Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Released: 26 April 2011
Reviewed by: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: ***
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis (via 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.

Review:

I was really excited to read this book. The whole re-adaption and inspiration of the Hades/Persephone story seemed incredibly intriguing and I couldn't wait to see what Cabot would do with it.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there is a story there and I did enjoy it but I felt the way it was told drew it out out a little too much and then the flashbacks confused the issue more than it clarified.

I found myself a little frustrated at the way each chapter was drawn out and would allude to what was to happen further on in such a way that it drew from the suspense rather than added to it.  I also found myself a little fristrated with main character, Pierce, who seemed to vacillate between total cluelessness and knowing almost too much and found the revelations toward the end came just a little too easily.

That being said, there was a definitely story there and I still found myself wanting to read to the end to see where it was going.

This is the first book in a trilogy so it was clear Cabot was trying to set up the trilogy as well as tell a first instalment story. Despite the above, I did actually really quite enjoy the story and will continue to read the next instalment as I am still intrigued as to where it will go however the above did distract me a little from the story bring my rating of this book from from four to three stars.

Definitely worth reading especially if you are not easily distracted by writing styles.