The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse
| The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Conor Murphy
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| Summary: Any fan of the survival or dystopian genre will enjoy The Forsaken. It is by no margin a classic, but if you're a fan of this type of fiction and are looking for a good, captivating read. The Forsaken will suit all your requirements. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 432 | Date: October 2012 |
| Publisher: Orchard | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 1408318806 | |
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Alenna Shawcross has grown up in a newly-formed super country controlled by the military dictatorship that stole her parents from her as a child. Alenna has grown up in a state-run orphanage, in anticipation of the Test, a government-administered initiative designed to identify those teens most likely to become criminals. As you'd expect in a dystopian thriller, Alenna fails the test and ends up on an isolated island with other potential criminals. However, she soon finds that the island isn't all that she had been led to believe.
Here on the island, Alenna is thrown into a brand new world fraught with danger. She finds herself immersed in the mysteries surrounding the colony and, right from day one, needs to fight to survive. However, she does catch one break in the form of Liam, a fellow outcast. Liam is very similar to Alenna in many ways. They both felt like they didn't belong before they came to the island and throughout the book, they feel drawn to each other in a bond neither yet comprehends...
The Forsaken has everything all good books in this busy genre need: a realistic dystopian setting; a plot that constantly twists and turns; familiar stock character types - and that touch of gruesomeness which I find always brightens up a story! However, there are a few negative points. Firstly, the plot twists are too numerous and in some cases, just unnecessary, so blunt the reader's focus. The stock characters are just that; standard and clichéd. These are not necessarily bad things, especially if you like catastrophe fiction, but if you want a book to sweep you off your feet, this isn't it.
Any fan of the survival or dystopian genre will enjoy The Forsaken. It is by no margin a classic, but if you're a fan of this type of fiction and are looking for a good, captivating read. The Forsaken will suit all your requirements.
You already know about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. But you might not know Lifegame by Alison Allen-Gray, Bad Faith by Gillian Philip and Fire City by Bali Rai, all of which are good dystopian reads. You might also enjoy Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith or Trapped by Michael Northrop. You might also appreciate The Young World by Chris Weitz. You might like to try The Fandom by Anna Day orPills and Starships by Lydia Millet, although we had some reservations about the latter.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse at Amazon.com.
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