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charlottee96's review against another edition
4.0
This book is great, a good old dystopian that is refreshingly in a boys point of view and is not completely taken over by romance
novelheartbeat's review against another edition
4.0
Taken is a fantastic dystopian that is great for fans of Legend by Marie Lu. If you didn’t already know, this was my #1 most anticipated 2013 release. Did it live up to the hype? Mostly. I did really enjoy it, but it wasn’t as spectacularly epic as I thought it would be.
Gray was a good lead. He was almost completely ruled by his emotions, which was probably why I liked him. It made him seem more realistic.
The romance…sigh. This kind of ruined it for me. At first, it was fine. I didn’t really like Emma and didn’t care about their relationship, but it wasn’t overwhelming and it wasn’t instalove. But then…DUN DUN DUUNNN…yep, the dreaded love triangle. It cropped up in the last third or quarter of the book, and not gonna lie, it kind of ruined my enjoyment of the story a little bit. Because after meeting Bree, Gray started flip flopping back and forth between the two girls. Sigh.
I loved the scene where Gray and Emma see technology for the first time, because the way they thought of everything (magic candles, baha) made it SO convincing that they had never seen anything like it before, and really captured what it’d be like to be the person seeing it for the first time. It was great!
It’s extremely hard to write this review without giving anything away. Because from the synopsis, you have NO clue what is going to happen beyond the Wall, or what you’re in store for. I think that was the best part!
I do want to say that the first part of this book reminded me SO much of The Village (by M. Night Shyamalan). Small sheltered town surrounded by a Wall, with an unknown atrocity killing off anyone who attempts to leave. Seriously, almost exactly like The Village, with a wall instead of those creepy red-cloaked spiky things. So, of course I started coming to my own conclusion of why they were really stuck in Claysoot and what was actually behind the killings – I’m not going to tell you whether I was right or wrong, in case you’ve seen the movie ;)
I don’t want to say much else…but the world building was great. The only complaint that I have is that sometimes there were enormous info dumps and it was a bit of a struggle to keep up. The plot was crazy intricate, and there was a LOT to stuff into my poor little brain in a very short span of time. But it was fantastic! Very well thought out.
Something I thought was interesting was how the people who were given less were the ones that lived in harmony; those given more were the first to fall to chaos. Very interesting, indeed. And sadly, I think it reflects on the world today. Again, this is why I love dystopians so much. To see what an author depicts as a possible future.
Favorite quote:
If my black hair were feathers, I might outshine even the bird’s gleaming darkness.
I don’t know why, but I just love that line.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World-building: 4.5/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Cover: 5/5
ahgasesarah's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the second one. But there are two things about it that keep me from loving it. 1) Some parts kind of drag on (mostly the description parts) and they usually stop and slow down for this right in the middle of something really intense. 2) As much as I love the characters, I'm really sick of love triangles. Can't wait for the second one. I'm hoping it doesn't drag the triangle on for too long or turn into a love square.
duskbladedrow's review against another edition
1.0
An interesting premise that had a lot of potential that was ruined by a horrible MC and a disjointed pacing. The MC is selfish, rash, manipulating, and completely unlikable. The nail in the coffin for me was how he went from being completely devoted to Emma as the love of his life to tossing her aside for another woman only a few chapters later.
dannic99's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
readingwithemmett's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off promising, but slowly got less and less interesting.
The romance was not very good. The deception was also not very interesting. Some parts were very predictable, while some where just completely surprising.
I loved Grey and Emma at the beginning, but they seemed kind of young even though they weren't. I think if their characters were younger, or they acted older, it would have been better.
The writing was fine. The plot was okay. I don't know what I was expecting to get out of this, but the book wasn't as good as the cover.
The romance was not very good. The deception was also not very interesting. Some parts were very predictable, while some where just completely surprising.
I loved Grey and Emma at the beginning, but they seemed kind of young even though they weren't. I think if their characters were younger, or they acted older, it would have been better.
The writing was fine. The plot was okay. I don't know what I was expecting to get out of this, but the book wasn't as good as the cover.
karenfausto8's review against another edition
4.0
No es tan atrapante y hace que te enamore, solo que te guste pero es un libro bastante con lo que esperar un buen rato de lectura si te gustan las distopías, guerras y romance entre eso.
Gray es un chico de "17 años", un año menor a su hermano Blaine. En su pueblo llamado "Barro Negro" tiene esta condición normal como la muerte entre los habitantes que cualquier chico que alcanza los 18 años se lo llevan.
A este Suceso lo llaman "El Rapto".
Cuando Blaine cumple la mayoría de edad, Gray empieza a sentirse vacío y tratando de encontrar respuestas a preguntas que aún no han sido contestadas.
Así que un día escapa del Muro que rodea el pueblo, donde varios han intentado escapar pero ninguno lo ha logrado con éxito, dándoles solo la muerte.
Él junto con Emma, la chica de la que está enamorado, se aventuran a descubrir los secretos que aún no han sido revelados.
Gray es un chico de "17 años", un año menor a su hermano Blaine. En su pueblo llamado "Barro Negro" tiene esta condición normal como la muerte entre los habitantes que cualquier chico que alcanza los 18 años se lo llevan.
A este Suceso lo llaman "El Rapto".
Cuando Blaine cumple la mayoría de edad, Gray empieza a sentirse vacío y tratando de encontrar respuestas a preguntas que aún no han sido contestadas.
Así que un día escapa del Muro que rodea el pueblo, donde varios han intentado escapar pero ninguno lo ha logrado con éxito, dándoles solo la muerte.
Él junto con Emma, la chica de la que está enamorado, se aventuran a descubrir los secretos que aún no han sido revelados.
"Emma estuvo más unida a Blaine. A partir de ese día, Blaine se convirtió en su favorito y, obviamente, entonces fue cuando empezó todo: en cuanto eligió a Blaine, yo la elegí a ella."
sarahbeesley's review against another edition
3.0
So apparently I'd started to read this book before and never finished for some reason. The 1st half flew by because I'd already read it. A good read and I'm interested in the other 2 to see where it's going but my goodness they packed A LOT in this book. I felt what they learned in the time span they learned it was completely unrealistic and wished things had been spaced out a bit more. And for goodness sake - I hate love triangles!!