Gone again

[nostalgichild.livejournal.com]

Is anybody still reading the Gone Series by Michael Grant? Anybody like to discuss them?

I'm currently reading 04 "Plague" and I have to say, although they are anything but perfect, and although they are pretty distubing, I still like them a lot. Michael Grant has such a compelling way to write, that I couldn't put them away once I started to read.
What I don't like is that that the books focus on far to many different characters. I get that Drake is the big bad but his scenes are often the ones I'm least interested in (like the part where he went into the mine to find the Gaiaphage). Also some of their relationships and developments come off badly. e.g: I totally didn't realize that Sam and Dekka were such close friends until Sam said "I love you" in Plague. That came out of the blue for me, but I liked it anyway.
I also hate that some of the characters get neglected because of the sheer amount of main characters. Like Quinn. He was a big part of Gone but was barely in Hunger and Lies. Then he was sort of important in Plague again. I also would like to see more of Edilio. Although he is one of the more normal people in the FAYZ, he' s still one of my favorite characters. I did read an interesting spoiler that he turns out to be gay in book 5 and that he even has a boyfriend. I think it's great that he finally is getting some love, but it totally came out of nowhere. I get that he didn't want to tell anyone but to make it credible there should have been some hints for the readers. (Didn't he even have a little crush on Lana in Gone?) But that's just me being pedantic - I hate inconsistency in book series (and in TV shows for that matter).

What do you guys like and hate about these books?