Once, I died.
I was really looking forward to reading Abandon by Meg Cabot because over at her blog she has talked at length about her love for the Persephone myth and how she has, basically, been wanting to tell this story since high school.
So believe me when I say that this book is a mess.
The biggest offenders:
– Nothing happens. NOTHING. Main character and narrator Pierce spends the entire book riding around an island on her bike and flashing back to when she died and referencing an “incident” that happened. I really don’t understand why this book wasn’t just told about her death and the years following. I mean, seriously. That’s what Pierce spends all of her time talking about anyway.
– The love interest has NO PERSONALITY. His name is John, and he’s a death deity. That’s all I can tell you about him. And, of course, there comes a point when Pierce realizes that she’s been fighting her attraction to him. But why? Because he has a scar? He does NOTHING. What I’m saying is: you don’t go from Michael Moscovitz or Rob Wilkins to John the boring death deity.
– Pierce is selfish and not in the fun way. She supposedly thinks of others before herself, and that’s what attracts John to her, but seriously. What kind of person ditches her cousin to hang out with people he expressly says he doesn’t like? Especially when said cousin has been living in the town forever and it’s her first day. I mean, is it POSSIBLE that her cousin has valid reasons for not liking these people? And even if he didn’t, would it still behoove Pierce to maybe not WALK AWAY from her cousin to talk to said people after he very explicitly says he doesn’t want to be around them? At least he left her there (he was her ride home). I mean, seriously.
– The biggest issue I have with the book is that it’s not a complete narrative. The book does NOT stand on its own at all. I have no interest in even reading the rest of the books until all three are out now.
(Yes, I will read the rest of the books. I am hoping they will be better as a whole. Hoping.)
It’s not all bad. The book is a breeze to get through, and is very readable. I would find myself reading huge chunks at a time, and it wasn’t until I was close to the end of the book that I realized nothing would really happen in the story. I thought the setting was cool, and the ideas/plot hints that are dropped in the narrative are intriguing, and I want to see how they’ll all come together. I just wish there had been one plot thread followed all the way through here.
Also: it’s better than Jinx. So there’s always that.
Support Your Local Library: 19/30; YA Challenge: 13/20
The Englishist 
I totally agree. I’m glad you reviewed this, because I just read it, too, and was left with such a WTF aftertaste.
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You know, that’s the perfect description for how I felt after I read it: WTF aftertaste. Because it was a “That’s IT? Seriously?” deal when I closed the book. I may have to steal that for future use.
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Be my guest!
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Um, thank you. I totally felt the same way as you did while reading this book, and then I read all these reviews where people were like, ‘It was great!’ what was great about it? nothing happened!
And yes, I think the main character is totally selfish.
I feel like a majority of girls/women just really really love Meg Cabot and are clouded by said love and can’t be objective about her books.
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I love Meg Cabot, and I want to like her books ALL THE TIME, but sometimes I don’t like her books and that’s okay. And it’s more than okay to say why.
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