The Gathering is the first book in the Darkness Rising series by Kelley Armstrong. This series falls under several genres such as young adult, fantasy, supernatural, and shapeshifters.
A few things about the author, Kelley Armstrong.
She loved reading as a kid. She mostly read paranormal books which effected her writing as well as her love for animals, especially werewolves. One of Kelley's novel Bitten has became a T.V. series. It became a big success which paved way for book sequels.
I am super interested in reading more of her books! I read The Gathering in one day. It was pretty interesting. A few things I loved about this book was that the main character, Maya, had a great relationship with her parents even though she was adopted. A lot of young adult book use the stereo type rebellious teen to wrap their plot around. I absolutely love that Kelley didn't do that with Maya. Maya is a good girl that her parents trust and they have an open relationship with her about her adopted family. It mentions in the book that Maya's parents were actually worried that Maya wasn't concerned with the fact that she was adopted. She actually made a joke about how her biological parents could have left a note with medical history. {"Abandoning me had been inconsiderate. I'd said that to my parents once, and they'd laughed. It was a strange word, I know, especially from an eight-year-old. They'd then given me the whole spiel on how my mother was a good person blah, blah. What I meant was that she should have left a note detailing my family background and medical history"}
Kelley did a great job of catching my attention. She is truly a great writer. I devoured the book. It was detailed and entertaining. She threw surprises in there. When I first started reading, I was afraid that Maya, Serena, and Daniel were going to have a love triangle going on, but I was pleased to find out that wasn't going to happen. Serena was Maya's best friend and Daniel's girlfriend, but Serena died in the first part of the book by a freak accident. It caught be by surprised and made me dig deeper into the book. I couldn't put it down.
I really loved Daniel. He is Maya's best guy friend. They grew up together, and they really just go together so well. His relationship with his dad is strained so when his dad and him have a fight, he goes to Maya's and her parents trust them to stay in the same house because Daniel is such a gentlemen. Throughout the whole book Daniel is who he says he is. He looks out for Maya no matter what happens in the book. Maya's dad has something to say about that.
{" I like Daniel. He takes care of you."
I blinked. "Oh my God. Did you really just say that? He takes care of me?"
Dad flushed. "I didn't mean it like-"
"Takes care of me? Did I go to sleep and wake up in the nineteenth century?" I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt. "Ack! I can't go to school like this. Where's my corset? My bonnet?"
Dad sighed as Mom walked in with her empty teacup.
"What did I miss?" She said.
"Dad's trying to marry me off to Daniel." I looked at him.
"You know, if you offer him a new truck for a dowry, he might go for it."}
(That excerpt also shows what a rock solid relationship Maya has with her parents)
Usually when you love a few things, there are a few things you could do without. Now I honestly loved this book. I wouldn't change it for a thing. But there are a few things I dislike.
Rafe.. The bad boy. He is Maya's love interest. Now Maya doesn't like him in the beginning because he is a bad boy, and has already gone through most of the girls in town. He is portrayed as a player. Near the end of the book you see why he goes through all those girls just to find a paw print birthmark on their hip. Which the back of the book tells you that Maya has. But the way that Rafe uses the girls to find what he is looking for makes me dislike him no matter what he reasons are. I don't care if he comes clean to Maya or not. I don't like that he keeps so many secrets and at the end of the book where he leaves a note because he is leaving. Who cares if he doesn't make it out of town, he was gonna leave without a word! I am hoping by the end of the series that Maya comes to her senses and ends up with Daniel, but I don't want to hope too much. Rafe is being made out to be the bad boy with a heart of gold. Which Maya buys mostly because of his love for his sister.
The book was slow. Very slow. There wasn't much happening but drama. We knew what was happening from the very beginning but the kids weren't catching on or even really trying to. Weird stuff was happening, and if I was having visions when touching animals or hitting people without actually laying a hand on them, I would be researching and trying to figure out what was going on. I just feel like it was a very slow book. Not much was happening.
The ending was wow. It wasn't much of a cliffhanger. You are almost relieved when they get onto the helicopter. There wasn't much of a feel that they were escaping one disaster only to enter another one. The kids didn't feel any urgency to think about what they are or what powers they posse. I feel like the ending could have hooked me more.
Otherwise I loved it. The writing was still great, and no matter how slow it was I still wanted to read the next one. And I did. That post will be coming up.
_Fantastic Fiction_
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