Plague

There are few authors who can create imagery like Michael Grant.

When I first began reading his books, I was mainly interested in the premise and the fun action I had read about. But now, four books into one of his best series, I can say for certain that not only does this man know how to write violent action filled with gore, but he knows that it isn't just for shock value, as all these events have affected the poor teens of Perdido Beach in some new terrible way.

One of the best elements of this book is the description of the world that they are in. We see these characters have to deal with a plague of bugs that hatch inside their body and then eat them alive for sustenance. Once they come out, they become almost impossible to kill. There there is the arrival of Drake, who was captured in the last book, as well as combatting all of the usual problems like lack of water, food, and sanitation. Oh, and there is a fever that causes you to cough up your own lungs...literally. All of this helps us to understand that the psychological and physical torture these kids go through is not something that anyone should endure. You feel sick for these kids, as I knew anyone else would mentally collapse under the pressure. Yet, just like a Criminal Minds episode, I just couldn't look away.

And it isn't just for shock value, either. We see these events have a major impact on the characters. Some of them become better people by the end, and others go far deeper into levels of irredeemable cruelty. In short, the action and gore that is on display make a clear impact on these characters, the decisions they make, as well as their internal conflict about those decisions.

There are a few problems, though. One would be that for me at least, there was a lot to keep track of. With these books being so gory and filled with violence, I can only read one, maybe two a year. As a result, it would have been nice to get some kind of summary of what happened previously in these books.

Another issue would be the level of violence and gore itself. To put it simply, these books have gotten to the point where they may not be for everyone. As stated above, I can only read about one book a year, and that is plenty for me. Trust me, at times, it can even make Martian's Game of Thrones, or Ambercrombie's works seem tame by comparison.

Still, don't let that scare you off (and this is book four, so you are probably in it for the long hall anyway). I still think this is an excellent novel and is going to be one of my contenders for the best books of the year.