Hungry in the Dark

Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant

Three Months later the kids under 15 are stuck in the bubble of the FAYZ and they are out of food. An all day meal may consist of jar of gravy or pickle relish. Not only are the Perdido Beach kids hungry, but the Coates kids are starving too. Caine has been MIA since the Thanksgiving battle and falling deeper in to the Darkness’ web. Sam is under so much pressure that he’s about to crack while keeping it all together. The other kids in “leadership” are trying to see where they fit in to the puzzle of the FAYZ. In short, it’s falling apart.

“Hungry in the Dark” was a dual concept. While I was reading Hunger the characters that had been put under the Darkness’ influence felt his anguish and hunger. Caine, who was totally out of it for 3 months, kept saying the phrase in his comatose state over and over, “Hungry in the Dark.” Then as the Darkness spread his touch, other characters were talking about it. The dual concept comes in when the plan unfolds that the Coates kids want to turn off the power to Perdido Beach. Not only is it going to be dark, but the kids are going hungry and practically out of food.

Two areas of the books have me pondering, first, Little Pete’s dreams. There is some connection between the Darkness and Little Pete and it is not clear yet what that will be. I know more now than I did before that Little Pete is going to be having the biggest role to play in this series. It will have something to do with his dreams and it’s going to be huge (bigger than in Gone, which is big). Second, I am stunned by Lana’s role with the darkness, I know that it has a tight grip on her and even when her plans backfire on her, the audience has to wonder how deep does it go? Will Lana ever be “normal” again? Can she recover from being with the Darkness so many times and so intimately? We’ll see as the series continues.

Some food for thought: Why couldn’t these kids get it together sooner? Why are they unable to think ahead at all? Are all teenagers this thoughtless? Of course when I was under 15 years old, was over 15 years ago now and I’m baffled by how brainless they are. There is no forethought at all, but then I think about the average student we had in our student ministry and I remember how they acted and I keep thinking that Grant has hit the nail on the head. It has absolutely driven me crazy with the absolute mindlessness that these kids are exhibiting and then I remember, oh yeah, they are just kids and can’t think past what’s in front of them. I’m glad that they are starting to grow into some leadership. I’m interested to continue the series and see what happens.

I have no complaints about this series thus far. Grant has put together a good story with interesting characters. Hunger has some better character development than Gone did. I felt the characters strife during the entire book and knew that things were getting worse and how they can see the impending doom. I have bought the third book Lies and I’m very interested to see how the story continues and who will conquer. I am also thinking that there is some type of twist of events in this next book, I can feel a controversy coming. We’ll see, continue reading my friends!