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Book Review: Light by Michael Grant

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
light-michael-grant-book-cover Light is the sixth book in the Gone Series. The first book was Gone, which I have reviewed here. The second book was Hunger, which I reviewed here. The third book was Lies, which I have reviewed here. The fourth book was Plague, which I have reviewed here. The fifth book was Fear, which I have reviewed here.

In Light the barrier has become transparent and the outside world peer into the strange world of the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). A world without adults and where some kids have powers. The darkness has taken a body, the child of Caine & Diana, calling herself Gaia.

Gaia is bent on bringing death and destruction; for no other reason than the fact that she’s evil. It’s the EndGame and what an awesome one it is. Some characters will live and others will die. The characters are prey being hunted by Gaia, an enemy who aims to hunt them to extinction.

Light is anything but predictable and so much happens. The plot is as we’ve come to expect from Grant, fast-paced.

Light is thrilling, captivating and a book that was so good I didn’t want it to end. A brilliant finale in the Gone Series.

The ending includes the aftermath, what happens once the barrier comes down. I’m not ashamed to say that some of the final scenes brought a tear to my eye including: Sam & Quinn getting their friendship back to how it was, the ending for the two gay characters – Edilio & Roger, what happened to Brianna (Breeze) & Dahra and Orc’s redemption.

Overall Light is the best in the Gone Series, closely followed by Lies. The Gone Series is worth reading from start to finish. Here are the books in order: Gone, Hunger, Lies, Plague, Fear and Light.

Review soon,

Antony

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Book Review: Lies by Michael Grant

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
lies-michael-grant-cover Lies is the third book in the Gone Series. The first book was Gone, which I have reviewed here. The second book was Hunger, which I reviewed here.

Lies is an epic read. Kids are trapped in a Dome and without any adults. In Perdido Beach, Sam and Astrid aren’t getting on. Zil and his human crew continue their campaign against kids with powers, leading them to set a massive fire that threatens to destroy all of Perdido Beach.

Albert continues quietly with his Alberto currency and running the market. Mother Mary struggles with the responsibility of the daycare, her mental health and her upcoming fifteenth birthday.

Brittney comes back to life and digs her way out of her grave. Kids start to report sightings of a Drake, the boy with the whip hand who died in Hunger. Sam is frustrated at the council’s lack of decision and action about the Human Crew’s antics. Sam goes AWOL emotionally traumatised at the thought that Drake, who tortured him, may have returned to the land of the living.

Orsay becomes a self-proclaimed Prophetess, claiming that she can see into parents dreams outside of the barrier. She also claims to be able to predict the future. Orsay gets a protecter called Nerezza, a weird kid that nobody seems to have seen before. The council decide to spread the lie that Orsay is making up her ability to reach kid’s parents on the outside of the dome.

Meanwhile Caine and his followers have become desperate. The last straw for Caine is eating a dead kid. Caine, Dianna and his followers steal a boat to head to an island which holds the promise of food. I particularly enjoyed reading the good side of Dianna, as it added depth to her character.

As Lies continues some of the kids are start to get ill, knocking some of the kids with powers out of play at vital moments. The darkness continues to manipulate kids and events throughout the book.

Lies develops the main characters well – each having their own strengths, weaknesses and motivations. It adds in some new characters as well. Some of my favourite new characters were: Justin & Roger, Peace, Sanjit and Virtue.

As always the plot is fast-paced, mostly showing rather than telling the story. Description is sparse, but enough to give the reader a good visual. Lies gives enough of the back story, so if you haven’t read Gone or Hunger you can still enjoy it without feeling like you’re missing something. But I would still recommend that you read both of them first.

On everyone of the Gone Series books it has a quote from Stephen King ‘I love these books.’ and I completely agree with him. I love these books. Lies is a fantastic read which is available to buy on Amazon.

I can’t wait to start Plague, the next book in the Gone Series.

Review soon,

Antony



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Book Review: Hunger by Michael Grant

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
Hunger by Michael Grant Hunger is the second book in the Gone Series. The first book was Gone, which I have already reviewed here.

In Hunger by Michael Grant the kids are trapped in the dome and they’re hungry. But they’re not the only ones, the darkness is also hungry. While the kids want food, the darkness wants uranium pellets from the Nuclear Power Plant. It plans to use Caine, Diana, Drake & Co. to get the pellets and healer Lana’s abilities to create a body for its self, so that it can leave the Mineshaft.

More kids are developing powers including Duck who can sink into the ground or float into the sky and Hunter who has microwave hands. There’s a growing divide and resentment among those with powers and those without.

Like Gone, there’s some really good ideas. I particularly liked the worms with sharp teeth intentionally designed to bury through skin. The worms are territorial and that their territory happens to be the agricultural fields, full of much needed food for the kids.

In Hunger I kept an eye out for the kid from Coats who came to Perdido Beach in the beginning of Gone. No mention was made, meaning it must have been a rather annoying loose end or plot hole in Gone.

Hunger is not as fast-paced as Gone and no were near as captivating. Despite Hunger being much bigger (more pages) than Gone, the characters and storyline development disappointed me. None of the characters really showed any development in this book and it added very little to the overarching plot.

Hunger by Michael Grant is available to buy on Amazon. Lies is the next book in the Gone Series, which I will be buying because I generally like the idea behind the series, like the characters and hope it will tell more of the overarching storyline.

Review soon,

Antony



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Import: FEATURE: Coming Out to The Kids – Linda’s Story

By Creativity, JournalismNo Comments
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(Image Credit: erinsy @ Flickr.)

Here at The Gay UK this month it’s all about Coming Out. We’ve spoken to two parents about their experiences of Coming Out to their children. Both of these parents were concerned about the impact of telling their story on themselves and their family and asked for their identities to be protected. So throughout this article pseudo names are used for both the parents and the children.

The first is Linda, a 55 years old mother from Glasgow, Scotland. Linda has two now-adult children her daughter Julie, 37 years old and her son Darren, 34 years old.

Tell us, how did you Come Out to your children?
Mine had a whole load of baggage built in; my relationship with my adult children was affable but inevitably affected by their marred childhood. And it was, thanks to a violently bipolar father, and a mother who must have appeared to pay more attention to him than to them.

Difficult to cite diversionary tactics, although this was often true; he was perfectly capable of inflicting cruelty on them to make me suffer; obvious confrontation gave him power. Not the whole story, of course; I admit that I was a dutiful and pragmatic parent, rather than the sort of warm, cuddly mother that my own mum was.

So after my husband’s death and my subsequent ecstatic love affair with my beautiful partner, it became apparent that I would need to tell the kids.

I dreaded it.

I prepared. Rehearsed. Lost sleep. Imagined worst-case scenarios. But it had to be done; I’m gay, whatever their reaction, I told myself; and I can’t keep it secret forever. This was at a moment when diplomatic channels were open and the climate looking propitious for the announcement, but that almost made it worse, in that there was so much more to lose.

Things will always be tricky. But these things have to be worked at, and at least hailing frequencies are open.

What were you worried about before you Came Out?
I feared yet another barrier to add to the issues they already had with their father and me as parents.

How old were your children when you Came Out to them?
Julie was 29 and Darren was 27.

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(Image Credit: sfPhotocraft @ Flickr.)

Has it made you closer to your children?
No, we’re not closer. I’m on good terms with both, but there are always underlying reservations.

Neither of them is homophobic, but bear in mind that even liberal children can be shocked to think that their parents actually have sex – eeeeeew! – let alone a form of sex with which they may not be too familiar!

Have any of your children told their friends or partner about your sexuality?
I told Julie my daughter’s partner. He was totally cool with it. Darren my son presumably told his wife.

Both children’s partners have always been supportive and affectionate. I have no idea whether my children have told their friends; possibly not, since my being a lesbian has never been considered a suitable topic for conversation with them.

They wouldn’t hide it if asked, but as I don’t present as particularly butch and visit rarely, I’d be surprised if anyone would be that interested.

Have they spoke to you about how they felt when you Came Out to them?
As I gather from other people, individual children will take it differently, and so it proved. The elder, Julie claimed that it had been a matter of conjecture for some time, and that the news was neither a bombshell nor any big deal.

The younger Darren operates on two levels: a saying level and a thinking level. Once I made it clear that my partner was not a 70s-style, aggressive, possessive, stuff-it-down-your-throat stereotype, the saying level was cautiously satisfied. Unfortunately, despite an outwardly liberal stance, I believe that his thinking level may have sustained another degree of separation.

Did you access any sources of support before or after Coming Out to them?
No. I cope with my own sh*t, apart from sharing (some of) it with my partner. I internalise. I also write, which is an excellent form of therapy!

What advice would you give to other parents thinking about Coming Out to their children?
(a) Do it.
(b) If geographically possible, do it by stealth.

Condition the kids to being used to seeing you with your friend, introduce the partner to family occasions, Christmas dinner etc., till the assumption of partnership is subliminally planted. Then mention something in passing that will leave them in no doubt, and move on, as if it were a given.

The big, dramatic announcement is something I would avoid, if I had to do it again!

Of course, if you’ve discovered your sexuality but don’t have a partner, telling the kids that you’re just off down to the leather bar or lesbian singles night could be a mistake…

Thank you Linda, for sharing your story.

Published by: The Gay UK on Tuesday 24th September 2013.



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