'The Calling' Darkness Rising #2 by Kelley Armstrong

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From the BLURB:

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the sign of what she truly is a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher and see better than nearly anyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents including local bad boy Rafe, with whom she shares a dangerous, powerful secret.

Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. After a terrifying helicopter crash, they find themselves stranded in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

But can Maya really trust her friends? And can she learn how to control the frightening new gift she has discovered before it controls her?

 This review contains minor SPOILERS from first book 'The Gathering', with spoiler-hints about Armstrong's 'Darkest Powers' trilogy and 'Women of the Otherworld' series.

In just a few weeks, Maya Delaney’s entire world was turned on its head. The arrival of temptingly dangerous new boy, Rafe Martinez sent Maya’s world spiraling. Her small, idyllic town of Salmon Creek was already starting to show a few cracks – after the mysterious drowning death of her best friend, Serena, Maya was already questioning a few things about Salmon Creek, and it’s ties to the St. Clouds drug company that own and populate the town with researchers. Then an out-of-town snooping reporter went missing, and was later found dead.

At the same time, Maya had a run-in with an old witch, and drew closer to Rafe and his funny little sister Annie… eventually gaining their trust, and learning the truth about their appearance in town.

Salmon Creek is not a town of scientists and researchers – it is a town in which the children are the experiment.

Rafe revealed to Maya that they are both shifters – wildcat skin-walkers with healing abilities. The entire town is populated with supernatural kids – born and bred with special powers, for reasons unknown. The town’s youth are in fact a mixture of shifters, demons, witches and God knows what else.

Now the St. Cloud Company are bringing their experiment to an end. Having just set a forest fire surrounding Salmon Creek, their goal now is to flush out Maya and her friends that managed to escape.

Maya and her friends have just leaped out of the fire and into the frying pan, literally.

‘The Calling’ is Kelley Armstrong’s second book in the ‘Darkness Rising’ paranormal YA series, a spin-off of her original ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy, which in turn is set in her ‘Women of the Otherworld’ universe.

Kelley Armstrong hits the ground running in her second ‘Darkness Rising’ installment. We left Maya and her friends in a helicopter, being airlifted from the middle of a forest fire where they were ambushed by mysterious St. Clouds’ armored men – and after Maya came face-to-face with her biological father.

When ‘Calling’ begins we are back in the helicopter; on-board is Maya’s best friend, Daniel, her loyal dog Kenji, unconscious Rafe and Maya’s old friends and classmates; Sam, Corey, Nicole and Hayley. The mayor of Salmon Creek is also being taken to safety … but it doesn’t take long before it all goes horribly wrong. Maya and Daniel’s suspicions about the danger they experienced on the ground are reignited mid-air, when the pilot starts veering off-course and a tussle ensues. Now Maya and Daniel are convinced that the St. Clouds drug company is out for their blood – and they can trust no one from Salmon Creek. Not even their parents?

The first two chapters of ‘Calling’ concern a helicopter crash with devastating consequences and body-count. It’s an impressive, heart-thumping opener that is sure to leave fans reeling and second-guessing everything they thought about the trajectory of this series. In true Armstrong fashion, she comes out swinging and throws her young protagonists between a rock and a hard place.

After the explosive, helicopter-crashing first chapter though, things take a turn for the slightly more sedate… After surviving the crash, Maya and her remaining friends find themselves in yet another forest, and they are not alone. St. Cloud employees are hunting them – and as their trek to safety unfolds, they discover another group of players – the Nasts are also hot on their trail.

‘The Calling’ is set entirely in the forest, and follows Maya & Co. as they make the long, dangerous trek back to Salmon Creek, with bad guys on their tail. Readers learn a lot about the St. Cloud drug company in this book – and we are privy to recent wheelings and dealings in the ‘Otherworld’ universe. Cluey readers who have made the journey from the first ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy, by way of ‘Women of the Otherworld’ will know that the Nasts are a cabal of male-witches, who hold a lot of sway in the supernatural world. When we discover that they now have a hand in the Edison Group/Salmon Creek experiments, savvy readers will predict that Ms. Armstrong has a few curveballs up her sleeve … and she might just be setting up for a longer haul in her ‘Women’ universe and young-adult spin off series.

For those readers though, who are coming into ‘Darkness Rising’ completely cold, I do wonder how much of ‘The Calling’ went unknowing overhead. Readers unfamiliar with ‘Women of the Otherworld’ who did read the ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy will be slightly more clued-in, particularly towards the end… but I still think this is a book where the uninitiated will find themselves lacking. Particularly because this is a book of little character/relationship development; it is almost solely concerned with pushing the larger arcing conspiracy story forward, sometimes at the plot’s expense.

In ‘The Gathering’ Rafe and Maya’s romance was set-up – beginning with loathing and mild flirtation, and progressing to animal magnetism (literally). But the explosive beginning of ‘Calling’ means that Maya and Rafe’s relationship is put on hold. Armstrong tentatively sets up a maybe-kinda-sorta romance between Maya and her best friend, Daniel, but at this point it’s still in the walking-on-eggshells, looks of longing stage and not particularly riveting. And even though Maya is surrounded by a supporting cast of friends, none of them get the same interesting character development that Maya does in this book…

In ‘Calling’ Maya feels her skin changing. She is hearing the call of the wild and succumbing to her shifting instincts. She has also just met her biological father (who happens to be apart of the team hunting her down), not to mention she suffers a great loss early on. ‘The Calling’ really is Maya’s time in the spotlight – but she does tend to hog.

Trekking through the forest with Maya is Daniel, her loyal bestie who is starting to throw her looks of longing. Her frenemy Hayley is quick with the snipes, and party-boy Corey is limping along with a bad knee. Cousins Sam and Nicole are the wildcards – one of them blows hot and cold, while the other seems to know more about the St. Cloud company than she initially let on. This is quite a big bunch of secondary players (especially when you think that ‘Darkest Powers’ concentrated on the main foursome; Chloe, Tori, Simon and Derek). I feel like Armstrong gave us too many minor players, so that by the end of ‘Calling’ I really didn’t feel like I’d gotten to know any of them (save Maya) any better. And, as a result, I wasn’t particularly caught up in their plights or side stories. Sure, the kids are quick and good for a laugh, but Armstrong writes them in such broad brush strokes that I feel we missed out on the minor details that are meant to endear them to us;

"You're cute," Hayley said. "Well, cute enough."
"Fun to be around," I offered.
"So I'm ... a clown?"
"At least you're a cute clown," Hayley said. "Not a scary one."
"You're a good fighter," Daniel said.
"And you're a good drinker," Hayley added. "You can hold your liquor better than anyone I know."
"Uh-huh," Corey said. "So Maya will grow up to be an amazing healer who can change into a killer cat. Daniel and Sam will roam the country hunting criminals and demons. Hayley and Nicole will divide their time between recording platinum albums and winning gold medals in swimming. And me? I'll be the cute, funny guy sitting at the bar, hoping for a good brawl to break out."
"In other words, exactly where you were already headed," Hayley said.

‘The Calling’ really didn’t feel like a book about the characters, it felt far more focused on the BIG story;

"We have the upper hand here," Daniel said. "If you're going to give us some crap about turning ourselves in because we're a danger to society? Don't bother."
"Danger to society?" Moreno pursed his lips as if considering it. "Not really. A danger to yourselves? Absolutely. You're going through a lot right now, but it's nothing compared to what's coming. You need help." He looked at me.

It wasn’t until about page-250 (of this 288-page book) that I felt my heart begin to race and knew my interest had been piqued. Towards the end of the book, sleights-of-hand are revealed and Armstrong beautifully sets up her ‘long game’. The ending is exactly what I, and many fans, have been hoping for since ‘Darkest Powers’ ended. I just wish that ‘The Calling’ had started from that point – when the action and drama coalesce, and the entwining of two stories hints at great things to come.

Even if I wasn’t overly impressed with the majority of ‘The Calling’, Armstrong’s stellar ending has ensured I’ll be anticipating the third book in this series (and crossing my fingers that it’s not the finale!).

3/5

'The Gathering' Darkness Rising #1 by Kelley ARMSTRONG

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

Maya Delaney has always felt a close bond with nature. The woods around her home are a much-loved sanctuary - and the pawprint birthmark on her hip feels like a sign that she belongs.

But then strange and terrible things begin to happen in the tiny medical-research town of Salmon Creek (population: 200). The captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Mountain lions appear around Maya s home, and won t go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts experiencing bad vibes about certain people and things. One of those people is Rafe - the new bad boy in town. What is he hiding - and why is he suddenly so interested in Maya . . . ?

* ‘The Gathering’ is a spin-off book from Kelley Armstrong’s ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy. ‘Gathering’ can be enjoyed without having read the previous trilogy. But for the purposes of this review, I will be writing in the context and framework of the ‘Darkest Powers’ universe. So . . . SPOILER warning if you haven’t read that series yet!

Maya Delaney has had an idyllic childhood. It might have started out Dickensian, what with her birth mother abandoning her as a baby. But Maya lucked-out in the adoptive parent department, and when she was a child her father was offered a job as Salmon Creek park ranger. Maya and her family have lived in the idyllic Vancouver Island research town ever since. A picturesque woodland town, population 200, which is home to the families of the various scientists and office personnel that work for the St. Cloud drug company. Competitive business and corporate spies mean that the St. Cloud institute needed a remote, tight-knit community town to house their scientists and their families, and conduct their research in privacy.

Maya’s life was pretty amazing. She grew up with the same sixty-eight kids and has been in the same classes with all her close friends since primary school. Living in the middle of the woods means Maya has had her entire life to cultivate a love of the outdoors and animals, and she looks after injured wildlife as a hobby.

Maya’s life was amazing – until her best friend died. Serena drowned, and everything seemed to change.

They dragged the lake that afternoon and found Serena’s body. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning. A healthy teenage girl, captain of the swim team, had drowned. No one knew how it happened. An undertow. A cramp. A freak panic attack. There were plenty of guesses but no answers.

Soon all that was left of Serena was a monument in the school yard. The town moved on. I didn’t. Something had happened in that lake, something I couldn’t explain. But I would. One day, I would.

Six months later and Maya and her best friend, Daniel, are still living in the aftermath of Serena’s mysterious death. Maya is only just beginning to cope with her loss when a mysterious bad boy shows up in Salmon Creek. Rafe is persistently interested in Maya, but why her? A crazy old woman has accused Maya of being a witch, and at night she has nightmares about running – running and jumping on four legs and feeling at home for the first time in her life.

‘The Gathering’ is the first book in Kelley Armstrong’s new ‘Darkness Rising’ young adult paranormal series. This new series is actually a spin-off of the ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy and both are set in the same universe as her adult paranormal ‘Women of the Otherworld’ series.

‘Darkest Powers’ followed the story of Chloe, Simon, Tori and Derek – four teenagers who met at the Lyle House, a retreat for ‘troubled teens’, but discovered they were a part of a disturbing science experiment for the Edison Group. These teens discovered they had various powers and abilities – from seeing the dead, to witchcraft and being able to turn into a werewolf. It turned out that the Edison Group had equipped many children with these and many more special abilities – natural occurrences that were amplified to a dangerous degree by the Edison Group . . . until those same scientists decided their experiments were too dangerous, and had to be terminated. Every last one of them.

Kelley Armstrong concluded the ‘Darkest Powers’ trilogy with ‘The Reckoning’, the third and final book about Chloe and the gang. But while there were many fulfilling personal and relationship conclusions in that book, Armstrong left plenty of loose ends about the Edison Group - ensuring she could write a plethora of stories associated with the shady supernatural science experiments . . .

. . . And that’s why ‘The Gathering’ is permeated with goose-bumped foreboding. Fans of ‘Darkest Powers’ will be going into this new book with more knowledge about the Edison Group and their experimentations than the new characters we are meeting. Maya and her friends have no idea what’s in store for them. They don’t even know that they are living right in the middle of their own science experiment – but we do. Readers are always one step ahead of Maya, constantly waiting for the fallout and the moment she uncovers the truth about who, and what, she is.

Kelley Armstrong has done an incredible job with ‘The Gathering’. On the one hand, she is continuing the story of the Edison Group and adding to the history we learnt from Chloe’s story. But similarly she has managed to imbue the book with ominous tones and frightening twists as readers go on a whole new journey. It’s made all the more frightening for Maya’s ignorance – she genuinely loves the town of Salmon Creek, she enjoys being close to nature and living in a close-knit community. Meanwhile, a statue dedicated to researcher Samuel Lyle has pride of place in the centre of the township.

There are little hints that Maya’s world is imperfect. Like her witnessing the drowning of her best friend, Serena. Her best friend’s father being an abusively truthful drunk. Or Rafe, the bad boy new kid in town who has taken to an annoying flirtation with her. But for the most part ‘The Gathering’ is all about the slow creep – as Armstrong lays the foundations for big reveals. This first book sees Armstrong building up Maya’s Salmon Creek paradise – setting it up so that in future books her paradise will be lost (to the mysterious Genesis Project?).

There are still a few Armstrong trademarks in this new series – like an interestingly complicated romance. There’s less love triangle than Chloe experienced (between Simon and Derek). But Maya’s romance is complex for very different reasons . . . all of which would be huge spoilers.

I loved ‘Darkest Powers’, and I am set to become equally obsessed with ‘Darkness Rising’. ‘The Gathering’ is chilling for its innocence – these new characters have none of the knowledge that the ‘Darkest Powers’ characters attained over three exhilarating books. Now it’s a waiting game – as readers anticipate the destruction to come when Maya and her town uncover the truth about the St. Cloud institute and the Genesis Project. I'm definitely going to be along for the ride.

5/5

'The Gathering' comes out April 12th

'Darkest Powers' trilogy