Review: The Taker by Alma Katsu

I vowed this summer that I would read at least one good, intoxicatingly fun book. The kind that would make me forget about everything else whenever I picked it up. This book would have to have a little of everything that suits my tastes – a sprinkling of fantasy, intrigue, mystery and some history to top it off. Well, The Taker by Alma Katsu is that book.

The main character, Lanore McIlvrae, is written with a lot of heart. She’s far from perfect and made so many wrong choices it was difficult to feel sorry for her when she ended up in trouble. On the other hand, she showed compassion and empathy in relation to other characters and that made her likeable despite her faults. I also liked that Lanore was written honestly – she’s self-aware and admitted to herself when she failed.

Much of the story is set in the early 1800’s and takes the reader from St. Andrews, a small and newly settled town in Maine, to Boston with its teeming masses of the well-to-do and the less fortunate. It is between that time and the present that the story unfolds with a short detour to the 1300’s as the author delves into lineage of Adair, another character vital to the storyline. It was Adair that had me shivering and checking the locks on my doors!

I enjoyed this novel for many reasons - one of the main ones being its sense of time and place. Of course, the building excitement was good too! I recommend this The Taker to everyone that enjoys a well-developed and exciting summer read. Also, I just found out that The Taker is book one of a trilogy! I thought while reading it that there would be more to this story! YAY!

You can view the youtube trailer for The Taker here.