http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/12/11... ( )

a beautiful master done by Grant. Combining sciencefiction and top noch suspense. It gives a whole new meaning to responsibility. ( )

A cross between X-Men and Lord of the Flies. When all people over the age of 15 disappear, the younger set is left to care for each other and build a new life. However, mysterious forces are changing the children and giving them unusual abilities, there is something sinister manipulating some of their members, and the stronger teens are trying to take over their little world. ( )

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One day, everyone aged fifteen or older disappears. Gone. No teachers, doctors, police, no grown-ups at all. Chaos ensues as the battle for control of the small town of Perdido Beach begins. And Sam is caught in the crossfire, heading the small resistance force against a powerful and cruel rival who might just be his brother. Animals begin to mutate. A mysterious and terrifying force known only as the Darkness threatens to destroy everything they hold dear. And worst of all, the teens themselves begin to change, developing strange and dangerous new powers that none of them can control. Enter the world of the FAYZ, Fallout Alley Youth Zone, where nothing is as it seems and one wrong step means death.

I would have enjoyed this book much more if I hadn’t read Stephen King’s horror classic The Stand. I might have even thought it was original. Even if the characters would still have been ridiculously clichéd and the dialogue painful, it would have been much more fun to read. But as it was, I had trouble not moping over how derivative it is. Even the concept of a bizarre force field isolating the town smacks of King’s new novel Under the Dome, though as that hasn’t even been released yet, I guess you can’t fault the author for that. But substitute the odd circumstances of the FAYZ for the super-flu, bring some adults into the picture and add a few hundred pages, and you’d end up with nothing new, not to mention its similarities to classics such as Lord of the Flies.

That said, it’s a lot of fun to read, and certainly suspenseful. It’s also much, much gentler than Stephen King and other writers in the horror/suspense genre, and would make an excellent stepping stone for those not quite ready for true horror but in need of something a little grittier than the standard fare for younger teens. Other than the violence and how implicitly disturbing the concept might be for some, it’s surprisingly mild, with only slight profanity and some chaste flirting to speak of.

Going back to my earlier remark about clichéd characters, that was probably my biggest peeve with this book. I can ignore a derivative plot, but flat protagonists are much harder to tune out, especially when you end up with reverse stereotypes which are sometimes even worse than the real thing. Take Astrid, for example: with the nickname “Astrid the Genius”, she’s in all AP courses (some she even takes at the local college) and talks like a textbook. Which would be okay, if she wasn’t also stunningly beautiful and popular and a bit of a damsel in distress. Make her a “nerd” or make her a “prep”, but please don’t leave me with a bizarre and frankly unrealistic combination of both.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes. Am I going to read the sequel? Possibly. Would I recommend it to my friends? Maybe. Will I remember it in one year or five or ten? Probably not. All in all, it’s forgettable and bland, despite its thrilling subject matter.

The Final Verdict: Suspenseful and well-paced, but in the end, we’re left with nearly 600 pages of confusion and clichés. ( )

This book is a classic good versus evil book with a supernatural twist. If you have a weak stomach, avoid this book because the fighting scenes later in the book are gruesome. Many questions remain unanswered but there are sequels. ( )