Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

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.

From goodreads.com

I have read Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers trilogy and I loved it, so I went into The Gathering with kind of high expectations. I ended up disappointed; this book did not live up to my expectations. I felt like the whole book was just set up, and because it's the first book in a series, maybe the rest of the series will be better. It was just one of those books where the main character (Maya) is trying to figure out what she is/what's going on with her and I had it figured out pretty early on in the book. So I spent most of the book pretty much just waiting for Maya to figure it out.


However, Maya's reaction was pretty realistic. I just feel like the plot could have moved at a faster pace. I did like Maya well enough though; it wasn't her fault that she couldn't figure things out faster. I felt that she was a strong female lead who always seemed to know what needed to be done and did it. I also reallly liked that she didn't fall in love with Daniel (there are so many books out there where the main character falls in love with their best friend) and I loved Maya's relationship with Rafe.


Overall, I really feel like this book had potential, it just didn't live up to my high expectations. I will definitely be reading the other books in the series sometime though, because I feel like they might be better. I give this book a 6.5/10.