Gone: Wake Trilogy, #3 -- Lisa McMann
As it'd be extremely difficult to talk about this one without referencing the first two books in the series, there will be spoilers. Actually, due to my frustrations with Gone, there'll be spoilers about it, too, but I'll warn you before letting those fly. So: Spoilers about the first two books throughout, but I will warn you about Gone spoilers. Understood? Okay, onward.
Oh, wait -- before I start, a quick story. So one of my favorite (adult) patrons asked me what I thought of this series, and I told her she should give it a try because it's in the same realm as a lot of the other books she's liked, and that while I had some major issues, I seem to be the only person on the planet who isn't in love with the series. She walked back into the library a couple of days later, having read the first two books, made eye contact with me from across the room, and just started giggling. Apparently she hit the part where Janie got hired by the cops, immediately recognized it as the bit that must've made me bananas, and almost fell off her treadmill because she cracked herself up picturing my Look Of Outrage. Love her.
Okay, so now that Janie has learned what her choice is: Continue using her power, which will eventually leave her blind and crippled... OR isolate herself from people for the rest of her life. Awesome choice, right?¹
In addition, while on vacation with Cabel -- who, of course, she hasn't informed about this whole isolation thing -- she gets a frantic call from her best friend, who has just brought Janie's extremely drunk, loudly incoherent and verbally abusive (more so than usual) mother to the hospital. Janie heads back to find that her father -- whom she has never met -- is in a medically inexplicable coma.
Okay.
Oh, hell. I can't do this without spoilers. If you've read and loved the other books, you're going to read this one, regardless of what I think, so you should do that and then come back and we can compare notes. Or you could just skip it and pretend that there are only two books in the series. I do think that some people will feel that way.
If you haven't read them, and are planning to, you shouldn't have read this far anyway.
If you haven't read them and AREN'T planning to, but would like to know what my thoughts are out of some masochistic tendencies or a desire to know what I think some of the fan response will be, well, okay then. Go crazy. SPOILERS FOLLOW.
First. I've never really taken to Janie. Which made her especially hard to deal with in Gone. While I understood WHY she was acting the way she was, it didn't erase the fact that she was, as my sister would say, being a G-DB. I understood the behavior, and the stress was certainly understandable, but WOW. She was an unpleasant person to be around for 215 pages, regardless of how little actual text there is or how fast they get turned. So there was that.
Second. I haven't been this frustrated with cluelessness on the part of a main character in, like, ever. Her father is in the hospital with Big Brain Problems, his dreams are out of control and stronger than most, and he's been LIVING IN ISOLATION. Figure it out, Janie. Yeesh. Where do you think your abilities came from in the first place? It took about half of the book for her to make the connection, and then really only because she was bashed over the head with it. So that was frustrating. As was the LOOK AT YOUR MOTHER, JANIE, THAT COULD BE CABEL parallel storyline.
Third. Janie and Carrie's dialogue. What sort of crazy person slang was that?
Fourth. As I wasn't particularly invested, this one isn't so much something that bothered me, but I can guarantee you that you'll have some young readers throwing books. There isn't really a clear-cut ending. Janie makes her decision, but that's... it. It just ends. Sort of. Which makes sense, in that the story doesn't end for her and blah blah blah, but I know my kids, and they're going to be pissed. END SPOILERS.
Overall, it was much less plot-driven than the first two, which I think will also be a problem for some fans, the storyline about her mother felt like a PSA about alcoholism, and the relationship between Janie and Cabel (which I think was a big draw for a lot of readers) wasn't satisfying. The author told me that they were in love, but I never felt it. As I said, I almost think that some readers will wish it'd just been a duet, rather than a trilogy.
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¹Actually, whenever she brought up the isolation, I thought of that idyllic setup Neve Campbell had at the beginning of Scream 3. How awesome was that place? I'd live there. If I didn't have to worry about Ghostface coming after me, that is.
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Previously:
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Book source: Library copy.
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