Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,906
edits
Gone (novel): Difference between revisions
m
added [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] using HotCat
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Literature.Gone 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Literature.Gone, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (added [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] using HotCat) |
||
| (20 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}
{{quote|''One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone.''}}
He just vanished - along with everyone else over the age of 14 in a 10-mile radius around Perdido Beach, California, which was also enclosed by an impenetrable dome. The children left behind find themselves battling hunger, fear, and one another in a novel [[Teenage Wasteland|strongly reminiscent of William Golding's]] ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''. [[It Got Worse|Things go from bad to worse]] when some of the children begin exhibiting strange powers, animals show signs of freakish mutations, and people disappear as soon as they turn 15.
Written by Michael Grant, co-author of the hit book series ''[[
Now has [[Gone (
No relation to the 2012 [[Amanda Seyfried]] [[Gone (
{{tropelist}}
* [[A God Am I|A King Am I]]: By the end of Plague, {{spoiler|Caine expects everyone to refer to him as king, and appoints himself supreme ruler of Perdido Beach.}}
* [[Above the Influence]]: Inverted in Plague when {{spoiler|Taylor took advantage of Sam when he was drunk.}}
Line 21 ⟶ 20:
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: We go all the way from Sam to Drake to Astrid to Caine to Zil to Orsay.
** Lampshaded with Nerezza:
{{quote|
'''Nerezza''': Yes, it is. }}
* [[Affably Evil]]: Caine
Line 27 ⟶ 26:
* [[And I Must Scream]]: Brittney{{spoiler|Drake}} being buried alive.
* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]: {{spoiler|Dekka to Brianna during her "surgery". Brianna doesn't take it too well.}}
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: Drake, he burns frogs, microwaves a puppy, and draws pictures of weapons
* [[Arc Words]]: "Hungry in the dark."
** For Astrid in ''Plague'': {{spoiler|A simple act of murder...}}
* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: Duck Zhang.
* {{spoiler|[[Ascend to
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Zil Sperry. Whenever he gets a [[Character Focus]] chapter, a lot of it is him admiring Lance and his looks. It's popular [[Fanon]] that he is gay but {{spoiler|we'll never find out as he's dead as of ''Plague''.}}
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Following in the footsteps of ''[[
* [[The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best In People]]: Sam takes the lead during the FAYZ, despite being completely average during normal circumstances.
** Taking charge when things get tough and attempting (not always succeeding) to go back to being a [[Ordinary High School Student]] is an established character trait for [[The Leader|Sam]].
Line 40 ⟶ 39:
* [[Asian Airhead]]: Taylor.
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Drake. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]] after {{spoiler|Sam blows his arm off and The Darkness grants him a tentacle-like appendage to replace it}}. And even worse now that {{spoiler|He's back from the dead and [[Sharing a Body]] with Brittany, who Sam won't kill because she's innocent.}}
* [[Back
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Computer Jack, highly capable in computers... [[Super Strength|And kicking your ass]].
* [[Badass Gay]]: Dekka. {{spoiler|Edilio, too.}}
Line 48 ⟶ 47:
*** Threatening Brianna seems to be a bad idea all around. Dekka had a similar if not worse reaction.
** Drake pushes this intentionally to draw Sam, Dekka and Jack out. Thanks to [[Living Lie Detector|Toto]], it doesn't work.
{{quote|
* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: The mutant coyotes in the desert.
* [[Big Creepy
* [[Bizarre Baby Boom]]: Some of the kids develop powers {{spoiler|due to the meteorite spreading the nuclear fallout.}}
* [[Blatant Lies]]: Caine's expertise.
{{quote|
Caine: I can. It would take about a week. }}
* [[Body Horror]]: E.Z {{spoiler|getting eating alive from the inside out by mutated killer worms in Hunger.}}
** The parasitic insects in ''Plague'' grow {{spoiler|inside their human victims, and eat their insides before [[Chest Burster|bursting out of their chests.]]}}
** Also from ''Plague'', {{spoiler|Brittney/Drake being cut in three by Brianna.}}
*** {{spoiler|Brittney/Drake goes through a lot, starting right when they got to claw their way out of a grave.}}
** In ''Fear'' {{spoiler|it is revealed what happened to Francis and Mary, who "poofed" in ''Lies''. It's [[And I Must Scream|not pretty]].}}
Line 71 ⟶ 70:
* [[Combat Sadomasochist]]: ''Drake''. Attacking him usually results in him cheering that he's "unkillable" and then murdering you.
** To make matters creepier, he gets stabbed in the chest and finds it hilarious.
{{quote|
* [[Control Freak]]: Astrid
* [[Crapsack World]]: '''''YES'''''.
Line 85 ⟶ 84:
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: In ''Fear'' Cigar kills a fellow fisherman in a drunken brawl. Since he committed murder, {{spoiler|Caine sentences him to [[Complete Monster|Penny]] for an entire day. Thirty minutes was enough to cause a ''two-day state of shock'' in the previous victim. Even Caine is horrified at the [[Eye Scream|end result]].}}
* [[Domed Hometown]]: After the adults disappear, there is a barrier around Perdido Beach.
* [[
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Mary. Although she may not be dead.}}
**
**
**
* [[Duck]]: Brianna is yelling for Duck, and confuses a lot of people.
* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Inverted by Astrid the Genius. Lampshaded when Lana meets the main characters and is surprised that Astrid is intelligent.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Darkness. Giant pile of living rock that represents itself in telepathic hallucinations as a giant floating mouth.
* [[
* [[Enfant Terrible]]: {{spoiler|Gaia}}, so very much. Within the ''four hours'' {{spoiler|from her birth}} to the end of ''Fear'', she manages to
* [[Ensemble Cast]]: While Sam could generally be called the protagonist (though there are always large portions of the story not focused on him), "Lies" moves all the way into this trope, with Sam getting equal or less attention than Astrid's struggle to lead the council and care for her brother, Sanjit and the island kids trying to fly to the mainland, power struggles among the Coates kids, Mary's growing mental problems, and many other subplots with the rest of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]].
* [[Et Tu, Brute?]] Sam and Quinn in the first book.
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: All the Coates kids have something or someone capable of humanizing them... Except Drake, that kid [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|jumped off the slippery slope]] a ''long'' time ago and is proud of it.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Caine is understandably appalled at {{spoiler|what Penny did to Cigar in the twelve hours she had him. To put it simply, she ''tortured him to insanity.'' When Lana regenerates his eyes he thinks back to some of the hallucinations she caused, and we get to see them.}}
Line 104 ⟶ 103:
* [[Eye Scream]]: {{spoiler|What ever is left of Cigar's eyes after Lana tries to regrow them.}}
* [[Expy]]: Several characters are reminiscent of Michael Grant's previous series with wife K.A. Applegate:
** Sam is very similar to [[Animorphs
** Astrid is an interesting mix of [[Animorphs
** Dekka is basically a transplanted [[Remnants|Tate]], with shades of Rachel.
** Caine has every bit of [[Remnants|Yago's]] ambition and ruthlessness and Diana is as manipulative and cunning as [[Remnants|2Face]].
* [[Faith Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Britney in Plague. Also Astrid, after seriously questioning her faith, becomes much more of an [[Anti
* [[Fantastic Racism]]:
** Regular kids against the Moofs (mutant freaks).
** Quinn at his lowest points resorts to ''actual'' racism, usually against Edilio. In fact, nearly every villain refers to Edilio as "the Mexican". Lampshaded in the second book by Edilio himself:
{{quote|
'''Sam:''' You're not Mexican, you're Honduran.
'''Edilio:''' Sometimes I forget. }}
** In ''Plague'', Lance goes full-out racist and blames blacks, gays, Mexicans and Jews for all his problems, as well as freaks.
* [[Fille Fatale]]: Diana, to some extent, although [[Teenage Wasteland|relative to the rest of the FAYZ]], fourteen isn't that young.
* [[Fire
** Dekka and Sam:
{{quote|
'''Dekka:''' [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Love you too, Sam.]] }}
* [[Five
** [[Big Bad|The Big Bad]]: Caine
** [[The Dragon]]: Drake, {{spoiler|Penny}}
Line 127 ⟶ 126:
** [[The Brute]]: Orc {{spoiler|pre-[[Heel Face Turn]]}}
** [[The Dark Chick]]: Diana
* [[Five
** [[The Hero]]: Sam
** [[The Lancer]]: Edilio, Brianna
Line 136 ⟶ 135:
** [[Team Pet]]: Patrick
** [[The Medic]]: Lana, Dahra
* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: Sam's ability, when being used offensively.
* [[Fun
{{quote|
** The E.Z Killers (mutated worms), or "zekes".
** The SDC, "supernatural death cough."
* [[Gallows Humor]]:
{{quote|
'''Astrid''': [[Lampshade Hanging|I believe that's what's referred to as Gallows Humor.]] }}
* [[Gender Blender Name]] : Quinn is a boy.
* [[Go Mad
* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Diana is often referred to as witch, instead of the obvious swear word bitch.
** She actually refers to ''herself'' as a bitch in ''Plague'', subverting this trope.
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The good guys are not wholly good, and the bad guys are not wholly evil. Except for Drake, again. And Penny.
* [[Grievous Harm
* {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Duck dies in order to defeat the Darkness}}
** {{spoiler|[[Senseless Sacrifice]]: Guess who survives anyway.}}
Line 157 ⟶ 156:
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Howard and Orc. Sam and Quinn [[Face Heel Turn|originally]].
* [[High Heel Face Turn]]: Zig-Zagged with Diana. Throughout the series, she's probably the least outwardly loyal Coates kid, often to the point of sabotaging their plans, but is the only one that actually cares about Caine. She stays even after half the team [[Heel Face Turn|Heel Face Turns]] but is openly critical of how things are being done. {{spoiler|Finally, in Plague, she leaves for good.}} But she remains on her own side the whole time, so there's no technical change.
* [[Homeschooled Kids]]: {{spoiler|Emily and her brother, [[Exactly What It Says
** And Orsay.
* [[How Do I Shot Web?]]: Most mutants.
* [[I Cannot Self
** In Plague {{spoiler|after Dekka gets hit by a greenie.}}
{{quote|
'''Sam:''' I won't let it happen, Dekka. I swear it. }}
** Also in Plague, {{spoiler|when Hunter is being [[Body Horror|eaten by greenies.]]}}
* [[I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship]]: One of Dekka's reasons for not telling Brianna she loves her.
* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: It's really hard ''not'' to interpret Drake's comments to Astrid in ''Plague'' this way. Calling her beautiful, winking at her, promising to [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|"come up and play"]] . . . those aren't usually preludes to whipping somebody's skin off. [[Combat Sadomasochist|Of course, with Drake . . .]]
* [[I Love Nuclear Power]]: one of the possible sources for the kids' superpowers. Justified because the series takes place in an [[Alternate Universe]] where the laws of science have been rewritten.
** But the laws of science are only different in the FAYZ which was made by {{spoiler|Little Pete}} who's [[Logic Bomb|powers may have come from the nuclear incident which means because nuclear power gives powers, nuclear power gives powers.]]
* [[Imaginary Friend]]: [[Spider
* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Dekka's crush on Brianna, who is straight.
* [[Incurable Cough of Death]]: The eponymous sickness in ''Plague.''
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted, and how. Sam and some others find a dead baby inside an abandoned house. {{spoiler|Also, the final battle scene in the end of ''Gone'' kills a lot of children.}}
** {{spoiler|Averted again near the end of ''Fear'' to a horrifying degree.}}
* {{spoiler|[[Instant Birth, Just Add Water]]: Diana, at the bottom of a certain mineshaft, with hardly any assistance and not a [[Express Delivery|lot of preparation either]].}}
* [[It Got Worse]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Michael Grant in his blog.
{{quote|
** The defining characteristic of the series. If it gets better, it will get worse.
* [[Jerkass]]: Caine in Plague.
Line 185 ⟶ 184:
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] : At the beginning of ''Hunger'' The list of people alive in Perdido Beach is at 332, and at least sixty names come up on a regular basis.
* [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: This is parodied in ''Plague''
{{quote|
* [[Meaningful Name]]: The series has a thing for Biblical names: Caine {{spoiler|trying to kill his brother}}, ''Mother'' Mary and ''Brother'' John taking care of the children, etc.
** Also, Lana "Lazur" rising from fatal injuries.
** "Drake" means [[The Dragon|"dragon"]].
** "Perdido" means "lost".
* [[Minimalistic Cover Art]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20141014072933/http://www.michaelgrantdownunder.com/p/gone.html The UK/Aus/NZ editions give a much more foreboding feel to the books.] The image doesn't even do it justice: the author's name is only visible because of its gloss on an otherwise matte cover.
* {{spoiler|[[Monster From Beyond the Veil]]: Drake/Brittney in Lies.}}
* [[Morality Pet]]: [[Dark Chick|Diana]] for [[Big Bad|Caine]] , although their relationship does show some abusive patterns on both sides. {{spoiler|In book four, he [[Took a Level
* [[Muggle Born of Mages]]: Quinn resents the other powered kids out of a conflicting mix of jealousy and xenophobia.
* [[Mr. Vice Guy]] : After the events of Hunger, Lana picks up smoking and drinking.
Line 199:
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Caine Sorren, Drake Merwin {{spoiler|WHIPHAND!}}, Orc, Mallet, {{spoiler|The Darkness}}, Zil, {{spoiler|Nerezza}}.
* [[Narrative Profanity Filter]]
* [[A Nazi
* [[No Bisexuals]]: Sexual orientation is pretty much always discussed in terms of gay/straight, with no indication that someone could be in between.
* [[No
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: {{spoiler|Albert gets shot in the head by Lance, yet manages to survive nearly bleeding out.}}
** Played with with {{spoiler|Drake.}} He gets (presumably) killed by Caine in Hunger, but returns in Lies {{spoiler|sharing a body with Brittney.}} Who is also a case, as she gets both legs broken and shot in the chest, yet can't be killed.
* [[Not Using the Z Word]]: Everyone to Brittney in Lies, though Howard just comes out and says it.
* [[One Person, One Power]]
* [[One Word Title]]: Each book has one.
* [[Only Fatal to Adults]]: The premise of the story.
Line 212:
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: '''EVERYONE.'''
* [[The Plague]]: There are two of them in ''Plague''.
* [[Playing
* [[Personality Powers]]: Some of kids gain powers based on their fears, such as how Sam makes light, and is afraid of the dark.
** Caine {{spoiler|and Computer Jack}} developed powers to impress Diana; Lana {{spoiler|and Orc}} gained their powers to survive the coyotes.
Line 225:
* [[Random Power Ranking]]: Diana, from Coates Academy, has the ability to sense the strength of people's powers. She gives people a ranking in "bars", like the strength of a cellphone signal. Normally they range from 1 to 4, {{spoiler|except for Little Pete, who seems to be about ''10''.}}
* [[Random Teleportation]]: It's random to everyone but Little Pete.
* [[Released to Elsewhere]]: People who turn 15
** It's revealed what happens in ''Fear''.
* [[Reluctant Warrior|Reluctant Hero]]: Sam
* [[Reality Warper]]: It appears that Little Pete may be one of these, which means that the most powerful person in Perdido Beach is a severely autistic four-year-old.
* [[Running Gag]]: {{spoiler|When Caine meets Duck in ''Hunger'' he takes to calling him [[My Name Is Not Durwood|Goose.]]}}
* [[Separated
* [[Sharing a Body]]: {{spoiler|Brittany and Drake.}}
* [[Shout
** The illusion
* [[Sickly Green Glow]]: Averted AND played straight.
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Lana in Lies. Justified because she can heal herself of any damage caused.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Zil Sperry hates [[Ho Yay|all but one]] of his teammates, resents not being recognized as a formidable antagonist, and {{spoiler|gets himself killed in a poorly planned attempt to gain recognition.}} Very smug, very irritating, and, in the end, pretty worthless.
* [[Somebody
* [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]]: A lot of characters.
** {{spoiler|Chunk, the Coates Academy toadie gets killed (albeit unintentionally) by Caine when he gets thrown into a wall in ''Hunger.''}}
* {{spoiler|[[Suddenly Sexuality]]}}: {{spoiler|Edilio is revealed to be gay in ''Fear'', along with Artful Roger and the two are together. There's a bit of lead up to this in the novel itself, but not previous installments which make sense, since Edilio does not get very many POV chapters.}}
* [[Speech
* [[Starfish Aliens]]: The gaiaphage.
* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: Mary and her brother John become foster parents for pretty much all children under five. Eventually they earn the nicknames Mother Mary and Brother John.
* [[Stock Super Powers]]:
** Astrid: [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|Can tell a person's potential.]]
** Brianna: [[Super Speed]]
** Brittney: {{spoiler|Shared with Drake from Lies forward: [[Immortality]], [[Healing Factor]]}}
Line 260:
** Jill: [[Enthralling Siren]]
** Lana: [[Healing Hands]]
** Little Pete: Many undiscovered, but as of ''Plague'', [[Teleportation]], and can make things disappear. Later becomes a full-on {{spoiler|[[Reality Warper]] after he [[Ascend to
** Orc: {{spoiler|[[Taken for Granite|His run-in with the coyotes results in him mutating into a 6-foot tall rock monster.]]}}
** Orsay: [[Dreaming of Things to Come|Can see the dreams of others.]]
** Penny: [[Master of Illusion]]
** Sam: [[Light
** Taylor: [[Teleportation]]
** Toto: [[Living Lie Detector]]
* [[Superpower Meltdown]]: The going theory is that {{spoiler|Little Pete caused the FAYZ by having a panic attack... in the middle of the catastrophic meltdown of the Perdido Beach Nuclear Power Plant}}. Later {{spoiler|confirmed.}}
* [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]] : Nerezza. She is described as an extremly beautiful girl with long black hair. Oh, and {{spoiler|her name means ''darkness''...}}. Diana, too.
* [[Take That]]:
{{quote|
'''Sanjit''': [[Crowning Moment of Funny|I don't understand what that means.]] }}
* [[Teen Pregnancy]]: {{spoiler|Diana, by Caine.}} [[Fetus Terrible|Lord help us.]]
Line 280:
** {{spoiler|And in Lies, Edilio and ''the Artful Roger'' become a couple.}}
* [[This Is Reality]]
{{quote|
* [[Troubling Unchildlike Behavior]]: The series has been described by critics as "''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' by way of [[Stephen King]]".
* [[Tsundere]]: Diana, when she's around Caine.
* [[Twofer Token Minority]]: Dekka is a black lesbian. And a Moof, which makes her threefer in the novel's universe. She [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it.
{{quote|
* [[Unusual Chapter Numbers]]: The chapters come with a countdown of days, hours, minutes, and seconds to the climax of the book.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: The kids come up with a few terms to describe what happens when {{spoiler|people turn 15 and disappear}}. Some of the more frequently-used ones are "poof", "blink", and "make the jump". Basically, they're all just euphemisms for {{spoiler|dying}}.
* [[Villainous BSOD]]: Caine during the period between ''Gone'' and ''Hunger.''
* [[Welcome Back, Traitor]]: To Jack in Hunger.
* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|Who Names Their Kid "Brother"?:]] Emily's... [[Exactly What It Says
** A lot of names come under this. Duck, Zil and for starters.
* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Drake! He kills anyone who gets in the way of what he wants {{spoiler|coyotes-in-daycare scene}}. [[Literal
** This may count for '''everyone''', because when you think about it, they're all [[Just a Kid|just kids]]!
* [[Unfazed Everyman]]: Quinn
Line 297:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]▼
[[Category:Gone]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
▲[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:One-Word Title]]
| |||