The Reckoning - Blog Tour June 21, 2012

The Reckoning - Alma Katsu (Blog tour)

Overview:

SECOND IN ALMA KATSU’S GRIPPING SUPERNATURAL TRILOGY THAT BEGAN WITH THE TAKER

Lanore McIlvrae 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 a remote Maine town in the early 1800s 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 of 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 in order to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum 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.

My Thoughts:

I loved The Taker and jumped on the chance to participate in this tour of book 2. So glad I did. While it was a bit slower paced than the first novel, there was still tension all around. There is something about this series that draws me in. I think it's the immortality angle without being attached on a creature level. I like that because of Alchemy/magic they are just immortal and not because they are a vampire, etc.

My favorite part about this series are the characters. They are so rich with personalities and the stories they have to tell are just wonderful. That's the part I love. We get the now and we get the then. I often wonder while reading what it would be like to be immortal. The stories you would live and have to tell, but then I stop and think of the loneliness that being immortal would bring. Outliving everyone would be a difficult cross to bear. Worth it? I'm not so sure. 

So we have book two taking place a few months after book one. Lanny and Luke are in Europe giving away Lanny's collected treasures from over the past two centuries when she feels Adair for the first time since she imprisoned him. She knows Adair will come after her and she knows she must flee.  

While this book is about Lanny and her fears, I feel we get to know Adair on a whole new level in this book. We get to see Adair stumble into this century knowing absolutely nothing.  We see him learning about internet, cars, planes yet at the same time we see his world of magic and alchemy come to play as well. We get to watch him confront his rage, anger, feelings, insecurities about his imprisonment, Lanny, and Jonathan. The sub characters are good too. I like them well enough but what it really comes down too is Adair and Lanny.  It's those two characters that keep me coming back for more. 

I'm excited to see where the final book takes the story.

Author's Website: Alma Katsu