Taken by Erin Bowman

Taken (Taken, #1)

by Erin Bowman

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?

Reviewed by ladygrey on

3 of 5 stars

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I liked Taken. I enjoyed Gray and it was an interesting world and a fast fun read.

The thing is, it left me wanting more. It's a lot of action balanced with a lot of feint and parry exposition. I wanted more relationship time with Gray and Blaine. And a lot more with Gray and Emma. And even more Gray and Owen. I think it's a book that might appeal well to boys - not strictly because it has a male protagonist but because its lots of action and light on relationships (which isn't a negative attribute in a book, but not my preferred style). Though I did think the characters handled the relationships in a mostly authentic way. Except Emma. I am exceptionally unhappy with how Emma's story played out.

In some ways, especially toward the end, it reminded me of [a:Maria V. Snyder|445303|Maria V. Snyder|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1224476079p2/445303.jpg] because the risk of a topsy-turvey world is that it breeds distrust in the reader. There were several things I was told that I expected to have yanked out from under me: the vaccine is actually the virus and they've unwittingly infected themselves! Blaine is a forgery! Also any time they said anything out loud in Union Central I expected someone to be listening/watching. I'm really glad they weren't but I spent a lot of the second half expecting that what I had been given in this story was a lie.

I'm very interested to see what happens next.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 13 May, 2013: Finished reading
  • 13 May, 2013: Reviewed