Brad About Books: Taken by Erin Bowman

Read from April 16 to 17, 2013

TAKEN 

Published: April 16, 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 360 pages

Source: Amazon.com

Series: Taken, #1

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?

Oh. My. Gosh. Taken is absolutely phenomenal! Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite books of the year. Taken shines new light onto the dystopian genre in a fresh and riveting way that stands out. I can’t begin to describe my love for this book. 

The world-building in this novel is so unique. I loved getting to explore Claysoot in all its strange and peculiar ways, and the fact that we get to learn even more about Claysoot is on my favorite parts of Taken. The Wall is pretty scary, but even more scary (literally, I had a nightmare about it): The Heist. I’m a guy, and in Taken, all boys disappear at midnight on their eighteenth birthday. WHAT? That freaked me out and seriously scared me! And I adored it.

Gray is an awesome protagonist. I feel like he’s a character you’ll instantly connect with or not. Luckily for me, I did. He’s a younger brother, I’m a younger brother. I agreed with him on loads of his reasoning, especially when it came to try to figure out what happened to his brother and family. And we get to meet even more cooler characters! Blaine, Emma (whom I wished we got to see a bit more of it), and a fantastic (but some wicked) ensemble of characters. And the character development was marvelous! We get to see Gray become even stronger and take control of his world. Erin Bowman did a fantastic job at crafting together these characters and this world!

And wow, talk about action scenes! Many can be found in Taken, and there is never a dull moment. I loved getting to see fight scenes, scenes where the truth is revealed, and honestly, I loved every single bit of Taken. Definitely a highlight for the year!

Overall, Taken is a wonderful and exciting read that kept me on the edge of my seat and my eyes glued to the page! Highly recommended!

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