The Calling by Kelley Armstrongpublisher: HarperTeen
release date: April 10th, 2012
hardcover, 326 pages
intended audience: Young adult
series: Darkness Rising, book #2
(review of book 1 here)
rating:
source: from publisher for honest review
Warning! Description and review may contain slight spoilers for book 1 in this series. If you haven't read The Gathering, stop here!
description: Maya and her friends--all of whom have supernatural powers--have been kidnapped after fleeing from a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set, and after a terrifying helicopter crash they find themselves pursued by evildoers in the Vancouver Island wilderness.
Review: I was wavering between a 3.5 rating and 4 for this second installment of the Darkness Rising series. In the end, after it has settled for a few days, I decided that I did really enjoy this one. It's a very fast, exciting read and while at times, fell victim to the "second-book syndrome", it was fun and engaging.
It was great to get back to some of these characters. They are all very different, and some of them take some very surprising personality turns. Still loved the humor and back-and-forth banter between Maya, Daniel, Calvin, & Sam. Once again, I laughed out loud more than once. Once again, I loved the strong friendship between Daniel and Maya---I know many readers will hope to see them together, but for me they are awesome together even just as best friends.
Largely, the second book is one big chase through the woods---and by "second-book syndrome" I mean that at times it felt more like just a catalyst from book 1 to the grande finale in book 3. And while I understand that is the basic purpose of a middle book in a series, I still tend to like when each book in a series has a nice story arc of it's own. You learn a tiny bit more about one of the groups chasing them, and a bit more about what Maya and all her friends are, but not really what any of it all means. I was very excited to get little hints of how this story might circle around to cross paths with Armstrong's Darkest Powers series, which I loved.
The ending was, of course, a cliffhanger, but surprisingly felt a little less harsh than what I'm used to seeing in this author's books. Not that I don't secretly love them sometimes, (they leave my heart pounding and my mind reeling and dying for the next book!) , but for those who liken cliffhangers to whiplash, this one was a nice departure.
A super-quick, thrilling read---this is definitely a series I'll be sticking with to the end!
Visit Kelley Armstrong's site: www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Purchase The Calling at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound
