Hunger by Michael Grant

Pages: 590
Publisher: Harper Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Challenge: 350 Page Challenge
Release Date: May 26, 2009


IT'S BEEN THERE MONTHS SINCE EVERYONE UNDER THE AGE OF FIFTEEN BECAME TRAPPED IN THE BUBBLE KNOWN AS THE FAYZ. 


THREE MONTHS SINCE ALL THE ADULTS DISAPPEARED. 

GONE. 

Food ran out weeks ago. Everyone is starving, but no one wants to figure out a solution. And each day, more and more kids are evolving, developing supernatural abilities that set them apart from the kids without powers. 

Tension rises and chaos is descending upon the town. It's the normal kids against the mutants. Each kid is out for himself, and even the good ones turn murderous. 

But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them. 

The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry.

Stars: 4.5/5

Cover: A-

Plot:

Hunger was a huge book, but when it ended, I wished it would continue on longer. It was really fast-paced, and I couldn't help by being entranced by this book. I am abolutely in love with the Gone series, and this book is the prime example of why.

There were a lot of elements to this book --- there were many different characters, so in turn there was also many different story lines all weaving together. The longer the kids are in the FAYZ, the darker the books get, which I love. There are lots of kids making enemies, and the "Darkness" --- the creature that lives in the mine --- is getting more powerful, and getting into lots of peoples' minds.

Hunger is one of those books that, once it gets its claws in you --- you'll never escape it.

Characters:
There were a lot of characters in this book, and usually with books I'd get them mixed up and confused. But, that wasn't the case with Hunger --- Michael Grant was able to make the characters unique enough, and introduce them to me not so close together, that I knew exactly who each one was.

I loved how the different problems of all the characters weaved together, and they were all connected in some way.

Writing:
Michael Grant is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I practically WORSHIP him for writing this series. Yes, these books are that good. I stay up late reading this book, thinking, "okay, just one more chapter." But then, there's a cliffhanger, and of course I have to read on to find out what happens next!

Grant is a master at transporting us to Perdido Beach, and into the minds of his characters. This series is also very thought-provoking because while reading it, and oftentimes after, I wonder what I would do if I were in the positions of the characters.

I love books like that.

Ending:
The ending is AMAZING. I don't know how I did it when I read it when it came out, and then had to wait a year for the third book to come out. I like it because it gives you some hope that things might just be looking up for the kids in the FAYZ. But, in true Grant fashion, the ending of the book also leaves you with a little inkling of doubt that things are about to go from bad to worse.

Cover:
I love the covers to all of the books in this series, and how they all correspond with each other.

Lovely Line:
The morphine did not eliminate the pain. It merely threw a veil over it. It was still there, a terrible, ravening lion, roaring, awesome, overpowering. But barely held at bay.


Barely.


 . . . .


He had a while. How long, he couldn't guess. A short while, maybe, to stop Caine.


And kill Drake. Because now, for the first time in his life, Sam wanted to take a life.
(Page 537)

The Final Verdict:
Seriously, what are you waiting for? If you've read the first book in this series, and have Hunger sitting on your TBR pile, put down the book you're reading (unless it's The Devouring by Simon Holt --- that book is amazing, too) and READ. HUNGER. NOW.