Review: Hunger

Title: Hunger
Author: Michael Grant
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Pub Date: May 2009, HarperCollins Publishers
Hardcover,
Book Source: Purchased at B&N@GT

Synopsis

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.

My Thoughts

This review has been a long time coming but I really haven't had time to sit down and put my thoughts together to write it thanks to work. Today I finally am doing just that, even though it's been awhile (for me) since I finished it. The final verdict? A worthy effort, but Hunger just doesn't live up to Gone, in my opinion.

Given how long this novel was--nearly 600 pages--I expected a lot from it, and I have to admit I found it a bit wanting. As with Gone, I was rather sucked in, but by the time I read the last page, the realization hit me that Grant really didn't advance the plot along all that much for all the many, many words between the covers. I was also slightly turned off by the increased violence and gore, but once again I think that Grant does a good job portraying what would truly be happening in a situation like the one that these kids find themselves in. There were certainly some tense and exciting moments, but overall the pacing was not as fast as it probably needed to be for a book as long as Hunger is. However, Grant's imagination is truly unbelievable and unforgettable as you read about the powers that children are developing or the mutating creatures in FAYZ. I always marvel at the creativity that goes into developing stories like these.

We do see some hints of things to come and given bits of new information about some of the key characters and their powers, but I felt that Little Pete ultimately did not get his fair share of the storyline. This kid seems like he is going to be important, but I would like to have learned a little more about him than we did in this book. I guess in the end, the only way to say it is that this book felt like mostly fluff and filler, and I sincerely hope we return to the meat of the story in the next book, Lies.

My Rating:

Other reviews of Hunger:

YA New York ~ Steph Su Reads ~ Books and Movies

Jen Robinson's Books ~ Reading Rocks ~ The Infinite Shelf

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