My Thoughts: Lies by Michael Grant

"It's been seven months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.

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 Drake is dead—or so they thought. Perdido Beach burns and battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam left off. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. But are the kids of Perdido Beach desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?"-Amazon

My Thoughts

Wow, I'm at a loss of words right now. Lies was masterful, depressing, uplifting and heroic. Astrid was clearly the main character in this book, the author tore away from the "Astrid the genius" generic and showed us her flaws, her imperfections and her weaknesses. It was quite interesting to watch Astrid crack and splinter under pressure, and many times contradict herself. The most interesting part is the author didn't do it in a dramatic "choppy" unrealistic way- he somehow managed to make the downfall of Astrid look beautiful , Like an expensive wine glass shattering. Sam surprisingly wasn't in the book allot, more of a semi-main character- Like Astrid used to be. In Terms of revelations they weren't much, there was allot of war/battle scenes though, torture, cannibalism and rather graphic death scenes were kept to a minimum. And  I almost forgot! There was one more thing I liked about Lies, and that was the thought provoking questions. Would you support free speech? When someone was spreading lies that could potentially cause mass suicide? Has Astrid been manipulating Sam? Only befriending  him because he has the power to protect her and her autistic brother? Some very good questions indeed..... to find the answer to these questions and more read Lies by Michael  Grant.
Rating: A+
What to Expect?

• Death (At the very end)
• Lies (through the whole novel)
• New perspectives
• A literal glimpse of the outside world