Highly enjoyable. Hooks you at the very start. I drive through the traffic everyday: about an hour in the morning and definitely more than an hour at nighttime. So, while reading the first few pages of the book, I said, wow this should happen here in Manila. Imagine all adults to disappear altogether without a trace at one time and all adolescents will follow once they turn fifteen. Obviously, this is okay as long as I and my loved ones are exempted hehe.This is a YA book and so the characters are all young adults. Sam has a friend, Quinn and a love interest, Astrid. Together, they find the possible reason for the disappearance of the people and they meet all interesting characters and go through a lot of twists and turns (just like the everyday Manila traffic) to get into the bottom of this phenomenon including its possible solution.The storytelling is straightforward and Grant's imagination is so fertile I thought I would write a letter to our President Noynoy and recommend him to solve the congestion of vehicles during rush and even not too rush hours. Why not? If a YA author like Grant can think of all the interesting characters and situations in the book, maybe his creativity can be put to better use not only for readers but for the whole country or even the whole world. World peace, anyone?My only complaint about this book is attributable to myself. Why oh why did a 48-year old man like me find this more enjoyable if not better read than Kazuo Ishiguro's surreal The Unconsoled? I really don't know. It is more readable, more gripping, made my heart beat faster and it does not make me sleepy every time I am holding it. Oh maybe, I don't read too many YA books so having it once in a while feels liberating. Or maybe I am having a midlife crisis so I find this kind of plot not revolting but definitely worth my reading time?I will definitely borrow the next 4 books and read them in between the literary classics. Maybe that would be my strategy to finish the 1001 books before I die.Thank you, Ace Jose. I hope you stop growing so you keep on buying and reading YA books and then pass them on to me. I hope that, despite our huge age difference, we will be friends forever.

I read a lot of books, but you knew that didn't you? While I enjoy most of the books I read, few stand out to me as amazing or memorable (this is why I give out so few five star reviews). Gone is simply the best YA book I have read since Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls, and stands right beside The Hunger Games and the Knife of Never Letting Go as some of the best dystopian sci-fi around...In Perdido Beach, life is normal (mostly) until a sudden disruption results in the disappearance of every adult and child over fifteen. Left to fend for themselves without computers, cell phones, television, or rescue, the remaining children must band together to survive and solve the mystery of what happened to their parents and the rest of the town. Trapped inside a force field barrier that surrounds the town, there is little hope of rescue or escape.Whatever caused the disruption has also caused strange mutations in animals-- coyotes talk, snakes fly, and cats teleport. These mutations affect some of the children, giving them supernatural powers and abilities. When tensions build among different factions in the town, the children must band together to survive or risk destruction themselves.One of the reviews for Gone describes the book as Lord of the Flies written by Stephen King. I was reminded of King's classic, The Stand, the entire time I read Gone. The post-Apocalyptic premise, the battle between good and evil forces, and most of all, the compelling well-developed characters pulled me through this lengthy book. I could not put it down, devouring it in one rainy Saturday afternoon. Yes, there is a sequel, Hunger, but unlike many YA books these days, I felt that the major conflicts in this book were resolved before the end.I can think of at least ten students in my class who would love this book. I cannot wait to put it in their hands!

This is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I avoided this series for a while because I thought it was an offshoot of those Left Behind books. I know, I know. I should probably read them before I make any snap judgments, but I have absolutely no desire to read a series about The Rapture. At all. Ever.Anyhoo. Thankfully, this series has nothing to do with that.*Ok. Stop laughing at me! I only glanced at the blurb a few years ago! You gotta admit that "Blah, blah, blah, a bunch of people disappear..." sounds a lot like those other books!*Alright, the story begins with a bunch of kids sitting in class when all of a sudden the teacher just goes...Poof. It soon becomes apparent that every adult, and all the kids over 15 are Gone. Hence, ahem, the name of the book.It took a few chapters for me to get interested, because I wasn't really in the mood to read about a bunch of middle schoolers. However, eventually the story won me over. I'd like to say it was because some of the events were more realistic than I'd anticipated for a book geared toward tweens. Especially the part where they find a dead toddler in one of the houses.Unfortunately, it's more likely that I became fully engaged in the story once I found out that some of these kids were developing powers.Mutants! Cool!The characters were pretty developed for a middle grade reader, as well. Quinn was one of the better examples. He's not evil, but he is a coward. I enjoyed watching him struggle, making both good and bad choices along the way. His fear, complacence, guilt, and redemption power the background of the plot. And he's not even the main character.So, definitely not part of the Left Behind series. More like Lord of the Flies meets X-Men meets...some other book with a big scary (as of yet) unseen monster. Sorry. Brain fart. Couldn't think of a book to describe the last thing, although it's on the tip of my tongue.Read it. See what you think. Personally, I really liked it.