Review : The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Taking (The Taking #1)
Author : Kimberly Derting
Publication Date : April 29th 2014
Publisher : HarperTeen
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

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?

Personal Thoughts

Ah The Taking! I had such high hopes for you. Your blurb which promised an exciting and mysterious story about an alien abduction was absolutely deceitful because you were only a washed-out version of a sci-fi story. Heck, even calling you a YA sci-fi story is disrespecting the other good YA sci-fi books out there!

You guys, I was so disappointed after reading this book. Quite frankly, it made me angry and frustrated when I should have been flipping the pages to find out what was going on with our main character, Kyra. Speaking of this main character, what a "delightful" creature she was. She managed to bring to the surface intense feelings of hatred and she was one of those slap-worthy heroines. Instead of trying to figure out what had actually happened to her, she'd rather rant about how she doesn't want to accept her step-brother and drool after her ex-boyfriend's baby brother (who was freaking 12 years  old when she disappeared - but that's for another paragraph). Kyra was such a childish and selfish heroine. I hated how she resented her mother for having re-married and "replaced" her with a new son. I hated how she expected her ex-boyfriend to have not moved on from her five years later. These actions of hers speak volumes about her character. After being abducted for five years and having no recollection about what happened would destroy anyone mentally and emotionally, but I don't think the author did a good job at portraying Kyra's fears and helplessness that would undoubtedly arise after going through such a situation. But no. Kyra is perfectly happy frolicking around with Tyler instead of looking into more crucial matters.

The romance was overwhelming. It was so instantaneous but you know what, that's not even the part that bothered me the most. I was disturbed by the fact that Tyler was 12 years old when Kyra, who was 17, disappeared. Of course, she hasn't aged a day, but he was TWELVE! I just could not wrap my head around that and ultimately, that ruined the story for me. Tyler was also not that loveable. Sure, he had his sweet moments, but he came across as such love-struck puppy so many times and gosh, the amount of cheese in this book would have been enough to make a large pizza. Honestly, I thought Tyler was pathetic and I didn't understand why he was chasing Kyra so much. Then, there's the fact that absolutely nothing happened in the first 75% of the book because so much attention was focused on the relationship with Kyra and Tyler. Like I said in my introduction, this book is not a sci-fi. There was zero world-building and by the end of the book only a few questions had been answered. I know this is part of a series, but still, I expected more of a solid plot and so many interesting and creative things could have happened had the author developed the romance in the sidelines.

In the end, I don't think The Taking is worthy read. There are far better YA science-fiction series out there, such as The Lunar Chronicles. A disappointing read with too much focus on the romance and an unlikeable heroine, The Taking is not a book I recommend to readers who are looking for plot-driven story. However, if you like your books heavy with the romance, then go for it.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 1/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 2/5

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the e-ARC of The Taking.