Abandon

Author: Meg Cabot
Author's Website: http://www.megcabot.com/
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Released: January 1, 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal
Series: The Abandon Trilogy: The Myth of Persephone, Darkly Reimagined (Book #2: Underworld, May 8, 2012)
Source: Library

Pierce died. She knows what lies in wait after death, and it's nothing good. Especially not for her, after she caught the attention of John, the one in charge of the Underworld. But she managed to escape and get back to life - though all the doctors claim credit for that - and now she spends her time dodging John. Because he keeps showing up. And along with him comes lots and lots of danger. Pierce and her mother move back to the island where her mother grew up, Isla Huesos, but things only get worse after the move. Strange things get stranger, dark things get darker, and it seems Pierce is the key to setting things straight. All Pierce wants is to live this life like a normal teenager and to forget all about the Underworld and John. But it looks like that's impossible.

I love the way the story is told, starting out with the move to Isla Huesos and going back and forth to reveal the past bit by bit, a little at a time, showing Pierce's time in the Underworld and what happened in her old school after she came back from the dead. It really places Pierce in a state of living and grappling with the past, trying to come to terms with happened while trying to move forward, which doesn't seem to be working very well for her! 

It also means that we get to see her relationship with John evolving over time, because she gets mad at him as she remembers certain events, each time he shows up. The way she softens to him is really great also - if you can even say she softens to him! But that whole part, the way John and Pierce interact with each other, is developed really well, built up slowly and steadily.

The mythology of the story is really fun to watch. There is one point where everything is explained, but for readers who know the mythology and have been following the parallels, that section is easily skimmed over, which I did just enough to get the character of the person giving Pierce the information but not enough to slow me down with unnecessary explanations. And the epigraphs from Dante at the head of each chapter are a nice touch!

For once, I don't have to wait for the next book in the series because I'm so late in reading the first one! So off I go to find Underworld!