Review of The Replaced by Kimberly Derting

Advance Review of Kimberly Derting's The Replaced

Release Date: April 28th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

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.  

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I think I am on an alien abduction kick at the moment, because this is the second book I have read in a row with the same genre. I read an advance of The Taking in December of 2013 and have not been able to get it out of my head. There are always books that I read and I make sure to constantly check on the release of their sequel and this series has been one of those.

In book 1, Kyra wakes up behind a convenient store in her home town with only the memory of getting out of her Dad's car and running away from the fight they were having. She expects to find him in his car looking for her, but he is nowhere to be found. She runs home (however many miles it was, I can't remember) to find that nothing is how she remembers. She knocks on her door, but the person who answers is not her Mother. They claim that her family moved out years ago. She soon finds out that she has been missing for 5 years.

This series, like I said before, is about Alien Abduction. It isn't like any of the other Alien books I have read in the past. Where many are about an Alien Apocalypse or an Alien Takeover, this book is similar to the Urban Legends you hear about people being abducted, experimented on, and then returned. The characters in this story are just returned a little different than they were before. There is even a nod to the Roswell/Government conspiracy rumors and the theory that First Contact happened in the 1950's-60's.

In book 2 we find out that every human abducted is returned with their DNA spliced. They have come back with Alien DNA intertwined with their own. Most of them show only a couple of unique abilities (Very Very Slow Aging & Quick Healing), but for Kyra, she can do much more... more than she even knows yet. We already know she heals faster than any other returned, that sometimes she can hit or throw super hard, and when she is really scared or angry she can move things with her mind. We find out what makes her special as well as why the NSA is so desperate to get ahold of her. There is also a traitor in their midst. Who can they trust and who is working with the No-Suchers...?

This book has all the drama from book 1 with a bunch of brand new characters and a lot more back story. The love story is put on the back burner for most of it though, so for all of you hoping to get to see more of Kyra & Tyler, you may be a little disappointed... but don't worry, they are back together in book 3. Now, when will we get to see book 3? I hope it is sooner than the 13 months it took me to get to read book 2.