03 January, 2016

REVIEW: UNTAKEN by J.E.Anckorn

Title: Untaken
Author: J.E. Anckorn
Series: -
Genres: YA, Science Fiction, Aliens
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Source: ARC
Pages: 261
Published: March 23rd 2015

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SYNOPSIS: It turns out that a real alien invasion is nothing like the Sci-fi shows 14-year-old Gracie loves. Not when it’s your own family who are swallowed whole by those big silver ships. Not if it could be you next.

In her search for her family, Gracie meets Brandon, a high school dropout who would never have been caught dead hanging out with a dork like Gracie before the world ended. Gracie isn’t too crazy about Brandon either, but he has one thing she doesn’t: A plan.

Brandon’s uncle has a cabin up in Maine, and If Gracie and Brandon can survive long enough to get there they can hide out until the Space Men pack up their ships and leave.
Until the army guys come to rescue them, says Brandon.
Brandon is big into army guys.

Gracie has to admit that Brandon’s Awesome Plan probably would have worked out great if wasn't for Jake.
They found 5-year-old Jake, laying half-dead under the remains of someone’s ranch house. He’s a good kid, even if he won’t-or can’t- talk.

But Jake has a secret, and when Gracie finds out what it is, the fragile new life they’ve started to forge looks set to break apart.

When the people you’ve been counting on to put the world back together start hunting you down, alien invaders are the least of your worries.
I saw the ARC of the book early in our blogging days and decided to ask for it. The publishers kindly sent it to me but then I somehow lost it and found it again only a few months ago. Needless to say I was very excited to read it!


A copy of the book was kindly provided to me by the publisher but it does not influence my review in any way!

First of all I must be honest, this book was a very close copy of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey with the ending turning out into The Host by Stephanie Meyer. 

THE WORLD: Just like in many alien books that are now trending the world is very similar to ours with just a little addition - alien ships hanging up in the sky above people. First nothing is happening for a while till people get used to them being there and then boom invasion. Moreover, just like in Rick Yancey's book aliens look exactly like us. That is pretty much it. Just a broken world without people.

CHARACTERS: There are three main characters in the book: Gracie, Brandon and Jake. Gracie is a nerdy 14 years old teenager with no friends. Well at least no face to face friends. She spends most of her time online on a science fiction fanbase where she has many friends she can talk to. Brandon on the other hand does not even know how to use a computer. He is a son of an bipolar alcoholic, mainly the case where the kid takes care of the drunk parents and thinks the parent is a god. Jake comes into the picture a little bit later in book and is only 5 years old. But I have to say, he was my favorite. Jake is also special in this story. Now my main problem with the characters was that Gracie is way too silly for a teenager, and I do not mean because of her doing what mommy tells her. Her mother is kinda of a bully as far as I understood. But really, sometimes the things Gracie would say...no wonder she had no real friends. Same problem with Brandon, he is 15 but his relationship with his dad...I will never understand why nobody ever reported him to child protection services. I mean the neighbors saw it, the teachers saw it, his friends family saw it and still nothing. And I also do not like the fact that his father was like god through the whole book and was never criticized, like really you would expect a kid to understand in the end but nope, never happened.

LOVE: No love triangles is always a plus but I was not really impressed with the romance either. Just plain typical falling in love when nobody else is left.

PLUS: I enjoy alien science fiction books so it was an alright read. 

MINUS: It felt all the time that I was reading a bad copy of The 5th Wave.

OVERALL: I would recommend this book to the science fiction fans but in case you are not one of them I would say no.






What do you guys think about UNTAKEN?