Though I’ve said it in every review of the GONE saga and its spin-offs, it bears repeating that I am very far removed from the YA demographic these books are aimed at, but I good story is a good story and always worth reading. HERO is the final book in Michael Grant’s spin-off from his popular teen dystopia saga of the trapped children and teenagers in the FAYZ, the previous books in the series being MONSTER and VILLAIN. In this spin-off, mysterious meteors crash to earth and unleash a mutagenic virus giving humans various abilities, usually manifesting itself in a physical transformation. As Grant stated at the beginning, these three books were his hand at trying to create his own superhero universe extrapolated from his original series. I had some criticisms of the previous two books, but thought they worked because Grant is good writer when it comes to action, suspense, and the ability to create really good antagonists.

In HERO, the Rockborn Gang—Dekka, Shade, Cruz, Malik, Armo, and Frances—having saved Las Vegas in VILLAIN, now find their hands full when another meteor comes down in New York City and creates a new and particularly nasty Big Bad. This time around, the Gang is joined by Sam Temple, Astrid Ellison, and Edilio Escobar from the original series. The plot is simple: the threat makes itself known, the Rockborn Gang confront it, have their butts kicked, regroup, double down, and come up with a plan. There is a final confrontation, which to Grant’s credit, is not an easy victory. In between there is a lot of personal drama as the protagonists sort out who they are, their feelings for one another, and the price of being a super hero and doing what has to be done to stop equally empowered villains who have no guilt when it comes to the harm they do. It is pretty much what we have seen in the other two books. And when I said Grant had a knack for writing great villains, I was talking about Vector, HERO’s main nasty, a sentient hive of insects capable of inflicting unending suffering and pain upon their victims that not even death will deliver them from. That Vector was a rapacious capitalist before being transformed is something of a trope—nobody writes about a mutated barista gone bad.

HERO is enjoyable, but it breaks no new ground, pretty much following the same path laid out in the previous two books, which is one problem I have with this spin-off series. A good trilogy should build action and suspense throughout, with the establishment of an ongoing threat at the beginning and a final well earned payoff in the finale, with conflicts and subplots resolved. What Grant did was basically write three potboilers. There is nothing wrong with that, but he managed the art of an ongoing series so well in the GONE books, it felt like a letdown here. Grant stated in the Author’s Note that it was his intention to create a superhero universe, and freely admitted to being influenced by Stan Lee’s X-Men. Another problem with HERO is that certain characters prominently featured in the first two books, like Tom Peaks and Jason DeVeere, barely made cameos in this one. I thought they would do way more with Drake Merwin, a hateful piece of work from the GONE series, who it seems was brought back for no other reason than him being a fan favorite, and that he helped strengthen the connection to the original books. It might have been better if Grant had started over from scratch when creating his super hero universe and not tied it to his previous success. It can be said that he used the tired tropes of present day super hero comics such as heavy handed diversity and overrepresentation of queer characters, though some of that might have been editorial dictates.

But the big problem with HERO is the final Big Reveal with the mysterious Watchers in the final chapter, and the cliffhanger Grant winds the series up with. I won’t go into the details except to say that I found it very unsatisfying, and disliked the way it undermined the entire GONE saga. After reading it, I couldn’t help but wonder if Grant really had his heart in this spin-off all along, and didn’t just write it to wring more money from its avid fans. In the end, he openly invites writers of fan fiction to finish the story. Michael Grant, you are no Stan Lee.

So this is where the GONE saga truly comes to an end as teen dystopias have gone out of style recently. It was a decent ride even if a tire blew on the last turn. There is still hope of a live action adaptation, but as I’ve stated in previous reviews, that might prove to be problematic now due to the content. Maybe we should just be thankful with what we’ve got on our bookshelves. ( )

For this review I will be looking at the finale book of the Monster trilogy and the Gone series: Hero. The trilogy focuses on newer characters while some characters from the original series make their appearances. The main characters are Shade, Malik, Cruz, Dekka, Armo, and Francis: teenagers who have acquired monstrous powers from an alien rock. Michael Grant is a writer that reminds me of a cross between Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson. There is action, some tinges of romance that are not too distracting from the plot, and a lot of characterization. But there is also violence, horror, and villainy with creative twists that you do not see coming. This book, and this series in particular, is not really one for younger teens, or teens that haven’t read a lot of sci-fi horror.
Having not read the Gone series before the spin off trilogy, I feel like I may have appreciated it more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, it was incredibly entertaining, and the twists made me keep reading until the very end…but when I got to the end, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel. We find out that these dark watchers are not the aliens that our characters thought they were. It was one of the main characters in the future, and everything that the characters had been through…was a simulation?? So, in order to stop him, the characters make a decision as to whether or not they are going to kill themselves to prevent this future from ever happening. Except, we never find out the answer. The books ends with everyone casting their vote. We do not know the outcome. The twist about the Dark Waters is swift and not explored, and I feel like as a reader of the trilogy and not the rest of the Gone series that fans were thrown under a bus. Major “Lost” impression.
I suppose if you like philosophy, monsters, Stephen King, horror, LGBT characters, a dark aesthetic, and questionably unfinished or open-ended endings, then this trilogy and its finale deserves five stars. But if you are me, and feel like you were slightly cheated out of a unique take on alien invasions, then you give what you thought would be a solid four stars….maybe a 3.5. ( )