The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: zombie movies, Aunt Lauren, Lyle House, Miss Van Dop (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up—A well-written opening to a paranormal series. Chloe, 15, has the ability to see dead people, but before she can figure out what is happening, she has a breakdown, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and placed in a group home. She befriends some of the teens at Lyle House and tries to accept her treatment. However, two of her more mysterious housemates suggest that maybe she isn't crazy. Derek tells her to look up necromancy on the Internet, and she finds out that it's the ability to communicate with the spirits of the dead. He appears to have superstrength, and his foster brother has magical powers. Chloe's roommate, who causes things to fly around the room when she becomes angry, is taken away to a hospital and never heard from again. When she returns in Chloe's visions, Chloe suspects foul play, a misgiving confirmed when the dead speak to her again and reveal that they were "supernaturals" who were experimented on, killed, and buried in the home's basement many years before. Together with her new friends, Chloe escapes Lyle House, only to be betrayed. This suspenseful novel sets up a secret underworld where some people support and help supernaturals, while others persecute them. Armstrong combines bits of horror, teen relationships, and a dash of mystery to create a page-turner. Readers will look forward to the next installment.—Corinda J. Humphrey, Los Angeles Public Library
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Review

"...splendidly haunting, with hair-raising suspense, disturbing effects, and a running undercurrent of unease." (Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books )

"Suspenseful, well-written and engaging." (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) )

"Teen readers might scream loud enough to raise the dead. " (Kirkus Reviews (Starred review) )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061662690
• ISBN-13: 978-0061662690
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Darkest Powers Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular New Series, July 1, 2008

By	Monica Petersen (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

Chloe Saunders is your average teenage girl. She lives in Buffalo, with her aunt and attends an art school. She spends time with her friends, talks to boys, that kind of thing. Then she meets a ghost. This ghost is terrifying and grotesque. The interaction sends her into a breakdown, which gets her sent to a group home, Lyle House.

Lyle House is for mentally-ill teens who must work through their problems, or at least that is what it is advertised to be. Bizarre situations are occurring at this house, not only with herself, but also with other residents of the house. And no matter how much she tries not to believe it, Chloe sees more ghosts. Through strange events, the secrets everyone is hiding spills out, connections are made, and soon nothing is as it was thought to be. But with secrets.... there are always people who want to keep them quiet.

The Summoning was unlike anything I had expected. Kelley Armstrong has managed to mix a supernatural drama with a dash of teenage angst and a whole lot of conspiracy. This novel had an underlying sense of eeriness throughout it, waiting to burst. The middle of the story did drag a little, I will admit, but the end was thoroughly exhilarating. This book was amazing and the ending left it completely open for what is sure to be a fantastic trilogy.

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soap Opera style, July 13, 2008

By	C. Thilmany "dearheart" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When Chloe was a toddler, she lived in a house that had ghosts in the basement. One of the ghosts was a hanged man. Another liked to scare her. Chloe's mom talked her dad into moving them to another place and Chloe forgot all about the experience and now doesn't believe in ghosts. Her mother died when she was 8 and she's been raised mostly by housekeepers as her dad travels for his job.

A late bloomer, she doesn't get her period until she's turned 15. On that day she wakes up dreaming about her last experience in that basement, still not recalling that she ever lived there. Later that day, the ghost of a custodian at school who had obviously been in a fire, notices Chloe and won't leave her alone, wanting to talk to her. Chloe is totally freaked and runs from him screaming. The school staff has to tackle Chloe, sedate her and she's taken by ambulance to a hospital before being transferred to Lyle House, a group home for kids with mental issues.

Like all of the other kids there, she's put on drugs and for her daily therapy session with the doctor, acts like she's accepted her schizophrenic diagnosis in order to get out of there sooner.

At first this seems to be a story about someone with unique abilities (she's a necromancer) who is labeled with mental problems and drugged because the establishment doesn't understand or believe that there could be a perfectly healthy reason for what the person experiences. But it comes to light that other teens in the home have their own abilities and something bigger is going on.

Unlike the author's other series, this one appears to be one continuing story by the viewpoint of the same character. The biggest difference is that when the book ends, you don't feel like a story has completed; like the book ended in the middle. There is no feeling of conclusion to the drama that had taken place near the end of the book. Everything is left hanging.

The story itself and the characters are good, although for me (an adult who does like to read YA), it was getting kind of boring at times, at least until we get to the point of realizing that something bigger is going on. But it's that ending that has me downgrading the rating to 3 stars.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a K Armstrong novel, July 10, 2008

By	JKI - See all my reviews

I read all of KA's other books so when I saw this in the young adult section - I bought it out of curiosity. I'm glad I did. It is about young high school age children but it's still her slow build writing that holds the readers interest without losing any of the detail of the world she creates. It's her adult supernatural universe focused on some children who are lost in it and their too strong abilities.
I like the style and if she writes this series the way she writes her adult books they won't all be left on cliffhangers and some could be stand-alones with some character crossovers. The only fault I could find - and it's purely because I'm an adult now I would assume -is that I really couldn't lose myself in the character as I can typically with most of her stories. I found the lead character's desire to storyboard everything distracting... and yet I remember doing something similar at that age -so it still comes across realistic. Hopefully a sequel will come out soon...