Where'd Ya Go?

Today wasn't a great day for me. My grandparent's house burned down, and although my grandparents were fine, thank goodness, I've still been feeling a little shocked and a little out of it. Dealing with loss is hard, even if it is just a house. It is still the house you grew up in. Anyway, the mood I'm in made me feel like reviewing one of the sadder books I read this year, and one that kind of deals with loss. So the book I am reviewing is Gone by Michael Grant, book 1 in the Gone books. "In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE." This is the first line on the back of the book and it caught my eye. In Gone, one moment Sam is watching his teacher in front of the class, the next moment she has disappeared. Everyone is freaking out about where she is when all of a sudden other students run into the room. All of the teachers are gone. Everyone over the age of 15 has disappeared. Only toddlers, kids, young teens, are left. But that isn't the worst part. Soon people have started to mutate, some of them have powers, abilities they can't explain. Bullies crop up, and it is the powerful against the weak, and no one knows who to turn to.
I actually loved Gone, but the next books, Hunger and Lies, aren't nearly as strong. The fear in the kids in this book was so real. They are trying to ignore the fact that their parents are missing, and deal with trying to control a whole town full of kids. I mean, these kids all of a sudden have to deal with all of the babies and toddlers that no longer have moms, and there is no access to the outside which means that they are going to have to worry about finding food soon. I can't imagine that kind of responsibility! I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much, and I'm sure that readers of The Hunger Games, Everlost, Found, and Unwind will really enjoy this series too.

Rating: 4/5