Today’s Book of the Week post is a little more unique than the others. Instead of reviewing just ONE book, I’ll be reviewing three, an entire trilogy.

I’ve done that once before with the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie because I was determined to get people past the slower second book to reach the really good third book.

But I wanted to do the entire Abandon trilogy because the third book, Awaken, came out this past Tuesday, the 2nd, and I sat down and devoured the entire thing in a matter of hours. So, instead of doing a review of just Awaken, I decided to do a post about the entire trilogy.

This is also a special post because it is part of the Meg-A-Readers blog hop. Mandy from The Romance Bookie and Diana from Little Miss Drama Queen came up with this idea of having a couple of months of all things Meg Cabot. They would get a bunch of blogs involved and people would just write all about different things for Meg Cabot: reviews, how they met her, how they found her books, ANYTHING.

And I definitely had to be a part of it because she’s one of my absolute favorite authors since I first picked up The Princess Diaries when I was 12 years old, 13 years ago.

You can find out more about Meg-A-Readers here.

But let’s move on now, to the actual review!

The Abandon Trilogy by Meg Cabot

Abandon, Underworld, Awaken

Genre:

young adult, paranormal, romance, fantasy

Part of a Series:

In the charming words of Severus Snape, “Obviously”

You May Like if You Liked:

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy

Plot Summary:

All summaries are taken word for word from Amazon. 

Abandon: Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can’t help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she’s never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back. But now she’s moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid. Only she can’t. Because even here, he finds her. That’s how desperately he wants her back. She knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven, yet she can’t stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most. But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Underworld: Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn’t dead. Not this time. But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey. Her captor, John Hayden, claims it’s for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they’ve come back as Furies, intent on vengeance . . . on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves. But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there . . . and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies. And unless Pierce is careful, this time there’ll be no escape.

Awaken: Death has her in his clutches. She doesn’t want him to let go. Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden, she’d be forced to live forever in the one place she’s always dreaded most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it, though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves. But now her happiness — and safety — are threatened, all because the Furies have discovered that John has broken one of their strictest rules: He revived a human soul.If the balance between life and death isn’t fixed, both the Underworld and Pierce’s home back on earth will be wiped away. But there’s only one way to restore order. Someone has to die.

The Bad:

The only beef I have with the entire series is that Abandon takes some time to get into. I remember reading and going, okay, Meg, you’ve never let me down before. Don’t let me down now. I think because I am unfamiliar with the tale of Hades and Persephone and Fates and Furies and THAT aspect of Greek mythology. I love Greek myths but I have always been fascinated by Artemis (I wanted to name my cat Artemis when I was like 13 but my mom wouldn’t let me…). I’m wondering if that’s why I wasn’t able to get into this series as quickly as I was able to get into her others. This series is also very different (in a good way, of course) from her other series, so it also could have been that it was not what I was expecting out of a Meg Cabot book. However…I continued to read the series and I love it. Its one of my favorites. I probably say that about all of her series but she’s just so great.

I won’t go on and on about her, because that’s not the point of this blog, but I did write about how her Heather Wells series changed my life and you can read that here.

The Good:

Now on to alllllll the good stuff that is here. I love these books because of the unique storyline that they present. I’ve seen books about Greek myths, about Hades, Persephone and the Underworld but this is the first series that I read and really liked of it. I loved diving into myths that I wasn’t so familiar with. I think Hades gets a bad rep sometimes and this story, with John Hayden as the lord of the Underworld, as someone who once lived and breathed like any other human, and was shouldered the responsiblity of running the Underworld, as a person who cares and loves, really gives you an entirely different perspective.

I also like Pierce as Persephone. I don’t know much about Persephone and whether she was a badass or not, but Pierce? Definitely a badass. She’s in love with the LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD, who has all these intense powers and has one of those super fun death glares and she still does what she wants, when she wants it, being brave and risking herself and doing all sorts of things that John thinks is completely detrimental to his goal of protecting her. I love that. I piss off my own boyfriend probably a lot, but I don’t stand down. I’m not going to be one of those girls that agrees with their boyfriend 100% of the time, just because they don’t want to start fights. I like that Pierce is strong and has her own opinion and does what she feels she needs to do.

That being said, I do like the build up and the relationship of Pierce and John. Its very realistic (as much as a relationship between a regular person and the Lord of the Underworld can be), in that they fight and bicker and disagree but they have fun together and make each other laugh. I love that when they do fight, its not the end of the entire universe like it is in other books. Its realistic. I love it.

Plus, these books make me laugh. No matter what she writes about: princesses, girls who can talk to ghosts, girls who get struck by lightning and are psychic, girls who date the reincarnation of King Arthur, whatever, she always, always, always makes me laugh. Her humor no matter what the situation is makes her such a great novelist. Her way of writing like a teenager, of writing the book in that sort of conversational manner, is fantastic and I think is why she is so popular and remains so. I find myself shaking my head, smirking or full out laughing out loud because she just makes me laugh so hard. She’s so funny, and she brings a realism and a humor to all her novels, including this series.

Rating: 

Abandon: 4 out of 5 stars

Underworld: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Awaken: 5 out of 5 stars

Recommended or Not:

Definitely. Easily. I recommend anything by Meg Cabot. I think a lot of people are wrapped up into the fantasy/dystopian/sci-fi/paranormal worlds of YA right, and Meg Cabot’s Abandon trilogy is up there with all those other books. She’s written other paranormal/sci-fi stuff like The Mediator and Vanishes series.

But yeah, definitely read these books. They’re going to make you laugh, and clutch the pages with anticipation, as you power through those pages, wondering what is going to happen to next with Pierce and John and the fate of the Underworld. Anyone who is NOT reading these books are seriously missing out on the wonderful charm that is Meg Cabot.

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I hope you enjoyed this special edition of the Book of the Week.

Don’t forget to stop by The Romance Bookie and check out other Meg-A-Reader posts!

And you can see past book reviews for the Book of the Week here!

Happy Reading!