3 out of 5: TAKEN By Erin Bowman

Taken (Taken #1) by Erin Bowman

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?

Review:

Taken is like the cousin to The Maze Runner by James Dashner. There's an intriguing beginning, a twist in the middle, and a change in the love story.

I think the highlight of this story is the change in which leader is really the protagonist. It creates an unsettling feeling because all of the sudden the good guy ends up as the bad guy and vise versa. Taken does feel like The Maze Runner series all packed in one book. The only difference is that the suspense is not as good, and thus, the ending did not cause me to do my usual I-can't-believe-that-ending routing where I close the book, stare at the cover, and think about what I just read.... and then freak out.

Another thing that was missing from the plot was the epic battle scene. For a person to work so hard in training, Gray seemed almost useless when the team went back to the city. However, I love the kick-ass spirit that Bree has -that girl can kick any guy's butt. So, once Bree is introduced, it makes Gray's original love interest pale by comparison. In fact, it kind of annoys me that Gray keeps switching between Bree and Emma.

If you've read The Maze Runner and you're looking for something exactly like it, I'd recommend Taken. However, if you've read The Maze Runner and you are hoping to find something as exciting, I would look somewhere else.

Find Taken on: Amazon | Goodreads