Published by: HarperTeen, April 29th 2014
Genre: YA, Science fiction (though mostly contemporary/realistic)
Pages: 368
Format: Ebook
Source: HarperTeen, via Edelweiss
A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.
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?
A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.
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?
When I started this book, I expected it to be heavier on the sci fi, but what I actually got was much more subtle in execution and unique in itself. The first half of the book focuses on real world stuff - Kyra's family have moved on since her disappearance five years ago and she has a hard time accepting that, her boyfriend is no longer her boyfriend, and she starts to develop feelings for his not-so-younger-anymore brother, Tyler. But while all this normal stuff id happening, Derting carefully and cleverly weaves in signs that hint at the coming fallout.
The romance was sweet and lovely to read. Tyler is a normal guy, polar opposite to these 'swoon-worthy' alpha male types that are abound in YA lately, and he was so refreshing to read .
The sci fi, thriller stuff really kicks into gear around the halfway mark and makes up for the lack in the first half by overwhelming Kyra with problems - threats from the NSA, a mysterious guy who seems to want to help her but insists she was taken by aliens, and her ever-growing otherness. There's something not quite right with Kyra. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first.
An inventive novel of the aftermath of an alien abduction, with some highly charged moments of danger and a genuine romance, Taken puts an original new spin on a familiar story.
The romance was sweet and lovely to read. Tyler is a normal guy, polar opposite to these 'swoon-worthy' alpha male types that are abound in YA lately, and he was so refreshing to read .
The sci fi, thriller stuff really kicks into gear around the halfway mark and makes up for the lack in the first half by overwhelming Kyra with problems - threats from the NSA, a mysterious guy who seems to want to help her but insists she was taken by aliens, and her ever-growing otherness. There's something not quite right with Kyra. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first.
An inventive novel of the aftermath of an alien abduction, with some highly charged moments of danger and a genuine romance, Taken puts an original new spin on a familiar story.
Characters ★★★☆☆
Setting/world building ★★★☆☆
Writing Style ★★★☆☆
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