The Taking

Author: Kimberly Desrting

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia Science Fiction.

Publisher: Harper Teen

Year: 2014

Ranking: 4/ 5

 Synopsis

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. 

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

The Author

Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series (HarperCollins), THE PLEDGE trilogy (Simon & Schuster), and THE TAKING trilogy (HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.

Personal Experience with This Book

When I saw the review of this book in the Apriliux Maximus YouTubeChannel I was completely intrigued. This girl talked about these books as if they were so good and little recognized that really makes you want to read them. I decided to read this book because of that and because I was in the mood to read something of this genre.

I liked The plot of the book and I also enjoyed as the way things happened. I think it's interesting the fact of being gone for 5 years and then come back finding how life has passed without you and how have things changed.

The pace of the story is fast. There is always something happening. I liked it a lot because I could not stop reading. I was so immersed in the story I finished the book in two days. Besides, the way as the author ends this first book leaves one wanting to know what will happen to these characters.

However, I had a big problem with the book. Too much insta-love. From the moment that Tyler sees Kyra he likes her in such a way that one would never expect and from the moment they have like that first interaction seems that Kyra is delighted with Tyler. I understand that for her Tyler is a refuge; her entire world change overnight without any explanation. The thing is that although this is understandable from there until the point where she feels she can die without Tyler or Tyler is the love of her life there is enough distance. That is the main reason I gave the book 4.

The author writing style is quite simple; it does not focus both descriptions but rather in the dialogue of his characters. The secondary characters are there but they do not have much prominence. Kyra's dad is the side character who develops the most in the story. Kyra not, therefore, I expect to see how she will change in the next book.

I recommend the book to people who liked "The Fifth Wave", for example. Although I think, it is important to note that part of the insta-love because there are many people to whom this bothers them a lot. I think it will be a good trilogy and I will read the next book in April, that way when the last book comes out in May I will be able to read it without problems.