Plague (The Gone Series)

Boy, the covers are cheesy, though....

Well, stock in the Gone series has gone back up. After a tepid swim with Lies, Plague is back kickin' ass.

I love a good story about a plague. But strangely enough, the fatal flu wasn't what I flipped over. It was the absolutely disgusting parasitic worms that infected several characters and would literally eat their own hosts. Goodness, I think Grant should have gone into even more detail about those. It was stomach-turning and awesome at the same time. (An aside: Strangely, I have no stomach at all for scary movies, but do love the book versions.)

Back to the book: Albert, the self-made Trump of the FAYZ, has realized that the water levels of the reservoir are dropping dangerously low. Even with one gallon per person rations, the water supply isn't going to last long enough. He sends out an expedition made up of Sam, Dekka, Taylor, and Jack to search the outer boundaries of the FAYZ for additional water sources. While they explore their world, the kids at Perdido Beach must deal with both a devastating flu and a case of parasitic worms - that hatch and turn into almost indestructible and very hungry insects.

But, of course, that's not all. (Because it's not a Gone book unless one hundred other plots lines are happening, right?) Drake and Brittany are back - working for and against the Darkness (a.k.a. the Gaigaphage). What is left of the hate-group, the Human Crew, have beaten Albert to a pulp. Edilio is on his deathbed with the flu, and all hell, of course, breaks out.

Let's just say Caine comes back.

My review? This book really took time to explore Pete Ellison's mind - he's the five year old autistic boy who is responsible for the FAYZ. And he's the center of this whole mystery, so it's terribly exciting to see how he perceives his world. There's a lot of close-up time with Diana, and she absolutely will be the driving force  behind why readers will flock to the fifth book of the series. Character development is still a bit slow, given all the pages, and I'm particularly saddened that I don't really care much for Sam anymore than when I started. However, as always, the storyline is non-stop adrenaline that doesn't let up - or give you time to reflect on plausibility, character development, etc.

Grade: B+

N.B. The covers for these books are absolutely horrible.

Keeping the Moon

I don't know why these shorts have to be this short either.

by Sarah Dessen

Keeping the Moon is about a teenaged girl who finds some solace in a resort town when she lives with her Aunt Mira for a summer. Having once been fat, Colie can't shed her own ugly self-esteem - not that any of her classmates have let her either.

In the town of Colby, North Carolina, Colie lands a job at a local dinner - aptly names "Last Chance." Here she is able to closely observe friendship between two other girls: Morgan and Isabel. While she takes orders and folds napkins, Colie learns how to be a friend herself, how to accept others' differences, and how to accept herself for the wonderful person she is.

This was my first Sarah Dessen book, and I am ashamed it took me so long. My sister has been reading Dessen for years. Regardless, I didn't want to read it, but when a self-professed non-reader finished it in mere hours, I knew I had to give Dessen a chance.

This was a soft, slow, meandering novel. There were lessens learned and lots of feel-good moments. I enjoyed it a great deal. The character development was superb, and I have been missing that. I surmise that sci-fi character development is a tad bit more shallow since the focus is on the what and how and not necessarily on the who. Anyway, I've been all sci-fi, all the time lately, and getting to really know and connect with a character was great.

Grade: B

Lies

by Michael Grant

In the third installment of the Gone series, way too many things happen... So it's business as usual for the world of the FAYZ.

• Sam has ceded control over to the council: A council that is much to slow to make decisions or take action.
• The Human Crew forms; it's a freak-hate group.
• A prophetess named Orsay is communicating with those outside the FAYZ.
• Mary Terrafino, who cares for the children in the nursery, has become overburdened and under-medicated. 
• Astrid and Sam argue.
• Oh, and Brittany - the girl who died during the nuclear power plant fight - comes back from the dead.
• And Drake, too.

Listen, tons of other stuff develops, too, but I read this book two weeks ago. Grade-wise, I would probably give this a C+. Too much happens, and the storyline becomes burdensome with so many different angles to it. However, there were a few redeeming qualities. Astrid's character is developed more. She's conflicted and arrogant. In a way, she's one of the better developed characters. Grant has gone about giving this goody-goody such sharp edges that make her hard to like. Unlike, strangley, the bad-girl Diana, with whom (I assume) most readers probably empathize. I found the whole storyline with Mary Terrafino to be terribly long and boring. For a girl suffering from way too much responsibility, depression, and an eating disorder, I found it hard to even want to pay attention to her.

So, all in all, this book had its slow moments. But in the end, it's about the mystery of the Darkness and Little Pete. What does this five-year old autistic child have to do with the FAYZ?

Grade: C+