Posted by DonnaRelease Date: April 29th, 2014
Finished Date: September 1st, 2014
Publishers: HarperTeen
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Source: For Review
Format: eARC
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Source: For Review
Format: eARC
Pages: 320
A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.
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?
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 Review: Sixteen-year-old Kyra wakes up behind the Gas ‘n’ Sip gas station with no memory of what has happened to her. All she can remember is the argument with her father, the flash of light and then nothing. Thinking she passed out and it’s now the following day, Kyra makes her way home, however she suddenly finds that things are how she left them last night. Five years have passed, her family has changed and aged, her boyfriend has a life in College with a new girlfriend but Kyra, Kyra is still the same….she hasn’t aged. What happened to Kyra during them five years is a mystery, but Kyra wants answers but will she like what she finds?
The Taking started off with such an engaging and strong start that I instantly assumed this would be a fantastic read. It’s intriguing and exciting. It reminded me of one of my favourite films that was released in the late 80’s called Fight of the Navigator and even though I knew it wouldn’t have the same final outcome, I was still so impressed with the start of the story, I was dying to rate it 5 stars straight away. But then, I have no idea what happened because once I hit about a quarter of the book, I suddenly lost interest.
I liked Krya and I felt for her situation but I almost felt as though I was more concerned for her than she was herself. She has no idea what has happened, her parents have no idea and I felt as though there wasn’t much concern of that. No concern from doctors, or the police. Everyone seemed to accept Kyra’s story and just try to get on with their lives. I kept reading and thinking that surely there should be more hype over the fact she’s returned without aging, but there wasn’t any. Kyra was obsessed with keeping time, but we never find out the reason why. She also spent a lot of time being upset over her ex-boyfriend and her new love interest, but for a girl who has lost five years of her life and she has no reason why, surely she would be more upset? For me the lack of emotions didn’t make her story believable.
The plot of the story was quite entertaining, however it’s not until a third of the book that you start to get a hint of what is going on. The romance was good, a little fast but good. I didn’t mind that Kyra fell for her ex-boyfriends brother. I think the way the author did their story was quite good and especially with ending – that was totally unexpected.
In all, The Taking was an okay read. I just felt it was a little poorly executed and needed to be a little more believable. Would I read the sequel? Maybe, I’m not sure if the ending grabbed me enough to but I could change my mind.
Thank you to HarperTeen for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.
2 comments:
Great review. I like this author. The Pledge and The Body Finder series are really good. <3
Sounds interesting but the lack of concern from parents and the police is a bit strange.
I haven't read anything by Kimberly Derting so I might give this a shot.
Great review! :)
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