The Summoning- Kelley Armstrong
Chloe Saunders is living a fairly normal life as a film studen 
t with hopes to one day write and direct movies. That is, until the day she gets her first period and sees her first ghost. After freaking out in front of her school, she’s sent to a group home called Lyle House, where she’s diagnosed as schizophrenic and given drugs to repress her hallucinations. Stressed and confused, Chloe does her best to get along with her new housemates and “get better,” until she begins to question her situation. What if she was not crazy, but really seeing ghosts? And what if there’s more to Lyle House than she realizes?
The Summoning takes place in the same universe as the Women of the Underworld Series, and is Kelley Armstrong’s first young adult work. It’s not necessary to be an Armstrong fan to enjoy this book, although it makes it easier to guess the truth behind the kids’ “conditions.” An exciting, paranormal read, The Summoning has many similarities with its sister series, but there are many differences as well. The characters are all teenagers, and where the Underworld books are R-rated, The Summoning is more PG. Here, any romance is more implied than explicitly stated, which is interesting seeing how the stark cover art makes me think that they’re marketing to the Twilight crowd. Another big difference is where each Underworld book is a self-contained novel that can be read on its own, The Summoning is very much a first book in a trilogy. There is a lot of build up with little resolution, and a cliff hanger ending on top of that. I personally prefer books that are more self-contained, but this one didn’t bother me too much.
The first thing that grabbed me about this book was the cover. That’s a really nice looking cover. Beyond superficial aspects, I found that I really enjoyed this book. Chloe was a really likeable character. One of my favorite things about her was how she often scripted out future conversations in her head, or viewed her life as if they were scenes from a movie. As a writer, I find I do the same thing, so I could relate to her a lot there. The Awakening, second book in The Darkest Powers Trilogy, is coming out in April. I’m really looking forward to where the story goes next.
Rating: four and half out of five stars
Similar Books: Runaways Comics by Brian K Vaughn, Stolen by Kelley Armstrong, Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Personal Demon
Next I'm working on White Night by Jim Butcher
x-posted to bookish and temporaryworlds
t with hopes to one day write and direct movies. That is, until the day she gets her first period and sees her first ghost. After freaking out in front of her school, she’s sent to a group home called Lyle House, where she’s diagnosed as schizophrenic and given drugs to repress her hallucinations. Stressed and confused, Chloe does her best to get along with her new housemates and “get better,” until she begins to question her situation. What if she was not crazy, but really seeing ghosts? And what if there’s more to Lyle House than she realizes?
The Summoning takes place in the same universe as the Women of the Underworld Series, and is Kelley Armstrong’s first young adult work. It’s not necessary to be an Armstrong fan to enjoy this book, although it makes it easier to guess the truth behind the kids’ “conditions.” An exciting, paranormal read, The Summoning has many similarities with its sister series, but there are many differences as well. The characters are all teenagers, and where the Underworld books are R-rated, The Summoning is more PG. Here, any romance is more implied than explicitly stated, which is interesting seeing how the stark cover art makes me think that they’re marketing to the Twilight crowd. Another big difference is where each Underworld book is a self-contained novel that can be read on its own, The Summoning is very much a first book in a trilogy. There is a lot of build up with little resolution, and a cliff hanger ending on top of that. I personally prefer books that are more self-contained, but this one didn’t bother me too much.
The first thing that grabbed me about this book was the cover. That’s a really nice looking cover. Beyond superficial aspects, I found that I really enjoyed this book. Chloe was a really likeable character. One of my favorite things about her was how she often scripted out future conversations in her head, or viewed her life as if they were scenes from a movie. As a writer, I find I do the same thing, so I could relate to her a lot there. The Awakening, second book in The Darkest Powers Trilogy, is coming out in April. I’m really looking forward to where the story goes next.
Rating: four and half out of five stars
Similar Books: Runaways Comics by Brian K Vaughn, Stolen by Kelley Armstrong, Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Personal Demon
Next I'm working on White Night by Jim Butcher
x-posted to bookish and temporaryworlds