The Replaced by Kimberly Derting: Review

Synopsis:

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.

***

Kyra has been going through a lot of things since The Taking. And stakes are not getting lower anytime soon. With her love gone missing, the truth about her genes, and a traitor lurking among the Returned, Kyra has to apply every survival instincts that she's ever had to get through it.

I was very excited for The Replaced. After the dynamic first installment, and with a cliffhanger that can kill, I just couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. But then I read some early reviews of the book just before it was released, and I was not sure if I could go through with this anymore. Those reviews hinted some emotional wreckage which I was not sure I could handle. I read the whole thing (obviously) and it isn't bad. It's very good, actually. However... let's just say I have mixed feelings about a lot of things.

Kyra, for one, is one of the characters that I have mixed feelings about. The good side is that she's getting smarter. She has a better sixth-sense and can discern the situation more quickly than before. She can sense something fishy in a short time and respond to it in a second. That's very impressive. She's more observant in The Replaced, and more alert to the surroundings, which is decent for survival. However, some of her actions are questionable. The first half of the book is actually fine, because she sticks to her beliefs of, well, everything. Tyler, the whole messed-up situation and what not. However, the foundation is shaken badly in the second half, and she kind of just... gives up. I found myself yelling at her several times. What the hell are you doing, Kyra? I get that she's a teenager, but I just lost some of the respect for her while reading the second half of the book. Don't get me wrong, she's still a great character, but I can't relate myself to her in The Replaced. 

If you are asking me about plot development in the book, the answer will be "barely". Compared to The Taking, not much has happened in the second book, especially the first half of it. I was kind of bored while reading that part. But, I have to say that the few plot twists do count for a lot of things. Enough to make up for the fact that the first half is literally... not much of anything. The suspicion of a traitor among the Returned is really tense, because it's improbable to see it coming. The heartache that messed with my head for the rest of the day. The truth behind Kyra's return, and well, the ending. It ends in a note similar to The Taking, but more intense and nerve-wrecking. I don't even know how I survived that. I wanted to pull my hair out and scream. HOW CAN YOU DO THIS? AGAIN?! Anyway, what I'm trying to say it that the book is full of surprises, and while it made my head pound like crazy, I really like it.

Speaking of the heartache, there's a lot of it. It's a mild statement. I wanted to read the book so badly, but I had to take a lot of breaks so that I wouldn't explode on impact. I love the idea of Kyra and Tyler together because they are probably one of the most adorable couples I've ever read about. Tyler has changed a lot in this book. Not the center of his personality, so that's a huge relief. But well, something did happen to him. Not bad enough to destroy who he really is (which is being adorable and sweet and supportive), but enough to leave the reader depressed. I also feel bad of Kyra because of the stuff she had to go through. It's clearly not the end for her and she doesn't deserve such cruelty. I feel for her, even though she made some questionable decisions. It's a bad idea to read this book in between breaks at school, because your classmates might think you are getting crazy on caffeine. 

I'm super excited for the final book! Even more so because it literally ends with a bang. The Replaced may not be as powerful as the first book, but it's still potent.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Taking (ARC): Review

Synopsis:

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?

***

The Taking is basically about a girl called Kyra who has been abducted by aliens for five years and then released with no memory of what's happened. The weirder thing is, she starts to discover that she has superpowers that she wouldn't dream of as well as hidden danger. Finding out what's happened to her is not her only problem. People are after her, and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on her.

Alien abduction. An age-old story. There are countless reports about people claiming they've been abducted by aliens of all kinds, whether they're little green men or whatever they hell they are. There are something common about some of the stories. No memory of what happened during their "abduction", flashes of white lights, being partially or completely different in more ways than one after their "abduction", etc. I like the fact that this book is based on these seemingly ridiculous (yet some of them might just be true) stories. It's pretty cool and thrilling. 

After note: But there's one thing I don't understand about alien abduction. Be reminded that that has nothing to do with Kimberly Derting's writing skills. I've been asking the same question for a long time now. What the hell is the point of these aliens abducting humans? There are so many cases about those "previously abducted" humans being perfectly fine and no weird abilities are shown. If they're trying to take out the human race (that's my theory, otherwise why would they waste their time on us?), congratulations aliens, you fail gloriously.

Kyra is your typical girl. A girl whom you might know in high school. There's actually nothing exceptionally remarkable about Kyra, other than her newfound superpowers and her eagerness to save the ones she loves and find out the truth. But for some reason that girl brings some sort of comfort for me. She can be easily related. And I guess that's what many teens want -- they want to think that there's someone out there who are like us (of course we don't normally have superpowers, but that's besides the point). And then there's Tyler. It's official. I love that guy. Again there's nothing exceptionally remarkable about Tyler. But he's one big sweetheart. And he will protect Kyra at all cost and stay with her no matter what, even when being near her is putting himself in grave danger. He's the kind of boyfriend that your parents will totally approve (that is, if they don't get wary about his charming looks and dimples before they have a chance to really know him).

My favorite part? Besides various Kyra/Tyler scenes? I'd go for the ending. Ahh, the cliffhanger ending! You can't seriously end it like that! It's just completely acceptable! Okay it's actually perfectly acceptable. In fact if you ask my logical side, I'd say it's a pretty awesome ending for The Taking. But I just can't imagine waiting the next book for a year... no, more than a year. Because the next book will probably be released in April, 2015. The waiting! It's excruciating!

The Taking is a really nice book and I think everyone should give it a chance. Though I have some little problems with the concept of alien abduction, it's nothing major and the rest of the story is pretty good.

Rating: 8/10