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Gone (2009)

by Michael Grant

Series: Gone (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5,2502182,206 (3.83)143
English (210)  Dutch (4)  Portuguese (Portugal) (2)  Swedish (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (218)
Showing 1-25 of 210 (next | show all)
I think I might have read this book in high school but I am not 100% sure. I remembered nothing about it though (just that the cover was green and that the author might have been Michael Grant). If it was the same book, I enjoyed it much more back then and this rating is very much a reflection of me at my current age rather than the actual book. There were parts I really enjoyed and the ending did make me curious about the next book, but overall I didn't love it.. I think high school me would have rushed onto the rest of the series but current me has other things they'd rather e reading! ( )
  TheAceOfPages | Dec 31, 2024 |
This is a book where I’m not 100% sure how I feel about it. I think I liked it but some parts made me wonder. The concept was really, really cool. One day everyone over the age of 15 suddenly disappears. Pretty cool right? A whole town full of teenagers and kids. I liked how everyone started taking on a role and there was suddenly all these cliques. It was really cool. What did bother me was that it took forever for people to realize that there’s babies around that need to be taken care of. That part, I feel was a little unrealistic.

The characters were all really good I found. I liked Astrid. She was a really good female heroine. She was really smart and brave, which was a relief. Sam was also really likeable too. Quinn was annoying and stupid, but that’s how the author portrayed him. The others were pretty cool too. Even the bullies had some cool development going on. I especially liked how not everyone had super powers. It made things interesting.

In the end, the plot was good, the characters were good and the writing was good. There was just something a little off for me which is why it isn’t getting full stars. Maybe it’s because it was good but it didn’t blow me away. I’m holding out hope for the next book though. ( )
  chelssicle | Nov 14, 2024 |
awful. to say I skimmed the last 300 pages would be overestimating how much I read. The first 200 pages were a complete struggle. I didn't find anything about this series I liked - the premise, the characters, nothing. ( )
  Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |
Recommended by a 14 year old friend. Yes, I will finish the series although I have a lot of beefs. ( )
  kgabriel | Oct 11, 2024 |
This book was an interesting concept. I would really like to know where the people 15 & over were disappearing to. I will definitely be reading more of this series. ( )
  dkflynn33 | Oct 11, 2024 |
While nowhere near as gritty as it could be, Gone is fairly pragmatic about human nature. The optimism that Sam represents is accented by the intelligence and inherent nature of the people around him. The most fascinating character by far is Sam's friend, Quinn, who is not courageous or kind by nature. Instead, Quinn continually falls short of the moral expectations of himself and those around him. Quinn's difficulty is not the new world, but rather overcoming his own selfishness. The politics of the old world continue to filter into the FAYZ (as the kids call it), and while dealing with emerging superpowers Sam must confront bullies, protect those that are victimized, and handle the new, stark reality of a very likely death. This book is gruesome and forthright, but everyone is human and Grant takes the time to be dynamic about his approach to this setting. Well done. ( )
  nclithing | Oct 8, 2024 |
DNF ~ 10%

I honestly don't remember any of this, only that I tried to read it in 2015 and I almost died of boredom. ( )
  gluchie | Sep 22, 2024 |
I remembered loving Gone when I first read it in elementary school, and I decided to pick it up again as an adult to see why I was so fond of it.

Gone has a really fun concept, though not unique to YA. The writing is okay for YA, but there are too many sentence fragments and punctuation mistakes for my liking. I appreciate that most characters have clear positive attributes and flaws, whether they are protagonists or antagonists. Sam is a likable main character but far from flawless, with his tendency to run from any responsibility that is placed upon him by the other children. Diana is the character who feels most well-developed to me, as she has her own motives and conflicted feelings about each situation. She is an intelligent, clever female character without being cliche, and she shapes much of the plot from within Caine's shadow. I wish I got to experience the same amount of development for Drake as well, but that would be better in a later book in my opinion.

Quinn is the biggest disappointment for me, and his character exemplifies my main issue with this book. His personality consists of surfing and insecurity. [ He backstabs Sam just about every chance he gets, but none of the intense emotions surrounding betrayal are portrayed. There is no growing to like Quinn, as he has an attitude practically from the beginning, and he betrays the group multiple times with no meaningful shock or hurt from anyone involved. There is very little deep conflict between Quinn and Sam regardless of this betrayal, and we don’t get much insight into Sam struggling with his urge to be Quinn's friend versus the pain of his friend turning against him. Quinn is strangely adopted back into the group no matter what. When the final fight occurs, Quinn finally tries to defend his friends but cannot work up the willpower to shoot another child. Sam understands this decision and welcomes Quinn back into the group with open arms, grateful that Quinn did not force himself to kill someone. This has the potential to be the most impactful scene in the book, in which Quinn wants to do the right thing at last, but that would require him to do something so terrible that he couldn't live with himself afterward. However, again, none of this pain and emotion is conveyed through the writing. Even if a character was well-rounded, the writing made them seem flat and unimpactful emotionally. However, other less internal-conflict-based aspects of the story, such as encasing the hands of the powerful children with concrete or Lana lying on the ground, mangled from a car crash with animals trying to approach, are successfully horrifying.

The side story following Lana and the coyotes was an intriguing twist. It allowed the reader to see more of how the FAYZ affected the wildlife and people outside of Perdido Beach and Coates Academy. However, it did feel a little disjointed in connection with the main storyline, especially with a monster in a cave adding bizarre whip-limbs onto children and wanting humans to teach the coyotes how to kill other children despite the monster seeming intelligent enough to do so and them being... coyotes already? Thwarting Caine's plan with the coyotes toward the end with... burgers? was also unsatisfying. ( )
  rosearia | Jul 1, 2024 |
Science Fiction
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
Recommended by Sarah. I good read. I can understand why she likes the series. ( )
  SteveMcI | Dec 26, 2023 |
Maybe even 1.5*...

Perhaps I wouldn't have been so disappointed in this young-adult novel if I hadn't been expecting it to be a sci fi story. It definitely is NOT science fiction! There is no basis in science at all so I guess it could be called fantasy - though paranormal describes it better. Not content with the initial fantastic improbable event - the disappearance of all people 15 or older (don't worry - that isn't a spoiler, it happens at the beginning of the first chapter) {I have previously ranted about how I feel about this sort of unscientific age-related "sci fi" in another book review. Suffice it to say that how biologically different do you think a person is at 14 years 354 days from the way he/she is at exactly 15 years?} - the author brings in paranormal abilities, rapid & unusual animal mutations & some unknown but evil force.

The book is very dark and violent; it is not what I would want a 10-15 year-old to be reading if I was a parent. The basic message is similar to "Lord of the Flies" but not as well done in my opinion.

The story is quite thrilling, enough so that it is fairly easy to overlook all the improbable plot devices while reading (or listening in my case) to it, so I didn't feel the book deserved 1*. If it had an ending with more resolution, I would have been happy with a solid 2* but instead the book ends with no major issues resolved, clearly intending there to be a sequel or series to follow, and leaving this reader unsatisfied. ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 |
I once saw a review for this book that compared it to Stephen King's version of Lord of the Flies. This analogy could not be more perfect, because if Stephen King had written Lord of the Flies, it would be this book. The other all thought process of it, kids and teenagers trapped in a town without any adult supervision, add some superpowers, and bam! You've got a wonderful story. It is both terrifying and beautiful to read. ( )
  HannahRenea | Apr 25, 2023 |
Everone over 15 have disappeared, all systems fail, there ia a barrier that burns, and when you turn fifteen you disappear on your birthday. Now survive. Great story and performance.

FROM AMAZON: 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. ( )
  Gmomaj | Mar 15, 2023 |
A great novel very similar to the lord of the flies, Michael Grant tells of a town that is ran by children when the adults mysteriously vanish. with Gangs and disasters this novel is packed with action, contains cringe worthy parts and a tint of magic. overall a good read ( )
  Enchanten | Mar 12, 2023 |
3.5 Stars ( )
  Mrs_Tapsell_Bookzone | Feb 14, 2023 |
This book had a compelling premise but the author couldn't seem to really do anything really interesting with it, except continuously throw in increasingly absurd elements that push the reader's suspension of disbelief to its limit (I mean, talking animals, really?). The first half of the book is tedious and slow, and although the action picks up a lot in the second half, Gone never quite reaches its potential. Most of his characters were poorly developed and easily forgotten, and the only one who really intrigued me was Diana. I don't really believe that so many bullies would still be so cruel in such a strange and desperate situation, and the author never really explains the motivations behind the more 'evil' characters (wanting power is too simple I think).

While Grant did try to develop back stories for most of his characters, a lot of it felt like a poor attempt to add depth to characters whom he hadn't truly developed by way of their words or actions. Mary's bulimia, for example, didn't really add much to the understanding of her character, her motivations; it just seemed like a quick way to add depth to her character without really telling the reader anything about her actual personality, and I highly suspect it was also thrown in there to make the novel seem more up-with-the-times and to appeal to a readership who can possibly identify with or just like to read about such things (after all, teen issues books about eating disorders, mental illness, etc. are quite popular these days).

The writing was mediocre at best and littered with far too many sentence fragments. Michael Grant also does not have a very solid grasp on how kids talk to each other. The dialogue did not ring true over half the time and the pacing of the book was far too slow, with a lot of unnecessary scenes, extraneous dialogue, not enough explanation and absolutely no resolution at the end of the book. It was just a mostly tedious, way-too-long disappointment. I'm still interested in the basic premise (everyone over the age of fourteen disappearing-- if someone could write this convincingly I'd definitely read it) but everything else fell flat. ( )
  serru | Oct 6, 2022 |
This is a good first book to the series. It doesn't spend so much time setting up the sequels that it forgets to have a plot of its own, and at the same time has some good foreshadowing. I did feel that the twist of Caine being Sam's twin was sort of cheap, but it redeemed itself with a well-written conclusion. Little Pete creating the FAYZ was sort of a foregone conclusion once it was revealed what he could do, and he is sort of a catalyst rather than his own character but his impact in the FAYZ is earth-shattering to say the least. In the end, this was sort of X-Men meets Under the Dome with some Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure. Not bad, and definitely one of the better-written YA books out there. ( )
  worddragon | Mar 2, 2022 |
What a great book! My only complaint is that, as a Mom, I had some struggle with just wanting the adults to come back already! GRR. But I love all of the dimensions of the characters, there weren't just GOOD guys and BAD guys. Some of the good did bad things and some of the bad did good things. I also love that there's a few characters that don't necessarily have an allegiance. All of this seems very real to me. When you have a community of people with struggles determining power, it's not set up clear in the beginning what teams would be, this book feels very real with how allegiances falter, especially when death is at the door. ( )
  KimZoot | Jan 2, 2022 |
So I liked it. It was an interesting story and see loads of potential for it to get even better. For me, it just way too long to read. I have been busy and that explains some of it, but not all of it. It took a lot to get and stay interested in it and I found I was too easily distracted with other slightly stupid things lol. So I do plan to continue the series and see how it progresses, but I'm hoping it gets better. ( )
  starslight86 | Jul 20, 2021 |
this was such a good book. It had suspense, action, and just a bit of romance. ( )
  Nicole_girl | Mar 8, 2021 |
I really liked this one. I'll be continuing the series. It's about a bunch of kids, everyone is under age 14 being the only ones left in their reality. So all the grownups are gone and weird things are happening. Some of the kids have powers. There's an evil darkness. The animals are evolving. They have to figure out normal survival things like finding food and taking care of the babies. They also have the mutations to deal with. Everything is more deadly. I would say this is YA dystopian and a bit horror-ish. ( )
  ToniFGMAMTC | Feb 17, 2021 |
4.5 stars ( )
  Hyms | Aug 9, 2020 |
Fabulous book. Very freaky, but extremely clever. ( )
  angelgay | Jul 1, 2020 |
Honestly? What if someday, every one above the age of 15 disappeared? I'd say that everything would fall into chaos.

Michael Grant does an excellent job of putting that chaos into words. Anyway, another excellent plot that sucks you in and doesn't let go. ( )
  samhausenn | May 29, 2020 |
I could not finish Gone by Michael Grant. It's not that I didn't like the story. The premise is fascinating and I was enjoying reading it. It's the blatantly racist and ableist and hateful things that the characters, and in fact the author, said.

It started with Edilio. Poor Edilio. I enjoyed him and reading his kind, interesting character. What I didn't enjoy was the openly racist and hateful language that was directed at him. The other characters, even Sam "the hero", stood by and let this happen. They said nothing. I understand that this is a character, that Quinn is a bad person so he says things that are just plain terrible. I get that. What I think is unnecessary is all the slurs and derogatory language that is used. It made me uncomfortable and it was hard to read. There are many ways to portray that this character is bad or that he is racist, but this was not sitting well with me.

What really drew the line was the overuse of the "R-word". This is not a word I am comfortable with hearing in my every day language. I tried to justify it, thinking that this book was written back in 2008 and a lot of people still used that word then. When I read the author's comments about autistic children being a burden, I knew I was done. I don't care enough about these characters to power through the racist and awful and offensive language and author and I am upset that I ever paid money for this. ( )
  ChelseaMcE | Mar 19, 2020 |
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