Book Review- Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon

 Author: Meg Cabot

Series:  Abandon #1

Published: 26 April 2011 by Point

Length: 304 pages

Warnings: kissing, a little teacher/student relationship, mild profanity, suicide, violence, drug references

Source: Library

Other info: Meg Cabot has written a lot of things, such as the Princess Diaries and the All American Girl series. The second book in this trilogy will be published next year and is called Underworld

Summary :  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: A year ago, Pierce died. But because she was cold, after they warmed her up, they were able to revive her. During that time while she was dead, she met John. Then she left him when she came back to life. Ever since, John's been kind of following her. He turns up her school and something bad always seems to happen, John's here to take her back to the Underworld. But why? And what will happen to Pierce if she doesn't go?

I was drawn in by the summary saying it's are-telling of the story of Persephone and Hades. On that note, it didn't disappoint. Meg Cabot's views of the Underworld were interesting, with the queues, the two boats and so on.

John wasn't my favourite male lead of all time. Pierce was believable and easy to understand. Mr Smith, the cemetery keeper, I didn't like at first but found myself warming to him.

I really liked the fact that all chapters started with an excerpt from Dante's Inferno. It added a little extra something to the book. Exactly what I'm not sure, as Dante was describing a Christian Hell whilst this was based on the Greek Underworld, but anyway.

I had a problem with following all the events in Pierce's life chronologically. There's parts with her old school, parts with her new one, parts involving a perverted teacher, parts involving a cemetery and so on. But they were all mixed together and I found it hard to piece together Pierce's life story.

I also don't see the point of all the tassels.

Despite this, I enjoyed this retelling.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a different, more romantic take, on one of my favourite Greek myths.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |