The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Jul 29, 2012 Tash rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-and-younger, urban-fantasy, read-in-2024

Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourite urban fantasy authors. I love her Women of the Otherworld series and I did enjoy her first young adult urban fantasy trilogy, Darkest Powers. Last year, I began to re-read Kelley Armstrong’s urban fantasy novels. With the previously mentioned series, despite it being years since I last read them, I could remember details for each novel. However, when it came to The Gathering, I struggled to recall anything about it. Not a great sign but I was still optimis Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourite urban fantasy authors. I love her Women of the Otherworld series and I did enjoy her first young adult urban fantasy trilogy, Darkest Powers. Last year, I began to re-read Kelley Armstrong’s urban fantasy novels. With the previously mentioned series, despite it being years since I last read them, I could remember details for each novel. However, when it came to The Gathering, I struggled to recall anything about it. Not a great sign but I was still optimistic that the Darkness Rising trilogy would be as good as the Darkest Powers trilogy. I now know why I couldn’t remember anything about The Gathering.

The Gathering follows Maya, a sixteen year old girl who lives in a secluded town situated in a Canadian forest. The peace and quiet of the town is disturbed when a stranger comes to town, who seems determined to uncover the secrets that have been hidden from the children of the town. I’ll be honest, as far as plot goes, The Gathering’s plot is pretty sparse but I understand that is pretty common in YA urban fantasy. The first book’s role is to set up the mystery and to set up the rest of the trilogy. Still, compared to the Darkest Powers novels, The Gathering is very slow paced and doesn’t really get going until the last one hundred pages.

Due to the nature of the plot, the urban fantasy element is very limited. In fact, if you hadn’t read the Darkest Powers trilogy or the Women of the Otherworld series, you probably wouldn’t realise that it is described as an urban fantasy novel. In some ways, it felt like a group of teenagers just trying to solve the local town mystery.

Speaking of the character, I can’t say that I connected to any of them. Maya, the main character, is quite one dimensional. Yes, she loves nature and is confident but still traumatised over the event concerning her best friend. Yet, I thought she felt a little too perfect. Whilst Chloe, from the Darkest Powers, felt flawed and had her struggles, Maya does not. The same can also be applied to Daniel, Maya’s best friend. He seems to be the perfect guy, kind, considerate and a gentleman to Maya. Then there is Rafe, the local bad boy who has taken an interest in Maya. Anyone who has read any YA novels can easily see the stereotypes in the characters and will be able to guess each character's role in the story.

Overall, I felt quite ‘meh’ about The Gathering. Much of the plot didn’t really amount to anything and the pace doesn’t really pick up until the last third of the book. The characters weren’t really unique and certainly weren’t as engaging as other Kelley Armstrong characters. There is a promise of an underlying conspiracy and the potential for some magical goings on, so I will say that The Gathering may appeal to Kelley Armstrong fans but quite honestly, if you have yet to read Kelley Armstrong’s YA novels, I would recommend the Darkest Powers trilogy over The Gathering. ...more

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Aug 14, 2014 Melindeeloo rated it liked it · review of another edition

I did this in audio, so even though I was warned the ending surprised me - it really just does stop at kind of an odd point. I am so far behind the pack in this that I am not going to really do a full review,but... I liked Maya, I am not a YA reader so I liked this mature 16 year old. The big secret is pretty well telegraphed, audio makes that worse since it slows down getting to the reveal. I didn't read Armstrong's Darkest Powers, but I did recognize the Nast cabal. I am not sure if I'll read ...more

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