Reviewed by: Samuel K. Sloan (FarPoint Media Executive News Director)
I must admit that when a representative for Michael Grant’s publisher asked me to read and review “Gone,” Grant’s latest Young Adult (YA) novel, I was less than excited. Why? I’m simply not a big fan of YA novels. Call it my age if you want, but even when I was a young adult (can I even remember back that far?) I wasn’t a huge fan. However, after barely getting through the first chapter of this exciting SF novel I was reeled in and found it near impossible to set down until completed.
Grant has successfully written himself a real suspense-filled saga about a group of small city kids placed in extraordinary circumstances and dealing with problems that would cause any well-seasoned and trained adult to go crazy.
“Gone” takes place in the small California coast town of Perdido Beach. Its main source of revenue is a nuclear power plant that supplies Perdido and much of the northern California coast with its electrical power. The town’s young people can roughly be divided between those average kids living in the town itself and a group of gifted, but troubled teens living just north of town atop a small cliff at Coates Academy.
One day, out of the blue suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everyone in Perdido 14 and older simply vanishes, or as some of the kids called it “Poof!” Everyone 13 and younger are left behind, teens, middle schoolers, pre-schoolers, toddlers and babies. In the confusion the entire town looks to one unlikely hero named Sam Temple, age 13 and just two weeks short of his 14th birthday. They look to him for direction because it was Sam, just a few months prior who saved a whole school bus load of kids when the driver suffered a heart attach. Sam wants no part of leadership, however and that role is soon taken over by town bullies and eventually by the kids from Coates Academy, particularly a boy named Caine who possesses a unique power that allows him to exert control.
More than just people disappearing have changed in Perdido and its surrounding countryside. A huge dome-shaped translucent wall that burns the skin when touched has emerged closing in the town and its remaining residents, kids are developing strange powers and the animals are also mutating into dangerous enemies. Plus, hidden deep within an old abandoned gold mine lays something powerful and sinister known only as The Darkness.
The “Lord of the Flies” has nothing on “Gone” when it comes to watching these band of kids divide into groups, one led by Sam, Astria, Lana, Quinn and Edilio and the other more dangerous tribe headed by Caine, Diana, Drake, Orc and Computer Jack, as they begin to try and make something of a coherent society in the face of their fears, death becoming a daily reminder and having to deal with bullies and two-footed, as well as four-footed killers at every turn.
This terrifying new world has one more great mystery. When any of the remaining kids reach 14 years of age, they too just suddenly disappear into nothing. What awaits them? Freedom from what the kids call the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone), a return to life before the FAYZ with their parents and teachers, or worse yet — Death?
“Gone” is one of the best books it has been my pleasure to read in almost two years, and I have read a lot of novels over the last 24 months. The ending, while leaving you hanging and twisting in the breeze, was perfect for the story and leaves it wide-open for Grant to bring a sequel to it sometime down the road.
On my scale of 0 to 5 stars: “Gone” by Michael Grant rates 
“Gone” from Harper Teen Publishers will be on bookshelves beginning Tuesday, June 24, 2008. My recommendation is to get your copy as soon as possible and dig in for an exciting ride of suspense, mystery, intrigue and excitement.
Also — here is an exciting preview of the book:
I think the story is fantastic, is being totally un-realistic, but the people have real responses to the scary strangeness around them
Hi,
I loved the book Gone. (I am 15) but there’s one detail about your review/summary.Please correct me if I’m wrong but the “poofers” are 15+.
Your totally right!! I noticed that too!! 😀
The book was fantastic => I read it 8x and it’s still awesome
yeah umm, it is age 15 that they poof, the mains characters are sam, astrid, quinn, edilio and they are all 14 not 15
Hey, i read the book and it was totally awsome….. but……. you have a BIG problem in your review… it is 15 when the go not 14.. . so u might want to change that!
you made some mistakes
the age is 15 when the disapering begins
and the girl’s name is astriD not astriA
Um sam saved them all when they were in grade 7, I think…
Astrid, AGE 15, and Computer Jack and Lana dont really lead everyone.
You made some mistakes, they “poof” at fifteen not forteen, it’s Astrid not Astria, and nobody other than Caine really leads from Coates (the others sort of do but that’s only because Caine tells them to)…
This book is AWSOME!!! I could NOT put it down!
The next book is called Hunger and it’s out on the 5th April 2010
CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!
Okay,,
Yeah thy dissappear at 15+. Sam was 14 in the book.
But other than that i loved it and cant wait for the second book Hunger comes out.
i am 11 turning 12 and i loved the book i just wanted to know if there is another book?
hey if anyone finds out about that film you gotta put it in
Drake or sam of caine would be awesome parts!
Hi,
I don’t know if this is a second book or not, but I found this.
http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Gone-Novel-Michael-Grant/dp/0061449067/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_ex
It’s a gone novel it says.
Darcy
Hey,
The book is awesome! but have you actually read the book? The ‘poofers’ are 15 not 14 and Astria’s name is actually AstriD…
You might want to rewrite your review.
The kids may disappear at 15 in the version you had, but in the advance copy I read they disappeared at 14. So that part of the review is correct, sort of.
To those harping about the age, the reviewer may have had an advance copy. In the original version of the story all the kids were 13, not 14, but Grant bumped the age up when his editor thought 13 was a little too young for some of the themes expressed in the novel.
The series will be six parts long.
It was fantastic. I can’t wait for the sequal ‘HUNGER’.
WOW. I read this book for summer reading not knowing what i was in for! I was immeadiately drawn to this book due to the concept of having “no adults.” This book was insanley, amazinzly awesome. I reccomend it to anyone who reads and is within the age of 12-18. Michael Grant is a great writer, i give this book 4 and a half stars!!! (5 being epic-awesomeness) And one more thing, Drake’s whip hand needs more of a description, due to the fact that us “real readers” have visual skills that need to be fed…
I love this series. Lies is coming out next May. I can’t wait.
You got a few things wrong in your review. Astrid is the girl’s name, not Astria. The cutoff for the poof is age 15, although I think it was originally supposed to be 14. Caine, Diana, and Drake are really the ones in charge at Coates (Orc is from Perdido Beach and Jack isn’t really a leader). Same thing on the Perdido Beach side, it’s mostly just Sam, Astrid, and Edilio in charge (Lana doesn’t show up until the end and Quinn isn’t all that important)
Does anyone know if they’re ever going to make a movie?
i am 14 years old.i enjoy this book i can relate with jack cant wait till Hunger
comes out.
Im srry to say….but he is right. It is 14 not 15….they say everyone over 15 is gone, but Sam is 13 years old……u disappear when your 14 not 15.
hey! I’m 15 i read gone last year and i think its great, i really recomend it, but a friend read it after me and she told me it was really boring would any of you will say the same as for the book?
Wow!!!!! I’m absolutely in love with the first book gone and I’m starting to read the second book hunger but anyone know if there’s going to be a third book or a movie for it?!? Wow I’ve never like a book this much!!!
I like the first one, I havent got the second yet, but my mates seen it in store. cant wait to read it!
i lov gone!! i lov hunger!! i just cant wait 4 da third book lies. i lov da cover but it wont be out until may 4. 🙁 i jus cant wait. but ppl shud turn these books in2 movies. mayb itll be better than harry potter??…………
This Is Wrong…They Poof On Their 15th Bday (Except For Sam And Caine) And E.T. Was Also In The Group With Sam (But He Dies In Hunger) Jeeze I Dont THink You Actually Read The Books Misterr 🙂 Well Have A Nice Dayy
Cette saga est vraiment super ,la preuve elle touche même la France ! =D J’ai lu que tu as a fait quelque faute =S pas grave ! j’aimera savoir si vous savez quand sors “lies” en France ? Et si vous savez si il y aura un film
I LOVED this book, (im 14) i loved the way the characters had to suddenly grow up, it was them most exciting book i ever read
Honestly I can say it is not a favourite book of mine. It had potential in the first chapters or so but personally I feel it is a too rushed start. The main characters are barely even described (The girl; Astria is described but with regards to Sam and Quinn I have only been told of their clothing!) And sadly the author began to sink into the terrible Jacqueline Wilson ‘said’ routine.
A good idea for a story, but perhaps pulled off better if the author didn’t sorely underestimate the literacy capable of a teenager. (It honestly seems like writing for an 11 year old, not 15!)
I would give Gone A 5. I read a lot, but no book comes close to Gone. The characters, the story, the writing style, everything, is just amazing. Ive read up to the 3rd book, Lies, and I can’t wait for the 4th. I do not know what i’m gonna do with my life when the series ends :).
the fourth book is plauge and it is getting published soon. can’t wait to read it. i’m 12 and ive read the whole series of harry potter…it ain’t got nothin on the first 3 books of the “Gone” Series
5/5 stars
I loved this book and I’m only 11! I’m reading Hunger right now and I’m obsessed! This series is amazing and it’s so cool! I really want there to be another book but oh my god this book was awesome!!!