Lies by Michael Grant

This is the third book in the series, the previous two are Gone and Hunger.

September 2010, Egmont
Hardback, review copy
Young Adult (there is a content warning in the earlier two, because there are dark themes, lots of violence and cruelty).

Summary from Egmont

It happens in one night: a girl who died now walks among the living, Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach, and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most - Drake. But Sam and Caine defeated him along with the Darkness – or so they thought.

As Perdido Beach burns, battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake. And the prophetess Orsay and her companion, Nerezza, are preaching that death will set them all free. As life in the FAYZ becomes more desperate, no one knows who they can trust.

Something I read this book thinking it would be the end of the series. Having just reached the end, I can say I was wrong. There's a fourth book! Nooo! It felt like it was so close to ending in Lies, and then it didn't.

Lies is actually quite different to the previous two books. The first two I would class a Young Adult Horror. I re-read the first one prior to reading the second. The second is so terrifying for me that I can't face re-reading it. It is that scary. Okay, I probably should mention that I generally prefer not to be petrified by books/films. But the series is so interesting! It's amazing how the children take sides, how they fall apart a little, how they figure out how to store food, to ration food and medicine, to form a system of law that doesn't always work. I'm digressing. Lies doesn't have that much horror in it. It felt like quite a light read, until I came to amazing revelations that will blow your mind away when you read the truth of The FAYZ. There was definitely more introspection by Astrid and Sam. They both reach the same conclusion in the end, its just unfortunate that Astrid takes so long to get there. Due to all the pressure he's under, Sam takes a step back and doesn't help as much in this book.

There are thankfully few mentions of flying sn*kes. There are still some pretty sick and twisted children in the FAYZ, both those who are talented and those who aren't. It's a prime example of how power can go to a person's head. There are quite a few hand to mouth moments. Equally, although I see the need for it to be a slightly tamer book, I think I was a little disappointed it wasn't more like its predecessors. I couldn't read books like this all the time - I always have to have a light read afterwards. But in a way I love it that I get scared so much. The ingenuity behind what happens in the FAYZ is awesome. I read the previous two books, and had a few ideas of what could be going on, but then the truth is revealed. Unfortunately most don't hear about the truth, and don't believe it when they do hear it.

I really liked how the normal children were ganging up against those with powers - rather than it just being those with powers fighting against each other, it demonstrated that people can view something as a blessing when other people view it as a curse. There were plenty of heads I wanted to bang together just so they would quit being stupid and work together to create a good life for them. Unfortunately mob thinking spreads very quickly, which means events spiral out of control. And it can be alarming how quickly the children cling to the hope the Prophetess provides. There's no way of knowing if she speaks truthfully. Or why she's accompanied by a girl who was barely mentioned in the previous books. As for the people coming back from the dead - that proves useful in a few cases, but the reason why they came back chilled me quite a bit. Where's the hope in the FAYZ if the enemies don't stay dead? Where will it all end?

I'm really looking forward to Plague, which will undoubtedly have more impressive plot twists.

Oh, the other cool thing about Lies....a quote was used from one of my reviews for the previous books! I'm in the comments section at the beginning. That was a nice discovery.

I lied (quite fitting with the title!). There is one more cool fact about the book. You see the electric blue on the cover? Every page edge is tinted that blue! I keep finding myself looking at it and smiling.