Hunger

By Michael Grant
608 pages
The second in the series, and even more enthralling than the first. More characters are introduced and rounded out as we follow up with the children of Perdido Beach three months after the disappearance of adults. Food is running out, children are starving, and the lines between the private school kids and the rest of the children splinter into smaller factions when the children without powers start to rebel against those that do. Grant does not shy away from any issue that one would expect under such extreme circumstances – theft, corruption, murder and cannibalism – but he also focuses on the emotional and interpersonal dynamics: the gay teen Dekka who develops a crush on a straight friend as they use their powers to try to help feed the town; Mary, the teen who steps forward to care for all the children under five but finds herself buckling from the guilt and strain of being of a bulimic during a time of starvation; Albert, a quiet kid who stepped in to run the McDonald’s until food ran out, finds that he has a head for business that can help solve the food crisis while also helping him rise to power.
Also rising to the forefront in this novel is the Darkness, also called the Gaiaphage, an amorphous creature in the hills near town that has the ability to weedle its desires into the heads of chosen children. What does the Gaiaphage have to do with the disappearance of adults – and what is the connection between it and Astrid’s little brother?
Just fascinating stuff.