Book Review: "The Taker" and "The Reckoning"

The Taker and The Reckoning are the first two books in yet another "paranormal romance" trilogy with the third book  The Descent being released this spring. However, unlike Twilight  and the many, many juvenile romances it's inspired The Taker Trilogy is a decidedly adult book which asks, or at least attempts to ask hard questions about love, truth and redemption.  Born in the early 19th century in rural Maine, Lanore is in love with Jonathan the most handsome man in town. Her feelings aren't returned though as Jonathan proceeds to bed every available woman in town. When he and Lanore finally sleep together she gets pregnant. Her devout parents send her away to Boston to have the baby in a convent. However, she is instead picked up by a group of immortal hedonists who rape and otherwise abuse her before their leader, an enigmatic, violent and undoubtedly evil man, Adair, has her join their clan. Among the others are a Spaniard, Alejandro, who turned his sister over to the Spanish Inquisition, and Uzra a beautiful and mysterious woman who has spent centuries as Adair's slave. The uniting factor of the people in Adair's troupe are the violent crimes they committed and their unbridled self loathing. Adair reveals to Lanore how he became immortal, saying that once he was just a Romanian boy living in the 14th century who was sold to an Adept who, continuing the main theme of these books, abused him for years before he finally managed to dispose of the evil physic. Adair then has Lanore return to her hometown to recruit Jonathan for their little group. Jonathan nearly dies after he is caught with another man's wife, and Lanore makes him immortal, tying him to herself forever. Upon returning to Boston, Lanore realises that Adair is not the poor boy he says he was but actually the psychic and is planning to take over Jonathan's body. Lanore devises a plan and traps Adair, alive, in a wall for two centuries which brings us to modern day where she is rehashing this story to a small town doctor. She has been arrested for the murder of Jonathan, who after a decades of living immorally has decided to become a doctor and help the poorest, most destitute people in the world. He has also fallen in love with a woman who has recently died and thus has Lanore kill him so they can be together. Lanore is heartbroken that after centuries of devotion to Jonathan he has decided to fall in love with another woman. "The Reckoning"  continues in modern day with Lanore, inspired by Jonathan's decision to seek redemption for his actions, attempting to find her own forgiveness. However she soon finds out that Adair has been released and is sure that he is bent on getting revenge on her. She travels far and wide trying to escape him, while also coming to the realisation that there is something that attracted her to  Adair in the first place and that perhaps she will not be able to become the person she wants if she has the capacity to love such darkness inside herself. For his part, Adair is set on revenge and continues his violent and cruel existence only to come to the realisation that he loves Lanore and begins to 'rethink his past' as it were.

It's hard to praise a book that is so filled with excessive (although, not descriptive) violence and such despicible characters. It truly is hard to like or root for any of these characters, all truly naive, each in their own way. By the same token, they are selfish and cruel, each living for themselves above all else. However, Alma Katsu's writing is good and the questions she asks are good. Can someone like Adair, with millions of crimes to his name change? Could God forgive such a man? Not only that, but unlike Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey, the bad characters are actually bad. For that matter, Lanore is, while not as bad as Adair, still not a good, innocent character who someone manages to change the bad man in her life. No, she is self-serving and has hurt her share of people. Both Lanore and Adair struggle against their violent nature while other characters fail completely. The question is though, even if someone like Adair seeks redemption, should he get it? The book doesn't offer any answers and whether those answers will come in The Descent remains to be seen. However, I hope that the asnwers she gives won't be that neat and tidy. Again, it's hard to justify the violence in the book and thus to recommend it. Lanore's affection for a man that raped her nearly to the point of death is ethically quesetionable. Furthermore, Lanore is painted as being 'unable'  to make Jonathan love her, as defective in some way, which seems like another message that pop culture shouldn't be sending out to women. At the end of the day, did we really need anymore of this, excuse my language, paranormal bullshit? Not really, but at least Katsu has written a fairly compelling series with a female protagonist who is strong willed and capable and a cast of morally compromised characters who are intriguing and thought provoking if not likable.

both images from almakatsu.com