I am reviewing this series based on my
faith in the author, and not on the plot or storyline this trilogy follows. In
fact, reading the blurb on the first book, it does nothing to draw me in. I
feel that all young adult books have become one and the same. If authors want
to get their book noticed among the hundreds of thousands currently available
to teenagers, they should really put more effort into wording the blurb on
their novels. This is the deciding factor for most readers about whether they
are willing to invest their time in your story or not, and I feel that some out
there at the moment could do with a good rework, this series included.
But don’t let the vague blurb put you off,
Armstrong’s writing could pull off the worst plotline in history, and do it
well.
The
world seemed to dip and darken and I smelled wet earth and thick musk and fresh
blood. The wind whipped past, like I was running. Running so fast the ground
whizzed beneath me and the wind cut across my skin . . .
I’ll start at the beginning, with the first
book in the trilogy, The Gathering.
We are introduced to Maya Delaney, a sixteen-year-old girl living a relatively
secluded life in the tranquil town of Salmon Creek, which has a population of
only two hundred. Maya has always felt a close bond with nature. She
practically lives in the woods, and spends most of her time looking after the
animals that get hurt in the area, and she feel like the paw-shaped birthmark
she has on her tattoo is a sign that she belongs close to these wild creatures.
Things start of relatively normally, with
Maya going to the local, and only, high school. It is described as being a
state school with all the benefits of a private school; students have extra curricular
activates that Maya suggests are a big part of her and her friends life, for
example swimming, boxing, dancing, singing, climbing etcetera. When her
life-long best friend, Daniel, the school boxing champion, is suspicious of the
new student, Rafe, Maya takes notice. Daniel has a gut instinct for knowing
what people are like from the off, and its never been wrong before. But he
begins to feel these ‘bad vibes’ a whole lot more than usual.
But Daniel isn’t fully recovered from his
girlfriend, and Maya’s best friend, Serena’s death a year ago. Are his
instincts off? Maya is intrigued by Rafe; a guy who likes to make everyone
believe he is a typical bad-boy, but Maya knows he doesn’t really smoke and
drink, so what’s his game? Then there’s his sister, Annie, who Rafe claims had
an accident, and is brain damaged. But when Mays notices the same paw shaped
birthmark on Annie’s arm as Maya has on her hip, Maya realizes this may be more
than just a coincidence. To top everything off, a journalist starts asking
questions and hanging around the otherwise quiet town. Something that out of
the ordinary is noticeable, so when she goes missing and later turns up dead,
Maya knows something very strange is happening.
Is it a tragic accident that Selena,
captain of the swim team, and the best swimmer in Salmon Creek, drowns? Or is it something more?
Maya and Daniel do some digging and begin
to suspect that the St. Clouds, the owners of Salmon Creek, are involved in
medical research that is less of the ‘research’ and much more experimentation,
with a supernatural element.
The first book isn’t all that I felt The Summoning (the first in Armstrong’s
previous YA trilogy, Darkest Powers)
was; the plot was very predictable, and I found I really didn’t care much for
the characters at first. Especially as the main characters are a large group of
friends, it is hard to get to know the personality of each.
This is why the second book in the Darkness
Rising trilogy was much better, in my opinion. By this time, the reader has
already got to know which characters they prefer and why, and the
predictability of the plot has past. The
Calling begins where The Gathering left
off; with the gang leaving Salmon Creek on a helicopter to escape a forest
fire, which Maya suspects is man-made. Things take a turn for the worst and
they find themselves stranded in a dense forest with no food or water, and the
wildness of nature surrounding them – not to mention a cougar or two. It is this book that Armstrong pulls the
friends together and puts to use her best talent; writing amazing characters
with witty dialogue.
The third and final book in the trilogy, The Rising, sees Armstrong doing
something unexpected; she links this trilogy to her previous YA series
(mentioned earlier) by a meeting between the two groups of teenagers. There
were many references to them in the first books in the series, but to actually
introduce the characters to each other gives fan of the other series, like
myself, a chance to catch up with the other characters and see how they’ve
coped since the end of the trilogy.
As this book is set in the same world as
her previous Women of the Otherworld
series, expect Armstrong to reference many of the more popular characters and
names fans of the books – like myself – will be delighted to recognize.
Perhaps this series isn’t all I was hoping
for, and I strongly suggest reading her first Young Adult trilogy, Darkest Powers, before starting this
one. They are closely entwined but I far preferred the character building in Darkest Powers to Darkness Rising. However, if you are already familiar with the Darkest Powers trilogy, and became fond
of the characters, then Darkness Rising is
the series for you. Catching up with Derek, Chloe and Simon made me glad I read
this new series, even if it fell short of the un-clichéd YA novels I had hoped
for.
This review is not aimed at dissuading
anyone from reading this series, and if you do, I have no doubt you will find
it better than almost all the other YA urban fantasy novels currently on the
market, but Kelley Armstrong has written much better, and will write a much
better series in the future, I have no doubt.
To buy The Gathering, click here.
To buy The Calling, click here.
To buy The Rising, click here.
To read more about Kelley Armstrong's previous YA trilogy, Darkest Powers, click here.
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