Taken, by Erin Bowman, is the first book in “Taken” series.
Gray Weathersby, the main protagonist, lives in the humble town known as Claysoot. A huge wall surrounds Claysoot and its nearby forest. The town mainly consists of women because on the boys disappear on their eighteenth birthday. They call the disappearance the Heist. After the Heist takes his older brother, Blaine, Gray is left with a few months before he is also Heisted. When he discovers a note from his deceased mother, he begins to question everything. He can only hope that answers lay beyond the Wall, but climbing the wall spells certain death. Everyone who goes over it returns with their body burnt to a crisp. Gray is left to with the choice whether to go over the wall in search for answers or be Heisted like his brother.
Gray is not a quiet character. He is extremely impulsive and follows his feelings into and out of conflicts. His curiosity and desire for the truth drives almost all his actions. All his other actions are driven by his need to protect his friends and brother. Over the course of the story, Gray’s character does not change. He remains impulsive and curious the entire story.
This book has a great story. The plot begins rather slowly. This is not a book with nonstop action, but it does hold the reader’s interest until the points of action. A lot is revealed about the world he lives in, but there are still plenty of questions about the world’s history that need to be answered. There will probably be more time for that in later books. A love triangle develops in the book, but it becomes evident pretty late in the story. The layers of lies that cover Gray's world tests his determination. It is also interesting to see Gray try to understand new concepts that we deem as normal. Gray grasped a lot of the concepts a little too quickly given his history.
I give this 360 page book 4 stars.
Series Analysis
In all, the "Taken" trilogy, by Erin Bowman, was a great dystopian novel. The trilogy includes the books Taken, Frozen and Forged. It is about Gray Weatherby's quest for the truth and what he does once he has it. Gray's impulsiveness and curiosity make him a great main protagonist. The books get progressively better as the series goes on. The series averaged about 4.167 stars on this site and 3.967 on Goodreads.com. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes dystopian.
Taken
This world has two settings. One it the enclosed town of Claysoot which lives in a 3rd world country-like setting.
The second setting is the futuristic countries of AmEast and AmWest.