The first in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s breathtaking dystopian, sci-fi saga, Gone is a page-turning thriller that invokes the classic The Lord of the Flies along with the horror of Stephen King.

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 birthday, you disappear just like everyone else…

Michael Grant’s Gone as been praised for its compelling storytelling, multidimensional characters, and multiple points of view. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)

A Long Time Coming…

For those of you familiar with my blog, you’ve probably seen me mention the book The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson a few times.  It was a book I read around the 6th grade, and I LOVED it.  It’s all about a plague that kills everyone over the age of 13, and all the kids are left to fend for themselves. And once I heard about the Gone series, I knew I was going to have to read them, since they sounded really similar.

However, I feel like Gone is more akin to Stephen King’s Under the Dome than to The Girl Who Owned a City.  It’s basically the YA version of Under the Dome, because all these crazy things happen just like in Stephen King’s book, while The Girl Who Owned a City is much more tame.  Nevertheless, I ended up really loving Gone.

There were some really creepy parts (The coyotes! Eek!) and hard-to-read parts (The poor babies!) in Gone, as well as a lot of nice suspense and action. I also had lots of theories while reading this book, but I like that they were addressed right after I thought about them, so that I wasn’t waiting until the end of the book for a major reveal.  I love twists in books, but when I figure them out way early and the book doesn’t address them at all until the end, it kind of bothers me.  So luckily, that didn’t happen in Gone.

Bonus Points

Michael Grant gets some of my Bonus Points for the following reasons:

• Two maps in the front of the book = 50,000 points
• Multiple Harry Potter references = 50,000 points
• A Star Wars reference = 50,000 points

4 big stars.  I loved all the craziness that happened with these kids, and I can’t wait to read Hunger and return to this world!