Meh. No strong feelings either way. ( )

At sixteen Alanna was about to face the governments 'test'. She knew she wouldn't fail, couldn't fail. There was no way she was defective in any way, a danger to society. Being shown a glimpse of someone who had failed the 'test' was meant to be a deterrent, and for the rest of her class mates it was; the boy was dirty, wild and to be feared. But for Alanna there was something about those blue eyes of his that drew her to him, like she and he were connected in some way. Even so, waking up to discover she had failed the 'test' and was abandoned on Prison Island Alpha still came as quite a shock.

Six years ago her parents were cruelly taken from her in the dead of night by policemen, that same night she entered the orphanage believing her parents were dead, or if not they soon would be. Ever since then she has followed the rules, kept to herself, maintained good grades. But none of those things matter on Prison Island Alpha. Here everything is life or death and Alanna now has to fight if she is to survive. But Alanna is learning more then how to wield a weapon, she is discovering the excitement of first love, finding out that everything she knew was a lie and uncovering the truth that comes only with lose and sacrifice.

The Forsaken are teens exiled from society for their antisocial and dangerous behaviour, or so the government would have you believe, to be shipped off to live out the rest of there very short lives on an island prison. Divided into two tribes, Prison Island Alpha holds more danger that just waring tribes, there are secrets hidden deep within the islands past, secrets that hold the key to bringing down a corrupt government. But first they will have to survive the island and escape, but not everyone will be lucky enough to make it out alive. A fast paced and danger filled beginning to a new dystopian series. ( )

After finishing The Forsaken, days later I am still thinking about that story. I always consider that a good thing. If a book causes me to remember it well after I finish it, that means it made a pretty significant impact. Still, my thoughts on Alenna's story are very jumbled, and slightly torn. This book feels a lot like many of the other dystopian novels out there right now. In fact, it is almost like a mix of a few of them. A hybrid if you will. Not a bad thing, just not anything that really wowed me. I'll do my best to explain.

On the one hand, I really did enjoy the world that Lisa M. Stasse builds for her characters to inhabit. The U.N.A. is a sinister government. One that has no qualms with reducing its people to numbers. To them, people are meant to be controlled. Kept in line. I liked this! I suppose it's because I can actually see this happening at some point, but for me it is pretty terrifying. "The Wheel" was also a nice touch. A lush area with so much beauty, and yet so much possibility for violence.

The first thing that I found a tough about The Forsaken was the fact that I didn't fall in love with any of the characters. Alenna as okay. I liked her back story, and I did appreciate the fact that she was so positive despite everything that she had been through. However I just didn't really feel that much emotion for her either way when it came to surviving. In fact, when the story picked up and things started happening to her, I just kept feeling like I wasn't invested in Alenna's story at all.

Couple this with the fact that there are portions of this book that move slowly, and you can see why I feel so torn. I was struggling to latch on to something. I really wanted to feel emotion for the characters in the book, but I couldn't find a foothold. By the time I reached the end of the story, I finally felt like I had uncovered something to keep me coming back. The U.N.A. is sinister all right, and their ultimate plan for these kids is just awful. Once I knew that, I knew I'd be back for more, no matter what.

Let's be honest. I didn't love The Forsaken, but I did like it. Especially after I read the ending. As a reader, I am extremely character driven. So I know that the majority of the reason this book failed to hook me is because I just didn't feel invested. The story line is solid. There are plenty of reasons to hate the government in this story. Overall it just fell in the middle of the spectrum for me. I definitely suggest you give it a shot! If you are a fan of dystopian especially, this might sate your need for a new read! ( )

My review is on the audio version. I am not sure if I liked this book or not. It is a book that has a lot going on but maybe too much so. The characters could have been developed more but sometimes in a series that happens later. Still I was not sure I even cared enough about the main character to continue the series until the last few chapters.

There was a lot of actions and some of it was a bit confusing and weird but in a science fiction kind of way. I think the ending sorts some of that out. I already have the audio for book two and it won't be next in my listen list but it will be in the line up. ( )

I have just finished reading The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse and I enjoyed this book a lot. It is not the best dystopian book I have read, but it is a good read for a nice winter day. I give this book 3.75/5.

This book was very good. I certainly want to see what happens next and if the whole rebel movement works out. I did feel The Forsaken to be lacking in some areas though, such as romance, I mean you can't meet someone for what like a month at most not even go out on a date with them but kiss them once and suddenly feel as though you're in love! stuff like that just doesn't happen. It sort of makes the whole romance seem forced as if the romance was just pushed in there to sell more books to hormonal teenage girls. Some areas where also a bit dull and boring. And some where just too fast paced you didn't know what the heck was going on. A lot of the fight scenes against the helicopters and feelers felt the same, nothing different really happened. Overall though this was a particularly good read and was enjoyable to read with a good hot chocolate and some cookies.


Full review on http://www.bloomingbookreviews.blogspot.ca ( )