{DNF} Review: Taken by Erin Bowman

Title: Taken
Author: Erin Bowman
Series: Taken, book #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: April 16, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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?

**Fair warning:  this review will contain spoilers, ranting, and likely some swear words.**

I was excited to get my hands on an ARC of this book.  It had some serious potential, and I couldn't wait to find out what that whole Heist situation was about.  But I quit reading at page 132, so I guess someone's just going to have to tell me.  Nothing major happened on that particular page, and I hadn't yet thrown the book across the room, but I'd had enough.  The throwing fit was coming, and I could've used an outlet for my frustration at that point, but instead, I decided to cut my losses.

I was so pumped to read another novel from the male perspective, but this doesn't read like that at all.  It reads like a male POV written from a grown woman's perspective.  And the dialogue!  It was cringe-inducing at best and left me feeling like I was reading about 12-year-olds instead of kids who were supposedly considered adults in their community:

     "No, that's not what I meant."..."I'm trying to say that I think doing what you feel can't always be easy, but at least you're being true to yourself."
     "It's okay, Emma, you don't have to try to make me seem like a better person.  You don't have to justify why it's all right to spend time with me."

     "I ...I wanted...Well, fine, Gray!  It's nice to see you, too."

And then there's the way sex is [mis]handled in this book.  I get it:  adulthood has to come a lot earlier when all boys are Heisted on their 18th birthdays.  But that does not mean all kids over the age of 15 should have to consent to the Slating.  For those of you not in the know, Slating is a system of matching up boys and girls for a month at a time in hopes of procreation and growing the population so that these people don't dwindle away into nothingness.  Fine.  But there are some kids who don't like this arrangement.  And others who only agree to it because it's what's expected of them.  Blaine's situation, fathering a child knowing that you're going to be Taken from them, is all the more reason to avoid the whole thing.  Gray does just this, possibly the only thing I liked about his character.  Sure, he's completed Slatings, but he assures us he's done everything to avoid becoming a father only to have to leave his child behind when the time comes.  But no one else, save for Emma, seems to have this aversion to the Slatings.

As I said, I didn't even get halfway through the book.  But I've been informed by other readers that the romance gets a little convoluted, as well.  It's not a love triangle but a freaking rectangle.  Why am I not surprised?  Apparently, sometime after Gray and Emma make it over the wall and are picked up by those other guys, Gray goes missing.  While he's gone -- my friend Em tells me he was missing for approximately a month -- Emma reunites with that one guy that she actually completed a Slating with and they have sex.  And I believe Gray meets Bree while he's missing and there's something between them, too.  Just knowing this makes me glad I stopped reading when I did.

Also, all those boys who were Heisted?  They're in a community on the other side of the wall.  Including Blaine.  And also, apparently their father.  How the hell can these guys not go back for their families?  I flipped through the pages and saw something about a resistance.  Is that what they're fighting?  Were there ever any freaking monsters on the other side of the wall?  Do I really care anymore?

I could rant forever on this.  In fact, Em was hoping I would finish so we could rant together for hours.  But I just couldn't put myself through that torture.  Needless to say, I will not be picking up further installments in this series.


Rating:  DNF - But I think Joaquin more adequately expresses my feelings on the matter...



But there are plenty who have really enjoyed this book.  Check out some positive reviews below:

The Book Hookup
Finding Bliss in Books
Step into Fiction

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Labels: book trailers, disappointments, dnf, dystopian, erin bowman, harper-collins, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, taken

Teaser Tuesday #51: Taken by Erin Bowman & The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser(s) comes from the following book(s):

Title: Taken
Author: Erin Bowman
Series: Taken, book #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: April 16, 2013
Source: ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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 teaser:

He twists around, his face right before mine.  The eye above his scar is disconcertingly foggy.  "If you know what's good for you and your girlfriend, you will shut up and follow us to safety.  But if you want to burn, by all means, stay here."

-- p. 98

Me and this book got off to a bad start, but it's picking up.  It probably doesn't help that I read Arclight right before this, and that book was pretty phenomenal as far as sci-fi goes.

Title: The Eternity Cure
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Blood of Eden, book #2
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Source: galley received from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

My teaser:

Carefully, I grasped my sword and eased it out, being sure the metal didn't scrape against the sheath.  Getting here had been way too easy.  Whoever was on the other side of that door knew I was coming.  If Sarren was expecting me, I'd be ready, too.  If Kanin was in there, I wasn't leaving until I got him out safe.

-- Loc 335, 7%

Eeek!  Kanin!  After that prequel story in 'Til the World Ends, I've been dying for some more Kanin.  And I've heard we get to see more of him in this book, though I can't confirm yet because me and my buddy are taking it easy on this read along...just a few chapters a night to soak it all in.  =)


What are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

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Labels: blood of eden, dystopian, erin bowman, harlequin-teen, harper-collins, julie kagawa, post-apocalyptic, read-along, sci-fi, taken, teaser tuesday, vampires

Judging a Book By Its Cover #20: A Kid's Perspective on Taken by Erin Bowman

Okay, so I totally stole this idea from Sara at Forever 17 Books, who got the idea from an article on Babble called Judging a Book by Its Cover: A 6-year-old Guesses What Classic Novels Are All About.  I just discovered her lovely segment, and I immediately requested forced my own five-year-old daughter Katie to provide me with some of her own cover art artwork and then asked her what she thought the book was about.



This week, Katie gave me her take on the following book:

"The boy and girl are running away from their house and it was a really cloudy day."

Cover Art

Taken as envisioned by Katiebug

From what I know of this book -- which is actually very little because I haven't read it yet, though it is coming up soon in the review pile -- I think that's a very good guess.  =)

Have you read this book or do you plan to?  What do you think of Katie's guess at the premise?  

Did your little darling create a work of art based on a book this week? If so, be sure to link up with Sara over at Forever 17 Books.

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Labels: cover art, dystopian, erin bowman, harper-collins, judging a book by its cover, katiebug, taken