"Hi there and thanks a lot for visiting my blog. DFTBA!"
Showing posts with label Michael Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Grant. Show all posts

4/12/2012

Fear by Michael Grant



book: fear
written by: Michael Grant
series: Gone #5
genres: young adult, horror, sci-fi
pages: 509 (hardcover)
publication date: April 3rd, 2012
publisher: Katherine Tegen Press


first thoughts:
Holy crap I love this series, even though it horrifies me. I reviewed part 4 of the series. you can view it HERE. This series definitely isn't for the ones that throw up often, and if you do you might want to keep a bucket to puke in close to you... *no, just exaggerating a lot, if you survived part 4 in the series you will be OK with this part*


the book: 
It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone. (#1)


Despite the hunger (#2) and the lies (#3), even despite the plague (#4), the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear.


Within the FAYZ, life breaks down while the Darkness takes over, literally—turning the dome-world of the FAYZ entirely black. In darkness, the worst fears of all emerge, and the cruelest of intentions are carried out. But even in their darkest moments, the inhabitants of the FAYZ maintain a will to survive and a desire to take care of the others in their ravaged band that endures, no matter what the cost. 


my review:
zillions of spoilers if you haven't read #1-4 in this series. Impossible to review without any spoilers for those books. SORRY

Well, immidiately after starting reading this book, one of my main questions about this series was answered. There was still life outside the FAYZ. But also, that answer made me have tons of more questions that are in despate need of an answer.
The characters in this series improve again. I have no idea how Michael Grant keeps his characters so realistic :o It feels as if you're with the characters in the FAYZ. and that's a terrifying feeling. Really, I'd rather live on the North Pole for the rest of my life, or anywhere, than live in the FAYZ for one week, or even one day. In this book there were some new characters introduced, and other ones disappeared and / or died. And of course it hurt me when anyone died, no matter how they died. I just don't like to see characters I have read about and loved from the first part of the series die... Also, all of the characters *and by that I mean ALL of them* changed so much between #4 and #5 in the series, it was almost impossible to 'recognise' them. So this was not character development, but complete transformation of the characters. It annoyed me in the first chapters, but fell in love / hated *in a good way* the new characters quickly.
The plot of this book contains an abundance of unpredictable twists, too keep it more interesting than it already was, which made the book even more perfect. The story was, again, told with the times underneath the chapters. *chapter 1, 65 hours, 11 minutes* and there were some 'Outside' chapters, in which you find out a little more of the horrible thruth of the FAYZ.
Then there was the Gaiaphage, which was still trying to take over the world with a terrifying huge amount of power. and oh my god, what the hell is he doing?!

The writing style of Michael Grant is one of the things that makes this book unique. He writes from multiple points of views *and with multiple I mean that there were over 10* without making it hard to understand the book. It's just a book you're flowing through. The pace of this story was above average, but again, that's one of the things that belongs with this series. A lot of things should happen in a little amount of pages.

I compare this book to the Hunger Games very often. Maybe because I bought the hunger games at the same time I bought Gone #1, or maybe just because I think they're both great series, but I think that every hunger games fan will love the gone series! So if you need to read a hunger games-like book I think this one would be a great choice. *this isn't dystopia*

final thoughts
A great story, with so many plot twists that kept on surprising me. A definite must for every Hunger Games fan. Even if you don't like Sci-fi, you'll love the gone series, mark my words!

(and OMG the ending, Light (#6) is one of my most anticipated books of 2013! Can't waiit)

rating: 5 stars

xo Mar

1/04/2012

Plague by Michael Grant

Yo peeps, whats up?
First book I re-read in 2012 FTW


book:  Plague
written by:  Michael Grant
genres: Sci-Fi, Horror, Young Adult, fantasy
pages: 497
own / library / borrowed
release date: April 5th, 2011
series?: yes, Gone #4
publisher: Katherine Tegen Books


note:  I actually re-read this book pretty soon after reading it. I read this book in august 2011, and loved it. Now I re-read it in Dutch, and I figured out that I had forgotten lots of things that happened. Definitely not a bad choice to re-read this book!


the book: The life in the FAYZ continues. But there are new obstacles to overcome. There is a kind of flu pandemic that kills people by letting them cough up their organes, there are some strange green bugs that eat their way through you. More of the horror. And that's not all; there also is the Drake/Brittany creature that tries to fight its way to the Gaiaphage, the creator of the FAYZ and the murderer of many innocent kids. Will the kids of the FAYZ survive, or will life in the FAYZ end...?


my review:
I love the series. It is kind of horror-like, so slightly out of my comfort zone, but still I will call this book epic awesomeness. (okay, I call almost everything Epic Awesomeness, but this time I mean it!) What makes this series so special to me? I think it is that the characters are sometimes hardly human (like; when they burn things or run too quick or remove gravity...) but they keep on thinking as if they are as human as possible. This book kind of got the same old, in the beginning. But then people started to die and stuff and it got awesome. (no, I'm not someone who loves people dying, I just like to read stories about dying people ;) ) Then there is this Drake/Brittany thing that totally got my attention. I mean, 2 zombies in 1. best invention ever?! Also the way they behave is so totally different I would almost say that it's impossible.
Then there are the many POV's. You can read from Sam's, Astrid's, Orc's, Albert's, Drake/Brittany's Pete's and Sanjit's POV, and I think there are even more I have forgotten. It is extraordinairy for a book to have so many POVs! But it is great to keep the book changing all the time.
I still do not like Astrid, and still have lots of respect for Sam. I still don't like that every child is dying, but still love to read about it. I still want to know all FAYZs secrets, and I still want to read the next part. I still won't give up on these series, and I still want Orc to go to rehab :$
But I have to admit that the series would have been better if it had been written in 3 parts max. 6 is a little bit overdone... 


total:
4.5 stars :D


xo Mar