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The Gathering Storm

(Chausiku #1)

Pamela E. Cash (Goodreads Author)

3.74 · Rating details · 99 ratings · 23 reviews

There are six secret clans across the world–Africa (the Sakombi clan), Europe (the Spencer clan), Asia (the Qiáo clan), South America (the Amaru clan), North America (the Natosapi clan) and Australia (the Gale clan). Each clan possesses unique supernatural powers. On her 16th birthday Chassie Moreau discovers that she is a descendant of the Sakombi clan and she inherits th ...more

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Kindle Edition, 287 pages

Published November 2012 by Pamela E. Cash

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Feb 04, 2013 Shanna Alexa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a great young adult book. Supernatural type books are my favorite to read and I enjoyed the author's inventive way of creating the characters' supernatural powers in the novel. This was a great beginning and I can't wait to read Book Two. ...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Cathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

Interesting plotline, even though the spelling and typographical errors could be distracting at times. I'm interested to see how the second book continues this story. ...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Susan rated it it was amazing

I enjoyed the story. I'm not sure what I expected but really got into it after the first couple of chapters. The plot was different and fresh, and I enjoyed the book. It's a great book for teens and young adults, however, I wouldn't recommend it for children under 12 because Chassie does get a little dark towards the end.

I really liked the characters and thought that their dialogue was exactly what I hear from teens in urban high schools. The author switched back and forth from urban dialect to I enjoyed the story. I'm not sure what I expected but really got into it after the first couple of chapters. The plot was different and fresh, and I enjoyed the book. It's a great book for teens and young adults, however, I wouldn't recommend it for children under 12 because Chassie does get a little dark towards the end.

I really liked the characters and thought that their dialogue was exactly what I hear from teens in urban high schools. The author switched back and forth from urban dialect to proper grammar very well and the use of slang was appropriate. I also liked the diversity in this book. White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, everyone has a part here. I am really interested in seeing where the author will go with the clans from every continent in the world. The plot is nice and original.

I also liked the character development. Chassie was conflicted as most teenagers are and her sudden abilities were nicely introduced. Although reaching a certain age and receiving abilities has been done before, the author did explain why Chassie was in the dark for so many years and it did fit the into the overall story quite well. I also liked the murder mystery that was added into storyline. It brought to originality to an otherwise repetitive premise.

The locations in this book are good in great detail. I have to admit that sometimes I thought that the details were a bit repetitive but it didn't ruin the story for me at all. It only made me want to get the the part where you find out how the mother was murdered a few chapters before the author writes about it.

The were some minor spelling errors but I believe they were corrected since the description given on Goodreads has corrected the spelling. However, the flow of the story so good that these minor error did not interfere with the story.

The conclusion is exactly what I hoped it would be. The final confrontation isn't what I expected! There are some twist in the end that really makes me what to see what happens in book two. This is an excellent story and it is told very well. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for supernatural entertainment. I would give this book 4.5 stars only because of the minor errors but since the star ratings do not allow for half stars, I am rounding up. I give the book 5 stars. ...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Don Sloan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: great-gift

This was an enjoyable, easy teen read that was robust enough to hold an adult's interest. Ms Cash writes well and has laid out a framework encompassing special abilities and "clans" that makes for some great story telling. Some tension exist between being a straightforward teen adventure-paranormal yarn or a much richer and denser epic involving powerful beings, cultures, histories and motivations. Author has left herself plenty of room in future books to go down either path or to carefully stro ...more

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Mar 31, 2018 Kimberly Vanderbloom rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Interesting

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

I was confused when I first started reading but everything became quite clear fairly quickly. I liked the authors writing style and her character development. I’m a sucker for a good supernatural read. I did find it to get dark which is nice for a little older audience of the young adult genre. Overall I was impressed and look forward to reading more in the series.

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Mar 06, 2013 Catherine Dye rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Original review:
Just... no. I'm honestly shocked at the positive reviews I'm seeing. This book needs some SERIOUS work. The writing is kind of awful. NOBODY in high school talks like that. The characters are no good either. Chassie and her friend John are described as jaw-droppingly gorgeous and completely unconcerned with the effect they have on people. Add a point to the unrealistic and cliche category for that one. Then we have the little tidbit about her gaining her powers on her 16th birthd Original review:
Just... no. I'm honestly shocked at the positive reviews I'm seeing. This book needs some SERIOUS work. The writing is kind of awful. NOBODY in high school talks like that. The characters are no good either. Chassie and her friend John are described as jaw-droppingly gorgeous and completely unconcerned with the effect they have on people. Add a point to the unrealistic and cliche category for that one. Then we have the little tidbit about her gaining her powers on her 16th birthday. That's all well and good on its own I guess (though still terribly cliche--but she had to get her powers at SOME point) but coupled with her complete ignorance of anything magical despite growing up with her perfectly knowledgeable protector, it's just too much. I only read a small amount of the book, but it was enough to get an idea for what the rest was going to be like. Maybe it gets better (though it would need some SERIOUS improvement to live up to some of the reviews I saw), but having read plenty of books criticized for far lesser crimes, I thought another opinion was needed. I could probably continue to point out flaws, but I think I got the message across.

Edited review:
After looking at my original review again, I think I was a bit too harsh, so here's a re-done version:

The main problem I have with the story is the awkward phrasing and poor grammar. However, I think a good editor could fix that up no problem. The real issue with the language is that, being used to proper grammar and better phrasing, I could hardly stand to read it. I think that skewed my opinion of the book.

Otherwise, the only real problems were the use of too many cliches and some bits that didn't make sense. I'm fine with the occasional cliche, but when there are as many as in this book, that's where I have a problem. Not making sense... that's never good, but again, is quite fixable. Let me throw out a few of the cliches I had problems with.

The first is the (arguably) most common cliche seen in stories--the strikingly beautiful main character(s) (though the completely ordinary ones are gaining in popularity. Although that's more often than not just used in romance novels so you can connect with the main character... But the guy is always gorgeous). Chassie and her best friend are just too unbelievable. They are drop-dead gorgeous, neither notice or care that other people stare at them for their beauty, and they both have noteworthy eyes. That's several appearance cliches all rolled into one. But they continue.

There's also the whole prophecy bit. Add to that the whole unbelievably-talented-mastering-skills-in-a-matter-of-days thing and you've got problems. I'm just really, really tired of cliches. There are more that I'm not going to bother mentioning, but you get the idea.

As for not making sense, the main problem I had was with the fact that Chassie is surrounded by people who know what she is, but nobody bothers to tell her until her 16th birthday, and even then, not until she's totally freaked herself out with her ability. There were other instances, but that was the main one. I understand that her father didn't want to tell her anything, but with the sheer number of people who thought keeping her ignorant was a bad idea, I'd have thought SOMEONE would've spilled the beans. Especially when she's the subject of a prophecy.

For all of the problems I have with the book, the idea is really quite good. The whole clan thing is totally interesting and the plot as a whole has some potential. I set out to read this book as just that--a published, polished, finished book, but what I got just wasn't quite up to par. I think this book would best be regarded as a rough draft. One with a lot of potential, but needing a lot of editing. So my rating of the book is based on my standards for a finished, polished piece, not on the idea itself. I think it would be misleading to rate it as high as other, well-edited books I've read. ...more

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May 27, 2019 Deviki rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: african_related, average-ok-rating-books, black_women_girl, diversity_mixed, ebooks-online-reading, interracial_couples, science_fiction, series_books, young-adult-books, white_men_boy

Ok .....wow now, when I first started reading this book, at least the first few pages, I was kind of wondering if I was reading another book because this book had pretty decent rating but I was perplexed because the copy I was reading had a elementary like writing style and some minor spelling mistakes. But then, when I checked the reviews in GD, I realized I wasn't the only one who noticed that.

Anyway, besides the obvious indication mentioned earlier, the story plot, the fast paced story line ...more

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Oct 10, 2013 Alexa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great Young Adult science fiction book. I really liked the characters and the way that the plot developed. It was also really interesting the way that the supernatural powers were more of a supplement to the storyline about Chassie's mother and her murder. It really got good at the end of the book and Chassie showed that she could really go there when it came to confronting her mother's killer. Due to the mild violence at the end, I recommend it to 13 year olds and up.

wuiere.euioiewu/.euiorijk.e ...more

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Apr 09, 2019 Julia971 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: black-woman-heroine, fantasy, challenge-2019

3,5 stars
Cute story about a cute girl discovering she has wonderful powers the day of her sweet sixteen birthday.

The story in itself is nice BUT there are a lot of pauses for story tellings, I didnt enjoy this" one thousand and one nights" aspect of the book.

For my middle school to YA books fans: you will be pleased, the heroine is in high school, and the reader spends a lot of time in the high school world.

To my paranormal stories fans: The clans stories are pretty interesting and though a l ...more

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Jan 02, 2014 Rita Cottrell rated it it was amazing

Good book

I loved reading about this young girl and the way her life played out when she became 16 years old. A fantasy and love story combined with lots of scrapping with the bad guys mixed in. What more can you ask for? I loved it.

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Dec 21, 2012 Doreen Dalesandro marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, owned-kindle

Kindle freebie, 12/21/12

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May 17, 2017 Desiree rated it it was amazing

Love this book

I have this book 5 stars because it is so good that anyone over the age of 14 should read it. However, there was a few mistakes within the book. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to everyone I thought would enjoy this book. Now, I wish the next book was out so I know what happens next. Some questions that come to mind are, Will she and her relationship with John? Will she meet the rest of her family? And last but not least, Will she know the true nature of Eito and destroy ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 bbunny rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, read2018, the-easily-forgettables, low-fantasy-and-or-magical-realism, giveaway-win, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 22, 2013 Don rated it it was ok · review of another edition

It is advertised as a Children's book, so maybe I shouldn't have read it, but so is "The Incredibles" movie, but I still enjoyed how they got in predicaments and had to use their ingenuity to get out of them. I was intrigued by the description of it on Amazon, and it was free, so I read it. There is no problem that can't be solved, the author just created a new super power to fix it! Also half of the book was spent on all the minute details of each scene, so the only story being told consisted o ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Amanda Novak rated it liked it · review of another edition

The story was written well enough to keep my attention. If it were not for the language I would recommend it for teens who are fans of Rick Riordan or the Hunger Games. The course language seemed like it was inserted awkwardly (perhaps it was intentional due to the age of the character using it). I will be looking forward to the second book in the series as a quick summer read.

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Sep 11, 2015 Rosibel Matta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I won this book from first reads and I have to say that this is a good book, first when I entered the giveaway I thought that this book was a graphic novel but it's not, I like how was written and the way the writer tells the story she was strait to the point, definitely a page turner I couldn't put it down.
This book is awesome I loved how they print it too it easy to read. ...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Cerenity rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: firstreaders

I received this book free through a Goodreads Giveaway. For a teen novel this would interest more of the younger teen age group. An interesting premise for a story. I was really surprised at how dark the story became but i can say i liked the style of writing towards the end of the book versus the rest. Overall not a bad read.

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Jul 02, 2014 Cordelia the Ardent Reader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I give it 3.5 stars. A good story, though it id not arrest my interest so much. I ended up skimming though it, though I suspect that there is a fair number of people that would enjoy the story.

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