By: Michael Clemens ’16
Reviews Editor
For fans of horror and science fiction, the novel Hunger by Michael Grant is a must-read. The book is the sequel to Gone, where kids teenagers in the fictional town of Perdido Beach suddenly find their city surrounded by an energy barrier. Everyone over the age of fifteen mysteriously disappeared. Things get even weirder when some people begin developing special powers. Mutant creatures also begin to appear around town. The kids from Perdido Beach must also protect themselves from the students from the Coates Academy, who become a threat to the Perdido Beach kids.
In Hunger, everyone is faced with the problem of food. Food has become scarce in Perdido Beach, and everyone must find a way to get more before dying of hunger. New threats appear when a boy named Zil forms “The Human Crew”, a group that is against all of the kids with powers. All of these problems must be dealt with by Sam Temple, the novel’s main protagonist. Sam is the mayor of Perdido Beach and wields the power of shooting fire from his hands. Sam must fight the students from the Coates Academy for control over the power plant.
The book is an intense read from start to finish. It is full of heart-pounding scenes that make it hard to put the book down. The overall structure of the energy barrier and the powers were very interesting. The characters are well developed, and even when people die periodically through the novel, it is actually heartbreaking to see them go. The pacing was excellent, and there were never parts that dragged.
One thing about the book is that there are a lot of characters. This is both good and bad. Having focuses on many of the different characters adds many different subplots which greatly contribute to the overall plot of the book. On the other hand, having so many characters makes it hard to keep track of everyone, though in the end pretty much every character is necessary for the plot of the novel. Hunger employs this balance brilliantly.
Hunger is an excellent novel and very easy to recommend. Fans of the science fiction genre should definitely give this book a read. Though it may be a bit disturbing for people who do not like horror books, it should definitely be worth considering for everyone else. What makes it better is that there are four more books that come after it, so if you like this book there are more for you to read. While you should probably read the first book, Gone, before reading this, Hunger is an enjoyable book and a great part of the Gone series