Book Review: Taken by Erin Bowman

Title: Taken
Author: Erin Bowman
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: April 16, 2013
Source: Hardbound

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?

So Taken, first of all I am always fascinated by the cover of this book and the design is very attractive. I love the color combination it is so alive. The next thing is I kept asking why Taken? Is there something happened that someone got kidnapped or what? You’ll never know until you read the book so I started reading it and I fell in love with Gray right away, oh not with Gray, with the book (but yes with Gray too). Personally, I like the flow of the story it has too many revelations to take, I really enjoyed everything, and while reading I experienced the change of emotion especially about their love teams. The book is tricky, you’ll think that you already solved the puzzle but on the other-hand you did not. You’ll think that this piece is perfectly matched but when you look closer there’s a wrong edge of the puzzle. 

When it comes to the main character, I like Gray’s bad guy attitude, he’s not a villain okay? It’s just that sometimes he is mean but he is totally a good guy. He hates Claysoot’s policy. He began looking for answers and question so many things when he found out that there’s more about him. For me he is kind of weird too, but I’m saddened that people needs to hide things from him – I’m not a fan of it’s for your own good line – I feel like because of that his life became more complicated. His love life is also unpredictable you don’t know who will end up for him and who’s the best girl. Blaine, he is the complete opposite of Gray, he has a child named Kelsey and a wife back in Claysoot but he was heisted already so he’s been away with them for so long. But I doubt about Blaine, I don’t know if I should or what, but I think Blaine is not him anymore. That’s just a theory though.

This is such a nice book, I miss reading YA because of this and I’m excited to read the next book entitled “Frozen”. I will read my copy soon but I bet there will be a cliffhanger. There are still many mysterious things to solve and the enemy is not dead yet probably the next book is full of exciting scenes.

“Sometimes we have to do things that are not completely agreeable”.

My Rating

Erin Bowman used to tell stories visually as a web designer. Now a full-time writer, she relies solely on words. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and when not writing she can often be found hiking, commenting on good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter.

Erin is represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger. She is the author of TAKEN and forthcoming FROZEN (4/15/14) from HarperTeen.