Book: The Summoning

Kelley Armstrong
Young Adult
HarperCollins Publishers / July 2008
Quality Paperback / 390 Pages
Series: Darkest Powers #1

She sees dead people--and they see her.

Chloe Saunders used to have a pretty normal life. But that changed on the day she met her first ghost. Locked up in Lyle House, a group home for troubled teens, she finds out that there's more to the home's teen residents than meets the eye. Will Chloe be able to uncover the dangerous secrets of Lyle House... or will its skeletons come back to haunt her?

I picked this book up because I needed another "para" book for the 999 challenge - and WOW!

What I liked the Most? Kelly Armstrong's world done for YA - it is outrageous

What I liked the Least? She dumbed down her language abit - that was about it. YA today have an entirely different vocabulary than we did growing up.

Review:Mrs Armstrong has created a new series based in the same universe as her Women of the Underworld series, this time for teens, and "The Summoning" is the first book in the series. Now, to be honest this was a slow starter. I'm not going to deny that I picked it up a couple of times before I committed to buying it & did that same little dance at home - do I really wanna "force" myself to read this? I'm really glad I pushed past the first couple of chapters, because the story just came to life.

Review time - the book starts off with Chloe having a nightmare before she wakes up to start her day at the school for the arts and she is just like all the other people in her school, except a little bit of a late bloomer. (This was the draggy part) Chloe is leading a boring life until the day that she gets her first period and she also sees a ghost or rather the ghost sees her - big chase scene through the school by a dead janitor - Chloe is sedated and sent to the hospital and told that she must spend at least two weeks in Lyle House, a group home for unstable teens. At the Lyle House you are introduced to an eccletic bunch of people - some of them are a little a little scary at first, some of them a little bitchy, some of the are friendly.

This is a promising start to a new YA series.


Recommended to: Wow - just about anyone who like YA fiction

Best Quote: "But we weren't animals. People didn't hunt kids with tranquilizer guns."

Book: The Reckoning

Kelley Armstrong
Young Adult
Orbit / 2010
Trade / 391 Pages
Series Darkest Powers 3

Only two weeks ago, life was all too predictable. But that was before I saw my first ghost. Now, along with my supernatural friends Tori, Derek, and Simon, I’m on the run from the Edison Group, which genetically altered us as part of their sinister experiment. We’re hiding in a safe house that might not be as safe as it seems. We’ll be gone soon anyway, back to rescue those we’d left behind and to take out the Edison Group . . . or so we hope.

I picked this book up because Series



What I liked the Most? The Demi-Demon – LOVED THIS CHARACTER



What I liked the Least? The betrayal



Review: In this the third volume of the series, Chloe is beginning to control her ability to raise the dead. I loved the whole idea of a psychiatric ward for teens being a front for kids with supernatural powers. Over the course of the series, Chloe has gradually become more comfortable with her necromancy skills, scary as they are. The ending was satisfying, action packed, and closed a lot of plot lines, but throughout this third book, several clues were dropped that perhaps this won't be the last book in the series. I really hope not – I loved this series!!!



Recommended to: Fans of the series



Best Quote:“You can raise the dead. If she admits that, then she has to admit you’re a better necromancer than she is.” ~ sums up so much of what is wrong with the world.

Book: The Awakening

Kelley Armstrong
Young Adult
HarperCollins / 2009
Hardcover / 368 Pages
Series Darkest Powers 2

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

I picked this book up because Series

What I liked the Most? The fast paced readability



What I liked the Least? The great escape – Uh no!



Review: The Awakening was a heart-stopping, thrilling sequel to The Summoning. I had a hard time putting it down, and polished it off in just a matter of hours.


Since this one takes place after the kids have run away from The Lyle House there is a whole lot more action and more raising people from the dead, more powers, more spells – JUST MORE. The four of them – Derek, Simon, Chloe and Tori!?!?!?! – are constantly on the move, trying to keep away from the Edison Group, and are constantly finding danger.


Recommended to: Fans of the Series – Read the 1st one 1st



Best Quote: “That’s the point. You can’t do anything. You’re a silly, useless Barbie, just like my sister. I’m smarter, tougher, more popular. But does that matter? No”