Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Review - PLAGUE

Plague (Gone, #4) - Michael Grant
Genre: YA Speculative Fiction/Science Fiction/Dystopian
# of pages: 492
(ARC)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Recommended for: 14+

Pretty much because if you're like me and you've read/enjoyed the previous three books in the Gone series, *not* continuing would not be an option. We're all way too invested in the FAYZ at this point.
For the most part, Plague was just as entertaining and action-packed as its predecessors.
To be honest, though, I'm starting to have an issue with the determined length of this series.
You see, I kind of wish this series would only be 5 books, instead of, like, 6. Knowing that there are (at least) two more books to go before any kind of resolution hits is rather exhausting.
I loved Gone and thought Hunger was very well-done, but starting with Lies, the series started to take on an almost soap-opera element: there were so many characters to keep track of, and they all seemed to develop sudden, arbitrary fights with each other. And while I initially loved Sam and Astrid (the series' main couple), I hate to say that now it's difficult to read their segments, because they're always fighting. For no reason. At the beginning of the book, Sam does something really stupid, and Astrid seems to have developed this nasty, crabby personality.
I understand why the characters are portrayed this way - at least, I think I do. It's like the author's trying to add drama with character interactions, but having characters who don't get along and act incredibly immature is not the way to maintain intrigue. At least, I don't think it is.
To be fair, this was a quick book to read, mainly because the plot was very absorbing. Grant has always done a great job giving readers excitement and lots of action. However, there really wasn't anything new that happened in Plague. That's one of the reasons I'm getting a little bored with this series: it just seems like everything's been done already and in many ways, Plague's storylines were just like those in Hunger and Lies. There really wasn't anything new here.
I think series books should progress and move on towards the big climax of the overarching story, but that doesn't seem to happen here. Instead, Plague just kind of meanders along, biding time until the next installment.
I spent the last week trying to figure out how to word this review. In truth, I read Plague back in February, so my thoughts have congealed since then. I still enjoyed Plague and since I'm already hooked on the series, I'll definitely be reading the next installments. If you haven't read the series, I'd still put it on your 'to-do' list, because the concept (what would a society made up of kids 15 and younger look like?) is really intriguing, but this series is starting to take a repetitive path...

Final Rating

 
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