Book Title: Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Series: Gone #1
Date Started: April 28th 2013
Date Completed: March 2nd 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Romance, Adventure, Mystery
Rating: Two stars
Review:
I tend to rate books at three or above - for the reason that, even if I didn't like them, I could see how other people from the target audience could enjoy reading them. I don't know if I mistook the age-range for this book extremely drastically or it simply wasn't very good, but I was disappointed to find I was relieved when I got to the end.
The novel is about a band of kids trapped inside a sphere that cordons them off from the rest of the world - and everyone over the age of fourteen has disappeared. The story revolves around a character named Sam and how he tries to handle this new, dangerous world of psychotic teenagers and speaking coyotes.
I think the idea was really, really good. The main problem was that the plot and the way it develops would definitely work for a Young Adult book - everything's in there: the danger, the violence, the thrill etc. But firstly, the writing style if a lot easier and 'younger' than I would have expected, and that was the first thing to put me off the book.
And secondly, the age of the characters is just too low. I understand that the no-older then fourteen kids needs to work with the storyline and context, but it clashes too much - when it comes down to it, fourteen-year-olds don't do the things that they do in this book. Or at the very least they'd struggle with it more.
But the issue with the point above is that I can see Michael Grant has tried to include these in, but it's becomes a bit of a cycle for the first 2/3 of the book. It wasn't until quite a bit later on in the novel that I actually found myself reading something other than another one of the kids losing it because everything's going wrong. I understand why that was included, and I agree that it needs to be. But I think it could have happened in a way that maybe didn't put me off the book by the time something good actually happened.
However, I did like some things in this book. The characters, for one.
Sam is a very good hero, the typical kind of protagonist, but he was good enough to force me to read the whole thing. He's kind of like a little puppy dog, cute-wise, which I'm not sure was what Grant was going for, but it'll do I suppose.
And Astrid is amazing. I can relate to Astrid a lot...and I ship them, okay.
I also have a lot of respect for Grant since he involved some more real and harder issues in the book, such as with Mary (I won't say what).
When it comes down to it, I think that the book just tries to incorporate too many ideas into one (superpowers, being abandoned, dictatorships, mystery solving, romance) and it was just a little bit too much to cope with. Furthermore, I think the writing needed to be more mature and the target audience raised. I read this book because I really like the sound of it - I just wish it had been a more adult book. But then again that is my bad for mistaking it.
The reason I gave it two stars, rather than three (which is what I usually do for a book I don't really like) is because I think, rather than my opinion conflicting with the rating, the actual novel is a little flawed. I'm kind of gutted because I think it could have been really, really good. Oh well.
I would recommend it to younger readers, as I think you will actually quite like it. If you do decide to read it, stick to it, because things do actually pick up at the end.
I'm not saying this book is the worst book I've ever read - I've read much worse. It just wasn't the best.
I tend to rate books at three or above - for the reason that, even if I didn't like them, I could see how other people from the target audience could enjoy reading them. I don't know if I mistook the age-range for this book extremely drastically or it simply wasn't very good, but I was disappointed to find I was relieved when I got to the end.
The novel is about a band of kids trapped inside a sphere that cordons them off from the rest of the world - and everyone over the age of fourteen has disappeared. The story revolves around a character named Sam and how he tries to handle this new, dangerous world of psychotic teenagers and speaking coyotes.
I think the idea was really, really good. The main problem was that the plot and the way it develops would definitely work for a Young Adult book - everything's in there: the danger, the violence, the thrill etc. But firstly, the writing style if a lot easier and 'younger' than I would have expected, and that was the first thing to put me off the book.
And secondly, the age of the characters is just too low. I understand that the no-older then fourteen kids needs to work with the storyline and context, but it clashes too much - when it comes down to it, fourteen-year-olds don't do the things that they do in this book. Or at the very least they'd struggle with it more.
But the issue with the point above is that I can see Michael Grant has tried to include these in, but it's becomes a bit of a cycle for the first 2/3 of the book. It wasn't until quite a bit later on in the novel that I actually found myself reading something other than another one of the kids losing it because everything's going wrong. I understand why that was included, and I agree that it needs to be. But I think it could have happened in a way that maybe didn't put me off the book by the time something good actually happened.
However, I did like some things in this book. The characters, for one.
Sam is a very good hero, the typical kind of protagonist, but he was good enough to force me to read the whole thing. He's kind of like a little puppy dog, cute-wise, which I'm not sure was what Grant was going for, but it'll do I suppose.
And Astrid is amazing. I can relate to Astrid a lot...and I ship them, okay.
I also have a lot of respect for Grant since he involved some more real and harder issues in the book, such as with Mary (I won't say what).
When it comes down to it, I think that the book just tries to incorporate too many ideas into one (superpowers, being abandoned, dictatorships, mystery solving, romance) and it was just a little bit too much to cope with. Furthermore, I think the writing needed to be more mature and the target audience raised. I read this book because I really like the sound of it - I just wish it had been a more adult book. But then again that is my bad for mistaking it.
The reason I gave it two stars, rather than three (which is what I usually do for a book I don't really like) is because I think, rather than my opinion conflicting with the rating, the actual novel is a little flawed. I'm kind of gutted because I think it could have been really, really good. Oh well.
I would recommend it to younger readers, as I think you will actually quite like it. If you do decide to read it, stick to it, because things do actually pick up at the end.
I'm not saying this book is the worst book I've ever read - I've read much worse. It just wasn't the best.
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