Book Review: Gone by Michael Grant

Title: Gone
Author: Micahel Grant
Series: Gone #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 1 2008
My Source: Library

My Rating: 3.5/5


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...

Even though I'd say this book is science fiction and that's why I was interested, you don't have to be a science fiction lover to pick this up. The premise was intriging. It took me awhile to get through because it's pretty long, and there are times it seemed a little slow for me paticularly in the beginning, but after that, it was non-stop action. There were a lot of characters with different stories and the perspective constantly changed, which I liked because I think any one of the stories by itself would have been a little dull. One thing I didn't really like about this book was that the main conflict was just bullies. The kids were just fighting each other, and since none of them were older than 14, their problems were hard to take seriously. Throughout the book, kids discovered they had powers, such as shooting lightning from hands, moving things with their mind, extreme speed, etc. The battles actually became quite violent for the ages of the kids.

One thing I really liked about this book was how the author managed to answer some of the reader's questions- just enough so the book felt like it had a good conclusion, but leaving some open to entice the readers to pick up the next book in the series. It was a perfect balance and I thought it had a very nice ending.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but it wasn't one of my favorites, but it's a series, so I'm still going to read the next books because I want some questions answered!

+ an extra .5 (I'm going to have new buttons up soon with .5 stars!)