Title: Gone Series: Gone #1
Author: Michael Grant
Published: June 24, 2008
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Page Count: 560
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young.
There are teens, but not one single adult. 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 15th birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...
You know how sometimes you’re watching a movie, and it doesn’t really make sense because the director just doesn’t care about things making sense because making sense is would just waste time, and, like…who cares? That’s how I feel with Gone. I honestly felt like Michael Grant was just throwing random crap into his story because he felt like it, regardless of internal logic. It’s like this is a science fiction novel that wants to be fantasy when it grows up, and is in the awkward puberty stage or something. Plus, this book is just kind of boring.
Firstly, the jacket copy basically describes an entirely different book. Or, rather, yes all the grown-ups disappear and that’s where the book launches from. But after launching, Gone just goes nuts. Talking animals, superpowers, people growing tentacles, a Stephen King style dome…yup. (Yes, I did say tentacles.)
So. Like, I said, this book is supposedly science fiction, which for me means things should be semi-plausible, you know? Gone isn’t presented in a way that makes sense, because even though the world’s gone all screwed up, there aren’t any set rules. Whatever Grant wants to make happen, happens. The TV show Fringe, for instance, is definitely nuts at times, but the world of that show has a logic to it; people just don’t start growing tentacles for no apparent reason because some demonic Darkness commands it. Like, seriously. I literally felt like this book is just a bunch of random bad things happening to a bunch of kids that don’t have a consistent purpose. I mean, the “bad guy” in this book is some kind of toothy green monster who cackles and just…what. What what what.
I just don’t even know.
Or, for instance, there’s this whole thing where Caine and Sam are archenemies/twins. First off, any and all proof that they’re actually long-lost brothers is purely circumstantial and it’s such a huge leap to make that claim. But because Michael Grant wants it to happen, it does, even though the fact that both those idiots accepted their fraternity on such scanty evidence is just ludicrous. Second, why the hell were they even fighting each other? It. did. not. make. sense. They’re apparently 5 days from dying, and Caine decides to launch an invasion of the town to kill his brother who is going to die anyway? LOGIC. Where are you?
Gone is the ultimate headdesk, let’s be honest.
And then there’s all my other problems, which basically amount to the fact that Grant isn’t a very good writer (he’s a boring writer, actually), and this book isn’t structured very well. There are a lot of characters and storylines that don’t add much to this. Gone covers like a week’s time, but is almost 600 pages long. Rather unnecessary, if you ask me.
On top of all this, let’s just realize that after 600 pages, pretty much nothing substantial happened. The kids all had a big showdown battle thingy. Then the “bad guy” came up, asked Sam and Caine to join him; they said no; he cackled, said their joining him was inevitable, then disappeared. Oooh. Scary. Puh-lease. It was legit the most anticlimactic thing ever, especially considering there were no answers. NONE.
The fact that there are five books after this one is just one huge point in favor of my no series argument. If there weren’t five sequels, I can guarantee that Gone would not be the ridiculous slogfest it is currently. Knowing there’s a sequel lets the author putz around and waste readers’ time. Because you can bet ALL your money that this was a waste of my time.
I did not like Gone. Not a good book. It’s boring, doesn’t make sense, and also, nothing happens. I’m trying very hard to understand why Michael Grant thought this was a good idea. Like, really. Tentacles. There’s no need for tentacles, people. None.
