Hunger (Gone, 2)

After finishing Gone, by Michael Grant, I was grateful I had already stocked the second book in the series, Hunger, so I could start it right away. These books may seem unnecessarily large, but it is hard to put them down, and you find yourself flying through them like nothing. By the end I am not quite sure why the story took almost 600 pages to complete, but I know I wasn't bored for one single page. After the big showdown between Caine and Sam that destroyed a number of buildings in Perdido Beach, things haven't gotten any better. More and more kids are developing supernatural powers, food is becoming more and more scarce, and Caine and the Coates Thugs are becoming more and more desperate. Sam has tried to organize the kids to harvest food from the fields, but between the kids' lack of motivation to do anything but play video games and watch movies and the terrifying worm mutations in the fields that can devour a kid in less than a minute, the food stays in the fields rotting away. The food situation isn't the scariest thing facing the kids in the FAYZ, though. The deep, scary darkness in the mine shaft that gave Drake Merwin his whip arm has its grip on both Caine and Lana. Now its hungry and wants Caine to help it. That involves a fuel rod being taken to the mine shaft from the power plant and all the consequences you can imagine. Now Sam is involved in the fight of his life and has to stop Caine and the others from destroying the power plant and all the kids along with it. If only the gaiaphage- the mine shaft creeper- didn't have such a control over the minds of the most powerful kids. This was a great follow-up to the first book in this proposed six book series. These kids have been left to survive, and some are rising to the occasion and maturing too quickly, but others are just kids. They want their mothers, they want to be taken care of, and they don't understand the concept of taking care of themselves. Most importantly, they can't imagine having to work in order to eat- especially when Sam, Astrid, Edilio and the others have worked so hard to keep them fed. They are just kids, and they act like they are just kids. The best part of this book is that it gives kids a chance to really see how they would react to a situation like this. Some of the other dystopias and PA young adult fiction out there makes it a bit difficult for kids to imagine themselves in a similar situation, but the Gone novels give them a chance to figure out which kid they would be. Would they be a leader like Sam, a thinker like Astrid, a right-hand man like Edilio, or an opportunist like Quinn? Would they get up and go pick cabbages instead of playing their PS3 or Wii's? Would they be controlling like Caine, logical like Diana, or terrifying and monstrous like Drake? How would they feel if they developed powers and their friends didn't, or vice versa? This book is filled with questions that make for incredible comparisons and discussions. And it will leave you craving more. I have already started the third book, Lies, and am disappointed to wait months for the fourth book to be released!

Was a little bit concerned when found out this wasn't a trilogy, runs to six books or something and isn't done yet. Actually did think - Gone/Lost - kind of similar titles, and we all know what drivel Lost turned into - too many plotlines and they didn't know where they were going, couldn't tie them up rationally so resorted to the old favourite - everyone's already dead and it was some kind of purgatory. Pretty well the old kid-writing-at-school fall-back 'then I woke up and it was all a dream.' But no, this book is if anything even more high adrenalin, roars along with hurricane force, completely addictive. Apart from the strong plotline, thoroughly worked out through different threads which do all seague together most satisfactorily, we have any number of bad guys here: the evil twin with his Achilles heel the beautiful, scornful Diana; the psychopathic sadist Drake Whiphand; the monster gaiaphage lurking and scheming under the earth; plus all the ordinary human nitwits out to wreck the town, starting up would-be purges/pogroms/ hatreds/intolerances between 'Freaks' and 'Normals' - creating internal conflict and looking for someone to blame, and to enhance their own petty power politics, of course, when the real enemies are without not within. In this episode, Sam is overwhelmed by his leadership role, and the township of Perdido Beach is facing starvation. Plus evil twin Caine is planning to seize control by shutting off the power, and the healer Lana has to resist the power of the gaiaphage who is seeking her for its own dark purposes. The prose is workmanlike but more than equal to the task of presenting believable characters of increasing depth and complexity, and rip-roaring action in a sci-fi Stephen King Tommyknockers sort of way - only didn't like Tommyknockers and love this, think because so much more invested in characters. Actually find the imagining of this microcosmic world with no adults, and the way in which the kids handle themselves and come to grips with this new reality, pretty well as interesting as the action stuff. Though no doubt the constant threat of horrid monsters popping out here and there adds a seriously dramatic dimension, as does the whole kids with powers thing. Have read some criticism of Sam's character - that he's the archetypal hero, reads more like fifty than fifteen, too good to be true. And that there aren't enough strong girls in the mix. Well, don't get much spunkier than Brianna or Dekker, but I'm actually just past number four (Plague) now - started this review then couldn't wait and raced on - so opinion might be coloured by subsequent reads. Hope those readers who felt the lack of a Buffy or Katniss are satisfied by now. In any case, there are enough guys in the books who wimp out - Albert's no superhero, nor Quinn, nor Howard - plenty of the main male characters are deeply flawed. Even Sam. He gets manipulated into taking responsibility - which he hates doing, but hasn't the smarts to see what Astrid's doing - and then is a pathetic organiser when it comes to rationing food, getting people to take on a share of the workload for harvesting (or just about anything else), or making the hard decisions when it comes down to it. He's a crisis boy, not a day to day leader. And then he does crack, big time, under the weight of responsibility. Hardly an archetypal hero. Great read, and there are some weightier ideas being explored behind here, too, as will consider in my next review - of Lies. See more of my reviews at [...]

Das Cover Das Cover hat mich erneut überzeugt. Ich mag es, dass man diesmal zwei andere Figuren auf dem Cover abgebildet hat. Zudem sind diese so gut getroffen, dass man sie erkennt, obwohl es im Buch ja mehr als ein oder zwei Hauptprotagonisten gibt. Das liegt zum einen an der tollen, authentischen Charakterdarstellung des Autors, zum anderen an der guten Auswahl der ‚Fotomodels’. Für mich wieder sehr gut gemacht. Kurze Inhaltsbeschreibung [Spoiler für Band I] Einige Wochen leben die Kinder und Jugendliche nun in der Fayz. In der Zone, innerhalb der Kuppel, in der alle über 15 verschwunden sind. Und auch wenn die Perdido Beach Kids den Angriff der Coates Schüler erstmal überstanden haben und – wenn auch unter Verlusten – für sich entscheiden konnten, zieht bereits neuer Ärger auf. Hunger. Da, wo keine Erwachsenen leben, die dafür sorgen welche Lebensmittel man zuerst verbrauchen kann. Keine Erwachsenen da sind, die Landwirtschaft betreiben. Eine Kuppel jeglichen Nachschub an Lebensmitteln von ‚Außen’ verhindert, droht sich eine Hungernot breit zu machen. Die Kinder kämpfen bald sogar um jedes bisschen Gemüse, das sie vorher nicht mal angerührt hätten. Und dabei nutzen sie alle Mittel und kommen auf gefährliche Ideen. Doch das allein ist nicht das einzige von Sams Problemen. Normale Kids machen die Kinder mit Kräften für ihre Lage verantwortlich. Es gehen Gerüchte um, die ‚Freaks’ hielten sich für etwas Besseres. Es droht zu regelrechten Straßenschlachten zu kommen. Ganz nebenbei plant Caine seinen nächsten Schachzug gegen Sam und die Perdido Beach Kids. Er sinnt auf Rache für seine Niederlage. Und die kommt der unbekannten Macht unter dem Mienenschacht gerade zur rechten Zeit, denn auch die ‚Darkness’ ist hungrig. Schreibstil und Storyverlauf Der Schreibstil von Michael Grant besticht auch in diesem Buch durch einfache, klare Struktur. Die Geschichte lässt sich einfach unheimlich gut, leichtgängig und gefällig lesen. Die Story ist unheimlich gut konstruiert, folgt einem roten Faden, ist schlüssig, gewinnt an Spannung durch die unglaubliche Ausgangssituation und Entwicklung der menschlichen Psyche. Es ist fast wie ein Jugend-Psycho-Thriller mit dystopischem Fantasycharakter. Einfach nur unheimlich Nervenraubend. Schockierend und bis zum Schluß unvorhersehbar packend. Die Charaktere und ihre Entwicklung Auch wenn diverse Kids des ersten Teils wieder eine große Rolle spielen, unter anderem Astrid, Sam, Caine, Lana und Drake, geht der Autor in diesem Buch trotzdem sehr auf andere ‚altbekannte’ und neue Figuren ein. Wir bekommen mehr Einblick in Mary, die sich um die Versorgung der jungen Kinder kümmert und gleichzeitig ihre Essstörung versucht zu verheimlichen. Wir lernen auch Diana besser und von einer neuen Seite kennen, sowie Computer Jack, Albert, Brianna – Breeze – und Dekka. Aber auch neue Figuren wie Hunter, Duck und Zil nehmen zentrale Rollen in der Geschichte ein. Dabei hat man das Gefühl jede von ihnen ist lebendig, greifbar und für sich alleinstehend charakterisiert. Es sind nicht bloß Stereotypen und sie sind auch nicht identisch, sondern tatsächlich alle unterschiedlich. Und ich habe sie so schnell lieb gewonnen. Umso schlimmer, dass es sich bei dem Buch um eine richtige Dystopie handelt, wo keine der liebgewonnenen Figuren ein Ticket aufs Überleben zu haben scheint, sondern jeder jederzeit sterben könnte. Fazit Die Fortsetzung zu Gone braucht sich nicht im Schatten verstecken. Für mich wird dieser SFI Jugendroman grandios weitergesponnen. Die Spannung schießt in ungeahnte Höhen. Es ist eine Mischung aus Schockmomenten und Nervenkitzel und Sympathie für die Figuren des Buches, die das Lesen zu einem einmaligen und tollen Erlebnis werden lässt. Ganz klare Leseempfehlung. Wer Gone noch nicht kennt, sollte zugreifen!

This book was a little slower paced than the first one.Some new characters are introduced, which is always interesting and more moral depth is added to the story. However, it seemed it took forever to reach the action, which wasn't as good as in the first book. The ending however promises a good third novel, so I'll continue the series for sure.

I was very happy that the grandsons were pleased to get it, and read it!

In the second week of my holiday, I read Hunger, the thrilling sequal to Gone. Now all the setting up is out of the way, we can get into the story's juicy bones. In the tradition started by Malazan Book of the Fallen and continiued with The Sopranos, the second is much better than the first. There is so many great plot lines here. Caine is a shadow of his former self, reduced to a shrieking wreck after his ecounter with the darkness at the end of the last book. Even when he comes out of his dream state, the darkness is still there. The unholy trinity (Caine, Drake and Diana) are back, as feirce and evil as ever. While the previous book felt like a teenage coming-of-age story, this is much more adult, with talking animals featuring less and stressful struggles to keep order more. As hunger turns people to savages, an X-Men like barrier appears between the mutant "freaks" and the "normals" (i notice the absence of the term X-Men or Mutants, although I suspect this is due to copyright only, as they are prettey much the X-Men). Although not as interesting as the main plot, this brings a sense of bloody desperation which is not supernatural but scarily human. This may be a tiny bit spoler-y, but I must mention it: Caine's attack on the power plant. It is the most epic event in the series so far, especially the scene with Caine and Brianna. It just makes the story feel so much more urgent that two thirds of it take place over 48 hours, when Gone took place over over a week. The only bad things i can say, really, is that Lana is not featured quite as much as before, and Duck Zhang's existance. The menace is upped, and the slightly uninteresting Darkness prepares it silly-sounding plan. Not scary, really. But what really sends shivers down your spine is Little Pete repeating the phrase Hungry in the Dark. + Politics, not just fighting. + Emotional, scary sense of hungry desperation + Development of Little Pete's powers. + The power plant raid. - Not enough Lana - Duck Zhang

臨場感のある表現で、読んでいて引き込まれました。良い作品です。