Monday, April 4, 2011

Book Review - The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Publish Date: April 5th, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
ISBN: 978-0-385-66851-4
Series: Darkness Rising #1, Darkest Powers #4
Source: ARC won online

Summary:
Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations.
It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark.

My Review:
Honestly, this book was great! I read this book quick and it had me wanting more. I'd sit down for a coffee and find myself an hour later (done my coffee) but still reading. Kelley Armstrong's books do this to me though, when I read the Darkest Powers (The Summoning, The Awakening, The Reckoning), it was the same thing. What I loved about The Gathering was that I was hooked right away, on the first page. There is no slowly introducing characters, plots etc before anything happens, you get a major event playing out in the first chapter and then BAM! you're hooked and there's no turning back!
We have what seems to be the typical characters in books like this - girl, girl's friend, new boy in town - but Kelley Armstrong still makes these characters original and her own. Maya, the girl who loves animals,  and lost her best friend has a relationship with her parents where she can talk about her sexuality and about her dog being the only "protection" her and a guy will need for going on a walk in the forest. She's a teenager who lives in this small town in Vancouver, and loves to wander the forest. The new guy, Rafe, is the mysterious one who lives in an old abandoned cabin with his sister and people just aren't sure about him. He's got a secret and of course he's totally cute and only interested in Maya and her paw print birthmark. Then we have Daniel, Maya's best friend. He's a genuine guy who looks out for Maya and keeps her out of trouble. He's my favourite character in the book and I'm really looking forward to knowing more about him.
Overall, The Gathering is an exciting read and the fact that it's set in Canada AND Kelley herself is Canadian (lives in Ontario, as do I!) is awesome. I love reading books with beautiful Canada as the backdrop and it's also so great and important to support talented local authors!

2 comments:

Ashley Delgado said...

Glad that you like The Gathering. I've been iffy over whether I would read it, because I like The Summoning, but only just. But I think I will pick up The Gathering. :)

Krystal said...

I really liked The Summoning. What I like about these books is that they are simple, and fun to read. They have a quality that makes me want to read them fast!
I hope you get the chance to read this some day, and let me know what you think!



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