"The Taker" by Alma Katsu ~ Irresistible!

Alma Katsu's "The Taker," #1 in her Taker Trilogy, is a thoroughly irresistible book.  It takes you by surprise when you think you know it all and have read it all.  It captures your imagination when you think you know what's coming on the next page, and it turns your mind around when you think you've figured it all out in the end!  This is a novel that has everything and more than you could expect from a gothic.  You haven't experienced everything from New England's dark past...Maine and Boston still hold mysteries that are incomprehensible.  You may want to pick up "The Taker" before you read Ms Katsu's newest book in her series, "The Reckoning!"

Summary :

True love can last an eternity . . . but immortality comes at a price. . . .

On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her . . . despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption.

Particulars of the Book :
Publisher:  Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster
Pages:  436  (Original hardback edition)
Genre:  Paranormal Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Gothic Novel
Author:  Alma Katsu Website:  http://almakatsu.com
Purchase the book here:  Barnes and Noble

About Alma Katsu :

Alma Katsu lives outside of Washington, DC with her husband, musician Bruce Katsu. Her debut, The Taker, a Gothic novel of suspense, has been compared to the early work of Anne Rice and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. The novel was named a Top Ten Debut Novel of 2011 by the American Library Association and has developed an international following. The Reckoning, the second book in the trilogy, was published in June 2012. The Taker Trilogy is published by Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster.
Ms. Katsu is a graduate of the Master's writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, where she studied with John Irving. She also attended the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Prior to publication of her first novel, Ms. Katsu had a long career as a senior intelligence analyst for several US agencies.


The Dame's Review :

Not since Anne Rice have I read such an original book combining the paranormal and the gothic.  This is a New England horror novel with such a lush and gorgeous bent that it was difficult to tear myself away from it.  Alma Katsu makes it nearly impossible for me to have the courage to review her work.  I think she will be one of those authors we rush to read every time a new book  hits the stands.  Her intelligence bleeds through her every chapter, and the suspense builds as she lays out a story that plays like a movie such as "The Crucible" or "The Scarlet Letter."  This is a book that's laid layer upon layer. You can't help falling in love with her characters.  Simply a spell-binding book.

"The Taker" sat in my "to-be-read" pile for a long time.  The cover didn't excite me and I wasn't drawn to it until my daughter called and told me I just had to read it.  I pulled it out with some reluctance because it wasn't top on my list this week.  Once I began to read, I was mesmerized.  As I've said at the beginning of this post, it was thoroughly unexpected from the beginning.

The love story that anchors the book is so deep and real it will rake your heart with empathetic pain and reminescence of your first and true love.  There is such a depth of feeling Alma Katsu can convey that it's sterling. It rings throughout her book.  Scenes of violence are subtle; capped by the lushness of mystery and beauty but still shuttering to read.  I think this is the sort of genius that the early Anne Rice books showed. 

Her character, Lanore, is naturally brimming with darkness and multi-layers of personality.  She's complex which makes the story so enticing.  Lanore, a form of the french "le noire" or black; i.e., darkness...is a girl/woman who is both innocent and rich in dark hearted desires and plottings.  She's ever the wonderful protagonist because her underlying "evil" is so subtle!  Easy to adore, she's also a character with redeeming qualities that make her one you'll want to protect.

Ms Katsu is a born writer.  This book is no soft historical fiction or gothic paranormal.  This is way above your average book in this genre.  It's a work of art; the type of book that stands head and shoulders above the common one being written these days.

Highly recommended.  If it's in your TBR stack pull it out immediately!  If you haven't already bought it, run to your nearest shop or go online.  This is one you can't miss this year.  And, I'm not stopping here. I'm off to read and review "The Reckoning."

5 eternal stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Life Eternal" by Yvonne Woon~Dead Beautiful Series is Hot!!

Published by:  Hyperion
Pages:  408
Genre:  YA Fiction/Paranormal/Suspense
Author's website:  http://www.yvonnewoon.com/

Cover Rating:
Beautiful cover, but I'm not sure I know from the cover images exactly what the book is about.  I can see it is coming from a cold and snow-encrusted region, the canary in a cage is an interesting image, and the stony arch denotes an entry into an aged place.  Otherwise, the girl is just pretty and we aren't sure how she relates to the title.  Love the font used and the proper placement of title and author, as well as the designation that this is one in the series of the Dead Beautiful novels.  The black scroll and lettering against the white and pale blue background is beautiful.   Rating:  B+

SYNOPSIS:

Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate, Dante Berlin. Now, her separation from Dante becomes almost unbearable. His second life is close to an end, and each passing day means one less that she will spend with the boy who shares her soul. Just when Renée has almost given up hope, she learns of the Nine Sisters—brilliant scholars who, according to legend, found a way to cheat death. She can’t shake the feeling that they are somehow connected to her dreams, strange visions that hint at a discovery so powerful, and so dangerous, that some will stop at nothing to protect it. Renée thought she knew the truth about life and death. But there is a secret woven through history that holds the only hope for Dante and Renée. Unless they find answers soon, their time together is doomed to be cut short

Yvonne Woon grew up in Massachusetts, where she attended Worcester Academy. She is currently a graduate student at Columbia University, obtaining a Masters of Fine Arts in fiction. Dead Beautiful is her first book 

*Please find out more interesting things about Ms Woon on her website:  www.yvonnewoon.com


The Bookish Dame Reviews:
Interesting book.  It's the talent of a good author that draws you in to want to read more about her main character.  It's the capability of a gifted author that makes a character come to life such that the reader almost believes she's in that character's skin!  And, it's the genius of an author that plots a story from fantasy and couches it in a real world setting, then makes you believe it could actually happen!  Yvonne Woon is an author of awesome talents just like these.  She had me captivated with interest in her characters right from the beginning.

I enjoyed this story about "monitors," people born with the talent to sense death or the undead...and who are charged with the duty of tracking them and putting them to "rest."  The central figure in "Life Eternal" is Renee Winters, a 17 year old, orphaned, "rebirthed" monitor who is suspected of being immortal after having died in a previous year at her school, and then becoming "reactivated."  Although Renee was actually only switching souls with her boyfriend, Dante, (whom we can only know best after having read the 1st book in this Dead Beautiful Series) the rest of the Monitoring world, including her grandfather, isn't sure just what really happened to her.  It's a central bone of contention in this book of the series, as is Renee and Dante's quest to keep themselves and their love alive.

Rich in detail and characterization, in a make-believe world in Maine and Montreal that actually seems possible at times, and in the depth of loving relationships between friends and family, this book is a very good read.  I love fantasy, paranormals like this one!  The ghoulish isn't made into too much a farse, it's made to feel close to real, and I love that. And, as an aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Woon's references to the intellectual: libraries, book stacks, professorial types and such. Yummy reading highlights for a bookaholic...

If you're looking for an engaging, suspense read on the paranormal side with some kindly, intelligent figures and a very good storyline, this book is for you.  Yvonne Woon is a snappy writer, young and upbeat with a smooth sense of dialog and a way with words. Her introduction of the Nine Sisters adds a welcomed depth to her series. It's great fun to read her book. And, I relish the fact that this is only the 2nd book in the series...the ending left me hanging on for the next one coming!! Good young adult fiction that adults will like very much.  We need this series in our collection!

5 Stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame


See Also:

   This is the first book in the "Dead Beautiful Series" by Yvonne Woon