 Erin Bowman has crafted quite a page-turner with her novel "Taken." Although
sprinkled with some cursing and very sexual innuendo, it is the action that
propels the story. Set in a post-war world, one group of military people,
led by a man named Frank, has contrived experimental communities.Readers
are introduced to the village of Claysoot on the eve of a Heist. All boys
are mysteriously "taken" from the community at the dawn of their 18th
birthdays. No one knows where they go, no one knows why. Some boys have
become so frightened of their future when about to be taken that they have
climbed the Wall that surrounds the village, only to be returned burned
beyond recognition the next morning. There have been no exceptions to the
Heists ... until now.
Gray Weathersby has just lost his brother, Blaine, to the Heist. He finds
his life devoid of meaning. Even though he has a secret crush on Emma, the
daughter of the village healer, he has less than a year before he, too, will
be taken. Gray can see no reason to form an attachment that will only leave
Emma alone and mourning when he is gone. However, Gray has trouble just
accepting his fate, and after finding half a letter his deceased mother left
to his brother, he begins to ask even more questions. Could he in fact be
Blaine's twin, not a younger brother? Could he in fact have cheated the
Heist? That would change everything he had been taught his entire life.
Gray decides to test his theory rather dramatically. If he should have
been taken and was not, perhaps he can also survive climbing the Wall to see
if he can live outside the confines of the village. What he had not planned
on was Emma following him.
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Instead of the answers to the questions Gray and Emma are
searching for, they end up with many more questions about the world
they find outside. They encounter modern technologies for the first
time in the city of Taem, where the leader, named Frank, is engaged
in hunting down Rebel forces that want to topple his regime. This is
the only part of the novel that does not meld well in the premise,
as they both figure out the uses of these marvels too quickly to be
believable.
As Gray encounters an execution in the town square, he begins to
believe Frank's answers are not the truth, and the Rebels are the
ones who are the victims. Frank seems quite interested in Gray after
learning that he is a twin. As Gray learns more about the Rebels and
experiments of Harvey Maldoon, the man Frank wants hunted down at
all costs, he knows he must now escape the city of Taem as he had
once escaped from Claysoot.
Although the novel comes to a satisfying conclusion, its ending
is open enough to be the beginning of a series. With unanswered
questions about the other experimental communities and the love
triangle of Gray, Emma and a young Rebel fighter named Bree, readers
will be on the lookout for another section of the "Taken" story.
Come browse the extensive young adult collection at the Lincoln
Public Library, 725 Pekin St., for "Taken" and other stories of this
genre.
[Text from file received from Louella Moreland,
Lincoln Public Library District]
Ms. Lou's blog:
lincolnpubliclibraryupdates.blogspot.com |
