Friday, January 7, 2011

Review: The Summoning (The Darkest Powers #1) by Kelley Armstrong


Goodreads Synopsis: After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

Review: At first I didn't know what to expect from this kind of book. I've never read something that involved teens who have the power to see ghosts and to be completely honest it was AWESOME complete and utter AWESOMENESS.

It was modern, realistic and completely had me on a tight rope reading from the first page all to the end. I literally didn't stop reading. Okay, maybe I did to use the ladies room, eat and tweet of course. But seriously, I did not expect to be so drawn in completely by Chloe's maturity (I don't remember being that mature at 15), wit and courage.

The beginning set off really fast and it kind of felt tthat way hroughout the book but its probably just me because of how fast I zoned through the book.

Moving on, when I read the summary the first thing that came to my mind was "Teens with powers all in one place" the X-men? Close, but still completely different. We're talking about half-demons and Shamans and Necromancers. How cool is that?

The secondary characters were well written and I liked them all except for one and I sense some unusual romance going on here which I'll have to wait and read in the next book. Yes, the book only had hints of romance.

I would give 5/5 stars for Kelley Armstrong's masterpiece. It was literally unputdownable. 5-6 hours of reading straight! The writing was excellent, the plot was exciting, the pace a little fast but good, the characters aren't annoying! yay! except for a few who are meant to be annoying, and the cover is absolutely gorgeous. :D I can't wait to get Awakening.

More reviews here.


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9 comments:

  1. I randomly picked up the audiobook of this, and I almost died because I couldn't speed read through it... Listening to it be read was sooo suspenseful. The other books in the series are great in audiobook form as well! :)

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  2. Oh, great, I'm glad you liked it! I bought this awhile ago but haven't gotten around to reading it yet so you just made me extra excited to read it!

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  3. Jessi, Awesome! Thanks for the comment!
    Aylee, :D Anything to help you read. ^-^

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  4. Great review. This is definitely on my TBR list now!

    I also gave you a Stylish Blogger Award over at my blog! I'm loving your blog :)

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  5. I think I have this one sitting on my shelf. I need to read it cause I've seen alot of good things about it.

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  6. Jess: Thank you Jess! :D I appreciate it.
    Ash: You should read it! Its a guaranteed 1 day read. :D

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  7. Great review :) Got to have this book. Been thinking about buying it because of the pretty cover.. But after your review :) I guess this series is next on my buying list :P

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  8. Thanks Moon! :D You should get it! I'll let you know how it is either way! :D

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  9. Awesome review! i wont lie, i haven't heard much about this book, but your review makes me want to go read it now! xmen status, mystery and awesome characters... um, yes please!... thanks so much for sharing your thoughts :)

    Diana

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