The Reckoning

Written by Alma Katsu

Narrated by Laurel Lefkow

In the second installment in her supernatural Taker trilogy, Alma Katsu, author of the highly acclaimed The Hunger, takes you on a “fascinating” (Cliché Magazine) and passion-fueled journey that transcends the boundaries of time.

Lanore McIvlvrae is the kind of woman who will do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone.

She had no choice but to entomb Adair, her nemesis, to save Jonathan, the boy she grew up with in the remote Maine town and the man she thought she would be with forever. But Adair had other plans for her. He used his mysterious, otherworldly powers to give her eternal life, but Lanore learned too late that there was a price for this gift: to spend eternity with him. And though he is handsome and charming, behind Adair’s seductive façade is the stuff of nightmares. He is a monster in the flesh, and he wants Lanore to love him for all time.

Now, two hundred years after imprisoning Adair, Lanore is trying to atone for her sins. She has given away the treasures she’s collected over her many lifetimes to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, ER doctor Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit in London, Lanore suddenly is aware that the thing she’s been dreading for two hundred years has caught up to her: Adair has escaped from his prison. He’s free…and he will come looking for her. And she has no idea how she will save herself.

With the stunningly imaginative storytelling and rich characterizations that fascinated fans worldwide and made The Taker a singular and memorable literary debut and an international sensation, Alma Katsu once again delivers “a powerful evocation of the dark side of romantic love” (Publishers Weekly).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jun 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781442355996

Alma Katsu

Alma Katsu was born in Alaska and raised near Concord, Massachusetts. She has a BA in writing from Brandeis University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. She is the author of The Taker Trilogy (The Taker, The Reckoning, and The Descent) as well as The Hunger and The Deep. The Hunger was a finalist for the Bram Stoker and Locus magazine award and was selected as one of NPR’s 100 favorite horror stories. She lives with her husband in Virginia. Visit her on Twitter @AlmaKatsu.

Reviews for The Reckoning

[brokenteepee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In The Reckoning Lanny and Luke, the man who helped her are in London attending a museum exhibit of Lost Treasures that Lanny had anonymously donated when Lanny feels a sharp buzzing and she knows that Adair has escaped from the building where she confined him. Now she is scared because she knows that he will come looking for her. She also knows that he will stop at nothing to hurt her and that means he will harm Luke and his family. So Lanny runs.What follows is a tale of Adair walking into a world he does not recognize. A world he is finding it hard to understand. All of his skills are useless in a world driven by computers and cell phones. He finds an old acolyte to again rule over and starts his search for Lanny. He has been dreaming of revenge for 200 years - but is it revenge that he truly wants?Lanny knows that she is in deep trouble when Adair finds her and she knows that he will. As she tries to hide from him she reconnects with "the old gang" and learns more pieces of the pasts of various members and deeper truths about herself and Adair. What she learns shocks her to her core and she now truly understands that very fine line between hate and love.What is so special about both of the books written by Ms. Katsu is the magic of the writing. It swirls around in your brain and brings you to a new place where you can believe that immortals walk the Earth. Her way with words is truly something special and while these books are in a genre I generally do not enjoy I find myself enthralled when I start reading. I cannot wait for the final installment to learn how it all began.

[myckyee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Reckoning by Alma Katsu is part two in The Taker Trilogy – a series that tells the story of Lanore, a young woman with the unique gift of everlasting life. The first novel, The Taker, describes how she acquired this gift and the people whose lives intersected and intertwined with hers. The Taker was mostly set in the early 1800’s – The Reckoning picks up the story of Lanore two hundred years later as she struggles to evade the attention of the one person to whom she owes her life and who also happens to be the one who she dreads to meet again. Yes, Adair is back and he is one of the scariest characters I’ve ever read!The others are there too – Alejandro, Tilde, Jude – plus a couple of new ones. I find it impressive how the author manages to bind them all with the same gift, yet make each character distinct from the other by imbuing them with very different personalities.The story thrums along quickly and the more I read the more suspenseful it became. Lanore is in danger and the excitement caused by her predicament builds chapter by chapter. I also find the story line taking place in present times really interesting. As one character finds himself thrust into the modern day world and adjusts to this reality, the contrast between the past and present is a fascinating one. How can it be possible to fly? How can people use ‘plastic’ to buy things? I love to imagine what it would be like to suddenly wake up in a world far into the future and wonder at all the things that would be different – faster, easier, and hopefully better.I’m enjoying this series for several reasons. The story is good, exciting and fast-paced. The characters, though they are as different from each other as they could possibly be, are not perfect. Even Lanore faces difficult choices – should she do the right thing by someone else and thereby put herself in danger or take the easy road?I don’t think it’s necessary to read The Taker to enjoy The Reckoning (though it is fun to read what took place before the events in The Reckoning) but it is worth it to read them both. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys strong characters with mystery and fantasy mixed in with a bit of intrigue.

[ashleyk44 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed The Taker well enough, and with all of the glowing reviews for this novel I was excited to read it - but I wound up disappointed. The story itself, as with that of The Taker, is fascinating, but I found it to be poorly executed. The writing is clunky, suffering from a case of telling, not showing. I kept finding myself ripped out of the story by inconsistencies and things that just didn't make sense. Others obviously enjoyed this, but it just didn't do it for me and I found myself finishing it just for the sake of finishing it.

[anissaannalise-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second installment in The Taker trilogy & honestly, it should have been called "The Waiting" because that's all you're doing in anticipation of the reunion of Lanore/Adair after his 200 year entombment by her hand. If that's your huge draw, then just read the last 75-50 pages and satisfy yourself. It'll give you enough of the gist & give the payoff quickly enough. If you're really only in for the reunion, read the last 25 or so pages (it's heartbreaking). This was a lot of buildup & considering that this is a shorter book than The Taker, it's a bit torturous. If you're down with the torture, take in every page & savor it selfishly. I put this down many times to make it last because I know there's going to be a year for the finale to arrive & that pains me.

We pick up right where the Taker left off & Lanore is attending the exhibit of all her treasures at the museum with Luke (the doctor who helped her abscond St. Andrew in the first book) & she feels that old familiar hum in the back of her head. She realizes it's Adair & she's in a right panic. So begins her flight because she knows that Adair will be coming for her. She abandon's Luke & heads for Casablanca. We are introduced to Saava, another immortal & learn about him & the time in the past that he & Lenore spent together. His life is sad & wretched but I found him to be an important character to come to know. Through the flashbacks Lanore comes to realize that she has always loved Adair & the men she found herself most drawn to & deeply loved (& who loved her back) were not like Jonathan, they were like Adair. As much of a brain-twister as that proves to be, she needs to get on because that does not change that she's sure Adair is going to come & exact his revenge.

Back in Boston, Adair is freed from his entombment & as is to be expected, is having a difficult time adjusting to how much the world has changed in 200 years. Jude is his guide here & it's a frustrating, sometimes farcical & other times sad, to watch Adair try to get his new bearings. He is singly set on finding Lanore & at times seems unhinged. I often worried as much as Jude that Adair would do something & find himself caught up by a police investigation. He had no willingness to take to heart that he couldn't just act the way he had before, now that we have cameras, forensics & such. Killing, menacing & stealing are generally not the best way to go, especially when it's Adair doing it, as he does these things on impulse & doesn't even think about the clean up. And it made things no easier as Adair found it too much to take direction from Jude or anyone who had been subservient to him before. Two-hundred years had changed everyone in some ways & Adair's realization took some time to catch up. Adair does find that he is incapable of exacting bloody revenge on Lanore because he is too much in love with her, to the point of distraction & obsession (a thing that led him to being open to being betrayed by her in the first place). Such complication! I was glad & horrified to find out the details of what happened to the peasant boy Adair, that we learn of in the first book & am hoping that wrong can be righted in the final book because it is one of the things that has happened that disturbs me most.

Now, I will admit that I've never been a Jonathan fan & frankly was glad to be rid of his bland-but-beautiful existence by the end of The Taker. So when Adair went about to resurrect him, I was a bit perturbed. Happily, Jonathan doesn't reconstitute to his former perfection & actually turned into a more interesting person. Death gave him more of a personality & I found that I liked him. He still came out with some eye-roll comments, like how his having had sex with Lanore was only done because it was what she wanted & he was just trying to be a nice guy. Whatevs. This is the guy that shagged everything in a skirt that would stand still long enough, but the sex with Lanore was his one noble act? Anyway, excepting that, Jonathan has some interesting insights to impart & a very cryptic mention of "The Queen of the Underworld". I'm hoping that since this mention fills Adair with a good bit of dread, we'll be seeing this being in the last book of the series. I found the idea that even the Queen of the Underworld is so taken with Jonathan's beauty a bit more than I could buy into. Surely deities have seen all manner of perfection & are they themselves so, but even they are struck & moved by Jonathan as to be just as singularly co-opted to possess him as Lanore? M'mkay. If you say so. By this book's end, Jonathan has been dispatched once again & I can only hope that everyone will just let him rest now & not trot out his reanimated head or whatever in the final book.

We get to see Alejandro & Tilde while Lanore is on her search to find out what she can do to keep herself from the wrath of Adair. Alej & Tilde have tragic lives once you delve beneath the surface & we find out how much they suffered when Lanore & Jonathan got rid of Adair & left them to nothing. I could see how it pained Alej still & it was sadder still that Lanore had never given a second thought how her actions & drive to save Jonathan would affect or damn anyone else. She told herself that she'd done them a favor but she wasn't the one left penniless & wondering, was she? As often is the case with Lanore, her reasons are self-serving & excused by her. It is never until she is confronted with those she's wronged with the truth of who she is, that she seems to be able to stop & see it. I could completely understand why Alej & Tilde double-crossed her this time. It's not just about Adair, she wronged them as well.

And then there's Luke. I saw the point of him in the first book as we needed Lanore to tell someone her story. But now in book two, I just don't give a darn about his dead parents, divorce or his obsession with Lanore. I don't buy her being in love with him either. I understand what it's supposed to be but I just don't believe it. Luke is cloyingly earnest, whiny & more pathetic than anything & I can't see Lanore loving him. I can't stand him & don't find anything in him to adore. Frankly, I was hoping Adair would kill Luke so I could be sure I wouldn't have to deal with his wet personality in the final book.

This was well worth the read but not what you don't usually get from second books in a trilogy. You know something big is coming & this is just the bridge. And the way this one ends is enough to want you to will another five pages to properly whisk you off to 1038.

A word about the cover. I have a beautiful cover with a golden filigree & a bottle of what I can only surmise is the immortality elixir that Adair makes, golden flecks in the bottom & all. I love it & it matches well with the hardcover copy of The Taker. I keep seeing these other covers that are very YA-like & I can't stand them. First of all, who are all these chicas with long dark hair?! They can't be the embodiment of Lanore, she's blond with curls. The US cover with the blue-eyed brunette (I'm going by her very dark eyebrows here) & feathers aplenty, can't be Lanore either. I know it's not Tilde, she's another blonde. So unless this is Alej in drag, I need for this nonsense to cease. Do the people making the covers, even read these books? Does the author get any say at all? As a reader, it makes me ranty but I am glad that I'm not going to have to be subjected to purchasing one of those covers & hope that I'm saved at the end of the trilogy. I'd like one more filigreed cover to match my other two.

[strawberryga · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent second book in a series I am very excited about reading.

The characters are extremelly compelling and the story flows easily, making it a quick read leaving me wanting MORE !!!

Can't wait for #3, the author has released short stories featuring 'Adair' I d/led The witch sisters for free off amazon and it was a cool 25 page or so story. The characters having lived so many years leaves this an open ended mega-series..lol It could get over done but I don't think Ms. Katsu would have Adair meeting every great person in history. But there are so many opportunities ahead.

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Deeply unsettling and gripping sequel to The Taker. Part historical, part modern day thriller that explores deeper character development and emotions. Opening Sentence: We were nearly at the Victoria and Albert Museum when we saw the crowds spilling out of the entrance and across Cromwell Street, forcing our taxi to stop in the middle of the road. The Review: Lanore McIlvrae and Lucas Findley are spending some quality time together in Europe after Lucas helped her escape from murder charges. It is not long before their tranquil lives are shattered as Lanore once again feels the tug of Adair’s’ presence. Her first conclusion is that Lucas is not safe with her so she runs away leaving him to pick up the shattered pieces of his life by himself much like Jonathan left her many years ago. Lanny seeks other immortals whom were once Adair’s companions looking to find a way that could possibly undue her curse or destroy Adair forever. Lucas is left hurt and betrayed. He wants to prove to Lanny that he should stay by her side while wondering if she has already been caught and destroyed by Adair. Adair is furious. He wants nothing more than to claim his revenge on Lanore for locking him up for two hundred years. Adair must enlist the help of Jude, one of his unloyal and selfish companions, to find Lanore and to learn about the modern world. As the time passes for Adair, he realizes his feelings for Lanore are less about revenge and more about love. He has never felt this way for anyone in his centuries of life. Adair spares no expense or injustice until he can find Lanny again. The Reckoning has a dark, grim and terrible atmosphere that reminds me so much of Anne Rice books. There are really no redeeming qualities for any of these characters yet I was sucked in by their emotional plight. Lanore and Adair both come to realizations about their feelings for each other and they both fight these feelings in different ways. I absolutely cannot wait to see how this plays out. Lanore goes from fighting to live her life too wanting to end it so she doesn’t have to live through what Adair will undoubtedly put her through. She is a strong character but sometimes comes off a little childish even though what she is doing makes sense. She wants to protect Luke from harm, but it doesn’t take much research for Adair to find who she was last seen with so her protections may be for naught. Adair is frightening. He has no scruples to how far he will go to get what he wants. He really doesn’t care about anyone or anything else but himself. When he realizes that Lanore has left him with feelings he has never felt before, he tries to act on them. He tries to make himself a better person but is it enough for this tragic tale? I really like how The Reckoning goes between modern times and historical storytelling. How Lanore’s past lessons reflect on events that are currently happening. The Reckoning goes between different perspectives, Lanore’s first person to Adair and Luke’s third person accounts. The only thing that I had problem with was the time shifts between Adair and Lanore. Weeks would pass with Adair then it would go back to Lanore and it was only a couple days since Adair had escaped. Overall, there is nothing fun or lighthearted about The Reckoning. It is a dark, heavy read that borders on tragic consequences. I was a little surprised by how this novel ended and I can’t wait to read the conclusion of the trilogy in The Descent. Notable Scene: Whereas, when I thought of Adair, I knew I should be terrified of him, I knew he was capable of doing horrible things, but I also couldn’t help being overtaken with excitement, too. It had been like being courted by a demon, heady and intoxicating. My stomach fluttered at the memory of it. I had been loved by a man who would do anything for me: lie, cheat, steal. Murder. How many women could say that? As frightening as it had been, it also had been a singular love. Exactly the way I had felt about Jonathan, once upon a time. I sat upright, holding a pillow to my stomach as though it had some magical power to keep down the bile rising in my throat. The belief I’d held most sacred in life, the star by which I’d charted my course, had been an illusion. Even if I’d had a perfect love with Abdul and the others, each had come about because, subconsciously, I’d sought to re-create what I once had with Adair. The truth of this realization fell into place like tumblers aligning in a lock. It had been Adair all this time, not Jonathan. Adair, the monster, was the one I had loved all along. This couldn’t be. For a moment the inside of my head spun like a top, or perhaps it was my world flipping topsy-turvy and crashing around me. I’d always prided myself on following my heart, but I could not—would not—accept this. It must be mad lust or some kind of sick attraction dressed up to look like love. It must be trickery, one of his spells to make me think I loved him. It must be insanity brought on by Jonathan’s death. I could not be in love with a monster, I vowed. I would not let myself be in love with the devil.FTC Advisory: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of The Reckoning. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[justabookreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Reckoning picks up where the first book in The Taker trilogy left off --- with Lanny running away from Adair, the man who bestowed eternal life upon her. After escaping the small cell Lanny imprisoned him in, Adair is now free and looking to exact revenge on Lanny, the woman he supposedly loves and has convinced himself he cannot live without.Lanny is on the run with her new love Luke trying not only to avoid criminal charges for murder back in Maine but also any last vestige of her previous life. The last 200 years, while memorable for numerous reasons and punctuated with the odd famous individual or well-known events, have also been filled with terror for her. She knows that the prison holding her former lover, and tormentor, Adair, may break at any time and he will come looking for her. When the day Lanny most dreaded arrives and Adair is freed, she tried to impress on everyone in her life, current and past acquaintances, that Adair being free is more than a simple matter of hiding. She knows he will find her and she doesn’t want to let that happen knowing only years of pain, fear, and humiliation will be hers to endure. Thanks to her immortality, death will never be a release from the nightmare she knows awaits her.Luke doesn’t understand her fear, and not having ever known Adair or anyone else from Lanny’s past, he believes her fear to be irrational. Knowing she can’t have Luke found by Adair, Lanny leaves him to search out the others and hopefully find answers and some solace in their company. What Lanny finds is not at all what she expected.As in the first book in this series, The Taker, a good deal of the story is told through flashbacks of Lanny and Adair’s lives. They spend days thinking over their pasts and wondering where it got them. This is especially true in the case of Adair, who after 200 years of imprisonment is now part of a world that doesn’t conform to his style of living. For a man with freedom, he seems oddly intimidated by it ---- he can’t frighten the world and its people into submission. Even the ones he has bestowed eternity upon aren’t as he remembered. While Adair is trying to form some sense of identity (and search out Lanny to exact vengeance for locking him behind stone) Lanny is looking for some sort of forgiveness. I have to admit that I felt some of the characters, Adair in particular, changed too much and too little all at the same time. Adair is a monster, to be certain, a man obsessed with a woman he’s tortured physically and mentally, and, yet, he can’t understand why she wants him buried behind a stone wall. Of course, any time he becomes soft hearted, you’re immediately reminded of his past actions. Katsu doesn’t let you forget you aren’t supposed to like Adair. At the end of The Taker, I was wondering where Katsu would take this story and now at the end of The Reckoning, I’m feeling much the same curiosity. I think Katsu has a skill for building characters with extensive pasts that continue to fascinate. In many ways, I was left guessing as to what the truth was and what was told to impress or scare. The characters all walk fine lines. They may be immortal but they’re all part of a mortal world that most likely wouldn’t understand or accept them. Most find ways to blend in and survive but I still can’t get past their actions. It’s a character driven story with incredibly interesting and sometimes hateful characters and that’s keeping me firmly attached to the story. If you’re interested in The Reckoning, start with The Taker. This is a story best read from the beginning. It’s a tale of obsession, love, and fear among immortals who can’t be harmed by the trials of life but who manage to do a number on each other. You’ll need all the gory details to understand why waiting on the final book in this series will feel like an eternity.

[arielfl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was hooked into this series by The Taker and could not wait to dive into this latest installment.This book picks up where the Taker left off. Adair has been released from his 200 year imprisonment at the hands of Lenore and Jonathan. He is on the hunt down for Lenore but we are never sure until the end if it is for revenge or love. Before he finds Lenore however he must master confusing concepts like the internet and credit cards. Life in the twenty first century hardly resembles the world he was locked up in. To bide the time between the final showdown between Lanore and Adair, we are given glimpses into Lanore and Jonathan's time on the run. Lanny has already lost Jonathan. Will she lose Luke's love too to the murderous hands of Adair?This outing was just as fast paced as the first. I literally could not put this book down. I love the story and the way the author includes all of the historical depictions. There is not a character in this book that does not fascinate. Well, except maybe for Luke. I have trouble seeing what Lanny finds so attractive about him. He is middle aged, and to quote Adair neither handsome or rich. Is it wrong to hope that Lanny and Adair end up together? I know he is a homicidal, selfish, egotistical, maniac but when he turns on the charm I don't know how she can resist him.We are left with a cliffhanger of an ending that will keep me waiting with baited breath for the conclusion. I also can't wait to see where the plot point concerning the queen of the underworld will go. Will we see Jonathan again? Will Adair get his final judgement? What part will Luke will play in all of this? I can't wait to see what surprises Alma has in store for us in what I am sure will be a jam packed, exciting conclusion.

[ekday · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Alma Katsu's books! The Taker was an exciting story and I know the Reckoning is going to be just as great; I cannot wait to read!

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alma Katsu's latest release - The Reckoning - is the second book of The Taker Trilogy. I read and reviewed the first in the series - The Taker - last year and enjoyed. I was curious to see where Katsu would take her characters in the second installment. As a quick background... "In 1817 Lanny was sent to Boston to give birth to her illegitimate child. But she never made it as far as the convent. Instead she fell in with Count Adair and his household. Adair is a centuries old alchemist with the ability to bind his minions to him for life - never aging and never dying." The Reckoning picks up the story a few months after The Taker left off, in the present day. Lanny has run away with Luke, a mortal, starting yet another new life. But their calm is about to be shattered - Adair is on the hunt to reclaim Lanny. Lanny has spent much of the last 200 years trying to escape from her past. The book treats us to many of her memories as she explores her life and determines the choices she's going to have to make in this time. I enjoyed these flashbacks and their historical detail as much or more than the present day story. The Taker set up the characters, the settings and the story for Katsu's trilogy. The sense of urgency and action, although present, is not as prevalent in The Reckoning. Instead, this second entry deals more with emotions - wants, needs, desires and love. Adair is given a depth not seen in The Taker. The Reckoning is outside of the genres I normally read but had no problem holding my interest as a story. I am pragmatic by nature though, so I found myself unable to swoon with Lanny as she determines who she wants to spend her eternity with. Readers who lose themselves in a character will enjoy Lanny. Personally I found myself more drawn to Adair this time 'round. His self exploration was much more interesting to me. Those who like a little spice in their reading will enjoy the 'swiving' scenes. Katsu has a rich, imaginative, storytelling voice. Fans of early Anne Rice would enjoy Alma Katsu. Again the ending was slightly unsatisfying as it simply leaves the door open for the third book. Although - I am very curious about this Queen of the Underworld. I would recommend reading The Taker before The Reckoning to have a full appreciation of the story. (The ARC I received had a different cover that mirrored the tone of the hardcover edition of The Taker. I have to say I preferred it to this cover - which seems a little YA for me. In my opinion, it comes off as a bit sensationalistic and really doesn't connote the rich tone of Katsu's tale.)

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In The Reckoning Lanny and Luke, the man who helped her are in London attending a museum exhibit of Lost Treasures that Lanny had anonymously donated when Lanny feels a sharp buzzing and she knows that Adair has escaped from the building where she confined him. Now she is scared because she knows that he will come looking for her. She also knows that he will stop at nothing to hurt her and that means he will harm Luke and his family. So Lanny runs.What follows is a tale of Adair walking into a world he does not recognize. A world he is finding it hard to understand. All of his skills are useless in a world driven by computers and cell phones. He finds an old acolyte to again rule over and starts his search for Lanny. He has been dreaming of revenge for 200 years - but is it revenge that he truly wants?Lanny knows that she is in deep trouble when Adair finds her and she knows that he will. As she tries to hide from him she reconnects with "the old gang" and learns more pieces of the pasts of various members and deeper truths about herself and Adair. What she learns shocks her to her core and she now truly understands that very fine line between hate and love.What is so special about both of the books written by Ms. Katsu is the magic of the writing. It swirls around in your brain and brings you to a new place where you can believe that immortals walk the Earth. Her way with words is truly something special and while these books are in a genre I generally do not enjoy I find myself enthralled when I start reading. I cannot wait for the final installment to learn how it all began.

[lila_gustavus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As The Reckoning is a part of the trilogy, I'm advising everyone who hasn't read part one, The Taker, to hurry up, get it and read it. The sooner, the better. This way you'll get to enjoy The Reckoning as soon as possible. And trust me, your time will not be wasted. Alma Katsu wrote a fantastic book. Even better, in my opinion, than her debut, The Taker. Which must have been a difficult task, considering that usually the middle books in trilogies are the weakest (that has been my experience).Ms. Katsu wrote the continuation of Lanore's and Adair's stories with so much refinement that I was actually humbled in my light (sometimes possibly patronizing) treatment of the paranormal romance genre, although The Reckoning definitely belongs to the dark group of paranormal romances. It really is an intelligent novel, with writing and characters and the plot that stand out from the crowd that floods today's book market. This second part of The Taker Trilogy is better than the first (don't get discouraged, because The Taker is certainly a great beginning and you will want to read the whole trilogy based on it) in one, very important aspect. While The Taker was a fairy tale for adults, with very strong and mostly very brutal sexual elements, The Reckoning is no longer that. It deals with serious issues, such as a possibility of redemption, an opportunity to change and why it's not always fulfilled. It shows us the strength of love that endures centuries but that also can be very dangerous and may make us vulnerable to others and open to be fully exploited, helpless and yearning for the end of our lives. The Reckoning serves us the painting of how tragically potent and destructive human emotions can be in their extremes. All that makes Alma Katsu's second book a notch above the clear-cut fairy tales, even the ones in the spirit of Grimm Brothers.And here, I must break my rule of never comparing one work with another. In general, such comparisons may very well turn detrimental to the novel discussed. However, in the case of The Taker Trilogy, such doubts must be dispelled. It will indeed appeal to readers who are 'seeking a less erotic, more literary Fifty Shades of Grey. But it will also satisfy those of us who run away from any book mentioned in the same sentence with The Fifty Shades Trilogy. Trust me, Alma Katsu is a class writer of her own, galaxies above what E. L. James could ever produce.

[sensory-376444 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Reckoning by Alma Katsu is part two in The Taker Trilogy – a series that tells the story of Lanore, a young woman with the unique gift of everlasting life. The first novel, The Taker, describes how she acquired this gift and the people whose lives intersected and intertwined with hers. The Taker was mostly set in the early 1800’s – The Reckoning picks up the story of Lanore two hundred years later as she struggles to evade the attention of the one person to whom she owes her life and who also happens to be the one who she dreads to meet again. Yes, Adair is back and he is one of the scariest characters I’ve ever read!The others are there too – Alejandro, Tilde, Jude – plus a couple of new ones. I find it impressive how the author manages to bind them all with the same gift, yet make each character distinct from the other by imbuing them with very different personalities.The story thrums along quickly and the more I read the more suspenseful it became. Lanore is in danger and the excitement caused by her predicament builds chapter by chapter. I also find the story line taking place in present times really interesting. As one character finds himself thrust into the modern day world and adjusts to this reality, the contrast between the past and present is a fascinating one. How can it be possible to fly? How can people use ‘plastic’ to buy things? I love to imagine what it would be like to suddenly wake up in a world far into the future and wonder at all the things that would be different – faster, easier, and hopefully better.I’m enjoying this series for several reasons. The story is good, exciting and fast-paced. The characters, though they are as different from each other as they could possibly be, are not perfect. Even Lanore faces difficult choices – should she do the right thing by someone else and thereby put herself in danger or take the easy road?I don’t think it’s necessary to read The Taker to enjoy The Reckoning (though it is fun to read what took place before the events in The Reckoning) but it is worth it to read them both. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys strong characters with mystery and fantasy mixed in with a bit of intrigue.