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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Beginning, April 13, 2011
I was a little put off when I saw some of the reviews for this newest YA entry by Kelley Armstrong. I've been a fan of the Otherworld series, and I thoroughly enjoyed her first YA trilogy, so I was very excited to see this new book come out. That said, I will admit there have been books in the Otherworld series that didn't quite grab me; I'm not one of those fans who loves everything a favorite author produces. With all that in mind, I bought The Gathering for my Kindle, and set to read with a little trepidation. But I was pleasantly surprised! If you've read Ms. Armstrong's other books, particularly her YA series, you already know the basic premise: teenage girl, Maya, thinks she's just a normal teenager living in a really small town created by the local research center for its employees and their families, but it turns out she's not 'normal' at all. Sure, she can heal animals a little to well, and local cougars seem to have taken an odd liking to her, but Maya hasn't yet figured out that those things mean anything special. After her best friend, who happens to be captain of the school swim team, mysteriously drowns, there are hints that perhaps Serena's death wasn't the accident it seemed. Serena's ex-boyfriend Daniel is Maya's new best friend, but there doesn't seem to be anything romantic developing there - yet. Enter new kid in town, bad boy Rafe, and Maya's (of course) inexplicable attraction to him. Turns out Rafe knows a lot about Maya that he's not telling, at least at first. This is pretty standard for most YA novels these days. And for those who have read the previous trilogy, we already know the research facility isn't what it seems, and that people who have "Dr." in front of their name are not to be trusted. What makes the book special is Armstrong's deft characterization and solid, familiar worldbuilding. Unlike other reviewers, I liked Maya immediately. I also liked that she wasn't perfect, and that she realized some of her own flaws toward the end of the book (after they were pointed out to her). Yes, the book is a slow build, but so was The Summoning, which also ended on a cliffhanger, seemingly just when the story was really taking off. I'm mystified at the disappointment and surprise people are expressing: this seems no different to me from the structure of previous books in the series - I went in expecting a slower paced first book with a cliffhanger ending. Personally, I am enjoying the introduction of a previously unknown supernatural race from Armstrong's universe. (At least, I don't remember this particular race being mentioned before.) Werewolves and necromancers are fun and all, but we've seen them before. Maya is something new! For those who saw no hint of Daniel's supernatural ability, I'm surprised. The hints were subtle, but there. In one scene, his eyes glowed red. In others, he was faster and stronger than human. Again, this is no different from the hints dropped in the first YA trilogy about other teens and their supernatural abilities. I'm sure in the next book, we'll find out exactly what Daniel and Sam are (I have strong suspicions), as well as Hayley and the others. I found this book to be engaging, and the cliffhanger ending just as tantalizing and frustrating as I've come to expect from Ms. Armstrong. I enjoyed Maya and her animals a great deal, and find I am very curious about Sam, and Daniel. I enjoyed Rafe and his connection with Maya, although I'm expecting some more road bumps along that path, perhaps with best-friend Daniel stepping up to express an interest for more than friendship? I'm also curious if Maya's parents will prove to be villains, or unsuspecting bystanders. Someone in that small town has committed murder, and I'm willing to bet it's someone Maya already knows, and probably trusts. Overall, I found The Gathering to be a solid Armstrong book, and a great beginning to a new trilogy. Can't wait for more!
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42 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointing, April 12, 2011
This review is from: The Gathering (Darkness Rising, Book 1) (Hardcover)
Sounds good, doesn't it? And it's by Kelley Armstrong, so it must be really good, right? Sadly, no. I received an ARC of this book and was very excited to read it. I had to force myself to finish the book I was already reading before diving into The Gathering. As it turns out, I could have waited. This book was so disappointing. I am a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong's work, so I was expecting a heck of a story. Such was not the case. I try to find something good to say about every book I read, even when I am not bowled over by it. I am having significant trouble finding anything I liked about this book. I guess I did like Maya's supernatural ability, which is not one Armstrong has used before, that I can remember. What didn't I like? For starters, the book was very slow moving. I was on page 100 still waiting for something to happen. I felt like there was too much build-up, too much detail, and not enough action. I was growing bored...very, very bored. By the time the action did pick up, I was so irritated with this book that it didn't much matter. I did not like Maya. Not liking the protagonist in a book like this generally spells disaster for liking the book as a whole. I found Maya to be boring, uppity, snarky (not in a good way), and very bland compared to other Armstrong characters. Maya's friend Daniel was OK, but the description of the novel plays it off like he has a supernatural ability, which I did not pick up on at all in the book. The characters didn't stand out for me. They weren't special or endearing, or relate-able. The plot was very thin. That is a huge part of why the novel moved so slowly. The novel lacked substance and was made up for in tons of detail. Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I appreciate the ARC and the lovely people who sent it to me, but I just didn't like this book. Would I recommend it? No. I can name a slew of other Kelley Armstrong works I would recommend over and over again, but this isn't one of them.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not the greatest Kelley book..., April 18, 2011
This review is from: The Gathering (Darkness Rising, Book 1) (Hardcover)
***May contain spoilers*** I must preface by saying that I love Kelley Armstrong, she is one of my most favourite authors of all time. There isn't anything of hers that I have read before that I haven't enjoyed, from her "Darkest Powers" trilogy to her "Women of the Otherworld" series. But while I did enjoy this book I don't know if I enjoyed it quite as much as her others books, especially her "Darkest Powers" trilogy. I think that Derek and Simon (from the "Darkest Powers" trilogy) made more of an impact on me than this book's Daniel and Rafe did, however Maya totally made a bigger impact upon me than Chloe did (I found Chloe to be really dependent upon the boys in the first two books of the trilogy and somewhat of a quiet character). But Maya? Yeah, the girl had balls. She wasn't afraid to tell it like it was and she had so many great one liners throughout the book, there were so many times I found myself bursting out laughing at what came out of her mouth, for instance this little conversation: Maya: "Have you met the tattoo artist? Is he hot?" Mom: "He's a she." Maya: "Is she hot? Cause I'm still young, you know. My sexual identity isn't fully formed." (pg. 37) I think that what really frustrated me about this book was that because it is the first book in the trilogy I assumed that we would learn lots about Project Phoenix, like we did about Project Genesis in the first book of the "Darkest Powers" trilogy, "The Summoning", but we really don't. Whatsoever. I only have some sort of knowledge about what Project Phoenix entails (Spoiler alert: The resurrection of extinct magical races) from my own personal researching (reading lots of blog posts, tweets and whatnot) and I don't feel like it is my duty to do outside research to comprehend a book, the writer should provide us with everything we need to know to understand their story. Also, I found the plot-line to be quite slow in some parts (I am used to the fast-paced-on-the-run-adventure of the "Darkest Power" trilogy I suppose) and I found that there was the whole teenagers-fall-for-one-another-as-soon-as-they-meet-one-another thing going on which was a bit of a bummer (I really liked how relationships didn't form in the "Darkest Powers" until the very last book, the characters really got to know one another before they formed any sort of relationship). But like I said, Maya is a really great character and the epitome of snark and she really does make this story. While I do seem to have many complaints of this story I do think that it is a good story, not as great as the "Darkest Power" series, but better than many YA books that are currently out there.
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