The Gone Series: Best Books I've read?

"Why did I write the GONE series? Well, in my head I imagine this reader. Sometimes it's a girl, sometimes it's a boy. It changes. But in any case there's this reader. And I want that reader to pick up GONE, and to be unable to put it down until they have read every word. I want that reader to forget everything else going on around them and become completely engrossed.
When they're done with the first book, I want them to need that next book desperately. I want to surprise that reader and scare that reader and make and make that reader fall in love. In the end I want the reader to put down the book and think, "Man, that was fun." - Michael Grant.

You know, he pretty much summed up what I think of the Gone Series right there...


Ahhh the gone Series, how I love you to bits! 1300+ pages of pure bliss. The (so far) three books are definately up there with some of the best books I've read. I think these books broke my record for how long I can read without stopping: six-and-a-half hours! But all they the best I've read? Lets see...

The entirety of the Books take place in an area known as the FAYZ (FALLOUT ALLEY YOUTH ZONE). It's (or was, we don't know yet) situated in Southern Californa by the sea, in Present day, and was once your average Californian landscape, and contains the doomed Perdido Beach: a small Town with your average population (Families, Tourists, nice beaches, great for surfing, Schools, Banks, MacDonalds ect...) but on one day, every single adult in the town, past the age of Fifthteen disappears. GONE. Not only that, but ala Simpsons Movie, it seems that a large area of Land (20 miles long) has been trapped by this weird transulent-ish barrier that cuts everything inside the dome out of touch with the outside World COMPLETELY. No communication, limited electricity supplies, not alot of food, and no one to cuddle them and say it'll be all right. Its a terrifying situation to be in, Kids having to fight for their own survival, and a jouney that will take them to the darkest recesseses of the Human soul. What makes things far worse is that, some kids are developping Powers. The power to control Gravity, Run at 300mph, shoot light from your hands, heal the wounded...and as you can guess things only start there, after that they have to deal with mutated animals and phycopathic nut-jobs with whips for arms! So minus all the Supernatural, dark thriller-y, Lost-ish style mystery plot (the main Villain of the piece isn't fully established untill the end of Book 2!), the big question is this: What would happen in a World without adults? The answer, as you expect, is painfully realistic, gritty and quite frankly horrible to endure...but it still makes for great reading. What's wrong with us? We like to see movies about Cannibals and Murderer's and watch horrible, depressing things on T.V like a Father having to shoot his own kids (ala Torchwood: Children Of Earth), stuff that just makes you want to cry and shoot yourself...and yet we love watching that kind of stuff! These books tapp into that raw, primitive instinct of survival..and thats basically one of the reasons why I'm so hooked to these books, its because they're sooo DARK! And I mean dark DARK! Really awful crimes are comitted in these Books, acts of cruelty and harsh violence and well...its just plain evil! But something about these Books just draw you in unlike anything I have ever read. Apparently alot of people refer to these Books as a hybrid of Stephen King + Lord Of The Flies and I can definitely see that (Stephen King himself says he loves these Books) . And I've read a Review where some guy found these Books really boring, and I can sorta see why they would think that but I haven't felt an inch of boredom while reading any of the Books, in fact, they get more gripping as they go along...but then again, that is just my opinion ( ex: I think The Lord Of The Rings books are one of the most boring books known to man, heck about 53 pages of the thing is donated to the characters eating dinner! And alot of people love them so opinions can vary...but I loved reading the Hobbit, now THAT was a good Book). So moving on from the basic premise, things (after not even the first day!) quickly turns into utter Sh*t for anyone who is still alive in Perdido Beach. Think about it, if all the Parents 'poofed' all of a sudden then who looks after all the poor Baby Children that are left in their homes or wherever they were when their Mummy's and Daddy's poofed? There's a scene in the Book where one of the main characters is searching a house for supplies (food is very scarce at this point, people just sort of sit around and loot shops, not really thinking about the future, so the brain-boxes out of all the helpless teens who are trying to create some sort of society around all this chaos decide to recover any loot they can find...) and encounters the body of a dead baby who, without any care after its parents had disappeared, eventually died of starvation. Its a chilling scene, made worse by the fact that one of them has to pick up the corpse and 'dispose' of it, Its pretty awful to read. Bully's in the School that were once just wedgie lovers have now turned into physcopathic Killers, who form groups (or rival gangs) and beat people to death on the street, creating laws of their own and bullying anyone into submission. The Book quickly demonstrates that this a World without rules: Mutant kids with super powers, kids disappearing out of thin air, Torture, starvation, tyranny, abuse, kids that start picking up bottles of vodka and eat crayons just to stay alive: the FAYZ is a brutal, brutal place to live in.
One of the horrible things about it is that if this were to actually happen in real life (maybe minus all the Super powers), THIS is how things would turn out. Any Character that has an ounce of sanity left by the end of the Book should be applauded I think! In the end its a climatic battle between the two opposing forces (Team Sam Vs Team Caine) that decides who gains control of Perdido Beach. Gone is a very harrowing, draining experience but don't get me wrong: it has a nice little 'romantic interest' plot carefully snuck into it and quite a few scenes of suberb Human emotion, and perhaps just a dash of macabre humor to balance the sides a little bit. When comparing this Book to the next entry in the Series 'Hunger', this book might as well just be an innocent children's fairytale in comparison!

Oooh the Darkness is palpable in this one (it even turns out that the 'he who overlooks all' style baddie is called 'The Darkness'!), and probably has the best ending of the Series so far: Perdido Beach, now a mere withered husk of its former self, has got quite a few Food problems, some kids are even starting to revert to Cannibalism ('if your mate dies, eat him' is practically the motto of this Book!) and the newly formed 'Council' are having trouble keeping the population under control, alot of this has to do with the growing divide between the 'Humans' and the 'Freaks', the Freaks get along fine, its the Humans, who hate being inferior, that have the 'issues'. Just 'surviving' isn't enough though, add in a nuclear reactor, a radioactive alien that controls peoples minds, a nutter that has seriously stepped over into the darkside, a kid hungry for power (plus a dozen little sub-plots and new characters that all, in the grand scheme of things, eventually add up into one huge Finale) and you pretty much have this Book. Its like the Book keeps piling on the threats and amping up the tension, which slowly starts to eat away at any 'organised' society these Teenagers have created. The final...ooh...200 pages are just one rollercoaster ride of emotions and a sense of real helplessness that takes you from one side of the scale to the other. Theres a neat point in the book where one of the main characters, having been swamped with problem after problem after disaster, just bursts out laughing. Why? Because thats the only way his mind can cope with all the pain and stress! I may be making out that these books are a bit of a endurance Test for me (how far can you read before you put the Book down and shoot yourself-kinda-thing?) and a grueling experience...but they just have this addicting adrenalin quality to them, and you genuinely fall in love with these characters, you really want them to succeed and be happy(for once). To be honest, I was surprised to find out that there was another book in the works after this one: I mean sure, they're still trapped in the FAYZ by the end and not all of the questions have been answered, but the ending had such a final feel to it. Hmmm, well I've just finished 'Lies', heres my initial reaction:

Wow. This was still one of the greatest Series I've read! To call this book 'Lies' is wrong, more like 'Chaos'. Tensions are still growing in the FAYZ, the 'Freaks' are still under attack (more than ever, the Humans have turned into peusdo-Terrorists, setting half the town ablaze and screaming CHAOS!), Food is EVEN more scarce (at least they have a proper economic system up though, bullets are now traded for food and items), the main Character has finally gone awol, cracking under the pressure and strain of being a Leader. And it turns out, a character that has long been buried and dead...rises up from the grave. Fear is just growing and growing, and (as nutty as it sounds) apparently a Freak who's talent is to look into peoples dreams says that she has contacted the Parents 'on the other side' and reveals that killing yourself may be the only way to escape the FAYZ and to return to the real World. Its tackles quite a few religious themes, mainly the 'belief' category and is just as dark in that respect. Mary (also known as Mother Mary, a 14-year-old who looks after the really little kids) is suffering from depression and is quickly subdued into thinking that this is true. The end of this Book is THAT close to complete and utter bloodshed of three-year-olds. AT LEAST the Books having touched the whole rape/sex subject yet, perhaps thats just a step too far. I have only one real gripe with this Book: it doesn't exactly feel like an individual contained story like the previous two Books of the Series, it feels like you're slap bang in the middle of a much bigger Story arc (one that will be explored in the final three Books: 'Plague, Darkness and Light'), almost like a Skirmish or a prologue before the 'real' thing. The ending is a bit too left out in the open, and doesn't really resolve anything other than eliminate any immediate threat. Its just moves the Bad guys and the main Characters (almost like chess pieces) exactly where they need to be for the next Book. Back onto the positive side of things, I also love how the previous Books all have these little tie-ins that gives you almost a sneak peak at what might be in store for the next entries (In Lies, it seems a few of the Characters have come down with a rather nasty cold that doesn't seem to go away and is highly infectious...the next Book is called 'Plague'....hmmm I wonder if that has something to do with it?). At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a ending in sight, although the Author has confirmed that there are indeed three more Books planned, and I can't help but wonder what he has in store for us. One request though: The Final Book 'Light' must have a least half the book dedicated to how Life is now wonderful for the main Characters and everything is sweet, happy and fun....because I don't think I could live with myself knowing that these Characters don't have a happy ending, THERE MUST BE A HAPPY ENDING! The Books are sooo dark, you've got to have at least a bit of happiness at the end to balance things out!I just want Sam too be happy for once! Anyway, thats it for for my opinions of the Gone Series, truly a terrific pieces of literature, all of them (for me). Here's the big question though: Best Books I've Read? Well if the Series continues with this level of quality...then yes. The Gone Series, are one of the best Books I've read. PERIOD. GOSH! I've just looked at the Wikipedia page, and it turns out that the Books are written at an alarming rate, Lies (having only just recently come out) is soon to be shoved into Plague, who will be moving into stores on April the 11th 2011. CANNOT WAIT! C-A-N-N-O-T  W-A-I-T!!!!