trying to survive. Sam has PTSD from nearly dying from his fight with Drake (and everything else he’s been through) and you can see how that is affecting the decisions he makes. Sanjit and his family are excellent new characters, it’s fun to be on the third book and still finding new interesting people. Zil is so very infuriating and so reflective of many real people would act, which makes him even worse. Edilio is the MVP and I love him. He does whatever he can, whatever is right, even though it often puts him in danger.
Overall, I love the story, I love the characters (even though they’re falling apart), and I love this series. Again, rereading this as an adult makes it even better.
Overall, I love the story, I love the characters (even though they’re falling apart), and I love this series. Again, rereading this as an adult makes it even better.
reagan23's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
stijn's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think I have to categorize this book as "missed potential". The author tried a lot of things, some only beneficial for the greater series, and not all of them worked. I would have liked it a lot more if the characters struggled with what is the truth, rather than trying to silence the lies. Alas, the author chose for something different, returning to the Christian themes of good vs evil.
My biggest gripe was the pacing of this story. It felt likethe fire was the climax of the novel, both in pacing and in importance, but it was only in the middle of the book.
Furthermore, which I read in another review, there were so many POV's, you knew exactly what was going on. The story therefore hinged on the character interactions, but they didn't work for me as well. It may have been realistic, especially Sam's PTSD, but I didn't like it that much.
My biggest gripe was the pacing of this story. It felt like
Furthermore, which I read in another review, there were so many POV's, you knew exactly what was going on. The story therefore hinged on the character interactions, but they didn't work for me as well. It may have been realistic, especially Sam's PTSD, but I didn't like it that much.
octobertune's review against another edition
3.5
After reading Hunger, and not liking it very much, I was very reluctant to read the rest of the series. Still, when I was in Amsterdam and I saw Lies on the discount shelf at American Book Center, I decided to take it with me just because.
I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to reading Lies, mainly because Hunger had disappointed me a bit. But I can't stand it when I don't finish a series, so eventually I just got myself a copy of Lies because I really wanted to know how the story goes on. I got through Lies a lot quicker than Hunger and I liked it a lot more as well. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Lies was a bit thinner than the previous two books (Gone had 558 pages, Hunger had 590 pages and Lies only 446).
The writing was very good, as usual, I just enjoy Michael Grant's writing a lot, but personally I would have loved a bit less POV's in the series. Especially since every book has new characters that weren't there in the previous books. In Lies, we're introduced to five new characters who live on one of the islands trapped in the FAYZ. I liked reading about them, but I was just a tiny bit annoyed because there were another five characters I needed to remember in the upcoming books.
Of course, there are also still the original characters; Sam, Astrid, Little Pete, Quinn, Caine, Diana, etc. And I liked reading about them (okay I hated reading about Caine, but still). They all have issues, like the fights Sam and Astrid have, the fact that Caine and Diana and the other Coates kids are nearly starving to death; and I liked them for that. They weren't perfect, Astrid wasn't the perfect 'genius' that she was supposed to be, Sam wasn't the perfect hero that everyone thought he was, but that didn't matter. I liked them. And honestly, it would pain me to see any one of them leaving (yes, even Caine, though he's just a pain in the arse).
Lies is also the first book in the series, where we hear about people on the outside of the FAYZ, which made me really happy. I do kind of hope we'll be hearing more from them, but for some reason I think that's not going to happen, oh well, a girl can hope!
I was also very annoyed by the Human Crew in this book. It reminded me a lot of those people inside the bus in the Midnight episode of Doctor Who. It shows you how horrible humans can be during a situation like this, and I think Grant did a VERY good job at it with the Human Crew. Every time I read about them wanting to kill the 'freaks' I cringed and wrote down I wanted Zil to be punished.
In the end, I am really happy with Lies because it means I will probably be less reluctant to finish the rest of the series. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to read a nice dystopia story that isn't a trilogy!
I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to reading Lies, mainly because Hunger had disappointed me a bit. But I can't stand it when I don't finish a series, so eventually I just got myself a copy of Lies because I really wanted to know how the story goes on. I got through Lies a lot quicker than Hunger and I liked it a lot more as well. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Lies was a bit thinner than the previous two books (Gone had 558 pages, Hunger had 590 pages and Lies only 446).
The writing was very good, as usual, I just enjoy Michael Grant's writing a lot, but personally I would have loved a bit less POV's in the series. Especially since every book has new characters that weren't there in the previous books. In Lies, we're introduced to five new characters who live on one of the islands trapped in the FAYZ. I liked reading about them, but I was just a tiny bit annoyed because there were another five characters I needed to remember in the upcoming books.
Of course, there are also still the original characters; Sam, Astrid, Little Pete, Quinn, Caine, Diana, etc. And I liked reading about them (okay I hated reading about Caine, but still). They all have issues, like the fights Sam and Astrid have, the fact that Caine and Diana and the other Coates kids are nearly starving to death; and I liked them for that. They weren't perfect, Astrid wasn't the perfect 'genius' that she was supposed to be, Sam wasn't the perfect hero that everyone thought he was, but that didn't matter. I liked them. And honestly, it would pain me to see any one of them leaving (yes, even Caine, though he's just a pain in the arse).
Lies is also the first book in the series, where we hear about people on the outside of the FAYZ, which made me really happy. I do kind of hope we'll be hearing more from them, but for some reason I think that's not going to happen, oh well, a girl can hope!
I was also very annoyed by the Human Crew in this book. It reminded me a lot of those people inside the bus in the Midnight episode of Doctor Who. It shows you how horrible humans can be during a situation like this, and I think Grant did a VERY good job at it with the Human Crew. Every time I read about them wanting to kill the 'freaks' I cringed and wrote down I wanted Zil to be punished.
In the end, I am really happy with Lies because it means I will probably be less reluctant to finish the rest of the series. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to read a nice dystopia story that isn't a trilogy!
aggressive_nostalgia's review against another edition
I don't know if I can handle three more books of this. Technically, we can all know the basics of how the series will end, so i don't know why we need to take six books to get there. It's horribly depressing. It's an interesting psychological experiment of sorts, as Sam feels his authority is stifled, Astrid wades through her own ethical struggles as she tries to stamp down anarchy, Mary fights to keep her head between her care for the "prees" and her eating disorders as her fifteenth birthday approaches, Howard is sort of all over the place, Orc shows a slight altruistic side, Albert actually seems to be thriving amidst the clamor, and the bad guys all go a little berserk. It's a little bit frightening to see just how adult a city of desperate kids and preteens can become, but I was thankful to see less graphic violence in this installment. However, there were no real new story hooks. A few interesting twists, yes, but we discover next to nothing about the secret behind Little Pete and the FAYZ.
"Lies" was decent, but not as gripping as "Gone" or "Hunger", and unless Grant can move things along here and throw something really interesting into the mix in "Plague"—like more interactions with the parents outside the FAYZ, or some actual explanations—I will likely not stick with the series. This is only halfway through? Really? We have to sit through another fifteen hundred (or more) pages of this warped dystopia?
"Lies" was decent, but not as gripping as "Gone" or "Hunger", and unless Grant can move things along here and throw something really interesting into the mix in "Plague"—like more interactions with the parents outside the FAYZ, or some actual explanations—I will likely not stick with the series. This is only halfway through? Really? We have to sit through another fifteen hundred (or more) pages of this warped dystopia?
skylar_63's review against another edition
4.0
This book is the first one where I felt support for nearly none of the characters (Diana and Lana can do no wrong IMO), but I do think that’s fitting for the series and bringing back home the absolute helplessness of the FAYZ. At this point I’m hooked on the series and can’t stop powering through these books.