REVIEW: The Reckoning by Alma Katsu

Title: The Reckoning
Author: Alma Katsu
Genre: Historical-Romance/Paranormal
Series: The Taker #2


Hardcover, 352 pages
Publication: June 19, 2012 by Galley Books

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Source: ARC, Publishers


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SECOND IN ALMA KATSU’S GRIPPING SUPERNATURAL TRILOGY THAT BEGAN WITH THE TAKER

Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone.

She had no choice but to entomb Adair, her nemesis, to save Jonathan, the boy she grew up with in a remote Maine town in the early 1800s and the man she thought she would be with forever. But Adair had other plans for her. He used his mysterious, otherworldly powers to give her eternal life, but Lanore learned too late that there was a price for this gift: to spend eternity with him. And though he is handsome and charming, behind Adair’s seductive façade is the stuff of nightmares. He is a monster in the flesh, and he wants Lanore to love him for all of time.

Now, two hundred years after imprisoning Adair, Lanore is trying to atone for her sins. She has given away the treasures she’s collected over her many lifetimes in order to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Lanore suddenly is aware that the thing she’s been dreading for two hundred years has caught up to her: Adair has escaped from his prison. He’s free— and he will come looking for her. And she has no idea how she will save herself.

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The Reckoning is the second book in Alma Katsu’s The Taker Trilogy, which takes places where the first book left off. Lanore has started her new life in a new place with a new man, but the past has finally caught up to her. Adair, the man that gave Lanore immortality has finally escaped captivity and he is seeking revenge for the person who put him there: Lanore. Lanore knows Adair will stop at nothing till he finds her so she seeks aid from the people she only knows; the other immortals.

I’ve wanted to read The Taker for a long time but never got the chance to. Then the second book in the trilogy was released, so I took a chance hoping there was enough background information to get through the book. As I thought, the book provided enough information that made everything easy to follow. This book is written very different from any book I’ve ever read before. The chapters alternate between Lanore and all the other characters. When it’s Lanore’s chapter it is written in the first person perspective and the other character chapters are told in third person. There is not much action in the book, but the characters are so interesting that you’re glued to the page. There was a lot of flashback sprinkled through the book, which gave readers a more in depth perspective of the characters.

While this is more of Lanore’s book, I was especially intrigued with Adair. He is an evil-cruel man but it was interesting to see how he adjusts to the twenty-first century. He had to learn everything from the clothing, transportation, technology, to theway people think now a day. Readers see how he slowly changes, that there is another side to Adair. Which make us wondering, is it really possible for people to change? This was a captivating novel, which will have readers hungry for the final book. The Reckoning is a blend of brutality, retribution, betrayal, and the power of love, unquestionably a series not to be missed. I definitely suggest picking up the first book, The Taker to get the full experience of the series!

This book contains some graphic scenes, and is not suitable for readers under 18 years old. 

**Thank you to Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books for sending me an arc of this novel**