Book Review: Titans by Leila Meacham

I’d like to start off this review by saying that I was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone when it comes to the kind of books that I usually like to read by reading Titans by Leila Meacham. However, the plot description that’s on the cover of the book made it sound really interesting to me, which is why I decided to a copy of Titans and read it. When I first started reading Titans, I absolutely loved the book, which really surprised me given the fact that I usually prefer to read books that are set in modern times. However, one exception to that would be books that are a part of the science fiction genre, and in that case, I love it when the plot of the book takes place in a futuristic setting; that being said, here are my thoughts on Titans.

Part of what originally made Titans sound so appealing to me was the fact that the plot of the book revolved primarily around the characters, Samantha Gordon and Nathan Holloway, who are twins that were separated at birth. Their lives eventually start to collide with one another’s years later when they’re adults, which naturally creates some major drama between a lot of the characters in the book. Leila Meacham’s writing for Titans got me completely invested in both Samantha and Nathan as characters, and the plot of the book right from the beginning. It also helped that I felt like the plot moved at a really good pace, at least at the beginning of the book. However the book definitely starts having some issues with the overall pacing of the plot beginning with chapter thirty-one, which I’ll talk about more later on in this review.

While I really liked both Samantha and Nathan as characters, Nathan was definitely my favorite character in the book. I definitely enjoyed the chapters that focused on Nathan the most. One thing that I liked about both Samantha and Nathan is that they were both smart in their own way. Samantha came across as being very book smart, especially when it comes to her interest in dinosaurs and paleontology, whereas Nathan seemed to be smart in more of a street-smart sense, for lack of a better description. I think it’s definitely a good thing that Nathan wasn’t afraid to question the actions and intentions of others, especially when it came to his and Samantha’s biological father, Trevor Waverling. While I don’t think that Nathan is a gullible person, I do think that Samantha should have been a little smarter and more assertive at times.

Admittedly, it has been a few weeks since I finished reading Titans, and while I originally really liked Samantha for the most part, the more I’ve thought about how I feel about Samantha as a character, the more I realize that she’s an incredibly frustrating character in some ways. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Samantha, but she still really annoyed me at times throughout the book. For starters, Samantha is unfortunately way too passive for her own good. For example, after Neal secretly reads the letter that was sent to Samantha regarding her looking for information about her birth parents, he started acting rather cold and distant towards her for two months. During that time, Samantha spends a lot of time wondering what’s going on with Neal and is confused about why he was acting so weird towards her; but rather than actually confronting him about his behavior, she basically just sits around on her ass wondering why he’s acting so cold and distant towards her. When Neal eventually starts acting like he normally does towards her, she never asks him what was going on with him, she’s just happy that things between them have gone back to normal. 

When it comes to how Samantha was waiting to hear back from the people that she sent her camera to so they could look at the pictures she took of what could have possibly been dinosaur fossils, it really frustrated me that she never even bothered to try and get in contact with them to see if they ever got her camera. Because Meacham included some chapters from Todd Baker’s point of view, the reader is privy to the fact that Todd never even mailed the camera like he told Samantha he would, and he eventually destroyed the camera. She also never seemed to even consider the possibility that Todd might not have actually mailed the camera for her and asks him about it. Samantha eventually just decides that perhaps nothing is meant to come of the idea that paleontologists might want to actually dig on her family’s ranch for dinosaur fossils, and she simply gives up on the idea. Her lack of assertiveness ultimately just seemed to lead to Samantha repeatedly getting screwed over by people and to people treating her like crap throughout the book, and yet it never seemed to genuinely upset her. At most, all it ever seemed to do is confuse Samantha, and her lack of action in those situations really annoyed me quite a bit, because it honestly made Samantha come across as being incredibly naïve and stupid at times.

I have to say that ultimately didn’t like Neal very much at all. First off, I thought it was pretty horrible of him to simply let Samantha pass up the opportunity that she was presented with to go to college at Lasell Seminary where she would be able to study paleontology and other areas of science in order to work on her family’s ranch instead. He didn’t even really ask her if working on their family’s ranch was what she really wants to do. After all, Neal knew that paleontology and other areas of science is something that Samantha is very interested in. Sure, Neal does admit to both himself and Estelle later on in the book that Samantha gave up a great opportunity in order to work on their family’s ranch, but it really bugs me that Neal and Samantha never actually talk about that. I really would have liked to see Samantha struggle with feelings of regret and resentment towards Neal regarding the fact that she gave up the opportunity to study paleontology in order to work on their family’s ranch. The fact that there was never any major conflict between them about that is definitely something that really frustrated me, and it honestly made me think less of both Samantha and Neal as characters, but especially Neal.

Personally, Neal’s behavior towards Samantha after he finds out that she had been looking for information about her biological parents really pissed me off. While I’m not adopted or a parent, I’m sure that it would most likely be at least a little difficult for a parent if a child that they had adopted became interested in finding out about their biological parents. I can definitely see the parents of an adopted child experiencing some feelings of inadequacy and insecurity about how good of a parent they are, or how much their child loves them if they became interested in learning about their biological parents. However, it really annoyed me a lot that Neal really seemed to believe that Samantha only had the emotional capacity to either love him and Estelle, or her biological parents, but not both him and Estelle, as well as her biological parents. It didn’t seem to even occur to Neal until it was pretty far into the book that it was possible for Samantha to love him and Estelle, as well as her biological parents, and Nathan once it had been discovered that he’s her twin brother. Neal’s thinking behind all of that throughout the book ultimately just made him come across as being incredibly self-centered and narrow minded, in my opinion.

I initially thought that Leila Meacham did a really good job of handling the way she switched back and forth between Nathan and Samantha’s storylines, and both of their points of view throughout part one of the book. For starters, Meacham did a pretty good job of specifying from which point of view the chapters were written throughout part one of the book. I was also really glad that she never switched to a different character’s point of view during a chapter, because it really bugs me when authors do that. As much as I loved Jennifer Probst’s book, Everywhere and Every Way, it originally really bugged me that she occasionally switched from one character’s point of view to the other’s during a chapter. However, as I said in my review for Everywhere and Every Way, I ultimately thought that Probst did do a pretty good job of handling the changes in points of view when they took place during a chapter, even if I’m still not all that crazy about the fact that she did that.

When it comes to how Leila Meacham handled switching back and forth between multiple characters’ points of view throughout Titans, I thought that Meacham did a good job of having the amount of focus and character development that Nathan and Samantha both got in part one of the book be pretty even between the two of them. However, beginning with chapter thirty-one, which was also the start of part two of the book, Meacham sadly really dropped the ball in terms of the writing for Titans. Titans really went off the rails in a lot of ways beginning with part two of the book, but especially when it comes to how she handled switching back and forth between more than one character’s point of view throughout the book. Unfortunately, Titans never truly recovered and got back on track after that. That’s definitely the main reason I feel like Titans started out as a really great book that ultimately ended up being a rather mediocre book when all is said and done.

The biggest complaint that I have about this book is how Meacham pretty much dropped Nathan’s storyline for a large chunk of the book beginning with chapter thirty-one, and the focus of the book shifted primarily to Samantha. Meacham also stopped specifying from which character’s point of view the chapters were written. That was a huge mistake on her part, in my opinion. The reason I think that it was a big mistake for Meacham to stop specifying from which character’s point of view the chapters were written was because she started including chapters that were written from Neal Gordon and Todd Baker’s point of view. Honestly, it felt incredibly random and really caught me off guard when Meacham started doing that.

To be fair, I probably wouldn’t have minded Meacham shifting the focus of the book to primarily to Samantha and her storyline for an extended portion of the book if she hadn’t completely dropped Nathan’s storyline for as large of a chunk of the book as she did. Personally, what I think would have made Titans better is if Meacham had also devoted a fairly nice amount of the book to just Nathan and his storyline in order to balance out the amount of time and character development that she devoted to Samantha and her storyline. Honestly, I also probably wouldn’t have minded Meacham writing some chapters from Neal’s point of view and Todd Baker’s point of view as much as I did, if she hadn’t completely dropped Nathan’s storyline for such a significant portion of the book.

As far as I’m concerned, dropping Nathan’s storyline for such a significant portion of the book sadly really caused his character development to suffer in a variety of ways. For starters, I think Meacham chose the wrong point in the book to pretty much drop Nathan’s storyline for as long as she did. Chapter thirty ended with Nathan realizing that he had come to think of Dallas as his home. When Meacham finally revisited Nathan’s storyline, it was pretty clear that Nathan had undergone some major character development “off screen” and had really adjusted to his life in Dallas with Trevor Waverling, Trevor’s daughter, Rebecca, and Trevor’s mother. Plus, based on what was shown in the book, it sounds Nathan’s job at Trevor’s company seemed to be going pretty well for him. It ultimately just really frustrated me that the people reading the book didn’t actually get to see Nathan really adjust to his new life in Dallas.

I was definitely really confused and disappointed by Meacham’s sudden change in the way she handled writing Titans from multiple characters points of view starting with chapter thirty-one, and I’m still trying to make sense of some of the things that Meacham did in terms of the writing for the book. Admittedly, the main reason I found Meacham dropping Nathan’s storyline for a large portion of the book so frustrating is simply because Nathan was definitely my favorite character in Titans. I honestly would love to read a book that focused solely on Nathan and his storyline. Ultimately, I think how Meacham handled developing Nathan’s storyline and developing him as a character, was one of the weakest aspects of the book, even if Nathan was still my favorite thing about Titans.

Personally, I feel like the resolution of all the storylines at the end of the book was rather rushed, underdeveloped and schizophrenic in some ways, especially when it comes to Samantha discovering that Nathan is her twin brother. Meacham didn’t do very much with that at all when it comes to really exploring Samantha’s or Nathan’s reaction to the discovery that they’re twin sister and brother. The writing for the ending of the book suddenly made it seem like Titans was supposed to be Neal Gordon’s story, and that the book was supposed to be all about his character development. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded the book ending with Neal realizing that it was okay for Samantha to have a relationship with Nathan, and that there was enough room in her life and in her heart for him and Estelle since they’re her adoptive parents, as well as Nathan.

As I was reading Titans, I thought it was extremely important for Neal to realize that, because the way he acted towards Samantha throughout book once he discovered that she had been looking for information about her birth parents really made him come across as being incredibly self-centered and unlikable. It just really frustrated and confused me that Meacham was suddenly acting like Titans was supposed to primarily be Neal’s story at the end of the book, because I never got the impression that Titans was supposed to be first and foremost about Neal leading up to the end of the book. It really was rather random that Meacham suddenly took the book in that direction with Neal at the end of the book.

One last thing that I’d like to comment on in regards to the things that I didn’t like about Titans is that Estelle was definitely an incredibly underdeveloped character. Leila Meacham didn’t explore or even address whether or not Estelle had any fears and insecurities of her own about Samantha looking for information about her biological parents. Meacham actually didn’t even explore the mother/daughter relationship between Estelle and Samantha at all. Pretty much every scene that Estelle was in throughout the book was focusing on Neal. That ultimately led to Estelle having no character development whatsoever, and as far as I’m concerned, it was as if Estelle existed solely to help prop Neal up as character.

All things considered, Titans is definitely a book that starts out very strong, but sadly it really goes of the rails and loses focus in a lot of ways beginning with chapter thirty-one/part two of the book, and the book never truly recovers after that. I’m honestly not entirely sure how and why that happened. Meacham started out Titans by handling a lot of the different aspects of the book very well, namely how she handled switching back and forth between Samantha and Nathan’s points of view and their character development. Unfortunately, somehow she let that aspect of the book kind of fall apart to a certain degree beginning with part two of the book. It’s definitely not good that the book started to fall apart at the beginning of part two of the book, considering the fact that the plot of the book is divided into three different parts.

Nathan’s storyline was definitely my favorite, and he was also my favorite character in Titans. However, as I’ve said throughout this review, beginning with chapter thirty-one, Meacham pretty much dropped his storyline for a significant chunk of the book, which led to Nathan’s character development and his storyline in the book ultimately feeling rather underdeveloped in the grand scheme of things. When Meacham finally returned to Nathan and his storyline, it was very clear that Nathan had really grown accustomed to living with Trevor Waverling, Trevor’s mother, and Trevor’s daughter, Rebecca, and the life that he had created with them. Unfortunately, all of that character development for Nathan pretty much took place “off screen”, especially when it comes to some of resolution for Nathan and his storyline at the end of the book. The way Meacham handled the resolution for Nathan at the end of the book felt extremely rushed, and almost as if she was treating the character Nathan as nothing more than an afterthought. While I ultimately ended up having very mixed feelings about Titans, I’m still interested in possibly reading Leila Meacham’s other books at some point in the future; especially since several of the people who’ve written reviews for Titans on Amazon have said that they liked Meacham’s other books more than they liked Titans. I’m definitely interested in seeing if I agree with that assessment of Meacham’s other books.

That being said, my final score for Titans is 5 out of 10.