Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1) by Kelley Armstrong



The Gathering ~ Kelly Armstong

A young adult urban fantasy novel (Rated PG)

4.5 out of 5 stars


 Book Summary
Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.



My Review

I absolutely love Kelly Armstrong, enough that I had to try her YA book.  Her writing is one of the best in paranormal world I’ve found.  I love her adult book Bitten.
But I digress.  So here we have The Gathering.  Looking back over the title, I’m not sure I total get it.  I can make a guess but it doesn’t scream at me.  Doesn’t matter, let’s talk details.

Whenever I read a Kelly Armstrong book, I feel like I fell right into the story of the pages.  I see, hear, smell everything around me.  I get so immersed in the story, right now I can’t tell you if this book was written in first or third person and that’s a good thing.  That’s the point of reading write.  You want to escape the world around you and I do.  Heck, while listening I missed my exit off the highway, lol.
There were only a few minor problems why I couldn’t give this book a well deserved 5 star rating.  First the story is really predictable.  That normally bugs me but everything else is so good, I could overlook that.  Then Maya didn’t ask very many questions at all.  But I had to step back and see from a sixteen year old perspective.  And I could understand everything except one major plot hole.

*****SPOILERS*****
Maya and Daniel went to look through the things of the reporter.  Maya had a run in with Sam.  Daniel suggested that Sam took a paper that may have held answers about Maya’s background.  Yet when she saw Sam the next day, neither asked her about it.  Nor did Maya’s inner musing mention it as to why she may not have mentioned it.  Big flaw.  I just don’t think something that important would go unspoken externally or internally.

One other thing, I thought the story ended rather abruptly.  Since I was listening, I had no idea I was coming close to the ending when it just ended.
*****END SPOILERS*****

Overall, I don’t regret reading and will recommend to others knowing that the plot twist won’t keep you guessing but that the story is good enough to keep you reading.




Audio Review
Jennifer Ikeda did a wonderful job with this story.  She didn’t throw her voice completely with each character, but the inflections she did was so superb that I had no trouble following all the characters.  It was so good, I look forward to listen to her again.

My book boyfriedn is Daniel of course.  I'm totally rooting for him.   You'll have to read to find out why.

View all my reviews

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