Michael Grant’s new novel, Gone, is like a combination of Left Behind, X-Men and Lord of the Flies. There is no better way to let you in on this story than to quote from the first few lines:
“One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone.
There.
Gone.
No “poof.” No flash of light. No explosion.”
Unfortunately, Michael doesn’t continue with the obvious next sentence, “Just gone.” But he does make you think it, and his first few lines really do all they need to to suck a reader in.
To the plot: It’s like the Rapture has taken place, except that there is an age line instead of a religious restriction on who goes and who stays; everyone over the age of fifteen has disappeared from Perdido Beach, California. An impenetrable barrier keeps the kids in and everyone else out, and so a group of young teens are left to take care of themselves and the younger children who are stuck in this new world.
Of course, Michael doesn’t just let everyone hang out and have fun — no, bullies emerge, as do defenders, and there are kids with strange new powers, and animals are mutating. It’s all very confusing and frightening and awesome enough to suck you in for a good two days. In fact, at a whopping 558 pages, it’s definitely something you can really sink your teeth into this summer.
The hilarious aspect of this book is the trailer — you know about book trailers, yes? Well, here we have one that I can’t help but giggle at because it starts out with that totally laugh-worthy phrase … “What IF?” Watch for yourself:
In spite of the trailer being a bit over-the-top, I have to say this is a very good read. I wouldn’t be bothering to tell you about it if it weren’t true, now would I?
Buy Gone
PS. I’d be willing to bet a good chunk of change that we’ll see a sequel to this one. In fact, I’ll be quite disappointed if we don’t.
So. Good. O.O I finished this within a few hours!!! I have yet to read Hunger since I just finished this book =D Great job I can’t wait for the next one. BTW this needs to be a movie