The Taker
Oct 25, 2011
Author: Alma Katsu
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date:September, 2011
ISBN:978-1439197059
What happens when you take Immortals, Puritans, Sorcery and unrequited love that happens to last for centuries and put it all between the pages of a book? You get a really good story!
The story starts in the present day, where Lanny - a mysterious woman found wandering loose in the snow - is under observation in the ER for supposedly killing a man in the woods. The good ER doctor, Luke, whose life at this point is simply empty and depressing, is quite taken with her and the next thing we know they're running away to Canada together.
Lanny starts to tell Luke her story, which actually begins in the 1800s. Turns out, Lanny is a Puritan maiden from the that time who spent years pining away for Jonathon, the land baron's son. Jonathon has quite the way with the ladies. ALL the ladies.
When Lanny lets Jonathon have his way with her, well... the results are predictable. Lanny's life turns in ways she would never expect when she's shipped off to Boston for approximately 9 months to "take care of a sick relative".
But when she departs the ship, she doesn't find the convent - instead she finds a pack of amoral, lusty, and debauched Immortals. They quickly have Lanny drugged up as a party favor and you can guess where it goes from there.
I don't want to give away too much of the story, but will say that there is a very unhealthy love triangle going on between Adair - the head Immortal who owns all the souls in the house, Lanny and Jonathon - who she continues to pine for.
Adair has his own very interesting section of history in the book that takes us back to the 1300s.
This story jumps from the 1800s to present day, then to the 1300s and back again. But it's never disjointed and the flow is easy to follow.
I quite enjoyed it but will finish by saying that at the end I was practically yelling at Lanny - "Read the Letters! Read them NOW!"
Get the book, you'll see what I'm talking about! :)
Read Chapter 1 HERE!
