Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

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.

Review:

So, considering Darkest Powers Trilogy I love to death, I was very nervous about this book. Would I love it? Would I hate it? Would I be wishing Armstrong continued to write about Chloe and Derek instead? (Just FYI, on that last one it's a wish I've had since the end of The Reckoning).

But I liked it.

It had the usual Armstrong writing pace and wording by a person I've gained a lot of familiarity with over the years, no matter how different the narrator is.

But I liked it.

Maya is a sometimes witty and smart kid. Maya I was especially able to relate to simply because I honestly felt like this character (with the same name as my sister) was the character that was most liked me. So, yeah. I wasn't too happy with some romance choices she made, but I could totally understand and relate to so it didn't seem so bad those choices she made.

And the links between this series and Darkest Powers? Definitely there. Even Liz was mentioned in the novel, so I have hopes that perhaps Derek and Chloe will make a surprise cameo.

The ending, as usual Armstrong style, ended in a way that made you curse the book and scream 'when's the sequel coming out?' in the middle of the car (which is where I finished reading it). Nothing horrible about it. But as far as I'm concerned, it's nothing really 'amazing, stunning and all round fabulous'. (I think I'm bias because I want more Chloe and Derek!)

Also, Maya's uh... gift? If you've read certain adult books (not Armstrong's), then you'll get her gift within the first couple of chapters. Not too much of a surprise, but a first for YA from the novels I've read and heard of.

Rating: 4 stars

Date Published: April 12th 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins (Atom in Australia)

Source: Bought

Date Read: April 2011

Page Count: 359

Series/Stand Alone: The first novel in a spin-off trilogy from the Darkest Power novels.