Book Title: The Forsaken
Author: Lisa M. Stasse
Series: The Forsaken #1
Series: The Forsaken #1
Date Started: March 31st 2014
Date Completed: April 2nd 2014
Genres: Adventure, Romance, Dystopian, Thriller
Rating: Three stars
Review:
This book is kind of what it looks like: a hunger games/divergent/maze runner mash-up/rip off, but I did actually really enjoy it just because it combined good elements to make a nice story. It wasn't particularly unique or memorable, but it really was entertaining.
Alenna's parents were taken from her by the government when she was younger. Now, growing up in the centre of this new empire, Alenna faces the test that predicts the terrible crimes a child will commit later in their lives. And when Alenna is selected to be taken to the island, she doesn't understand how she could possibly have done anything against the government. Now, stuck in the middle of a war between two tribes of teenagers, Alenna must find a way to survive, as well as solving the mystery that her parents left behind.
The narrative in this book kept my attention really well, considering the dialogue wasn't that great and it's an adventure novel. Although there is a bit of information dumping in bursts, there's actually quite a nice inner monologue of Alenna thinking about everything that's happening.
Having said that, I found the description to be, at times, quite confusing and hard to picture. I'm still not entirely sure what the surroundings in parts of the books look like, and other things were glazed over quite a lot. I think that could have really made this book amazing since there's such an interesting contrast in climates and people as the story progresses.
Although the book is similar to a mash up of common Young Adult novels, it does have its own quirks, and follows its own storyline. I can't really criticise a book that includes parts of loads of other stories: in the end it does create a new story.
But, there were some flaws in the story. Mostly to do with the romance. For me, the romance wasn't the most key part of the story, but influenced the characters a lot, so needed to be done well. Unfortunately, the speech ended up sounding a bit stiff and I didn't believe much at any point. I was rolling my eyes for the last fifty pages or so.
I really didn't like the end. Throughout the book we're travelling through the story with Alenna, and suddenly we get to the end and all the mysteries that could have been carried through to the next book and gradually revealed were thrown at us in about two pages. This didn't impact the story whatsoever at this point in time so just ruined the end in my opinion.
There was a nice array of different characters in this book.
Firstly, Alenna was an alright character. I really liked the fact that, at the beginning, she's a bit useless and naive, but then she learns more and more and starts to stand up for herself. But then of course, that all disappears when a boy turns up. What really annoyed me was the fact that it was only when ONE boy showed up that she would suddenly lose all ability to do anything.
Gadya was a really good character, that I would have liked to see more development from. I just wish she wasn't so affected by boys as well, though.
Liam could've been great, but he just seemed one dimensional and never really showed any real anger or sadness or any emotion other than poor sarcasm.
David was the best character in my opinion, because he was mysterious and we still don't really know who he is and whose side he's on.
The pace wasn't too bad, with dips every now and then, but that's to be expected. As the story is based around the adventure the protagonists have, something's always happening and there's a lot of movement and change of scenery to help mix things up.
I would recommend The Forsaken to anyone who wants a simple, entertaining read. What you see is pretty much what you get, and it's quite forgettable unfortunately. However, I did still really enjoy it and I think other people would too.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13345165-the-forsaken
This book is kind of what it looks like: a hunger games/divergent/maze runner mash-up/rip off, but I did actually really enjoy it just because it combined good elements to make a nice story. It wasn't particularly unique or memorable, but it really was entertaining.
Alenna's parents were taken from her by the government when she was younger. Now, growing up in the centre of this new empire, Alenna faces the test that predicts the terrible crimes a child will commit later in their lives. And when Alenna is selected to be taken to the island, she doesn't understand how she could possibly have done anything against the government. Now, stuck in the middle of a war between two tribes of teenagers, Alenna must find a way to survive, as well as solving the mystery that her parents left behind.
The narrative in this book kept my attention really well, considering the dialogue wasn't that great and it's an adventure novel. Although there is a bit of information dumping in bursts, there's actually quite a nice inner monologue of Alenna thinking about everything that's happening.
Having said that, I found the description to be, at times, quite confusing and hard to picture. I'm still not entirely sure what the surroundings in parts of the books look like, and other things were glazed over quite a lot. I think that could have really made this book amazing since there's such an interesting contrast in climates and people as the story progresses.
Although the book is similar to a mash up of common Young Adult novels, it does have its own quirks, and follows its own storyline. I can't really criticise a book that includes parts of loads of other stories: in the end it does create a new story.
But, there were some flaws in the story. Mostly to do with the romance. For me, the romance wasn't the most key part of the story, but influenced the characters a lot, so needed to be done well. Unfortunately, the speech ended up sounding a bit stiff and I didn't believe much at any point. I was rolling my eyes for the last fifty pages or so.
I really didn't like the end. Throughout the book we're travelling through the story with Alenna, and suddenly we get to the end and all the mysteries that could have been carried through to the next book and gradually revealed were thrown at us in about two pages. This didn't impact the story whatsoever at this point in time so just ruined the end in my opinion.
There was a nice array of different characters in this book.
Firstly, Alenna was an alright character. I really liked the fact that, at the beginning, she's a bit useless and naive, but then she learns more and more and starts to stand up for herself. But then of course, that all disappears when a boy turns up. What really annoyed me was the fact that it was only when ONE boy showed up that she would suddenly lose all ability to do anything.
Gadya was a really good character, that I would have liked to see more development from. I just wish she wasn't so affected by boys as well, though.
Liam could've been great, but he just seemed one dimensional and never really showed any real anger or sadness or any emotion other than poor sarcasm.
David was the best character in my opinion, because he was mysterious and we still don't really know who he is and whose side he's on.
The pace wasn't too bad, with dips every now and then, but that's to be expected. As the story is based around the adventure the protagonists have, something's always happening and there's a lot of movement and change of scenery to help mix things up.
I would recommend The Forsaken to anyone who wants a simple, entertaining read. What you see is pretty much what you get, and it's quite forgettable unfortunately. However, I did still really enjoy it and I think other people would too.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13345165-the-forsaken
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