Sign in with Facebook
Alyssa's Reviews > Gone
Gone (Gone, #1)
by
by
I hate to say this. Really I do. But this book is possibly one of the worst things I've ever read.
The basic idea of the entire story was pretty good. I, personally, love the idea of a bunch of kids/teens getting trapped on an island until they turn 15 and are teleported elsewhere with the rest of the adults. It somewhat reminded me of the basic idea of Lord Of The Flies. If the author had left the idea with that it would have been a somewhat enjoyable read. If the author had left it at where they all had "magical powers" I would have probably enjoyed it. But he didn't. Micheal Grant tried to cram every single idea he could think of into a book. From Sam finding out that he has an evil twin brother (am I the only one who thinks this is somewhat like a Soap Opera?) to eating disorders, he put everything in it.
Now I'm okay with one or two side plots, but there was about twenty of them. And with each side plot there was another 20 new characters. Why can't one of our main characters have issues? Why do we have to have new main characters introduced for every little think that's introduced? And why does each new character have to have a whole chunk of the book devoted to them? It makes the actual PLOT of the story hard to keep up with.
There were certain points in the book where it was unintentionally hilarious. Considering what this book is about, I don't think that's what the author was going for.
The characters were unbelievable. Not in the sense of that they had powers, but in the sense of their personalities. The most believable people in the book were still pretty unbelievable. Now, I doubt that KIDS and TEENAGERS are going to start trying to rebuild society when all the adults are gone. The first thing that's going to be on their minds is going to be them trying to get the T.V.s and IPods to start working again. There will be a few mature enough kids that are going to be trying to get civilization back on their feet, but the majority of them will be partying about not having school or any adult supervision or morning the loss of their parents. (Which one would you be....?) I also doubt that anyone, even the bullies, would start killing and torturing people. I mean, sure, they would probably start to try to get momey or start breaking into stores and stealing stuff (candy, food, games, drinks, etc.), but I highly doubt they would start killing people. I just can't see it. Seriously, Michael, do you really think that bullies will (whenever they are free to do ANYTHING they want) will kill people?
Has this author ever heard of a break? Apparantly not. There's not one spot in the entire book where you can ever even breath. Can't we have a simple scene were you have a bunch of the characters sitting around a campfire or something just being light-hearted before something else happens?
You know a book is bad when your favorite characters are the bad guys. (I mean, have you ever heard of anyone saying 'Oh yeah, President Snow is my favorite character in the Hunger Games' or 'You know, I was really wishing Voldemort killed Harry for good'?) Caine, Caine's crazy assitant, and Caine's girlfriend really made the book a lot better. They made it go from being used as my toilet paper to getting thrown off of a moving train so that it falls into a ocean filled with book eating sharks that tear it apart page by page.
If the author had changed the plot up, lost some (okay, okay MOST) of the side plots, and made the writing more believable I think I would have enjoyed it. Or, at least, been able to finish the ding-dang book. Sadly, I couldn't do either (and I even FINISHED Twilight).
This book only deserves one star. Half a star for the basic idea and half a star for Caine, his crazy assitant, and Caine's girlfriend.
The basic idea of the entire story was pretty good. I, personally, love the idea of a bunch of kids/teens getting trapped on an island until they turn 15 and are teleported elsewhere with the rest of the adults. It somewhat reminded me of the basic idea of Lord Of The Flies. If the author had left the idea with that it would have been a somewhat enjoyable read. If the author had left it at where they all had "magical powers" I would have probably enjoyed it. But he didn't. Micheal Grant tried to cram every single idea he could think of into a book. From Sam finding out that he has an evil twin brother (am I the only one who thinks this is somewhat like a Soap Opera?) to eating disorders, he put everything in it.
Now I'm okay with one or two side plots, but there was about twenty of them. And with each side plot there was another 20 new characters. Why can't one of our main characters have issues? Why do we have to have new main characters introduced for every little think that's introduced? And why does each new character have to have a whole chunk of the book devoted to them? It makes the actual PLOT of the story hard to keep up with.
There were certain points in the book where it was unintentionally hilarious. Considering what this book is about, I don't think that's what the author was going for.
The characters were unbelievable. Not in the sense of that they had powers, but in the sense of their personalities. The most believable people in the book were still pretty unbelievable. Now, I doubt that KIDS and TEENAGERS are going to start trying to rebuild society when all the adults are gone. The first thing that's going to be on their minds is going to be them trying to get the T.V.s and IPods to start working again. There will be a few mature enough kids that are going to be trying to get civilization back on their feet, but the majority of them will be partying about not having school or any adult supervision or morning the loss of their parents. (Which one would you be....?) I also doubt that anyone, even the bullies, would start killing and torturing people. I mean, sure, they would probably start to try to get momey or start breaking into stores and stealing stuff (candy, food, games, drinks, etc.), but I highly doubt they would start killing people. I just can't see it. Seriously, Michael, do you really think that bullies will (whenever they are free to do ANYTHING they want) will kill people?
Has this author ever heard of a break? Apparantly not. There's not one spot in the entire book where you can ever even breath. Can't we have a simple scene were you have a bunch of the characters sitting around a campfire or something just being light-hearted before something else happens?
You know a book is bad when your favorite characters are the bad guys. (I mean, have you ever heard of anyone saying 'Oh yeah, President Snow is my favorite character in the Hunger Games' or 'You know, I was really wishing Voldemort killed Harry for good'?) Caine, Caine's crazy assitant, and Caine's girlfriend really made the book a lot better. They made it go from being used as my toilet paper to getting thrown off of a moving train so that it falls into a ocean filled with book eating sharks that tear it apart page by page.
If the author had changed the plot up, lost some (okay, okay MOST) of the side plots, and made the writing more believable I think I would have enjoyed it. Or, at least, been able to finish the ding-dang book. Sadly, I couldn't do either (and I even FINISHED Twilight).
This book only deserves one star. Half a star for the basic idea and half a star for Caine, his crazy assitant, and Caine's girlfriend.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Gone.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
September 2, 2012
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Joanna
(new)
-
rated it 3 stars
Jul 21, 2013 07:51AM
I agree. I couldn't connect with the characters and there were far too many of them as well! I also think that the plot was confusing because there was so much happening at the same time. Great review!
reply
|
flag
I politely disagree, in this society today I totally see all of that happening. I even see kids torturing other kids. I said 'politely disagree' because it it your opinion also it's not even real so it doesn't have to be like how you would think kids would do. Also the kids did try to bring computers and IPods to work but it failed. I recommend if you want to give this book and the rest of the series another go and if you still don't like it you don't like it.
I fee like you never even read this, bullies would absolutely beat people to a pulp that it gives them a stroke if they could - and this will have happened in real life - and there is a scene where they're all sitting around a campfire. If you think there's too many characters, you never read *Games of Thrones* or the second instalment of *A Discovery of Witches*.
