Gone, by Michael Grant

[rachelmanija]

A sleepy California town is enclosed in a mysterious barrier at the same instant that, pop! Everyone over the age of 14 vanishes. And some kids get psychic powers. (Actually, some got their powers several months before the pop - no word yet on why.) And animals mutate

Comments

[jinian]

Ha ha ha! I guess she's some kind of precognitive? I am shocked, shocked that this was written by a dude.

[rachelmanija]

I seriously thought when I read it, "She has the power to sense who's the protagonist?"

[lnhammer]

I've seen at least one manga where someone has had the power to, in effect, detect the protagonist -- and had this lampshaded.

---L.

[marfisa]

In the misleadingly-titled webcomic "Footloose," Keti, the part-faery, part-human heroine winds up being unwillingly exiled, along with her parents, to the faery realm (where her pugnacious mother's old comrade-in-arms is both the de facto ruler and the headmistress of a very eccentric dojo) partly because she's been magically diagnosed as suffering from Primary Protagonist Syndrome. I.e., all sorts of disruptive events and adventures will be generated by her mere presence, which renders her something of a danger to herself and those around her. Hence the need for her and anyone likely to be hanging out with her to be trained in self-defense and other methods of dealing with dangerous situations.

[thecityofdis]

I'm bummed you didn't like it, but your points are fair (although I do not remember that about Astrid's power at all. huh.) I've read the entire series up to date and am looking forward to the final book.

There is a lot of expanding upon the awesome lady characters in later books (Dekka and Diana = my favorites; I am lukewarm on Astrid but can appreciate the archetype he is trying to deconstruct), as well as several queer characters. I love the series, but it is definitely NOT everyone's cup of tea.

(Disclaimer: While I do think Grant is pretty rockin'ly progressive with women, POC and GLBT characters, a number of people - rightly so - have raised issues with the ableism surrounding the autistic character, which... gets more problematic as the series goes on.)

[rachelmanija]

Dekka and "Breeze," in their quite brief appearances, endeared themselves to me. But probably not enough to get me to continue. ;(

[ejmam]

I missed that that was a "power" too; I just thought she had a crush. But I agree about the flat characters, stereotyped genders (I can't lead -- I'm a girl!) and horrible child harm. I'll probably eventually read the next book because my son ate this series up like candy (and bonded over them with a friend's daughter, which was cool), but I'm not in a rush.

Dead babies are very hard for me. The 2nd Monstromologist book was also problematic for this reason.

[marzipan_pig]

Ah ha ha on the 'sensing awesomeness'. It's almost like we all have that power, called 'falling in love' :)

[rachelmanija]

Heee!

[tool_of_satan]

There are three girls with powers that could be used in a fight. Two are not introduced till near the end, and the third dies on the same page she's introduced. The main boys' powers are very strong telekinesis, super-strength, laser beams, teleportation, monster-type physical alterations accompanied by super-strength, and altering reality. The main girls' powers are healing, sensing how powerful other mutants are, and sensing how awesome the hero is.

Wow. It's like the original line-up of the X-Men, only even more sexist.

[rachelmanija]

At least Marvel Girl was pretty powerful in her own right. In fact, she and Cyclops were the most powerful of the team, even though she was the only woman.

[tool_of_satan]

Indeed (not counting Professor X, of course). As I dimly recall (it's been years since I read any of the older X-Men), she was often still treated poorly by the other characters and the writers. Still probably better than this thing, which was published, what, 50 years later?[*]

[*]Does that ever make me feel old. Not that I was around in Marvel's early days, but still.