My Thoughts: The FURY, by Alexander Gordon Smith

Age Range: 12 - 18 years

Grade Level: 7 and up

Lexile Measure: 850L

Hardcover: 688 pages

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR);

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0374324956

ISBN-13: 978-0374324957

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.3 inches

"Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you. Every single person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage, hell-bent on killing you - and only you. Friends, family, even your mum and dad, will turn on you. They will murder you. And when they have, they will go back to their lives as if nothing has happened.

 The world has the Fury. It will not rest until you are dead. Cal, Brick and Daisy are three ordinary teenagers whose lives suddenly take a terrifying turn for the worst. They begin to trigger a reaction in everybody they meet, that makes friends and strangers alike want to tear them to pieces.

These victims of the Fury - the ones that survive - manage to locate each other. But just when they think they have found a place to hide from the world, some of them begin to change ...They must fight to uncover the truth about the Fury before it's too late. But it is a truth that will destroy everything they know about life and death."- Goodreads

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My Thoughts:

Whoa... I don't know where to start.

The Fury is a gargantuan book, clocking in at a whopping 668 pages. Though I wasn't at the edge of my seat for all of them, I did enjoy the movie-like experience they created. You see, I went on a journey, a marathon of sorts, reading through a story  so complete, so wholesome, it was hard not to cower in its entirety. Although the novel only takes place over six days, Alex makes it feel like six weeks. PLENTY of time for Character development right? RIGHT?  sort of.

The one thing that was lacking (not as good as everything else), was the character development of Daisy, Cal, and Rilke. I understand that with everything that was going on, perhaps their backstories might have been "empty baggage", but I feel its important to understand where these characters come from. Doing so might have added that extra pinch of emotion. (Disclaimer: There were more characters than what was listed above)

"Blame it on stress, he thought, twisting a long strand of grass between his fingers. Blame it on shock, on fear. But the truth was much simple than that. He was unfriendly. He promised himself he'd make an effort to be nice"- The Fury

Now for the concept critique... Without further inspection, one might assume Alex has no imagination.. A horror book about everyone wanting to kill me? Too easy. But I assure you, while it may seem simplistic at first, whatever I just read in the last 400 pages, both mystified, intrigued, and confused my senses - in all the right ways.

""Destroyed was the wrong word. Destruction left ruin, left rubble, left corpses. This thing left nothing, no bodies, no wrecks, no ash. It devoured it all"- The Fury

In terms of general writing quality, Gordon Smith excels. His imaginative similes, and affinity for the word "rage"  stand out in this tale. As an added bonus, I was actually able to differentiate each characters POV. (One of the benefits of having characters of a (somewhat) varied age)

The Fury leaves the reader with a lot of questions. Though it is (closed) in a sense, I still wonder WHY this "the force of unspeakable darkness" returned to reality. What spurred it? And was the storm-being always a storm being? Questions, Questions....

My Rating: 4/5

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