Villain

By Michael Grant

Internationally acclaimed author Michael Grant delivers another stunning follow-up to his globally bestselling GONE series.

When the lines between hero and villain blur, it's hard to tell who's the real monster.

Dillon Poe wanted to be a comedian once … but everyone made fun of him. Dillon the loser. Dillon the freak. Now he can control anyone with the power of his voice and he’s preparing to send thousands to their deaths. Who’s laughing now?

Dekka, Shade, Cruz, Malik, Armo and a new mutant with unmatched powers are all that stand in Dillon's way.

Internationally acclaimed author Michael Grant delivers another stunning follow-up to his globally bestselling GONE series. Michael has now written around 150 books (with Katherine, as himself, and under pseudonyms and as a ghostwriter.) He lives in San Francisco Bay Area taking his inspiration from the charming view of Alcatraz.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Oct 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781780317670

Michael Grant

Michael Grant, author of the Gone series, the Messenger of Fear series, the Magnificent Twelve series, and the Front Lines trilogy, has spent much of his life on the move. Raised in a military family, he attended ten schools in five states, as well as three schools in France. Even as an adult he kept moving, and in fact he became a writer in part because it was one of the few jobs that wouldn’t tie him down. His fondest dream is to spend a year circumnavigating the globe and visiting every continent. Yes, even Antarctica. He lives in California with his wife, Katherine Applegate, with whom he cowrote the wildly popular Animorphs series. You can visit him online at www.themichaelgrant.com and follow him on Twitter @MichaelGrantBks.

Reviews for Villain

[wb4ever1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I have stated in all of my reviews of the books in Michael Grant’s GONE series, I am many years beyond the reading demographic these YA books are geared toward, but I love a good story, and the original series, centered on the FAYZ at Perdido Beach, California, was a great story with a great premise. The previous book in the series, MONSTER, was a continuation with the action now taking place all around the world, with the introduction of a lot of new characters; it had its faults, with the main criticism being that it simply was not the GONE story so many had fallen in love with over six books. But it had enough of the author’s strong points, namely a knack for creating great villains, staging action scenes, and serving up gore, to make it a decent read. The eighth book in the series, VILLAIN, continues the story set up in MONSTER, as the group of super powered heroes who came together in that book: Shade Darby, Dekka Talent, Cruz, Armo, Malik, and newcomer, Frances Spector, take on a new mutated threat in Las Vegas. This title character is Dillon Poe, a particularly nasty little narcissistic piece of work, a kid who dreams of making it big as a comedian, and who can morph into a serpent like creature with the power to command individuals with his voice alone. The Ranch, the requisite secret mutant creating government facility, also figures in the story, as do returning bad guys like Justin DeVere, Tom Peaks, and Vincent Vu, although some of them are underused, so too is uber sadist Drake Merwin, a favorite from the first series, though in Drake’s case, he’s clearly being saved for another book. VILLAIN is noticeably shorter than MONSTER, and that is all to the better, as no time is spent with clunky character introductions and back story. It’s a quick read that plays to Grant’s talent in getting the reader invested in the action and characters with a spare use of words; and the battle of Las Vegas, which takes up the second half of the story, is well written, especially in the way it describes how Dillon uses his power to take over the free will of individuals and twist them to his selfish whims. There are scenes of carnage which are truly cringing inducing in the best way. Heroes and villains still “morph” in underwhelming transformations, and the learning curve when it comes to mastering powers is still way too easy, but I get it that Grant dispensed with anything that might have slowed the story down this time; middle books in a story arc can often end up bogging down a narrative, something Grant manages to dodge in VILLAIN. I enjoyed VILLAIN better than MONSTER, even the ostentatious diversity played better in this book, while the promised return of some fan favorites in the latter book was teased further in the former, setting things up nicely in the next book, HEROES, the final volume in the series. And if the GONE series never gets that live action TV or movie adaptation that has been rumored for years, then why not an animated series done in the same manner as the DC animated films put out by Warner Brothers? Why doesn’t somebody not pitch that to Netflix?

[vulco1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was ok. It definitely felt like a middle piece to a trilogy and possibly filler, but it was still a good read and some plot-relevant stuff happened. If you liked Monster #1, then you'll appreciate this. Some things were wrapped up too quick, way too quick (view spoiler). Some things went on for too long. But all in all fairly solid. Gonna read the third one.