Fear

I enjoyed the book, probably least favorite of the series so far though. It definitely gives some great things that I've learnt though to do with the mystery of what's going on. Especially with the outside perspective. I was so excited when I saw that. with it being pitch black most of the time it wasn't so fun for my imagination haha. Imagining barely seeing people and landscapes. I loved the last chapters though , the later chapter being really emotional for me. 

The Gone series of books is one that I have loved since I began reading the series. Now, to start off the summer, I went into the 5th book, looking forward to seeing how things would develop in the FAYZ. After reading, I must admit that while this was a fun story, the plot did not advance very much at all.

One of the best elements of this book would be how our characters have changed since the last novel. Astrid finally comes into her own working to become a capable warrior, in addition to being the FAYZ's genius. I also like how Adellio manages to get more characterization here, with us realizing that he deals with many different issues that Sam can't handle. Orc also got some good character development here, as we see him begin to see himself as more than just the school bully who is made up of more rock than skin. He really begins to see himself as a responsible person showing growth overall. The conversations about God and how he could rule in the FAYZ is something that has come up in the previous books, but it gets more attention here, with some characters believing in him despite all they have been through, others searching for him, and some turning their backs on him in favor of a new god, the Gaiaphage. This shows the diversity of how people can believe in him (or not) when they are faced with all the horrors they have been through.

Another thing that I liked was the ending. While I obviously won't spoil it, I'll only say that it forces our characters to start to come to grips with everything that has happened since the beginning. I am amazed at what these kids have gone through, and how they began the first books as kids, worried about who would like who versus now where they have to fight to survive. Couple this with the few chapters featuring people outside the FAYZ, and I can't help but wonder how the kids will handle real life when (or if) they ever get out of this bubble they have been trapped in for almost a year.

The only major issue that I can find is that for all of the character growth that happens or has happened since the 4th book, the plot does not really advance very much overall. This leads to several problems getting more focus than they should otherwise.

One example of this is that Drake is the main villain...again. He isn't a bad villain, it is just that he seems to take forever to complete his mission assigned by the Gaiaphage. Part of this can be explained by the fact that he keeps transforming into a small girl named Brittany, and the two can't communicate in any easy way, so he does get slowed down by that. Nevertheless, I still find it difficult to believe that he would do all of this just out of loyalty to the Gaiaphage. There is also a secondary villain named Penny, a girl who can use her mind to make your dreams (or more often nightmares) come true using all five of your senses. She gets close to taking over Cain as Queen, making her seem like a legitimate threat to the people of the FAYZ. But then she fails and just loses all control, and starts using her powers to scare everyone. This makes her seem like a weak substitute villain at best, as though Grant threw her in to make tension for everyone, and not for any natural reason that we should really care about. This could also have been such a good metaphor for kids today. How a person can make you see what you want to believe, and how this image, in the end, is just an illusion, for better or worse. If she had been built up, then she could have been one of the all-time greats of this book, but instead, we get her just doing one thing to try and take over the town with not much of a plan after that. It just seems like quite a bit of build-up with little payoff.

Then there is the natural threat of the book, where the dome is going dark, making the FAYZ sky completely blacked out, with not even stars to guide them. This should have been cool, but a majority of the time, this just meant that our characters were just literally stumbling around in the dark, slowly making their way to an objective. It is as boring as it sounds.

I know that I seem to not like this book, but I think that this was just a slow build to the eventual ending, which, for me, was something that I don't like in my novels. Thankfully this is something that I can stand, as the characters and ending possibilities have made up for it overall. I give this book a four out of five.