Ben ik niet een ‘The’ en een ‘Games’ vergeten toevoegen aan deze recensietitel? Neen neen, het gaat wel degelijk om Hunger van Michael Grant, deel 2 in de Gone-reeks. Voor de rest van deze korte recensie switch ik weer even naar het Engels if ya don’t mind, zodat ik ‘m ook op Goodreads kan plaatsen. Maar ik kan hier alvast verklappen dat ik Hunger een stuk beter en leuker vond dan Gone!

Hunger picks up 3 months after where we left off in Gone. While Caine was in a sort of Darkness-induced coma, food in Perdido Beach grew scarce. Very scarce. Now, two new tensions are building up: the maddening, ever growing hunger and the divide between normals and freaks. What characters will rise to the occasion and prove themselves heroes while Sam fights the depression and frustration that goes with being in charge of some 300 starving, parentless kids?

A lot of new characters get introduced in this second book, making it less Sam’s story and more the story of all the Perdido and Coates kids. We don’t see all too much of Gone-main characters like Astrid and Quinn in Hunger, because they had to make room for new narrators such as Duck ‘The Human Drill’ Zhang and Zil, the leader of the Human Crew going against freaks. Can’t say I have a definite favorite character or story line like I did in Gone (Lana), but I enjoyed the way all the narratives wove together towards the end.

I can’t even imagine how much planning this book must’ve taken Michael Grant! It’s written on such a large scale, with so many characters … And wow, 4 more books to go! I’m curious whether or not there’s a book in the series that’ll take them all out of the FAYZ and in to what’s left (if there is anything left?) of the real world. Guess I’ll have to read and see!

Rating: ****