The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Calling
Author: Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Atom
ISBN: 978-1-907410-47-5
Pages: 326
Series: Darkness Rising Trilogy #2
Type: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Goodreads


Maya Delaney now knows that she has a unique gift. She is a skin-walker and able to change her form into that of a mountain lion. But with that knowledge came horrifying revelations about her home town of Salmon Creek. Now she is stranded in the wilderness of Vancouver Island with a small group of friends after a suspicious forest fire forced an evacuation and Maya is left questioning not only can she control her gift, but can she truly trust the people she calls her friends?

This is the second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy (after The Gathering) and picks up right where the previous left off so I definitely don't recommend reading this first. There have been too many revelations for this to make much sense separate from the first volume.

Once again the story is action packed but this time the story starts with a bang meaning that it is fast paced throughout with lots of twists and turns, some picking up on little hints in the previous book. There is also a lot of internal stress as Maya and her friends have discovered that Salmon Creek was less of a medical research town and more of a paranormal playground, and that they may have innate supernatural abilities from supposedly extinct species.

Although Maya is accustomed to being out in nature, being totally stranded miles from home is new to her as is becoming the leader of a group of not-so-outdoorsy teens. She is stranded along with Daniel, Sam, Haley, Nicole and Corey which means quite a large cast of characters, although they frequently split into smaller groups which stops it from becoming difficult to keep track of everyone. Forcing such a diverse group together with snobby girls next to goths creates some tension that is great to read.

Taking a leadership role and dealing with her losses makes Maya spend some serious time considering whether her life is better or worse now she knows the truth, and her struggle with her grief is well written. Daniel is dealing with the revelations of his nature as well and trying to grasp what being a Bendanti means for him. Both grow up a lot during the book which is great to read about.

As the second book in the trilogy questions are unsurprisingly left unanswered, especially as to the supernatural species of some of Maya's friends. I'm really hoping these are revealed in the final volume as I'm looking forward to seeing which new species are introduced, particularly in Corey's case.

All in all this was another great read and I'm looking forward to The Rising.

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 10/10

Overall: 48/50

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Gathering
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Atom
ISBN: 978-1-907410-17-8
Pages: 359
Series: Darkness Rising Trilogy #1
Type: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Source: Gift
Goodreads


Maya Delaney has always felt a close bond with nature and her home town of Salmon Creek allows her to spend as much time in the wilderness as she likes. Salmon Creek is a tiny medical research town in the middle of nowhere and has always been a sanctuary for Maya. But strange things begin to happen. A champion swimmer drowns in the lake. Mountain lions hang around Maya's home. Maya's best friend Daniel starts getting vibes from people, one of whom is new bad boy in town Rafe who has an inexplicable interest in Maya...

This is the first book in the Darkness Rising trilogy which loosely follows on from the Darkest Powers trilogy and is set in the world of Kelley Armstrong's adult Otherworld series. I'm a huge fan of both the previous series and I love Kelley's writing style so I was psyched to hear she was writing a new trilogy. You could easily start here as a totally new reader as although this trilogy comes after her Darkest Powers, the link is loose enough that you don't need to read it first nor do you need any experience of her adult books (although there are nerdy things in there for those fans to spot).

The storyline is well paced and plotted, although there is a slower pace at the beginning to set up the world which quickly picks up as the book progresses. I loved the rural setting of Salmon Creek as it is different to most YA novels these days and it really allows Maya to show her wilderness type skills. One aspect of the book I adored was the focus on Native American mythology with the tradition of skinwalkers and also in a more contemporary way in terms of Maya's ancestral heritage and tribal origins.

I really liked Maya as a lead character. She is strong willed and self-reliant, happy to spend all of her time out in nature and refuses to change for anyone. Maya's issues dealing with the drowning of her best friend Serena are particularly well written. Rafe manages to be the bad boy without falling into the stereotypes, although like many a bad boy he hides a distinctly heart-of-gold type secret which he'll protect with his life. I admire his acceptance and how willing he is to help Maya even though she doesn't even know how much she needs it.

Daniel is the perfect best friend, having Maya's back no matter what and never complaining about the situation at home. Daniel's home life with his alcoholic father really won him my sympathy and his determination not to let it dictate his life won him my respect. He also has some issues as Serena was his girlfriend, although surprisingly not the one's I expected adding another dimension to his character.

All in all this was a great read and I'm looking forward to The Calling.

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 10/10

Overall: 49/50

Shelf Candy Saturday (23)

Shelf Candy Saturday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by Maria at A Night's Dream of Books where each Saturday bloggers defy the saying "never judge a book by its cover" and showcase one that really catches their eye. Covers play a huge role in the books I choose so it's great to have the opportunity to showcase the pretties :)

My shelf candy for this week is the Darkness Rising trilogy (so far) by Kelley Armstrong.

These are the UK covers for first two books in the Darkness Rising trilogy and I'm really hoping the as yet unreleased cover for The Rising matches.

These covers have a really unique look and I love the doubled up girl look to the covers with the silhouette in the background contrasting with the girl in the foreground. The images in the silhouettes also reveal the settings for each book, with the woodlands and circling crows from one specific scene in The Gathering and a girl isolated in the woods in The Calling.

I really like the simple colour scheme for each book with one in green and the other in blue. It also means that the titles which are metallic silver (extra points for shiny-ness!) stand out really well, although it's worth noting that it is the title, series and author on The Gathering but only the title and series on The Calling for some reason.

The covers aren't matt or gloss but a kind of soft touch almost neoprene feel. Not only is it a great tactile feel, but it also makes the books comfortable to hold for long periods of time (handy given I read each of these in a single sitting).

If you'd like to know what I thought of these two, check back tomorrow for my review of The Gathering and Monday for my review of The Calling.

So what's your shelf candy this week?

Teaser Tuesday (33)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My teaser:

"Splitting up felt wrong, like we were just being stubborn. Yet as wrong as it felt to separate, it felt even more wrong to stay so close to the crash site."

~ Page 49, The Calling by Kelley Armstrong