Gone

Light by Michael Grant

/ zackids / 1 Comment

CAUTION: May contain spoilers

I need to get this out of the way now: OMG! This book is AMAZING! Michael Grant, you are brilliant and I bow at your feet!  OK…calming down now.

Ever since Michael Grant launched his Gone series I have been wondering how the series would end.  With each book, the situation in the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) has got progressively worse.  When you trap a bunch of kids inside a dome (some with super powers), with no adults, limited food, disease, and no idea if or when they’ll ever get out, you know it isn’t going to end well.  After the previous book, Fear, I have to say I had no idea how the series was going to end.  One of the things I love about Michael Grant is that he certainly keeps you on your toes and isn’t afraid to shock you.  He certainly does this in the final book in the Gone series, Light.

All eyes are on Perdido Beach. The barrier wall is now as clear as glass and life in the FAYZ is visible for the entire outside world to see. Life inside the dome remains a constant battle and the Darkness, away from watchful eyes, grows and grows . . . The society that Sam and Astrid have struggled so hard to build is about to be shattered for good. It’s the end of the FAYZ. But who will survive to see the light of day?

Light is everything I hoped it would be and much, much more.  It is a truly EPIC conclusion to the series and the way in which Michael wrapped the series up left me totally satisfied.  I won’t go in to any details because I’d hate to spoil the ending, which fans have been waiting years for.  Michael had me on the edge of my seat and it was nerve-wracking from beginning to end.  I read it over a couple of days and found that I could think of little else but the story.  As soon as I put it down I wanted to know what was happening to the characters.  By the time I’d read the final page, I felt like I was a survivor of the FAYZ who had to adjust to normal life again.  You’ve been with these characters through the whole experience so you really feel like one of them.

Everything that I love about Michael Grant’s books is here in Light.  There is plenty of violence and gore (including some cannibalism), the action is non-stop, the suspense makes you tear out your hair and chew your fingernails, and there are the characters you love (and those you hate) fighting against incredible odds.  There is also plenty of death and destruction, and not all of the main characters survive the ordeal.  I found myself saying ‘Oh no Michael, not them!’ several times during the story.

Out of all the things I love about this series, it’s the characters that have made me keep reading.  Michael has created so many great characters in this series and they get a lot thrown at them.  From the very first book, I’ve wondered who would make it through to the end, and I’m pleased to say that Michael totally surprised me.  It has been really interesting to see how the characters react to different situations, and seeing their true nature shine through.  None of the characters have made it through unscathed and I’ve loved watching their development throughout the series.

Thank you Michael Grant for creating this incredible series and these memorable characters that I’ll never forget.  I absolutely found it worthwhile and I had so much fun getting lost in your crazy world.

Even though this series has ended, we still have much more of Michael Grant to look forward to, with his BZRK series, The Magnificent 12 series (for younger readers), and hopefully more of Eve and Adam (with his incredibly talented wife, Katherine Applegate).

5 out of 5 stars

Win a copy of Light

I have a copy of Light to give away to one lucky Gone fan.  All you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below and tell me who is your favourite Gone series character.  Competition closes Wednesday 10 April (NZ and Australia only).

Fear by Michael Grant

/ zackids / 1 Comment

Michael Grant is one of my favourite authors because you never quite know what to expect when you start his latest book.    I know for sure that it’s going to be violent, probably disturbing and like no other young adult book around, but I never know what he’s going to throw at me.  Fear is the fifth book in his brilliant Gone series and there were times while reading it that I thought ‘where did that come from?’ or ‘what the hell is going on?’  Some authors may be running out of steam by the fifth book in a series (especially one as full-on as this one) but Michael Grant is still surprising me and making the situation even worse for the kids of the FAYZ.

Night is falling in the FAYZ. Permanently.  The barrier that surrounds the town of Perdido Beach is turning black, blotting out the sun and plunging its inhabitants into perpetual gloom.

And as the shadows deepen, the Darkness stirs.  From its lair beneath the earth, the gaiaphage reaches out for what it needs most – a human body into which it can be reborn…

Michael Grant drops you right back into the FAYZ in Fear and if you’d forgotten how bad things were he quickly reminds you.  Each of the camps are coping in their own ways and things have been relatively trouble-free for a while.  That is until certain characters make a reappearance and a darkness starts creeping up the side of the dome.  As in other books in the series, characters who seemed minor come into their own, especially Penny who totally loses it (her sanity that is).  The storylines of the gaiaphage and Little Pete get even weirder and in some parts I had no idea what was going on.  Michael Grant has an incredibly dark and twisted mind and he keeps coming up with new ways to creep his readers out and inflict torture on the kids of the FAYZ.  Because this book is called Fear Michael makes his characters face their fears, often using Penny as the tool for this.  One of my favourite things about this book was seeing what was going on outside the dome.  I’ve always wondered how the people outside were dealing with the dome and how the families were coping.  We do get a few questions answered about the FAYZ but hopefully the final book, Light, will tie up the loose ends.  It’s hard to believe that, in a year, we’ll be saying goodbye to Sam, Astrid, Edilio, Quinn and all the other kids of the FAYZ.

5 out of 5 stars

BZRK by Michael Grant

/ zackids / 1 Comment

I often find myself reading books that are quite similar to one another.  I go through stages where I might read a lot of dystopian fiction or horror and they can end up blurring into each other.  But every now and again I read something that is completely different from everything I’ve read before.  It’s those books that stick in my mind and I remember years later.  I still remember being completely unsettled by The Speed of the Dark by Alex Shearer, which I read probably 10 years ago.  When Michael Grant made the claim on Twitter that BZRK is ‘unlike anything you’ve read before’ I believed him because he never fails to deliver an original story.

First of all, I’m not going to tell you much about the story as I think part of the experience of BZRK is figuring out what the hell is going on.  The story follows Sadie and Noah as they are recruited by a global organization called BZRK.  They are at war with another organization called the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation or AFGC.  Each side believes that they are right and that they are saving humanity.  The war is being fought where no-one can see – inside the human body.

BZRK is disturbing, creepy, action-packed and totally addictive.  Like the biots in the story, BZRK will get inside your head and you’ll constantly want to get back to reading it (that is if you don’t read it all in one go).  No-one writes quite like Michael Grant.  He’s given us a glance inside his dark and disturbing mind with the Gone series (which is one of my favourite series) but BZRK takes it to another level.  Trust me, you will never look at the human body quite the same again after reading this book.  BZRK has the right mix of action, violence, creepiness, and fast-paced writing that makes it a great guys read.  You should hand this book to any teenage male who is a reluctant reader and I guarantee it will hook them in and make them want to pick up anything by Michael Grant.  I will eagerly await the second book in this new series, but in the mean time, I’ll be reading the 5th book in the Gone series, Fear which is due out in April.

5 out of 5 stars