Taken (Taken, 1)

Non-Spoiler ReviewTaken is a fast paced, action driven novel. The story is told through the eyes of Gray and seventeen year old boy whose brother is about to be taken from him. When he uncovers a secret, Gray's life becomes even more uneasy because everything he knows may potentially be a lie. Every time Gray finds an answer to his question, ten more appear. Twists and turns appear at every turn, and I actually can't say much about the plot without ruining it. But let's just the say the world is a little bigger and much scarier than Gray could have imagined and the secrets that he will uncover will threaten his entire world.But the character's are well developed, though I sometimes found Gray a bit hard to like. That's the thing though, I don't think Gray is supposed to be completely likable. The supporting characters are just as great. I liked how assertive both romantic interests were and how it wasn't just shallow attraction.If you're looking for a Hunger Games like dystopia, this book is definitely for you. It's dark, twisted, and makes you thankful for the world you live in now.SPOILERS AFTER THIS_--------The book was definitely dark, but it's not entirely as the summary description makes it seem. Again, without giving away everything, Gray lives in the world were there are no men, but we're only in that world for less than a third of the book. Most of the novel takes place out the Gray's city. Which is actually an experiment. There are four other cities like Grays, all experiments, to breed people in extreme conditions and then make them into soldiers. The soldiers are for the Civil War that split the US. It's very intense.My biggest problem in this book are the convoluted relationships. The novel begins with Gray having a crush and then getting together with Emma. I was relieved because yay, the romance is already established, lets focus on the story. But no, at one point Gray has to leave Emma in enemy hands while saving his own skin. While understandable that he didn't have much time to go and save her. He spends his time training and sort of falling for another girl Bree. He stays faithful to Emma, but his thoughts are straying. When he finally manages, after months, to get back to Emma we discover that she's moved on. Gray is angry, understandably, to find his girl with another guy. But at the same time, Emma had the right to move on. First she thought he was dead, second, he had left her behind with the enemy. Frankly, Gray has no right to be mad. Or take revenge the way he does by moving on to Bree. Like this whole weirdly convoluted triangle in unnecessary. Can we for once just focus on the world building instead of pushing romance down our throat? You can have it as a subplot, just don't make it as big of the problem as a freaken revolution. Please.I would still recommend it to any dystopia fiction lovers. It is very similar to Hunger Games and Delirium, a bit of a mix of two.

My original review of this book when emailing a friend was "THIS BOOK IS AMAZEBALLS." I really wish I was joking, but no. I was that eloquent. Which is shocking because this is not a "me" book at all. I am over the dystopian trend, much like the vampire trend. I had enough of it. That being said, Taken made me want to read ALL THE DYSTOPIAN! Things this book had going for it: -male pov. (I LOVE YOU GRAY!) -the romance aspect is almost non-existent to the point the triangle didn't bother me nearly as much as most love triangles bother me (see: loathe them) -Bowman's world-building.The mystery of the Heist, going over the wall, the whole world involved in this book had me holding it as close to me as possible without making it awkward. Taken is the first book in a trilogy by Erin Bowman. It is the story Gray, who lives in a town where no one lives to the age of 18. Like clockwork, on their 18th birthday the men of the town have what they call the Heist and they disappear, while the whole town watches. After Gray's older brother gets `Heisted' he starts to destruct things in his home, mostly because he's a 17 year old boy who's pissed at the world for being left alone. Can you blame him? His elder brother was Heisted, his father was of course Heisted, and his mother died. However, while destroying the house, he comes upon a letter his mother wrote to his older brother that changes his world.His world isn't everything he thought it was, he decides he is going to go over the wall. The wall that protects his city, Claysroot. It is known once you go over the wall you don't come back. It's dangerous. It burns you. But Gray goes over the wall because he can't stop asking questions about everything he's ever known. While the thought of the wall scares him, he has to go over, as the unknown scares him less than the known. On his way over the wall, his friend Emma goes with him. Emma ends up being part of the love triangle. She loves him for him, and loves the inquisitive side of him, and there is a really good back story with them.Emma and Gray don't die going over the wall. (YAY!) However things go downhill quickly and for various reasons the two get separated. Gray then meets Bree, hello other half the love triangle, which will equally pull at your heart strings. Usually I am obviously one team and this book isn't obvious to me. Which is props to Bowman's writing. It is extremely well written and realistic. I don't feel that it is a triangle just to write a triangle like I often feel like they are. This one is so realistic that my heart went out to the whole triangle.Gray's life is forever changed by his brother being "Heisted" and then going over the wall, so it will be interesting to see how else his life changes in the rest of the trilogy.The end of the book left me satisfied yet wanting more. I can't wait to see what else Bowman will write.Originally posted at yAdultReview.

It is no secret that I love dystopian novels but with the increase in popularity of the genre there have been many novels trying too hard to be the next Hunger Games or Divergent.Taken by Erin Bowman is far from this. Although dystopian novels will always have the similar elements of poverty, powerfully government, escape and uprising, this book does it in the right way.The main thing I loved about this book was that it took a different angle in where at first we think it is some form of higher being or magic which is heisting these boys at 18. It is not till we are almost half way through when we realise that there is actually more than what meets the eye.I did really enjoy this book but I didn’t give it an overall 5 stars and this is because although the plot was solid, and the action kept me hooked. I found myself getting pissed off with the love story within this book.Personally when people fall in love within one chapter and you don’t see it coming in the chapters before I find myself asking, “WTF?” Towards the end of this book the love story particularly pissed me off as I thought there should have been more emphasis on the action going on at that moment and not the protagonists thoughts about whether or not they love someone.Overall though I would highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu.Check out my book blog for more reviews https://bookswithems.wordpress.com/

I have not been as hooked as I was with this series for a long time! I cannot understand the bad reviews! I love the writing, the characters. I laughed, I was sad and happy all at once. I really cared about the characters and found the story so interesting. Do not listen to the bad reviews and give this a chance. I read all books in one day, I could not sleep til I had finished! Very sad it's over!

When I first started reading this book I thought I had it figured out. I thought I knew what was going to happen but in the end I did not. There were twists that you would not see until they happen which I loved.This book was not action every page, but because it was not, when there was action it made it more intense. The characters were believable which made it that much easier to read. The story line of this book was great, so different from the other books coming out now.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

i loved this book i cant wait for frozen to come out it was so good im still not sure who i like more out of the two girls for him but i just love this book

perfect