Review: Abandon

by Meg Cabot
publisher: Scholastic
date published: April 26, 2011
format: hardcover
pages: 320
source: purchased
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge; 2011 YA Reading Challenge

From Goodreads:

New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

What I Thought

Considering how long I had been eagerly awaiting the release of Abandon, I didn't like it quite as much as I thought I would. That isn't to say that I didn't like it, because I did. I just didn't like it with the intensity I had expected based upon the teasers I've read and the subject matter. I think what kept me from being really enthusiastic about this book was the manner in which the protagonist, Pierce, seemingly beats around the bush when explaining what had happened to her. Some allusion is fine, but it seemed as if it took her several chapters, not pages, to get to her point. She beat around the bush about why she and her mother moved; how she died; who the "he" she refers to is; where she went; what the significance of the necklace is; all of it. I have to wonder if things hadn't been so drawn out whether or not this would be a full-length novel.

The story line is a very interesting one. I like the concept of a modern-day, American Persephone and Hades. I only know of one other book that attempted such a plot, but that book was written by P.C. Cast for an adult audience. I haven't read it yet, though, so I don't know whether it incorporates another interested characteristic of this novel: Furies. I was intrigued by the chosen villains for this series, even though there wasn't much time spent on them in this particular book. The explanation for Furies along with their goal is definitely going to provide some action in the books that are yet to come.

There is one other thing that bothers me about Abandon. That thing is the interaction between Pierce and John. At first, I thought she was going to be a pretty strong character. She isn't perfect (a good thing) and she seems willing to not let anyone push her around. She also has a protective quality that is very nice. However, when it comes to John, she is a bit of a soft-touch. No matter how horribly he behaves toward her, her resistance of him isn't quite what one would expect. There comes a point when she seems to just, dare I say it, take on some very Bella Swan-like characteristics (and I'm not usually one to do Twilight comparisons) that left me sighing (not in a sentimental way). I just don't know what to make of her.

I will definitely give this series another chance. I think there is some great potential in the up-coming books if only Pierce can get to the point and the action isn't left until nearly the last minute. I want to see where Cabot goes with the Furies story line and how Pierce is going to handle the outcome of the events at the end of this book. Because it just didn't pull me in like I would have hoped and because of the above-mentioned reasons, I give Abandon 3 hoots.