The Descent by Alma Katsu

The Descent by Alma Katsu
Published by Gallery Books
Review copy provided by NetGalley

This final installment in The Taker trilogy has Lanore tracking Adair down at his home set on a remote island in the middle of nowhere. She’s come to ask him a favor – to help her travel to the Underworld to release Jonathan, who is being held hostage by the Queen of the Underworld. Upon arriving at his home, though, Lanore learns that he’s keeping two women for his pleasure and old feelings stir up inside of her. Lanore promises Adair she’ll return to him as soon as she frees Jonathan, but once she gets there she has the opportunity to make a real choice between life and death, and must decide who she truly loves, and if that love is worth fighting for.

This trilogy was a complete surprise to me when I read the first book, The Taker, and fell in love with this dark, gritty, twisted world Katsu created. I was definitely sad to see it come to an end but overall I don’t think Katsu could have ended this series in a better way than what she did here.

There is something undeniable between Lanore and Adair, and those feelings are obvious as soon as she gets to his home. Katsu has developed both of these characters so well over the first two books that the ways they were interacting with each other in this final installment – with kindness, concern, and a mutual respect – made perfect sense and was nice to see. The addition of the two women Adair brought into his home was confusing at first, and felt out of place, but towards the end of the book the reason they were there is clarified so it made sense too.

While the middle of the novel meandered a bit for me, once Lanore reaches the Underworld, things really picked up and I was hooked once again. While the ending wasn’t one I would have wanted in the first book, by the time it happened, I LOVED it. I thought it was absolutely perfect and helped me put the series away in my mind, it was the definition of closure.

I cannot recommend this series more highly for those who love strange, gritty, dark books that will shock you but keep you riveted to the pages. The Descent was the perfect end to a great series. I can’t wait to see what Katsu does next.