Plague (Gone, #4)

by Michael Grant

It's Lord of the Flies for the Heroes generation. The Darkness has been foiled once again and the resurrected Drake has been contained. But the streets of Perdido Beach are far from safe. With a growing army of mutants fighting against the humans, power in the town hangs in the balance. In a small room of a house near the edge of town Little Pete lies ill on a bed. In his fevered dreams he continues his battle with the hidden evil that seeks to use his power for anarchy and destruction. A tour-de-force from global sensation Michael Grant, Plague is the fourth book in this bestselling series. "I love these books" - Stephen King

• ISBN10: 1405256583
• ISBN13: 9781405256582
• Publish Date: 2 April 2012 (first published 7 March 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 May 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Egmont UK Ltd
• Imprint: Electric Monkey
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 560
• Language: English

Reviews

[Stephanie]

I’m a squeamish sort of person. Horror movies gross me out. Bad injuries make me cringe. Blood? Forget about it. I’m the type of person that got anxiety watching Kenan and Kel. Needless to say, a book entitled Plague was really masochistic on my part. And this was probably not going to be just any plague, since its appearance is in Michael Grant’s Gone series. In a small beach town where we’ve already met kids that have super powers, a radioactive monster called the Darkness, and kids with whip hands, Plague was going to be anything but normal.

I’m sure I could go into detail about all these gruesome aspects, but I’ll spare the squeamish like me and the excitable people who watch horror movies for fun. I’m on to you guys.

In Plague, the flu epidemic from the Lies has taken a turn for the worse. Kids are becoming deathly ill and Perdido Beach is running out of water (like they didn’t need anything else to be thrown in their face). Albert sends Sam and a crew of people to investigate the problem, and ultimately figure out a solution. With the town virtually defenseless without Sam, Drake/Brittany decide to break free and wreck havoc on the town, a la Darkness style. With kids unable to fight back, someone has to call in the big guns. Plague often left me in a state of ‘oh snap!’, which has only happened a few times since the initial Gone days.

More at BOOKISH reviews

[jnikkir]

The only thoughts I'm left with after this book are:

- SO MUCH MORE DISTURBING THAN THE EARLIER BOOKS (and that is saying something)
- WHAT IS GOING ON
- I DON'T UNDERSTAND
- EW EW EW
- WHAT
- NO SERIOUSLY WHAT
- I NEED ANSWERS
- EW


Sorry for yelling in capslock, but those are my feels. I would never have guessed that I would be enjoying (?? wrong word) this series, because it's really not my cup of tea. But I just... I can't look away...

Gonna take a break from it though, and read some [a:Maggie Stiefvater|1330292|Maggie Stiefvater|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1268241579p2/1330292.jpg] in the meantime.

[journalingirl]

So technically, I haven't finished reading this. But I can't finish it. It's just too messed up. I liked the idea of the story, but it's just too hard.

[clementine]

I really can't believe how high this book's average rating is. Maybe I'm more discerning than the average reader, maybe I'm pickier, maybe I'm pretentious. But I really think Michael Grant is a bad writer. That struck me as I read the very first page of [b:Gone Gone 1|2536134|Gone (Gone, #1)|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266904868s/2536134.jpg|2543657]. It almost impeded my ability to finish that book. I did, though, and I enjoyed the story, so I read the second and third books within the next few days.

I didn't get around to starting Plague until two days ago, because I've had a bunch of other books that I quite frankly was looking forward to much more. I was somewhat surprised by Plague. I thought the writing style had improved, but it was still a textbook case of telling instead of showing, very bare bones writing.

Plot-wise, the book was really good. That's what I enjoy about this series - the plot is really great. Very exciting, never dull. It never drags. I want to keep reading once I actually start. Grant introduces a lot of horrifying and creative plot twists, creatures, and ideas that keep the books fresh. This one was no exception: the bugs that hatch out of humans, killing them were a great addition and allowed for a cohesive plot. I appreciate that he's pushing the boundaries in terms of some of the more disturbing content in a YA series.

The characters were flat, as they always have been. We get these shells of characters, with a few traits, their archetype (the leader, the villain, the healer), and their motivation. However, none of them are complex, and I care more about Lana's dog Patrick surviving than anyone else. Another thing that annoys me is how he only seems to introduce a new character if they're going to die. Overall, I think Grant relies a lot on the shock factor to carry his books, as I don't feel at all invested in the characters and the writing style bothers me so much.

I know this seems contradictory, but I actually would recommend this series to a lot of people, because I think the story is really interesting and exciting. I'm not saying they're fantastic books, but they're definitely an entertaining read.