"Romantic and action-packed, The Replaced is the gripping second installment in the Taking trilogy.
Kyra hasn't been the same since she returned from her mysterious five-year disappearance. Now, on the run from the NSA, Kyra is forced to hide out with others who, like her, have been Returned. Yet she is determined to find Tyler, the boy she loves who was also abducted—all because of her. When her group intercepts a message that Tyler might still be alive but is in the hands of a shadowy government organization that experiments on the Returned, Kyra knows it's a risk to go after him. What if it's a trap? And worse, what if the returned Tyler isn't the same boy she lost?
Perfect for fans of The Fifth Wave and the Body Finder series, The Replaced is both chilling and explosive, with creepy, otherworldly elements and twisty, psychological thrills that will have you questioning what exactly it means to be human."
"The missing dead call to
Violet. They want to be found. Violet can sense the echoes of those
who've been murdered and the matching imprint that clings to their
killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when
she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of
the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.
As Violet works to
keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a
dangerous obsession. Normally, she'd turn to her best friend, Jay,
except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their
relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more
time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her
hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the
void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a
dark truth that could put everyone in danger."
It has been awhile since I read The Body Finder. Despite the amount of years since then, I can still remember flickers of The Body Finder here and there. Desires of the Dead does bring some memories and words back, and it was enough for me to understand and remember in the previous book. Good job, Ms. Derting. Memory recall. Use certain words and little gestures here and there to bring back the reader's lost or suppressed memories.
Anyway, Violet is now different. She isn't the same girl as in the previous girl (from what I can recall). She is rather shy and nervous. Her gift pretty much controls her, and she doesn't like it very much (and who does? The ability, her ability, to find the dead is really scary). She is drawn to dead bodies and dead animals. They call out to her, wanting her to find them.
Jay, best friend turned boyfriend, is more withdrawn in Desires of the Dead. Like what the synopsis said, Jay and Mike are besties. They are pretty much hanging out together all the time, leaving Violet even more sad (or depressed or jealous). I like one of the quotes in Desires of the Dead. Violet said something about having to compete with Mike for Jay's attention. It sadly reminds me of a thrown away toy. Violet, in that situation, is the thrown away toy.
Unfortunately, Ms. Derting spends some time building up a foundation for a new character named Rafe. A character foundation or relationship foundation? Hmm... I think it is a bit of both. I'm seriously hoping that Rafe wouldn't be the third part of a triangle, but I'm seriously considering Rafe to be another love interest for Violet. And from the small clues Ms. Derting thrown at me, I'm guessing he is like Violet. He is someone special like her. However, his powers probably differ from Violet's ability to find dead bodies. Remember that girl (the main character) from the Touch series? I bet Rafe's powers are probably similar to hers. He can probably... Well, I'm not going to explain my theories. There are so many of them that it will take so long for me to describe them all.
The Big Bad is the "dark truth" in the synopsis. I'm not going to explain it, but I'm going to say that you don't have to worry about The Big Bad. Violet doesn't realize that someone is gunning after her, and when she does, she doesn't care very much/tries to help them.
Overall, Desires of the Dead is an interesting sequel to The Body Finder. I would be reading Desires of the Dead's sequel, but I read some spoilers for The Last Echo, so... I think I would lay off the series until I forget about that particular piece of information.
Anyway, Desires of the Dead sucked me right in.
Rating: Four out of Five
"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?"
Aliens again? I'll tell you that The Taking is nothing like I Am Number Four or any of those other alien books.
Anyway. I suggest you think of The Taking more like Fantastic Four. Or superhero slash alien kind of thing. Obviously, it is indeed a bit complicated unless you read the book. Derting is really good at explaining things. I remember reading The Body Finder. Very creepy, but very good. Unfortunately, I haven't read the second book, but that isn't the point here.
Complicated doesn't cover it.
Kyra is a young girl. At sixteen, she was kidnapped or Taken. Then she was returned. After five years. Now a lot of things can change in five years. Kids grow up. People fall in love. People fall out of love. Parents get divorced. Teens become mature. Someone dies. Someone is born. And we, along with time, change. For better or worse. But Kyra is an exception. After five years, she is still sixteen. She is still the same girl when she was returned. Both mentally and physically. She didn't age. She didn't grow old. And all of this creepiness was thanks to aliens.
But she has changed. That is why I mentioned the Fantastic Four. Just think of the mutating cloud as aliens and them you might see Kyra as the Fantastic Four.
Still not helping?
Well, it is indeed complicated.
The Taking is an excellent story. I love the MIB (Men in Black) or as they call themselves, NSA (National Security Agency). The touch of aliens and little green men is interesting. It is such a shame that MIB are the enemies. However, the alien might (notice the verb) be the allies. Might.
The story goes by quickly. I went through the entire book quickly. Needless to say I did enjoy the book. Even the moments with Kyra's ex-boyfriend's little brother are adorable.
Did I just made her sound like a cougar? Whoops. Oh, well.
Derting writes the story very well. She doesn't switch POVs. She doesn't pull off anything terrible. In fact, The Taking is a safe book. Even though it is full of aliens. And it is absolutely fun. Overall, I really enjoyed The Taking. I think there is great potential, not to mention a great story behind it all. There is so much informaiton that Derting has yet to reveal. So am I reading the sequel? If I can get my hands on it.
Rating: Four out of Five
