Review: Fear (Gone #5) by Michael Grant

Release Date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Rating: YA 14+ (Contains graphic and gory passages)
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Adventure, Survival
Pages: 509

It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone.

Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear.Within the FAYZ, life breaks down while the Darkness takes over, literally—turning the dome-world of the FAYZ entirely black. In darkness, the worst fears of all emerge, and the cruelest of intentions are carried out. But even in their darkest moments, the inhabitants of the FAYZ maintain a will to survive and a desire to take care of the others in their ravaged band that endures, no matter what the cost.Fear, Michael Grant's fifth book in the bestselling dystopian Gone series, will thrill readers . . . even as it terrifies them.

**This may contain spoilers for those of you who have not read the previous books** 

"…death is better because death is the end of fear, isn’t it?" - page 431


Michael Grant never fails. He is a GOD. Each book in the Gone series gets better and better, with thrills, gory yet fascinating scenes, and some kick-ass characters and menacing bad guys. I honestly cannot critique this book, or any of the previous books for that matter. I am so happy I picked up the first book, Gone, and I am so very thankful that I kept reading, even though there were times when I felt like puking my guts out. 


It's been four months since Plague - where a super flu ravaged the children of Perdido Beach, leaving many on their death bed. But things are looking up, now that Sam and his crew have found a freshwater lake and have set up camp there. Perdido Beach is now under the rule of self-appointed King, Caine, who rules with brutality and no mercy. Alongside Caine is wary Albert, the businessman, who some believe is more important than Caine...


Even now that the immensely powerful, autistic, unparalleled Petey is gone, the barrier is still there... and changing.... A dark stain is slowly but steadily spreading across the barrier. Which leaves everyone to wonder if maybe this is the way things end in the Fayz... in total darkness? Astrid, who had been AWOL for the last four months, thinks it's time to return back... to Sam, to warn him---to warn all of them about what is happening. 


Without light, there is no food, there is no hope. There is only Fear.

Sam and his friends know that this change can only mean that the FAYZ is entering its end game. And in the darkness, the evil known only as the Gaiaphage lashes out, making one last desperate play for the lives of everyone imprisoned within the FAYZ.

The penultimate novel in the Gone series, Fear is a terrifying, maddening rush of a book. There’s a palpable feeling of impending doom throughout this latest installment, and just like the kids of the FAYZ readers can also sense that the series is reaching its frenetic peak; we can sense that the end game is near, though like Sam and Astrid and everyone else, we are almost completely in the dark as to what shape that end game will take.

In Fear, we are finally allowed to see what is happening outside the barrier with all the adults, and let me tell you, it's not much better... the air there is also tinged with hopelessness and sadness.

I freaking love these books SO MUCH. I can't even describe it.

It is so amazing how Grant can create such a dark and hopeless scenario, and still make the reader feel so much hope. I could not put Fear down. Seriously. I read it everywhere and anywhere--- at any time. Just like the rest of these books, Fear moved at a reckless pace. Although this time it was more urgent; I felt a sort of sadness because this series was coming to an end. *SIGH* I am so not prepared for that. 

The countdown to Light, the final book in the series begins. I cannot wait to see what Michael Grant has in store for us--- for the last and ultimate time.

5 Muffins - Positively Enticing!

If you like this, try:


City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare


Blood Red Road (Dust Lands #1) by Moira Young


The Maze Runner (Maze Runner #1) by James Dashner