It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, 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. Fear, Michael Grant's fifth book in the best-selling dystopian Gone series, will thrill readers . . . even as it terrifies them.
The Gone Series is often regarded by me as being some the best books I've ever read (you can read my thoughts on the previous books HERE and HERE). But does the latest entry in the Series, 'Fear' still validate my claim? How does it compare to the rest of the Series?
If I were to rank the Series based on my personal preference right now I would put Fear around second-to-last (the worst being Lies), but that in no way means it's bad, in fact it's still better than most other books. So what did I like? Well the characters and character dynamics are still top-notch, despite the somewhat uneven main plot. The gigantic cast of characters are still fleshed out and complex, even if they seem damned for all eternity. Fear as a theme for this book was very well done, and Michael Grant still knows how to really get into their psyche and mess with their heads. Even though the concept of the FAYZ going dark took far too long to get going (it spent half the book being an ambiguous black stain on the wall) and poorly utilized to it's full potential afterwards, everything else to do with Fear was masterfully handled and described. To quote Astrid, a character who was given some great monologues in this book:
"…they assumed all fear must come from a thing or a place. An event. Cause and effect. Like fear was part of an algebra equation.
No, no, no, so not getting the point of fear. Because fear wasn’t about what made sense. Because fear wasn’t about what made sense. Fear was about possibilities. Not things that happened. Things that might.
Things that might … Threats that might be there. Murderers. Madmen. Monsters. Standing just a few inches from him, able to see him, but his eyes useless. The threats, they could laugh silently at him. They could hold their knives, guns, claws right in his face and he wouldn’t be able to see.
The threat could be. Right. There." [p415-416]
The FAYZ's sub-plots are equally well handled, and it's awe-inspiring to see Michael Grant juggle so many fantastic characters and great arcs at once. If it wasn't Dekka trying to win back Brianna, Edilio's sexuality ('Dude this is the apocalypse, and you're worried that people will laugh at you because you're gay?'), Lana's sheer badassery or Orc trying to come to terms with Howard's unexpected demise then it was Little Pete's god-making powers or Quinn's sudden relevance (who apart from fishing has done literally NOTHING for three books!) that made you want to turn that extra page. The character to really take the spotlight this time around is Penny, an insane girl who has the power to conjure up your worst nightmares and make them seem real. In one horrifying scene a kid started eating his own veins out because he thought they were candy liquorish ribbons. It's not an easy sight to think about, but then again the Series sole intention is to make you squirm while reading and it certainly did that. These books love to torture both the readers and the characters, and Penny is in some ways the perfect villain to show this. Unfortunately, her rise to power and eventual downfall happen far too quickly and feels rushed. The writer teased us into thinking she was the next great villain, and yet she ended up with only a few seconds to shine. Disappointing. Speaking of disappointment, the gaiaphage's latest scheme to take over the FAYZ and puncture the outside world was far to one-note and boring. It's plot to be re-born felt done to death in my eyes, especially having just finished watching The Fades. The final battle is silly, with the anti-hero's facing off against what amounts to being a green radioactive toddler with super-powers, supposedly the very definition of evil incarnate! At least the set-up for the next book seems promising, but the threat was nevertheless undeveloped (literally). It did have a few horrifying moments, but that's it.
Another great aspect of the book is that we finally get answers to most, if not all, of the lingering questions. Heck the very first chapter in the book is what happens 'outside' the FAYZ wall, and we get to see just what happened to all those adults that 'poofed'. It made for a very interesting read and it felt as if the Series had been building up to this point all along. The icing on the (somewhat) burned cake was the ending, which truly caught me by surprise. If this book was about Fear, then the fears of all the characters (particularly Sam) has finally come true. It's at this point I know the next (and final) book in the gone series is was probably going to be amazing. Gosh, what a ending. You could practically visualize Sam's face realising that his life can NEVER go back to being normal now. All his demons were literally laid out in front of him, for all to see. But for the time being at least, I'm stuck with a book that is in some aspects disappointing. Still a fantastic page-turner (I finished the book in three days) but not what I was expecting really. And as for the sticker on the cover which boldly claimed 'More thrilling than the Hunger Games', me having not read the Hunger Games doesn't give a proper opinion but I doubt you'll find that level of 'thrills' in this book. The Series maybe, but certainly not Fear. Go read Plague, the previous entry, now THAT is thrilling. 8,5/10 (by this Series standards).
Overall Ranking:
1. Plague 10/10
2. Hunger 10/10
3. Gone 9,5/10
4. Fear 8,5/10
5. Lies 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment