Bane of Kings reviews Plague by Michael Grant, the fourth and latest book in the popular young adult Gone series.

“If you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Perdido Beach kids than in Lies, think again. Michael Grant steps up and smashes the ball out of the park with another fantastic instalment in the Gone series, proving to us that he’s not yet lost his touch.  Plague will truly be a book to remember.” ~The Founding Fields

 By now, many of you will probably be aware that I really, really enjoy the Gone novels, particularly because of my review of Lies which I have put up recently.

As usual, this review may contain spoilers for Gone, Hunger and Lies and of course the book itself.

So then, Plague. With every novel in the Gone series, the title normally means something. And of course, what’s the first thing that I think of when the word Plague springs to mind?

Zombies.

Yeah, the z-word. And in case you haven’t noticed, I really enjoy zombie fiction, and with a world without adults in, this sound interesting. It’s only when I turned to the back cover to look at the blurb, I realised that this might just not be about zombies after all.

For disease is spreading through the streets of Perdido Beach: a devastating, hacking cough that makes the victims choke their guts up – literally.

For the moment the Darkness has disappeared and the only sign of its power lies in the basement prison where the monster, Drake is being held. But a new horror is about to infest the FAYZ. Something is growing. Growing inside unsuspecting victims… and eating them from the inside.

Alright, so this is about as probably as close to zombies as I’m going to get, and it looks almost as awesome.

526 Pages and a lack of sleep later, Plague doesn’t fail to keep up with the high standard set by the first three books in this series, delivering once again some great characters, intriguing plots and pretty awesome twists.

There aren’t many introductions to the cast, aside from the major additions of truth-teller Toto and the monster-creating Penny, but Michael Grant really doesn’t need to add a new line-up to an already fantastic cast that keeps on developing and developing as the series goes on.

Despite being four books into the series, the author manages to keep the action scenes fresh and entertaining, increasing the stakes as the novel draws to its shocking conclusion, one that is leaving me awaiting the next novel in the series, entitled Fear.

 If you thought that things were as bad as they were going to get in Lies, just assure me, they get even worse here. Food and water is running even lower, and tensions are increasing between pretty much everybody.

Things have really gone downhill since the high note that the first book ended on. There are several cliff-hangers in this book, and for those of you who have read the previous novels you’ll no doubt know that Grant switches from character to character regularly to keep up the pace and make it as fast as the one in Lies.

 If I have one criticism, there are a few minor, punctuation errors which I spotted whilst reading Plague, and that continued to bug me for the whole novel. I know I’m picky, but after going back over the series, I’ve noticed that there are several punctuation errors throughout the books.

But don’t let the fact that the editors were asleep whilst writing this make you not buy this book, oh no.

Also, the last line of Plague ended the novel well, how can I put this – a note that just made me want to really get into the next book in the series, which as I mentioned earlier, is called Fear.

 Grant has no problem with torturing the main cast, putting them through paces where other authors have dared to tread. At several points in the novel we’re lead to believe that this is the main character’s final stands, and the saying is true throughout the series.

Nobody is safe.

And if you’re not just buying this book for the action and the character development and the awesome plot, you’ll be pleased to see that Michael Grant includes several other themes in this novel as well, and in fact, throughout the whole series. Morality, ethics, Politics, power, sacrifice and other such themes run throughout this excellent read.

Rating: 4.5/5

 More Gone Novels: Gone, Hunger, Lies, Plague, Fear (Coming Soon), Light (Coming Soon)