After reading the third installment of the Gone series by Michael Grant, I started to feel slightly confused about the direction of the series…
Lies was an average book for me. Judging by the title, you could probably guess that everyone went wrong in this plot because of people not telling the truth. One thing that I have realised reading this book is how many characters are actually involved in this series. It seems that Grant keeps adding new charaters, instead of perhaps building and expanding upon the ones he has already established. However, most of the main cast (excluding our protagonist Sam) have been explored to an extent, but the focus does still seem to be on adding more characters.
In particular, I wasn’t overly excited about the introduction of the kids from the island: Sanjit, Virtue, Peace, Bowie and Pixie. To be honest, what Grant achieved with this story line could have probably had the same effect if it were just Sanjit and Virtue. Perhaps it was to make it seem that Sanjit had more responsibility, but on the other hand, I saw it as more empty space been filled up with names. However, once Sanjit’s situation was given more background, I did start to find the character interesting, especially since they have been completely oblivious to what has been going on on the mainland.
Another aspect of the book I would like to focus on is Sam and Astrid’s relationship, which seemed to be all over the place. I understand that for a fictional relationship to be interesting to readers it can’t be a walk in the sun all the time, but it seems that through the entirety of the book Sam and Astrid were arguing in some form or another. This therefore started to make me care less and less whether they actually worked things out in the end, but maybe that is what Grant was after…
Perhaps Grant drove this wedge between Sam and Astrid to explore Sam’s own mental issues, something about the book which I did find quite enlightening. Grant gave us the reality (well as much reality as you can in fiction) about being a hero and how isn’t always fun being in charge. It offered a fresh perspective and made Sam a much more realistic and relatable character which is something I can get behind.
Overall, I would give Lies by Michael Grant a 3/5 stars. Whilst some fight scenes and new character stories were entertaining, there were point whether I felt over loaded with character names that seem to not serve a significant purpose.
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