After being desired, scorned, and widowed throughout the hundreds of years of her life, the one thing she desires more than anything—to feel loved—has eluded her. In the conclusion to The Taker Trilogy, Lanore sets out on an epic mission to release Jonathan from the prison of the underworld. Just like immortality, the mission turns out to be more than she bargained for, and the powers of darkness threaten to snuff out her chances for true love once and for all.
TOPICS & QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. As the book opens, Lanny is haunted by dreams of Jonathan being tortured, and she determines to go to help him. Given the history of their relationship, what do you think compelled Lanny to pursue this mission? Would you have been willing to make the same choice?
2. Lanny convinces the captain of the boat she’s hired to leave her on an island off the coast of Sardegna (Sardinia) where she hopes to find Adair. What does this decision reveal about Lanny and how she feels toward Adair? What did you feel as she got out of the boat and signaled the captain to leave? Would you want to be left on a seemingly barren island without any plan for an exit? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think Adair allowed Terry and Robin to stay on the island with him in spite of his suspicions about them? What role do they play in the story? What does it say about Adair that he was willing to risk their companionship?
4. In part, The Descent is an exploration of one of the great mysteries of life: what happens when we die? On page 37, Lanore describes the process of being with Luke during his final days. How did she respond to his imminent death? Have you been with someone at the moment of death? Do you agree with Lanny’s observation that “they’re afraid of what’s coming, afraid and confused”? How do you feel about death? Have you contemplated your own mortality?
5. Lanny confesses that “Immortality had made me less human” and “robbed me of the ability to feel real emotion in the face of death.” How do you feel about this tradeoff? Would you be willing to trade being fully human for the “gift” of immortality? Why or why not? Do you think people would behave differently if they knew they would never die?
6. At the point where Lanny asks Adair for his help to accomplish her mission of going to Jonathan, she realized that “Adair had truly changed.” Do you agree? Describe. Had Lanny changed? Describe.
7. How does Adair’s island home foreshadow his identity? What role does the weather on the island play in the story?
8. When Lanny arrives in the underworld, she initially is transported to various experiences and relationships from her past. What purpose did these travels serve in her journey? If you could travel to a prior time and place, what would it be and why?
9. During Savva’s visit with Lanny, he says about Adair: “We’re rarely attracted for the reasons we think. . . . There was something in him that we were looking for, each of us in our way.” What do you think Lanny was looking for in her relationship with Adair? Did she find it?
10. Describe some of the qualities of Adair during his youth in Venice studying under the bishop and ultimately Cosimo. What was the main desire that fueled his hunger to learn alchemy? How was the profession of alchemy ultimately a cover for his true identity?
11. During Lanny’s reunion with Luke in the underworld, she reflects that “being alone was what I feared most.” Why do you think someone who was immortal would be afraid of being alone? What was her strategy to avoid aloneness? Is fear of being alone universal? Do you resonate with this fear? If so, what is your strategy to avoid it?
12. When Lanny finally meets Jonathan in the underworld, how is their reunion different from what she imagined? How does her journey to help him turn out to be ironic?
13. Do you think Lanny and Adair are capable of true love and fidelity to each other? Why or why not?
14. What was your response to the end of the story? How did it compare or contrast with your imagined ending?
15. What was your favorite scene or chapter in the book? Explain.
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. Visit www.AlmaKatsu.com to learn more about the author and listen to an interview with her.
2. The author calls The Taker series “anti-romance” in that it reveals the dark side of love. Make a list of examples from the book that connect various characters’ evil/dark actions to a corresponding desire to be loved. Discuss your lists at your next book club meeting. What do you learn or observe from this exercise about the human heart? How do the experiences of the characters in the story compare and contrast with your own experiences with love, or the experiences of people you know?
3. The Descent describes Eternity as a breaking apart and disintegration into absolute emptiness. Is this view of man’s place in the cosmos similar to, or different from, that of religions with which you are familiar? Read The Universe Next Door by James Sire and contrast the various views of eternity presented. Which view most closely resembles your own? Discuss.
4. Make a list of the things you would do, risks you would take, places you would visit if you knew you were immortal. How is this list similar to or different from your actual bucket list?
AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM COBURN
ALMA KATSU is the author of The Taker, The Reckoning, and The Descent. Born in Alaska and raised near Concord, Massachusetts, she holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins writing program. Visit www.almakatsu.com or follow the author on Twitter.
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Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Alma Katsu
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition January 2014
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Cover photo © Michael Frost
Cover design by Lisa Litwack
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Katsu, Alma.
The descent : book three of the taker trilogy / Alma Katsu. — First
Gallery Books trade paperback edition.
pages cm
1. Paranormal fiction. I. Title.
PS3611.A7886D48 2014
813’.6—dc23
2013033581
ISBN 978-1-4516-5182-9
ISBN 978-1-4516-5185-0 (ebook)
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Acknowledgments
Readers Group Guide
Introduction
Topics & Questions for Discussion
Enhance Your Book Club
About Alma Katsu