Review: Taken by: Erin Bowman

Taken by: Erin Bowman (2013)
Publisher: HarperTeen
360 pages
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Source: Birthday Present!
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.
Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

My Review

Even though I finished this book days ago I’m still having a hard time trying to decide how I feel about it. Huge sigh. I just had no strong feels towards this book, either negative or positive. I read it and enjoyed it and that is about it. I can say with certainty that while Taken was interesting, it lacked uniqueness.

I felt like the general dystopian plot for Taken didn’t have a whole lot of new ideas behind it. There was nothing overly unique or new that was brought to the table. I was hoping for something amazing behind the wall, but all I received was pretty much nothing unexpected. I will confess that there was something about this book that held my attention to the very end. I just can’t quit put my finger on why I was so intrigued when I pretty much guessed/knew every single surprise that Taken had to offer. It might have to do with the fact that it had some pretty good action scenes that kept me on my toes. I will also admit that the ending was intense. Because of this I can guarantee you that I will pick up the second book.

Something that was really nice about Taken, the refreshing male point-of-view. I think that Gray portrays a believable teenage male character. I liked his need to always follow his gut instinct, causing him to not always think before he acts. I enjoyed that because he didn’t overthink things and didn’t always need a big plan, although his gut instincts don’t always lead him into the best scenarios. Gray still wasn’t my favorite character though. There were many times when I ended up yelling out loud for him to use his brain and put the pieces together, it is not that hard boy. As you can see I have conflicting feelings about him. I also want to give you a heads up that there is a love triangle in this book, and I didn’t really like it. I usually don’t mind love triangles but they have to be done just right and this one didn’t sit well with me, although Gray did handle it very well. Wow, I’m so conflicting in this review, I apologize, like I said at the beginning, I really am not sure how I feel about this book. 

I’m honestly not sure what else to say for this one. It was a fast paced read. It only took me like two days to finish it, which are my favorite kind of books. On the other hand, it wasn’t as epic as I was hoping it would be. Which may have been because of all of the hype Taken had before its release, I just can’t say. I would suggest you pick this one up at the library if you want to give it a go, a good pick for an action packed fast read.

RATING 3/5