Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

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.

Reading Level: 14+
Publication Date: April 26, 2011 
Format: Hardcover 

Series: Abandon Trilogy; book 1

Pages:  304
Rating: 2 stars

The cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous and what made me pick up the book in the first place. I was intrigued by the captions: "She knows what it's like to die" and "Now Death wants her back." Not to mention, on the inside flap it reads that this is the myth of Persephone darkly reimagined. I could not wait to get this book back home and start reading.

Unfortunately, the story didn't meet my expectations. From the first chapter, I had already started to dislike the main character and narrator, Pierce Oliviera, who tells us that what happened to Persephone was nothing because at least her mom came to bail her out. But no one is coming to rescue Pierce...*sigh*

Since none of the chapters are actually numbered, I can't say for sure at which point something actually started to happen in the book, instead of us merely being told about near death experiences and flashbacks to "the incident" and "the accident." I can tell you, however, that for I had to force myself to keep reading...and especially through the first fifty pages to reread, because I found myself zoning out and not paying attention.

The biggest disappointment to me was that there wasn't really any romance whatsoever. I thought a reimagining of Persephone's tale would be, well, a tragic love story. Or at least involve love. Pierce's love-interest, if that's even what we could call him, John, may have only appeared in about fifty pages total of the entire book.

Needless to say, we didn't really get to know too much about John. (And I do have to add that when John introduced himself, I thought he was joking that his name was John. I mean, really, what kind of ruler of the Underworld is named John?) For the few passages that he appeared in, he was always brooding, and there was no chemistry between him and Pierce. None whatsoever. Until, of course, the kiss that came out of nowhere.

I'm not really sure what conflict Pierce was trying to solve because by the end of the book, nothing had really been accomplished. No resolution between her parents. No resolution between her friends and the kids at school. No resolution for her uncle. And certainly no resolution for Pierce, who has droned on for 304 pages about what a mess her life is, but has done nothing one way or another to change it.