I stayed up late to finish this and I really wish I hadn't bothered. In fact, I'm very surprised I managed it.
This book was a huge disappointment. This is because I had high expectations of Michael Grant after reading his imaginative Gone series, full of exciting characters with mutant powers that draws interesting comparisons between the struggling society created by the kids and our own world. Grant's books have never been perfect to me, I have often complained about the lack of a decent female character who could be strong, realistic and not annoy the hell out of me. That's what was so bad about Bzrk, because it did have this.
When I was first introduced to Sadie McLure, I was thinking "YEEESSSS!!!" inside my mind because the author had finally delivered a female lead that was intelligent, kickass and not simply the sidekick or girlfriend of the male self-sacrificing hero. She was all these things... but Sadie was also as flat and boring as any character I've read after a few chapters. The book does start well, not just with the introduction of the characters, but with the dramatic plane crash that opens up a bizarre science-fiction mystery which involves secret corporations that are trying to take over the world. Exciting stuff. Well, for a while, that is.
Boredom is my biggest complaint about this book. The sci-fi aspect is well thought-out and conceivable, perhaps this novel just really is too much of a boy book (whatever that really means), I like my sci-fi with something a bit more human to balance it out: easily relatable characters, humour, even romance... Bzrk failed to successfully deliver any of these. Unfortunately, I'll just stick to finishing the Gone series, though I'm not sure how that's going to cope with two more books on the way - sometimes authors just don't know when to quit (I'm looking at you, Richelle Mead).
