The Taking

Kimberly Derting — 2014

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer meets The Fifth Wave in this chilling and explosive new series from author Kimberly Derting. The last thing Kyra Agnew remembers is a flash of bright light. She awakes to discover that five whole years have passed. Everyone in her life has moved on—her parents are divorced, her boyfriend is in college and dating her best friend—but Kyra's still the sixteen-year-old she was when she vanished. She finds herself drawn to Tyler, her boyfriend's kid brother, despite her best efforts to ignore this growing attraction. In order to find out the truth, the two of them decide to retrace her steps from that fateful night. They discover that there are others who have been "taken," just like Kyra. But Kyra is the first person to have been returned past the forty-eight-hour taken mark. With a determined secret government agency after her, Kyra desperately tries to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had . . . but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Reviews

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit@lifeinlit

Aug 30, 2021

I’ve been trying real hard to branch out a bit from my reading comfort zone. I tend to read a lot of contemporary YA on a consistent basis. So whenever I find myself even slightly interested in something on the fantasy side, I push myself to give it a try. Yes, this sometimes leads to DNF reviews, but a majority of the time lately it seems that I’m pleasantly surprised. The Taking was just slightly out of my comfort zone. I liked the fact that the story was of a more realistic nature with slight sci-fi elements thrown in here and there. Hardcore sci-fi and high fantasy are too much for my simple mind to process. :-P But this seemed like a perfect match for me. Kyra was a strong and realistic teenage character to me. At times she came off a bit self-absorbed. A prime example of this was View Spoiler » Though this was a little over the top, it was actually probably pretty accurate as to how the majority of 17-year olds in this situation would have seen this situation. So I was careful not to let the fact that I wanted to slap her sway how I felt about the realistic nature of the story. The other characters were similar. Tyler, who went overboard and pushed the term “romantic” to a whole new level, was a cute addition to the story. The dynamic between Kyra and Tyler added a sweet love-storyish vibe. Overall it was cute and made me smile. Yes, definitely cliche and a bit cheesy from time to time, but sweet nonetheless. (Who would have known her ex-boyfriend’s kid brother would have grown up to be so HAWT in 5 years?!) After the powerful beginning, I was a little taken aback by the story’s progression. It slowed down substantially, and the middle centered around Kyra and Tyler’s romance more than anything else. It was sweet though, and I did like the change of speed… I just wasn’t expecting it. It definitely picked back up though, have no fear! Simply put: The Taking starts with a bang, has a slight lull in the middle, then finishes strong. The ending definitely left me wanting more. Another great book from Kimberly Derting! I’m hoping The Taking #2 will come out sooner, rather than later. The fact that there isn’t a title or pub date yet makes me nervous. Fingers crossed for a timely release! (Thanks to Harlequin Teen & Edelweiss for the review copy!) Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!