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A review by tiareleine
Taken by Erin Bowman
3.0
Oh, Taken. Despite the reviews I read, I had high hopes for you. Maybe it had something to do with that gorgeous spine (it does look beautiful on my bookshelf). Maybe I'm just really bad at getting unexcited about a book once I decide to read it. It's probably the second one. I'm a terrible listener.
In the beginning I thought the plot was going to be cool and new and interesting (and to be fair, the idea behind Claysoot and the Heists is very interesting, unexplained and explained) but soon I realized that this dystopia didn't have anything else that every single dystopia doesn't have. Emotion-driven main character. Powerful and corrupt president. Enemy group called the Something (what was it again? The Society? No. The Community? No. The Association? No. Oh yeah, "the Order.") The problem with the plot is that it started out so well, but was ultimately unoriginal.
Plus, the book was filled with tropes. Plot and romance wise. It was brimming with cliches. I think it's only saving grace that it was narrated by a guy, so it wasn't an exact copy of every other dystopian ever.
There was a love triangle, of course. One that was structured exactly like the ones in books with female main characters. I still hate love-triangles, but I had always wondered why nobody had done one with a guy at the top point. (I mean, I can think of a couple things people might say about that, and judging by some other reviews I read, people seemed to say just exactly what I thought they would) Even though the two love interest fit into "childhood friend" and "new bad-ass" like any other love triangle, it was a little interesting to have a guy at the center of it in the same way a girl would have been. Not interesting enough, though. I still hate love-triangles.
Speaking of love interests, I'm not going to pretend that what Grey and Emma had wasn't insta-love. Because it was. They were kissing regularly before we got out of the first third of the book. However, of all the insta-love I've seen, this is one of the more acceptable instances. 1. They have known each other all their lives and were friends as kids. 2. In Claysoot boys who make attachments probably do so quickly, since they don't think they're going to live past 18. Explained insta-love is better than random insta-love, but not better than no insta-love.
A lot of people complain about the way Gray acts, and I have to agree that he shouldn't have punched a girl (which he did in the first chapter...) and I wouldn't want to date someone who acted like him, I didn't hate him. Also, I really appreciate the fact that Gray didn't take advantage of Bree when she was drunk. I'm not going to give brownie points or anything, because I feel that should be the norm, but still. He's not an asshole.
On the topic of that scene, though, why was Gray not hungover the next morning? He obviously had a lot to drink, and Bree was super hungover the next day. Bit somehow Gray was able to get up and go to his really intense training without so much as a headache? I don't think so.
The world building, like most parts of this book, was great at the beginning. I got a feel for what Claysoot was like, how their society and government worked, all that kind of stuff. However, once they got over the wall, the world building started to fall apart. It wasn't that I was left with questions, it's just that it wasn't vivid anymore. Everything was just pretty generic, it fit right into the mold and didn't jump off the page at me anymore. Making up words for things (can't they just call it a "cafeteria" or "lunchroom" or something?) does not pull readers in. If anything, it pushes them away.
I have to say, though, that I really liked Bree, mostly for her backstory. I'll try to say this without spoiling anything. I liked that the place she came from had some reversed gender roles going on. Not every society is patriarchal, and it's totally believable (and appreciated) that a society could develop and be matriarchal the way hers was. It almost would have been less believable if every one of them have developed to have the same social structure. So that was a really nice touch.
In the end. I found that I liked Taken okay, I really did enjoy reading it, but it wasn't anything too special or exciting. Pick it up if you're looking for a dystopian, but don't go out of your way to get your hands on it.
In the beginning I thought the plot was going to be cool and new and interesting (and to be fair, the idea behind Claysoot and the Heists is very interesting, unexplained and explained) but soon I realized that this dystopia didn't have anything else that every single dystopia doesn't have. Emotion-driven main character. Powerful and corrupt president. Enemy group called the Something (what was it again? The Society? No. The Community? No. The Association? No. Oh yeah, "the Order.") The problem with the plot is that it started out so well, but was ultimately unoriginal.
Plus, the book was filled with tropes. Plot and romance wise. It was brimming with cliches. I think it's only saving grace that it was narrated by a guy, so it wasn't an exact copy of every other dystopian ever.
There was a love triangle, of course. One that was structured exactly like the ones in books with female main characters. I still hate love-triangles, but I had always wondered why nobody had done one with a guy at the top point. (I mean, I can think of a couple things people might say about that, and judging by some other reviews I read, people seemed to say just exactly what I thought they would) Even though the two love interest fit into "childhood friend" and "new bad-ass" like any other love triangle, it was a little interesting to have a guy at the center of it in the same way a girl would have been. Not interesting enough, though. I still hate love-triangles.
Speaking of love interests, I'm not going to pretend that what Grey and Emma had wasn't insta-love. Because it was. They were kissing regularly before we got out of the first third of the book. However, of all the insta-love I've seen, this is one of the more acceptable instances. 1. They have known each other all their lives and were friends as kids. 2. In Claysoot boys who make attachments probably do so quickly, since they don't think they're going to live past 18. Explained insta-love is better than random insta-love, but not better than no insta-love.
A lot of people complain about the way Gray acts, and I have to agree that he shouldn't have punched a girl (which he did in the first chapter...) and I wouldn't want to date someone who acted like him, I didn't hate him. Also, I really appreciate the fact that Gray didn't take advantage of Bree when she was drunk. I'm not going to give brownie points or anything, because I feel that should be the norm, but still. He's not an asshole.
On the topic of that scene, though, why was Gray not hungover the next morning? He obviously had a lot to drink, and Bree was super hungover the next day. Bit somehow Gray was able to get up and go to his really intense training without so much as a headache? I don't think so.
The world building, like most parts of this book, was great at the beginning. I got a feel for what Claysoot was like, how their society and government worked, all that kind of stuff. However, once they got over the wall, the world building started to fall apart. It wasn't that I was left with questions, it's just that it wasn't vivid anymore. Everything was just pretty generic, it fit right into the mold and didn't jump off the page at me anymore. Making up words for things (can't they just call it a "cafeteria" or "lunchroom" or something?) does not pull readers in. If anything, it pushes them away.
I have to say, though, that I really liked Bree, mostly for her backstory. I'll try to say this without spoiling anything. I liked that the place she came from had some reversed gender roles going on. Not every society is patriarchal, and it's totally believable (and appreciated) that a society could develop and be matriarchal the way hers was. It almost would have been less believable if every one of them have developed to have the same social structure. So that was a really nice touch.
In the end. I found that I liked Taken okay, I really did enjoy reading it, but it wasn't anything too special or exciting. Pick it up if you're looking for a dystopian, but don't go out of your way to get your hands on it.