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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Book Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: Point

Publication Date: April 2011

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Retelling

Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book One

Synopsis can be found here.

Review: Well, Meg Cabot has done it again.

I’m a big fan of her Young Adult series The Princess Diaries and her Insatiable adult novel. (If you haven’t checked those out, please do. I especially enjoyed the first three audio books in the series, which are read by Anne Hathaway. Classic.)

This trip down paranormal lane, Cabot has decided to follow the life of young Pierce. Having died when she was younger and brought back to life, death seems to follow her everywhere. Death in the form of a good-looking boy who hangs around cemeteries.

But this is no ordinary girl falling in love with death. Oh no.

This is more than that.

This is a retelling of the famous story of dear Persephone and her kidnapping to the Underworld. You know Persephone, right? Girl catches the eye of a god, Hades, and he kidnaps her, forcing her to live with him in the Underworld. Finally, the other gods intervene. Persephone must live outside of the Underworld four months of the year- corresponding to the seasons.  You can find more info on dear Persephone here.

Cabot does a wonderful job retelling the story, fleshing out her characters and creating fun “I didn’t see that coming” twists. I do have a soft spot for Greek mythology and this retelling does not let me down. Light and funny bits sprinkle the book in typical Cabot fashion. And her hero is one to root for.

John is tortured, difficult and may be more than he appears. But what else do you expect from a … well, I can’t tell you. But he does seem to have a soft spot that will show itself more and more as his armor falls apart.

Pierce is a pretty typical teenager, you know, besides the whole death thing.  I got a bit annoyed with her going back and forth, back and forth about John, about death, about what she should do, etc. But overall, that didn’t sour the story for me.
I believe Pierce starts in such a whiny place because she is going to grow immensely in the series. Even by the end of this first book, her character has developed into a deeper person. The plot leaves a little bit to be desired, but I have faith in Cabot that more will be revealed in the coming installments.   

A good start to a new series. Ii was still thinking about the story after I put it down. 


Rating 7 Pretty Good, Would Recommend

4 comments:

  1. i just had to return this to the library. i'll probably pick it up again though. sounds good.

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  2. Thanks for the awesome review. This book as been on my list for a while. I need to move it up.
    Thanks,
    April

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  3. Great review. I have this book on my book wish list. I hope to purchase it on my next book shopping spree.

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  4. john looks like a staker jijiji ...

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