Fans of Incarceron by Catherine Fisher and Variant by Robison Wells won't want to miss this magnetic first book in a gripping dystopian sci-fi series. Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy, raves that Taken is "an action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end. More, please!" Gray Weathersby has grown up expecting to disappear at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. They call it the Heist—and it happens to every boy in Claysoot. His only chance at escape is to climb the Wall that surrounds Claysoot. A climb no one has ever survived . . . Gr 8 Up-Every boy in Claysoot is taken just after midnight the morning he turns 18 in what the villagers call the Heist. Every one, that is, except Gray. He and his brother, Blaine, are exactly one year apart in age, and when Blaine vanishes in a flash of light, Gray is grieved but unsurprised. However, the discovery of a letter left behind by his mother leads him to search through his own medical records where he discovers that he was not Blaine's younger brother but his twin. Compelled to learn the truth behind the Heist and the wall that surrounds his village, Gray and Emma, the daughter of the town medic, escape into the outside world-a world in which resources are scarce, rebels wage war against city dwellers, and allies are not what they seem. Although the characters are not particularly loyal or noble, they are very human and sympathetic for their flaws. The cliff-hanger ending, which finds Gray heading out into the wilderness in search of other walled communities, guarantees a sequel. Riding the popular wave of dystopian fiction, debut novelist Bowman has created a dramatic work that is reminiscent of Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton Mifflin, 1993) and will appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) and Lauren Oliver's Delirium (HarperCollins, 2011).-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AKα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Gray is the oldest man in Claysoot—and he is just 18. Thanks to a long-held secret about his birth, he has escaped the Heist, the moment on the eve of a boy’s eighteenth birthday that he disappears from the center of town in a shower of light and thunder. Unable to contain his anger and frustration about the unanswered questions, Gray takes the ultimate risk and climbs the Wall, though everyone who does returns dead. He doesn’t expect Emma to follow him, nor does he expect everything he thinks he knows about the world to be turned upside down when he is rescued and taken to Taem, or again when he escapes and meets the Rebels and the father he never knew. This is an action-packed, emotionally charged, plot-twisting adventure that sets up a number of believable conflicts: between Taem and the Rebels, within family units, and even in a love triangle. Told from a guy’s perspective, this dystopian has plenty of potential for gripping sequels. Grades 7-10. --Heather Booth “An action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end. I devoured this in one sitting and might have gnawed a nail or two off from all the excitement. More, please!” — Marie Lu, author of Legend “A suspenseful trek. Readers will eagerly await the next installment.” — Kirkus Reviews “An action-packed, emotionally charged, plot-twisting adventure.” — Booklist “A dramatic work that is reminiscent of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and will appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games.” — School Library Journal There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends . . . and he's gone. They call it the Heist. Gray Weathersby's eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he's prepared to meet his fate—until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he's been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets, the Heist itself, and what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot—a structure that no one can cross and survive. Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken—or risk everything on the hope of the other side? Erin Bowman is the critically acclaimed author of numerous books for children and teens, including the Taken Trilogy,  Vengeance Road ,  Retribution Rails , the Edgar Award-nominated Contagion duology,  The Girl and the Witch’s Garden , and the forthcoming  Dustborn . A web designer turned author, Erin has always been invested in telling stories–both visually and with words. Erin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and children.   You can visit her online at www.embowman.com.