The Gathering
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: April 12, 2011
Pages: 359
Series: Darkness Rising, book one
Source: Received for review
About the Book: 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.
In The Gathering, New York Times best-selling author Kelley Armstrong brings all the supernatural thrills from her wildly successful Darkest Powers series to Darkness Rising, her scorching hot new trilogy.
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed Kelley Armstrong’s other YA series The Darkest Powers so I was excited to give this one a try. I like the way that Armstrong works the supernatural elements in to her stories. I also enjoy the mystery surrounding the supernatural. As a reader you are learning things as the characters do. This kept me much more engaged!
I was really interested in the setting of this book. I mean, Vancouver Island is cool but it’s the research community that really got me. A town where everything is owned and/or provided by a corporation? A town that discourages outsiders? A town full of secrets? This is as awesome as boarding school settings!! It was creepy and intriguing and I just couldn’t get enough! The wilderness aspect was great too 🙂
A bonus of the small, secluded, secretive town was the teens. It’s such a small group. While reading you really got a feel for where everyone fit. It was interesting to get the “sexy new bad boy”‘s take on things too. As someone who didn’t grow up in this tight knit community he sees the relationships differently and helps Maya to see things in a new light.
As you’re reading it’s obvious that things are not quite right on the town, specifically with the teens. I mean, that’s basically the premis of the book! Still, It was fun to piece together different aspects of the story. Some of the things I thought were glaringly obvious turned out to be not quite what I thought. I’m looking forward to reading The Calling to see where things go next.
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