Book Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Gathering

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Publisher:  Harper

Release Date:  April 12th 2011

Series: Darkness Rising 

Source: Hardcover

Number of Pages: 359
Synopsis: 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.

n the Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, Maya is a sixteen-year girl with a normal life. She lives with her parents in the small town of St. Cloud, population 200. Everything in her life seems to be going for her. Her dad is the head park ranger, she gets to take care of injured wildlife, and she had two best friends Daniela and Serna. Maya’s life changes in an instant when a tragic strikes.  Now, a year later, Maya is trying to go on with her life, but when a reporter shows up in town and claims to have information about what really happen that day, Maya’s life became way more complicated.

            I had two big annoyances with this book. The first being that Maya just came off as a Mary Sue to me.  She gets to take care of wild animals, almost everyone at school likes her, and she has a freaking bobcat that follows her around. I feel like the author realized this half way through the book and tried to give her a weakness but it felt really forced. And I cannot be the only one who thinks she too easily accepts the explanations for the strange happenings in the town.  Though the main annoyance I had with this book would have to be how it didn’t answer any of the mysteries, and to that matter I think there were too many mysteries.  It just seem that Maya would be investigating one mystery only to get sidetracked by another mystery and forget all about the first one. It created a feeling of whiplash and we never got a feeling of a ton of progression on any of the mysteries. And with how slow the plot was going focusing on one or two mysteries might have been better.

            Even for all its downsides I did enjoy this book. One major attraction was how Maya was interested in animals and wildlife. I could personally relate to her because animals have always been my best friends. Also the humor in the book was well done.  It was small and it seemed to flow naturally between the characters.  And I loved how Maya always had a response for anything her father said. Many of her replies would have me laughing, for I wished I could say them to my father. Also I loved Fitz, Maya’s pet bobcat. He was just like a cat getting stuck in a tree and expecting Maya to recuse him.  At times you could tell he thought Maya was quite dumb. And anyone who has had a cat can relate. The other thing I loved was how the author refrained from making a love triangle between Daniel, Rafe and Maya. I don’t hate love triangles but very few novels I have read were actually able to do them well. This might change later in the series but for now it was refreshing.

Rating: 3/5 Stars