Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot (Abandon Trilogy #1)

Title: Abandon by Meg Cabot (Abandon #1)

Published: April 26th 2011 by Point

Source: Library (audiobook)

Grade rate: C+

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.

My Review

Abandon is the first book by Meg Cabot that I’ve read.  I know you must be wondering under what rock I’ve been hiding all this time and honestly I don’t know why I didn’t try one before (I love the Princes Diaries movies J)  I don’t know what I was expecting, but Abandon was just okay for me.

It wasn’t very easy for me to identify with Pierce; she was a little too whiny for my taste.  I do understand why she acted this way, but to be honest (as my 11 year old “B” pointed to me while listening to the book in the car) if I died and were given a second chance I would be thankful and try to make a difference for others.  Pierce has a convoluted sense of right and wrong and can’t seem to trust her parents or anyone else for that matter.  I loved John, even though he was rarely in the book at all, which was very disappointing.  Other characters, such as Pierce’s mom, her grandmother, Alex, and her uncle Chris, take a second place to Pierce and all her angst.

The plot was very thin for me.  I know this is the first book in a trilogy, but it felt like nothing really happened. The writing was beautiful and lyrical, but I have an issue with the cryptic ending of the chapters (phrases like “little did I know that it would happen next”) and with all the flashbacks.  I was getting dizzy trying to put together the story in my head while listening to the audiobook.

I am not completely disappointed in the book; I do love mythology, especially Greek mythology.  I have high hopes that the next book, (Underworld, to on May of next year) will have more “meat” and something significant will happen, especially since it ended so abruptly with so many unresolved issues.  

About the cover: The cover is beautiful; I like the flowers and swirls around the cover and the impression of “abandon” of Pierce.

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