Gone

Title: Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Genre: YA Science Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 558
Why I read it: It sounded good
Grade: B

Synopsis:
In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. 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...

My review:
Gone definitely had an interesting premise.  It's another one of those books that you think about when you're done reading, and it also sparked a good discussion with my 12 year old.  I asked her what she would do if everyone over the age of 14 disappeared, and it was interesting to hear her answers.

There were a lot of characters in Gone, with author going so far as to start listing them a couple times.  Like: "On this side, there was Sam, Astrid, other kid, other kid, other kid, other kid, other kid, and other kid."  The problem was that, even though there were lots of characters, there wasn't a whole lot of variety.  It seemed like the kids were either very, very good or extremely bad with no morality whatsoever.  I believe there was just one character who struggled with what side he was on, but I found him so unlikeable that I didn't care about him at all.

But the story was well-written enough that I could get past my few problems with the book.  Any book that I can finish in a day that's 558 pages has to be pretty good, even if it is YA and is a fairly easy read.  Once again, we have a book that doesn't really have an end.  You HAVE to read the next book if you want to find out what happens.  Fortunately the second book is already out, so nobody has to wait around for it.  Also fortunate is that the book was good enough that reading a second book isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I would recommend this one to fans of YA literature.  Be aware that it's pretty violent and hard to read at times.