I was quite excited to get an advance copy of The Taken. Right away, I was swept into a strange world, a world where time seemed to have stood still. The town of Claysoot was an odd place. There are no adult males in this town. At the age of 18, the men of Claysoot vanish. The area surrounding Claysoot is walled and no one has ever survived an escape beyond the wall. The Taken is the story of Gray Weathersby and his friend Emma. Upon discovering a secret from his past, Gray decides to attempt an escape and find out what is beyond the walls of Claysoot. Emma follows him and the story takes an interesting turn.I had a lot of fun reading this book and I enjoyed speculating about how the boys vanished during The Heist (I was wrong). The Taken is the story of an incredible journey fraught with danger and the truth surprised me. For love triangle haters, there is one and it was kind of annoying. I just kept wishing Gray would make up his mind already. Why only 3 stars? After a promising beginning, I just felt that I’d read something similar before. Perhaps it's because I've read quite a lot of dystopian books lately, not really sure. There’s a lot of young adult dystopian books out there right now and it reminds me of other books in this genre. Overall, this was an entertaining read, full of action and plot twists. Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for a review copy of this book
