Like my previous review on the ‘Percy Jackson’ books by Rick Riordan, the story of the Gone series is spread over multiple books: Gone, Hunger, Lies, Plaugue, Fear and Light. The books are about Perdido Beach, a small town on the American coast. Suddenly one day, everyone over the age of fifteen disappears from inside the town and a massive dome surrounds the town. The children left in the town have to learn to survive while some develop mutant, freakish powers. There are multiple subplots inside the stories and all the books are fast-paced and lively.
There are many characters inside the Gone series but the main ones are as follows: Sam Temple, who becomes a leader of Perdido Beach; Caine Soren the opposing leader to Sam with his henchman, Drake Merwin; Astrid Ellison, Sam’s friend and co-leader of Perdido Beach; Peter Ellison, Astrid’s autistic brother who develops powers far greater than everyone else in Perdido Beach and the Darkness or the Gaiaphage, a dark being that festers at the bottom of an abandoned mine. There are many other characters with many different traits and powers that grow and mature throughout the books that readers could relate to. Michael Grant describes the hardship these children go through (as the barrier is impenetrable, there is hardly any food or water) and the characters themselves, so you can sympathise for some of them.
The dome (or FAYZ as it is called in the books – Fallout Alley Youth Zone) was in fact caused by Peter Ellison (or Little Pete) after the Gaiapage awoke. Before the FAYZ, the nuclear power plant had been hit by an alien asteroid that had brought the Gaiaphage with it. Little Pete, who had powers before the FAYZ, had created the dome as the Gaiaphage planned to destroy the whole of Earth and Pete knew that he would be trapped inside the FAYZ if he created it. This is discovered throughout the six books by many adventures that Sam Temple and his friends undertake to try and break free from the FAYZ. In the fourth book, Plaugue, Michael Grant writes about what has been happening outside the FAYZ and what the outside world thinks and feels about the big barrier. It mainly focuses on Connie Temple, Sam Temple’s mother, in the scenes outside of the FAYZ.
Although the six books are very serious, there are quite humorous parts in them, too. The character Brianna is perhaps the funniest, with an arrogant and naïve personality, telling in Light, when the barrier becomes transparent, about her many slaughters of people who threatened Perdido Beach to the people outside in the muted interviews. Other characters, too, bring some humour to the stories and make the books even more enjoyable. My only fault with the books is that some plots can be a bit long-winded and not as interesting as the other stories happening inside the book. This means that I would have to give the Gone series nine out-of ten but would still recommend them to my friends.
9/10.
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The Story Critic 